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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16997-8.txt b/16997-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fb35a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/16997-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,26044 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, +Volumes I & II, by William Sleeman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II + +Author: William Sleeman + +Release Date: November 4, 2005 [EBook #16997] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KINGDOM OF OUDE *** + + + + +Produced by Philip Hitchcock + + + + +A JOURNEY + +THROUGH THE + +KINGDOM OF OUDE, + +IN 1849--1850; + + +BY DIRECTION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE, +GOVERNOR-GENERAL. + +WITH PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ANNEXATION +OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA, &c. + +BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B. + +Resident at the Court of Lucknow + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. I. + +LONDON: +RICHARD BENTLEY, +Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. +1858. + + +[Transcriber's note: +The author's spelling of the names of places and people vary +considerably, even within a single paragraph. The spelling of place +names in the text varies from that shown on the map. The author's +spelling is reproduced as in the printed text.] + + +PREFACE + +My object in writing this DIARY OF A TOUR THROUGH OUDE was to +prepare, for submission to the Government of India, as fair and full +a picture of the real state of the country, condition, and feeling of +the people of all classes, and character of the Government under +which they at present live, as the opportunities which the tour +afforded me might enable me to draw. + +The DIARY must, for the present, be considered as an official +document, which may be perused, but cannot be published, wholly or in +part, without the sanction of Government previously obtained.* + + W. H. SLEEMAN. +Lucknow, 1852. + +* This permission was accorded by the Honourable Court of Directors +in December last. + +[Transcriber's note: _Rambles and Recollections of an Indian +Official_ by W. H. Sleeman 2nd Ed. 1915, p.xxxvi notes that the date +of the permission was not December 1851, but December 1852.] + + + + +CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + +Biographical Sketch of Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B. + +Introduction + +Private correspondence preceding the Journey through the Kingdom of +Oude + + ______________________________________________ + + + CHAPTER I. + +Departure from Lucknow--Gholam Hazrut--Attack on the late Prime +Minister, Ameen-od-Dowla--A similar attack on the sons of a former +Prime Minister, Agar Meer--Gunga Sing and Kulunder Buksh--Gorbuksh +Sing, of Bhitolee--Gonda Bahraetch district--Rughbur Sing--Prethee +Put, of Paska--King of Oude and King of the Fairies--Surafraz mahal + + + CHAPTER II. + +Bahraetch--Shrine of Syud Salar--King of the Fairies and the +Fiddlers--Management of Bahraetch district for forty-three years-- +Murder of Amur Sing, by Hakeem Mehndee--Nefarious transfer of +_khalsa_ lands to Tallookdars, by local officers--Rajah Dursun Sing-- +His aggression on the Nepaul Territory--Consequences--Intelligence +Department--How formed, managed, and abused--Rughbur Sing's +management of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846-47--Its fiscal effects--A +gang-robber caught and hung by Brahmin villagers--Murder of +Syampooree Gosaen--Ramdut Pandee--Fairies and Fiddlers--Ramdut +Pandee, the Banker--the Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor--Murder +of Mr. Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, at Bhinga, in 1823. + + + CHAPTER III. + +Legendary tale of breach of Faith--Kulhuns tribe of Rajpoots--Murder +of the Banker, Ramdut Pandee, by the Nazim of Bahraetch--Recrossing +the Ghagra river--Sultanpoor district, State of Commandants of +troops become sureties for the payment of land revenue--Estate of +Muneearpoor and the Lady Sogura--Murder of Hurpaul Sing, Gurgbunsee, +of Kupragow--Family of Rajahs Bukhtawar and Dursun Sing--Their +_bynama_ Lands--Law of Primogeniture--Its object and effect--Rajah +Ghalib Jung--Good effects of protection to Tenantry--Disputes about +Boundaries--Our army a safety-valve for Oude--Rapid decay of Landed +Aristocracy in our Territories--Local ties in groves, wells, &c. + + + CHAPTER IV. + +Recross the Goomtee river--Sultanpoor Cantonments--Number of persons +begging redress of wrongs, and difficulty of obtaining it in Oude-- +Apathy of the Sovereign--Incompetence and unfitness of his Officers-- +Sultanpoor, healthy and well suited for Troops--Chandour, twelve +miles distant, no less so--lands of their weaker neighbours absorbed +by the family of Rajah Dursun Sing, by fraud, violence, and +collusion; but greatly improved--Difficulty attending attempt to +restore old Proprietors--Same absorptions have been going on in all +parts of Oude--and the same difficulty to be everywhere encountered-- +Soils in the district, _mutteear_, _doomutteea_, _bhoor_, _oosur_-- +Risk at which lands are tilled under Landlords opposed to their +Government--Climate of Oude more invigorating than that of Malwa-- +Captain Magness's Regiment--Repair of artillery guns--Supply of grain +to its bullocks--Civil establishment of the Nazim--Wolves--Dread of +killing them among Hindoos--Children preserved by them in their dens, +and nurtured. + + + CHAPTER V. + +Salone district--Rajah Lal Hunmunt Sing of Dharoopoor--Soil of Oude-- +Relative fertility of the _mutteear_ and _doomutteea_--Either may +become _oosur_, or barren, from neglect, and is reclaimed, when it +does so, with difficulty--Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge of an +eleemosynary endowment at Salone--Effects of his curses--Invasion of +British Boundary--Military Force with the Nazim--State and character +of this Force--Rae Bareilly in the Byswara district--Bandha, or +Misletoe--Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor--Law of Primogeniture-- +Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo and Rogonath Sing-- +Bridge and avenue at Rae Bareilly--Eligible place for cantonment and +civil establishments--State of the Artillery--Sobha Sing's regiment-- +Foraging System--Peasantry follow the fortunes of their refractory +Landlords--No provision for the king's soldiers, disabled in action, +or for the families of those who are killed--Our sipahees, a +privileged class, very troublesome in the Byswara and Banoda +districts--Goorbukshgunge--Man destroyed by an Elephant--Danger to +which keepers of such animals are exposed--Bys Rajpoots composed of +two great families, Sybunsies and Nyhassas--Their continual contests +for landed possessions--Futteh Bahader--Rogonath Sing--Mahibollah the +robber and estate of Balla--Notion that Tillockchundee Bys Rajpoots +never suffer from the bite of a snake--Infanticide--Paucity of +comfortable dwelling-houses--The cause--Agricultural capitalists-- +Ornaments and apparel of the females of the Bys clan--Late Nazim Hamid +Allee--His father-in-law Fuzl Allee--First loan from Oude to our +Government--Native gentlemen with independent incomes cannot reside +in the country--Crowd the city, and tend to alienate the Court from +the people. + + + CHAPTER VI. + +Nawabgunge, midway between Cawnpoor and Lucknow--Oosur soils how +produced--Visit from the prime minister--Rambuksh, of Dhodeeakhera-- +Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor--Agricultural capitalists--Sipahees and +native offices of our army--Their furlough, and petitions-- +Requirements of Oude to secure good government. The King's reserved +treasury--Charity distributed through the _Mojtahid_, or chief +justice--Infanticide--Loan of elephants, horses, and draft bullocks +by Oude to Lord Lake in 1804--Clothing for the troops--The Akbery +regiment--Its clothing, &c.,--Trespasses of a great man's camp in +Oude--Russoolabad and Sufeepoor districts--Buksh Allee, the dome-- +Budreenath, the contractor for Sufeepoor--Meeangunge--Division of the +Oude Territory in 1801, in equal shares between Oude and the British +Governments--Almas Allee Khan--His good government--The passes of +Oude--Thieves by hereditary profession, and village watchmen-- +Rapacity of the King's troops--Total absence of all sympathy between +the governing and governed--Measures necessary to render the Oude +troops efficient and less mischievous to the people--Sheikh Hushmut +Allee, of Sundeela. + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH +of +MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN. K.C.B. + + _______________________ + + +This distinguished officer, whose career in India extended over a +period of forty years, and whose services were highly appreciated by +three Governors-General--Viscount Hardinge, the Earl of Ellenborough, +and the Marquess of Dalhousie--evinced by their appointing him to the +most difficult and delicate duties--was the son of Philip and Mary +Sleeman, and was born at Stratton, Cornwall, 8th August, 1788. In +early years he evinced a predilection for the military profession; +and at the age of twenty-one (October, 1809), through the good +offices of the late Lord De Dunstanville, he was appointed an +Infantry Cadet in the Bengal army. Thither he proceeded as soon as +possible, and was promoted successively to the rank of Ensign, 23rd +September, 1810; Lieutenant, 16th December, 1814; Brevet-Captain, +24th April, 1824; Captain, 23rd September, 1826; Major, 1st February, +1837; Lieutenant-Colonel, 26th May, 1843; Colonel, 24th November, +1853; and obtained the rank of Major-General 28th November, 1854. + +Early in his career he served in the Nepaulese war. The value of his +talents soon became known, and in 1816, when it was considered +necessary to investigate a claim to property as prize-money arising +out of that war, Lieutenant Sleeman was selected to inquire into it. +The report was accordingly made by him in February 1817, which was +designated by the Government as "able, impartial, and satisfactory." + +In 1820 he was appointed junior Assistant to the Agent of the +Governor-General at Saugur, and remained in the Civil Department in +the Saugur and Nerbudda territories, with the exception of absence on +sick certificate, for nearly a quarter of a century. Here he +manifested that, if he had been efficient in an inferior position, he +was also an able administrator in a superior post. He distinguished +himself so much by his activity in the suppression of the horrible +practice of Thuggism, then so prevalent, that, in 1835, he was +employed exclusively in the Thuggee Department; his appointment in +the Saugur and Nerbudda districts being kept open, and his promotion +going on. The very valuable Papers upon Thuggism submitted to the +Governor-General were chiefly drawn up by Sir William Sleeman, and +the department specially commissioned for this important purpose was +not only organised but worked by him. In consequence of ill-health, +however, at the end of 1836, he was compelled to resign this +appointment; but on his return to duty in February 1839, he was +nominated to the combined offices of Commissioner for the Suppression +of Thuggee and Dacoity. + +In 1842 he was employed on a special mission in Bundelcund, to +inquire into the causes of the recent disturbances there, and he +remained in that district, with additional duties, as Resident at +Gwalior, from 1844 until 1849, when he was removed to the highly +important office of Resident at the Court of Lucknow. Colonel Sleeman +held his office at Gwalior in very critical times, which resulted in +hostilities and the battle of Maharajpore. But for a noble and +unselfish act he would have received this promotion at an earlier +period. The circumstance was this: Colonel Low, the Resident at that +time, hearing that his father was dangerously ill, tendered his +resignation to Lord Auckland, who immediately offered the appointment +to Colonel Sleeman. No sooner had this occurred, however, than +Colonel Low wrote to his Lordship that, since he had resigned, the +house of Gaunter and Co., of Calcutta, in which his brother was a +partner, had failed, and, in consequence, every farthing he had saved +had been swept away. Under this painful contingency be begged to +place himself in his Lordship's hands. This letter was sent by Lord +Auckland to Colonel Sleeman, who immediately wrote to Colonel Low, +begging that he would retain his situation at Lucknow. This generous +conduct of Colonel Sleeman was duly appreciated; and Lord Auckland, +on leaving India, recommended him to the particular notice of his +successor. Lord Ellenborough, who immediately appointed Colonel +Sleeman to Jhansi with an additional 1000_l_. a-year to his income. + +Colonel Sleeman held the appointment of Resident at Lucknow from the +year 1849 until 1856. During this period his letters and diary show +his unwearied efforts to arrive at the best information on all points +with regard to Oude. These will enable the reader to form a just, +opinion on the highly-important subject of the annexation of this +kingdom to British India. The statements of Colonel Sleeman bear +inward evidence of his great administrative talents, his high and +honourable character, and of his unceasing endeavours to promote the +best interests of the King of Oude, so that his kingdom might have +been preserved to him. Colonel Sleeman's views were directly opposed +to annexation, as his letters clearly show. + +His long and arduous career was now, however, fast drawing to a +close. So early as the summer of 1854 it became evident that the +health of General Sleeman was breaking up, and in the August of that +year he was attacked by alarming illness. "Forty-six years of +incessant labour," observes a writer at this date, "have had their +influence even on his powerful frame: he has received one of those +terrible warnings believed to indicate the approach of paralysis. +With General Sleeman will depart the last hope of any improvement in +the condition of the unhappy country of Oude. Though belonging to the +elder class of Indian officials, he has never been Hindooized. He +fully appreciated the evils of a native throne: he has sternly, and +even haughtily, pointed out to the King the miseries caused by his +incapacity, and has frequently extorted from his fears the mercy +which it was vain to hope from his humanity." + +Later in the year. General Sleeman went to the hills, in the hope of +recruiting his wasted health by change of air and scene; but the +expectation proved vain, and he was compelled to take passage for +England. But it was now too late: notwithstanding the best medical +aid, he gradually sank, and, after a long illness, died on his +passage from Calcutta, on the 10th February, 1856, at the age of +sixty-seven. + +His Indian career was, indeed, long and honourable his labours most +meritorious. He was one of those superior men which the Indian +service is constantly producing, who have rendered the name of +Englishman respected throughout the vast empire of British India, and +whose memory will endure so long as British power shall remain in the +East. + +It is well known that Lord Dalhousie, on his relinquishing the Indian +Government, recommended General Sleeman and two other distinguished +officers in civil employment for some mark of the royal favour, and +he was accordingly nominated K.C.B., 4th February, 1856; of which +honour his Lordship apprised him in a highly gratifying letter. + +But, however high the reputation of an officer placed in such +circumstances--and none stood higher than Sir William Sleeman, not +only in the estimation of the Governor-General and the Honourable +Company, but also in the opinion of the inhabitants of India, where +he had served with great ability for forty years, and won the respect +and love particularly of the natives, who always regarded him as +their friend, and by whom his equity was profoundly appreciated--it +was to be anticipated, as a matter of course, that his words and +actions would be distorted and misrepresented by a Court so +atrociously infamous. This, no doubt, he was prepared to expect, The +King, or rather the creatures who surrounded him, would at all cost +endeavour to prevent any investigation into their gross malpractices, +and seek to slander the man they were unable to remove. + +The annexation of Oude to the British dominions followed, but not as +a consequence of Sir W. Sleeman's report. No greater injustice can be +done than to assert that he advised such a course. His letters prove +exactly the reverse. He distinctly states, in his correspondence with +the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, that the annexation of Oude +would cost the British power more than the value of ten such +kingdoms, and would inevitably lead to a mutiny of the Sepoys. He +constantly maintains the advisability of frontier kingdoms under +native sovereigns, that the people themselves might observe the +contrast, to the advantage of the Honourable Company, of the wise and +equitable administration of its rule compared with the oppressive and +cruel despotism of their own princes. Sir William Sleeman had +profoundly studied the Indian character in its different races, and +was deservedly much beloved by them for his earnest desire to promote +their welfare, and for the effectual manner in which, on all +occasions in his power, and these were frequent, he redressed the +evils complained of, and extended the _Ęgis_ of British power over +the afflicted and oppressed. + + + __________________________ + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +THE following Narrative of a "Pilgrimage" through the kingdom of Oude +was written by the late Major-General Sir William Sleeman in 1851 +(while a Resident at the Court of Lucknow), at the request of the +Governor-General the Marquess of Dalhousie, in order to acquaint the +Honourable Company with the actual condition of that kingdom, and +with the view of pointing out the best measures to be suggested to +the King for the improvement and amelioration of the country and +people. + +So early as October, 1847, the King of Oude had been informed by the +Governor-General, that if his system of rule were not materially +amended (for it was disgraceful and dangerous to any neighbouring +power to permit its continuance in its present condition) before two +years had expired, the British Government would find it necessary to +take steps for such purpose in his name. Accordingly on the 16th +September, 1848, the Governor-General addressed the following letter +to Sir William Sleeman, commissioning him to make a personal visit to +all parts of the kingdom:-- + + "_Government House, Sept_. 16, 1848. + +"My Dear COLONEL SLEEMAN,--It was a matter of regret to me that I had +not anticipated your desire to succeed Colonel Sutherland in +Rajpootana before I made arrangements which prevented my offering +that appointment to you. I now regret it no longer, since the course +of events has put it in my power to propose an arrangement which +will, I apprehend, be more agreeable to you, and which will make your +services more _actively_ beneficial to the State. + +"Colonel Richmond has intimated his intention of immediately +resigning the Residency at Lucknow. The communication made by the +Governor-General to the King of Oude, in October, 1847, gave His +Majesty to understand that if the condition of Government was not +very materially amended before two years had expired, the management +for his behoof would be taken into the hands of the British +Government. + +"There seems little reason to expect or to hope that in October, +1849, any amendment whatever will have been effected. The +reconstruction of the internal administration of a great, rich, and +oppressed country, is a noble as well as an arduous task for the +officer to whom the duty is intrusted, and the Government have +recourse to one of the best of its servants for that purpose. + +"The high reputation you have earned, your experience of civil +administration, your knowledge of the people, and the qualifications +you possess as a public man, have led me to submit your name to the +Council of India as an officer to whom I could commit this important +charge with entire confidence that its duties would be well +performed. I do myself, therefore, the honour of proposing to you to +accept the office of Resident at Lucknow, with especial reference to +the great changes which, in all probability, will take place. +Retaining your superintendency of Thuggee affairs, it will be +manifestly necessary that you should be relieved from the duty +of the trials of Thugs usually condemned at Lucknow. + +"In the hope that you will not withhold from the Government your +services in the capacity I have named, and in the further hope of +finding an opportunity of personally making your acquaintance, + + "I have the honour to be, + "Dear Colonel Sleeman, + "Very faithfully yours, + "DALHOUSIE." + +"To Colonel Sleeman, &c., &c." + + +Immediately on receipt of this despatch, Sir William proceeded to +make the necessary inquiry. Doubtless the King (instigated by his +Ministers and favourites, who dreaded the exposure of all their +infamous proceedings) would have prevented this investigation, which, +he was aware, would furnish evidence of gross mal-administration, +cruelty, and oppression almost unparalleled; but Sir William Sleeman +was too well acquainted with the character of the people of the East +to be moved either by cajolery or menaces from the important duty +which had devolved upon him. + +Sir William Sleeman's position as Resident enabled him to ascertain +thoroughly the real state of Oude; and the great respect with which +he was universally received manifests the high opinion entertained of +him personally by all ranks. The details he has given of the +prevailing anarchy and lawlessness throughout the kingdom, would +scarcely be believed were they not vouched for by an officer of +established reputation and integrity. Firmness united to amenity of +manner were indeed the characteristics of Sir William in his +important and delicate office at such a Court--a Court where the +King, deputing the conduct of business to Ministers influenced by the +basest motives, and who constantly sacrificed justice to bribery and +low intrigues, gave himself up to the effeminate indulgence of his +harem, and the society of eunuchs and fiddlers. His Majesty appears +to have been governed by favourites of the hour selected through +utter caprice, and to have permitted, if he did not order, such +atrocious cruelties and oppression as rendered the kingdom of Oude a +disgrace to the British rule in India, and called for strong +interference, on the score of humanity alone, as well as with the +hope of compelling amendment. + +The letter addressed by Lord Dalhousie to Sir William Sleeman +expresses the desire of the Governor-General that he should endeavour +to inform himself of the actual state of Oude, and render his +Narrative a guide to the Honourable Company in its Report to the +Court of Directors. The details furnish but too faithful a picture of +the miserable condition of the people, equally oppressed by the +exactions of the King's army and collectors, and by the gangs of +robbers and lawless chieftains who infest the whole territory, +rendering tenure so doubtful that no good dwellings could be erected, +and land only partially cultivated; whilst the numberless cruelties +and atrocious murders surpass belief. Shut up in his harem, the voice +of justice seldom reached the ear of the monarch, and when it did, +was scarcely heeded. The Resident, it will be seen, was beset during +his journey with petitions for redress so numerous, that, anxious as +he was to do everything in his power to mitigate the horrors he +witnessed, he frequently gives vent to the pain he experienced at +finding relief impracticable. + +The Narrative contains an unvarnished but unexaggerated picture of +the actual state of Oude, with many remedial suggestions; but direct +annexation formed no part of the policy which Sir William Sleeman +recommended. To this measure he was strenuously opposed, as is +distinctly proved by his letters appended to the Journal. At the same +time, he repeatedly affirms the total unfitness of the King to +govern. These opinions are still further corroborated by the +following letter from his private correspondence, 1854-5, written +when Resident at Lucknow, and published in the _Times_ in November +last:-- + +"The system of annexation, pursued by a party in this country, and +favoured by Lord Dalhousie and his Council, has, in my opinion, and +in that of a large number of the ablest men in India, a downward +tendency--a tendency to crush all the higher and middle classes +connected with the land. These classes it should be our object to +create and foster, that we might in the end inspire them with a +feeling of interest in the stability of our rule. _We shall find a +few years hence the tables turned against us_. In fact, the +aggressive and absorbing policy, which has done so much mischief of +late in India, is beginning to create feelings of alarm in the native +mind; and it is when the popular mind becomes agitated by such alarms +that fanatics will always be found ready to step into Paradise over +the bodies of the most prominent of those from whom injury is +apprehended. I shall have nothing new to do at Lucknow. Lord +Dalhousie and I have different views, I fear. If he wishes anything +done that I do not think right and honest, I resign, and leave it to +be done by others. I desire a strict adherence to solemn engagements, +whether made with white faces or black. We have no right to annex or +confiscate Oude; but we have a right, under the treaty of 1837, to +take the management of it, but not to appropriate its revenues to +ourselves. We can do this with honour to our Government and benefit +to the people. To confiscate would be dishonest and dishonourable. To +annex would be to give the people a government almost as bad as their +own, if we put our screw upon them. My position here has been and is +disagreeable and unsatisfactory: we have a fool of a king, a knave of +a minister, and both are under the influence of one of the cleverest, +most intriguing, and most unscrupulous villains in India." + +Major Bird, in his pamphlet "Dacoitee in Excelsis," while +endeavouring to establish a case for the King of Oude, has assumed +that Sir William Sleeman was an instrument in the hands of Lord +Dalhousie, to carry out his purpose of annexing Oude to British +India. The letters, now first printed, entirely refute this hasty and +erroneous statement. Major Bird has, in fact, withdrawn it himself in +a lecture delivered by him at Southampton on Tuesday, the 16th of +February, 1858. + +It will be seen that Sir W. Sleeman's "Diary" commences on December +1, 1849. To preserve chronological order, the letters written before +that date are prefixed; those which refer to a later period are added +at the end of the narrative. + + + __________________________ + + +PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE +PRECEDING THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE KINGDOM OF OUDE. + + + Camp, 20th February, 1848. + +My Dear Sir, + +I thank you for your letter of the 10th instant, and am of opinion +that you may be able to make good use of Bhurut Sing under judicious +management, and strict surveillance; but you do not mention who and +what he is--whether he is a prisoner under sentence, or a free agent, +or of what caste and profession. Some men make these offers in order +to have opportunities of escape, while engaged in the pretended +search after associates in crime; others to extort money from those +whom they may denounce, or have the authority and means to arrest. He +should be made to state distinctly the evidence he has against +persons, and the way he got it; and all should be recorded against +the names of the persons in a Register. Major Riddell is well +acquainted with our mode of proceedings in all such cases, and I +recommend you to put yourself in communication, as soon as possible, +with him, and Mr. Dampier, the Superintendent of Police, who +fortunately takes the greatest possible interest in all such matters. +I have no supervision whatever over the officers of the department +employed in Bengal; all rests entirely with Mr. Dampier. You might +write to him at once, and tell him that you are preparing such a +Register as I suggest; and if he is satisfied with the evidence, he +will authorise the arrest of all or part, and well reward Bhurut Sing +for his services. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir, + With best wishes for your success, + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Capt. J. Innes, +Barrackpoor. + + _________________________ + + + Camp, 20th February, 1848. +My Dear Colonel Sutherland, + +There are at Jubulpore a good many of the Bagree decoits, who have +been sentenced as approvers, by the Courts of Punchaet, in +Rajpootana, to imprisonment for very short periods. Unless they are +ordered to be retained when these periods expire, on a requisition of +security for their future good behaviour, they will make off, and +assuredly return to their hereditary trade. The ordinary pay of the +grades open to them in our police and other establishments, will not +satisfy them when they find that we have no hold upon them, and they +become more and more troublesome as the time for their enlargement +approaches. + +I send you copies of the letters from Government of the 27th June, +1839, from which you will see that it was intended that all +professional decoits who gave us their services on a promise of +conditional pardon, should have a sentence of imprisonment for life +recorded against them, the execution of which was to be suspended +during their good behaviour, and eventually altogether remitted in +cases where they might be deemed to have merited, by a course of true +and faithful services, such an indulgence. In all other parts, as +well as in our own provinces as in native states, such sentences, +have been recorded against these men, and they have cheerfully +submitted to them, under the assurance that they and their children +would be provided with the means of earning an honest livelihood; but +in Rajpootana it has been otherwise. + +By Act 24, of 1843, all such professional gang-robbers are declared +liable to a sentence, on conviction, of imprisonment for life; and +everywhere else a sentence of imprisonment for life has been passed +upon all persons convicted of being gang-robbers by profession. This +is indispensably necessary for the entire suppression of the system +which Government has in view. Do you not think that in your Courts +the final sentence might be left to the European functionaries, and +the verdict only left to the Punchaets? The greater part of those +already convicted in these Courts will have to be released soon, and +all who are so will certainly return to their trade; and the system +will continue in spite of all our efforts to put it down. I have just +been at Jubulpore, and the bearing of the Bagree decoits, sent from +Ajmeer by Buch, is quite different from that of those who have had a +sentence of imprisonment for life passed against them in other +quarters, and is very injurious to them, for they get so bad a name +that no one will venture to give them service of any kind. Do, I pray +you, think of a remedy for the future. The only one that strikes me +is that above suggested, of leaving the final sentence to the +European officers. + +I need not say that I was delighted at your getting the great Douger +Sing by the means you had yourself proposed for the pursuit--sending +an officer with authority to disregard boundaries. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. S. SLEEMAN + +To Col. Sutherland. + + ______________________________ + + + Jhansee, 4th March, 1848. + +My Lord, + +I had the gratification to receive your Lordship's letter of the 7th +of January last, at Nursingpore, in the valley of the Nerbudda, where +I commenced my Civil career more than a quarter of a century before, +and where, of all places, I should have wished to receive so gracious +a testimonial from such high authority. I should have earlier +expressed by grateful acknowledgments, and prepared the narrative so +frequently called for, but I was then engaged in preparing a Report +on Gang-robbery in India, and wished first to make a little more +progress, that I might be able to speak more confidently of its +ultimate completion and submission to Government. In a less perfect +form this Report was, at the earnest recommendation of the then +Lieut.-Governor N.W.P., the Honourable T. Robertson, and with the +sanction of the Governor-General Lord Auckland, sent to the +Government press so long back as 1842, but his Lordship appeared to +me to think that the printing had better be deferred till more +progress had been made in the work of putting down the odious system +of crime which the Report exposed, and I withdrew it from the press +with little hope of ever again having any leisure to devote to it, or +finding any other person able and willing to undertake its +completion. + +During the last rains, however, I began again to arrange the confused +mass of papers which I found lying in a box; but in October I was +interrupted by a severe attack of fever, and unable to do anything +but the current duties of my office till I commenced my tour through +the Saugor territories, in November. I have since nearly completed +the work, and hope to be able to submit it to Government before the +end of this month in a form worthy of its acceptation. + +I am afraid that the narrative of my humble services will be found +much longer than it ought to be, but I have written it hastily that +it might go by this mail, and it is the first attempt I have ever +thought of making at such a narrative, for I have gone on quietly +"through evil and through good report," doing, to the best of my +ability, the duties which it has pleased the Government of India, +from time to time, to confide to me, in the manner which appeared to +me most conformable to its wishes and its honour, satisfied and +grateful for the trust and confidence which enabled me to do so much +good for the people, and to secure so much of their attachment and +gratitude to their rulers. + +Permit me to subscribe myself, with great respect, Your Lordship's +faithful and obedient humble servant, + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Lieut.-General the Right Hon. +Henry Viscount Hardinge, + &c. &c. &c. + + _________________________ + + + Jhansee, 4th March, 1848. +Dear Sir, + +Lord Hardinge, in a letter dated the 7th of January last, requested +me to make out a narrative of my humble services in India, and to +send it under cover to you, as he expected to embark on the 15th, +before he could receive it in Calcutta. I take the liberty to send my +reply with the narrative, open, and to request that you will do me +the favour to have them sealed and forwarded to his Lordship. + + Believe me, dear Sir, + Yours very faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To J. Cosmo Melvill, +Secretary to the East India Company, +India House, London. + + _________________________ + + + Jhansee, 28th March, 1848. + + +My Dear Elliot, + +The Court of Directors complain that decoit prisoners are not tried +as soon as they are caught, but they know little of the difficulties +that the officers under me find in getting them tried, for political +officers have, in truth, had little encouragement to undertake such +duties, and it is only a few choice spirits that have entered upon +the duty _con amore_. General Nott prided, himself upon doing nothing +whatever while he was at Lucknow; General Pollock did all he could, +but it was not much; and Colonel Richmond does nothing. There the +Buduk decoits, Thugs, and poisoners, remain without sentences, and +will do so till Richmond goes, unless you give him a fillip. If you +tell him to apply for an assistant to aid him in the conduct of the +trials, and tell him to nominate his own, he may go to work, and I +earnestly pray you to do something, or the Oude Turae will become +what it had for ages been before we cleaned it out. Davidson was +prevented from doing anything by technical difficulties, so that out +of _four Residents we have not got four days' work_. + +You will soon get my Report, and it will be worth having, and the +last I shall make on crime in India. + +If Hercules had not had better instruments he could not so easily +have cleared out his stable; but he had no "Honourable Court" to find +fault with his mode of doing the thing, I conclude. The fact is, +however, that our prisoners are pretty well tried before they get +into quod. Mr. Bird will be delighted at the manner in which he is +introduced in my first chapter, and many another good officer well +pleased. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., +Secretary to the Government of India, +Calcutta. + + _________________________________ + + + Jhansee, 29th March, 1848. + +My Dear Maddock, + +I hope you will not disapprove of the resolution to which I have come +of resigning the charge of the Saugor territories, now that +tranquillity has been restored,--the best possible feelings among the +people prevail, and the object you had in view in recommending Lord +Ellenborough to confide that charge to me has been effected,--or of +the manner in which I have tendered my resignation. Were I longer to +retain the charge, I should be subjected to humiliations which the +exigencies of the public service do not require that I should at this +time of life submit to, and I shall have enough of labour and anxiety +in the charge that will still remain to me. If an opening for Sir R. +Shakespear could be found, his salary might be saved by my residence +being transferred to Gwalior. If either Hamilton or I were to be +removed to some other post, it would be well to reduce Gwalior and +Indore to political agencies, under the supervision of an agent, as +in Rajpootana, with Bundelcund added to his charge. The latter of +these two measures has, you know, been under consideration, and was, +I think, proposed by Sutherland when you were at Gwalior with Lord +Auckland. Had the Lieutenant-Governor known more of the Saugor +territories when he wrote the paper on which Government is now +acting, he would not, I think, have described the state of things as +he has done, or urged the introduction of the system which must end +in minutely subdividing all leases, and in having all questions +regarding land tenures removed into the civil Courts, as in the +provinces. It is the old thing, "nothing like leather." I shall not +weary you by anything more on this subject. I hope a good man will be +selected for the charge. The selection of Mr. M. Smith as successor +to Mr. Brown was a good one. My letter will go off to-day, and be, I +trust, well received. I am grieved that Clerk has been obliged to +quit his post; he has been throughout his career an ornament to your +service, but his friends seem all along to have apprehended that he +could not long stand the climate of Bombay. I am anxious to learn how +long you are to remain in Council. + + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock, + &c. &c. &c. + + + _______________________________ + + + Jhansee, 2nd April, 1848. + +My Dear Elliot, + +Till I this morning got the public letter, which will go off to-day, +I never heard one word about Shakespear's intention or wish to go to +the hills, and only thirteen days remain. The orders of Government as +to his _locum tenens_ cannot reach me by the 15th, when he is to +leave, and I shall have to put in some one to take charge, as there +is a treasury under his management. + +If Government wish to take Major Stevens from the Byza Bae, and give +him some other employment, he might be sent to act for Captain Ross; +but I know nothing of his fitness for such an office. + +I believe you know Captain Ross, and I need say nothing more than +what I have said in my public letter. If he be sent to Gwalior, I +hope a good officer may be sent to act for him in Thalone, for the +duties are very heavy and responsible. Blake will do very well, and +so would his second in command, Captain Erskine, of the 73rd, who is +an excellent civil officer. I must pray you to let me have the orders +of Government on the subject as soon as possible. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + +P.S.--I should consider Major Stevens an able man for a civil charge, +but have never seen him. + + (Signed) W. H. S. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 6th May, 1848. + +My Dear Maddock, + +Your kind letter of the 21st ultimo had prepared me for the public +one of the 28th, which I got yesterday from Elliot, and I wrote off +at once, to say simply that I should be glad to suspend or to +withdraw the application contained in my letter of the 29th of March, +as might appear best to Government; and that I should not have made +it at all, had I apprehended that a compliance with it would have +been attended with any inconvenience. + +With the knowledge I have acquired of the duties of the several +officers, and the entire command of my time here at a quiet place, +and long-established methodical habits, I can get through the work +very well, though it becomes trying sometimes. Arrears I never allow +to accumulate, and regular hours, and exercise, and sparing diet, +with water beverage, keep me always in condition for office work. I +often wish that you could have half the command of your hours, mode +of living, and movements, that I have. However, they will soon be +much more free than mine. I am very glad that you have the one year +more for a wind up; and hope that good fortune will attend you to the +last. You say nothing, however, about your foot. The papers and +letters from home have just come in. I hear that Lord John is very +unwell, and will not be able to stand the work many months more, and +that Sir R. Peel is obliged to be _cupped_ once a-week, and could not +possibly take office. Who is to take helm in the troubled ocean, no +one knows. I am glad that Metternich has been kicked out, for he and +Louis Philippe are the men that have put in peril the peace and +institutions of all Europe. I only wish that the middle class was as +strong in France as it is in England; it is no doubt infinitely +stronger than it was; while the lower order is better than that of +England, I believe, for such occasions. They have good men now in the +provisional Government--so they had in 1788; and, like them, the +present men will probably be swept away by the mob. They are not, +however, likely to be embarrassed by other nations, since the days of +Pitt and George III. are passed away, and so are the feudal times +when the barons could get up civil wars for their own selfish +purposes. There are no characters sufficiently prominent to get up a +civil war, but the enormous size of the army is enough to create +feelings of disquiet. It is, however, officered from the middle +classes, who have property at stake, and must be more or less +interested in the preservation of order. + +The Government has no money to send to Algiers, and must reduce its +strength there, so that Egypt is in no danger at present; were it so, +we should be called upon to defend it from India, and could well do +so. It is evident that the whole French nation was alienated from +Louis Philippe, and prepared to cast off him and all his family, +though, as you say, I do not believe that there was anywhere any +design to oust him and put down monarchy. Had he thrown off Guizot a +little sooner, and left some able military leaders free to act, the +_émeute_ would have been put down; but those who could have acted did +not feel free to do so: they did not feel sure of the king, while +they were sure of the odium of the people. I am not at all sorry for +the change. I am persuaded that it will work good for Europe; but +still its peace and best institutions are in peril at present. We are +in no danger here, because people do not understand such things; and +because England is in a prouder position than ever, and will, I +trust, retain it. + +Lord Grey seems an able man at home, but he is, I believe, hot- +headed, and Lord Stanley is ten times worse; he would soon have up +the barricades in London. Lord Clarendon seems a safe guide, but +_Peel_ is the man for the time, if he has the stamina. Lord +Palmerston has conducted the duties of his office with admirable tact +of late; and much of the good feeling that prevails in Europe towards +England at present seems to arise from it. Amelie begs to be most +kindly remembered; she is here with her little boy--two girls at +Munsoorie, and two girls and a boy at home. + + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock, + &c. &c. &c. + + + ______________________________ + + + Jhansee, 14th May, 1848. + +My Dear Weston, + +I have been directed by Government to name an officer whom I may +consider competent to superintend the suppression of Thuggee in the +Punjaub, where a new class has been discovered, and some progress has +been made in finding and arresting them. I have, in reply, mentioned +that I should have Captain Williams, of the 29th, and Captain +Chambers, of the 21st; but their services might not be considered +available, since the prescribed number of captains are already absent +from their regiments, and, in consequence, I have you. I know not +whether you will like the duties; if not, pray tell me as soon as +possible. + +The salary is 700 rupees a-month, with office-rent 40, and +establishments 152. The duties are interesting and important; and so +good a foundation has been laid by Larkins and the other local +authorities, and all are so anxious to have the evil put down, that +you will have the most cordial support and co-operation of all, and +the fairest prospect of success. But you will have to apply yourself +steadily to work, and if you have not _passed_, you should do so as +soon as possible. I do not see P. opposite your name, and Government +may possibly object on this ground. Let all this be _entre nous_ for +the present. + +If you undertake the duties, you will have to go to Lodheeana, seeing +Major Graham at Agra, on the way, to get a little insight into the +work. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +P.S.--You will be in the most interesting scene in India, and need be +under no apprehension about the permanency of the appointment. + +To Lieut. Weston, + &c. &c. + + + + ________________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 18th May, 1848. +My Dear Maddock, + +Things are not going on so well as could be wished in the Punjaub; +and it appears to me that we have been there committing an error of +the same kind that we committed in Afghanistan--that is, taking upon +ourselves the most odious part of the executive administration. In +such a situation this should have been avoided, if possible. There is +a kind of chivalry in this--if there is anything odious to be done, +or repugnant to the feelings of the people, a young Englishman thinks +he must do it himself, lest he should be thought disposed to shift +off a painful burthen upon others; and he thinks it unbecoming of us +to pay any regard to popular feeling. Of course, also, the officers +of the Sikh State are glad to get rid of such burthens while they see +English gentlemen ready to carry them. Now, it strikes me that we +might, with a little tact, have altered all this, and retained the +good feelings of the people, by throwing the executive upon the +officers of the Sikh State, and remaining ourselves in the dignified +position of Appellate Courts for the redress of grievances inflicted +by these officers in neglect of duty or abuse of authority. Our duty +would have been to guide, control, and check, and the head of all +might have been like the sovereigns of England--known only by his +acts of grace. + +By keeping in this dignified position we should not only have +retained the good feelings of the people, but we should have been +teaching the Sikh officers their administrative duties till the time +comes for making over the country; and the chief and Court would have +found the task, made over to them under such a system, more easy to +sustain. In Afghanistan we did the reverse of all this, and became +intolerably odious to the mass of the people; for they saw that +everything that was harsh was done by us, and the officers of the +King were disposed to confirm and increase this impression because +they were not employed. The people of the Punjaub are not such +fanatics, and they are more divided in creed and caste, while they +see no ranges of snowy mountains, barren rocks, and difficult passes +between us and our reinforcements and resources; but it seems clear +that there is a good deal of excitement and bad feeling growing up +amongst them that may be very mischievous. All the newspapers, +English and native, make the administration appear to be altogether +English--it is Captain This, Mr. That, who do, or are expected to do, +everything; and all over the country the native chiefs will think, +that the leaving the country to the management of the Sirdars was a +mere mockery and delusion. + +We should keep our hands as much as possible out of the harsh and +dirty part of the executive work, that the European officers may be +looked up to with respect as the effectual check upon the native +administrators; always prepared to check any disposition on their +part to neglect their duty or abuse their power, and thereby bring +their Government into disrepute. Of course, the outrage at Mooltan +must be avenged, and our authority there established; but, when this +is done, Currie should be advised to avoid the rock upon which our +friend Macnaghten was wrecked. We are too impatient to jump down the +throats of those who venture to look us in the face, and to force +upon them our modes of doing the work of the country, and to +superintend the doing it ourselves in all its details, or having it +done by creatures of our own, commonly ten times more odious to the +people than we are ourselves. + +It is unfortunate that this outrage, and the excitement to which it +has given rise, should have come so quickly upon Lord Hardinge's +assurances at the London feast, and amidst the turmoil of popular +movements at home. It has its use in showing us the necessity of +being always prepared. + +Baba Bulwunt Row tells me that he has got a letter from you in the +form of Khureela, and claims one from me on that ground. Shall I +comply? We have avoided this hitherto, as the Pundits put him up to +claim everything that the Bae's family had, not even omitting the +Thalone principality; and hints have been dropped of a mission to +England, if the money could be got. I wish to subdue these +pretensions for his own sake, that he may not be entirely ruined by +temptations to expensive displays. He has now got the entire +management of his own affairs, and is a sensible, well-disposed lad. +He was never recognised as the Bae's successor by Government or the +Agent, nor was he written to on the Bae's death. Cunput Row Bhaca was +the person addressed in the letter of condolence. His son has run +through all he has or can borrow, and is in a bad way. Moresor Row +has the reputation of being very rich, though he pleads poverty +always. The whole of the Saugor territories, save Mundla, have +benefited by two very fine seasons, with great demand for land +produce, and the people are happy. I have asked for reductions in +Mundla, to save the little of tillage and population that has been +left. The whole revenue is a mere trifle in such a jungle as you know +it to be, and when once the people go off, there is no getting them +back. Deer destroy the crops upon the few fields left, tigers come to +eat the deer, and malaria follows, to sweep off the remaining few +families. + +I must not prose any longer at present. Amelia often talks of you, +and begs to be kindly remembered. + + Ever yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock, + &c. &c. &c. + + + ____________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 28th May, 1848. +My Dear Maddock, + +I yesterday sent off by Dawk Bangy an elaborate Report on Dacoits by +hereditary profession, and on the measures adopted by the Government +of India for their suppression, and hope it will reach Calcutta +before the rains set in heavily. Government may be justly proud of +the good which it shows to have been effected for the people of India +in the course of a brief period; and I am glad that you have for this +period been a member of it. There is much in the Report to interest +the general reader, but much of what is inserted would, of course, +have been left out by any one who had to consult the wishes of such +readers only. + +At this time last year I had not the slightest hope of ever being +able to lay such a Report before Government; for I never expected to +find leisure in my present office, and could not carry the requisite +records with me, if driven away by sickness, to where I might find +it. The papers lay mouldering in an old box, to which I had consigned +them in 1840, when I withdrew them from the press, under the +impression that Lord Auckland thought that the exposition of the +terrible evil ought not to appear till more progress had been made in +its suppression; as G. Thompson and other itinerant orators would be +glad to get hold of them to abuse the Government. The Report is +infinitely more interesting and complete than it could have been +then, and may bid defiance to all such orators. + +If printed, it will take from 400 to 450 pages, such as those of the +late Report on the Indian Penal Code, and be a neat and useful volume +for reference. I began it in the rains last year, but was stopped +short by a fever, and unable to continue it till I set out on my +tour. Three-fourths of it was written in the intervals between the +morning's march and breakfast-time during my tour through the Saugor +territories. + +The tables of dacoitees ascertained to have been committed by the +dacoits described, and of the conditionally pardoned offenders, will +follow, and be found useful for reference, but should not, perhaps, +be in the same volume with the text of the Report; of that, however, +I leave Government to judge. I thank God that I have been able to +place before it so complete and authentic a record of what has been +done to carry out its views. + + Ever most sincerely yours, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock, + &c. &c. &c. + + Jhansee, 15th August, 1848. + +My Lord, + +As it is possible that the letter which I addressed to your Lordship +on the 6th of March last, and sent open to Mr. Melvill, the Secretary +at the India House, may have miscarried; I write to mention that I +sent it, lest it might be supposed that I was insensible of the +kindness which induced your Lordship to write to me before leaving +India. The work which made me delay so long to reply to that letter +is now being printed in Calcutta, under the authority of Government; +and, as it contains much that is curious and entertaining, and +honourable to our rule in India, I trust at no distant day to have +the honour of presenting a copy to your Lordship. + +Amidst events of such absorbing interest as are now taking place +every day in Europe, India cannot continue long to engage much of +your thoughts; for, with the exception of the little outbreak at +Mooltan, tranquillity prevails, and is likely to do so for some time. +There has been delay in putting down the Mooltan rebels, but the next +mail will, I hope, take home news of the work having been effectually +done. This delay seems to have arisen from a notion that troops ought +not to be employed in the hot winds and rains; but when occasion +requires they can be employed at all times, and the people of India +require to be assured that they can be so. It has not, I think, been +found that troops actually employed in the hot winds and rains lose +more men than in cantonments, at least native troops. + +It was, I think, your Lordship's intention that, in the Lahore state, +we should guide, direct, and supervise the administration, but not +take all the executive upon ourselves, to the exclusion of all the +old native aristocracy, as we had done in Afghanistan. This policy +has not, I am afraid, been adhered to sufficiently; and we have, +probably, less of the sympathy and cordial good-will of the higher +and middle classes than we should otherwise have had. But I am too +far from the scene to be a fair judge in such matters. + +The policy of interposing Hindoo native states between us and the +beggarly fanatical countries to the north-west no wise man can, I +think, doubt; for, however averse our Government may be to encroach +and creep on, it would be drawn on by the intermeddling dispositions +and vainglory of local authorities; and every step would be ruinous, +and lead to another still more ruinous. With the Hindoo +principalities on our border we shall do very well, and trust that we +shall long be able to maintain them in the state required for their +own interests and ours. + +I wish England would put forth its energies to raise the colony of +New Zealand, the queen of the Pacific Ocean; for the relations +between that island and India must some day become very intimate, and +the sooner it begins the better. I am very glad to find by the last +mail that the French have put their affairs into better hands--those +of practical men, instead of visionaries. + + Believe me, with great respect, + Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Lieut.-General the Right Hon. +Henry Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B., + &c. &c. &c. + + + + ____________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 22nd August 1848. + +My Dear Sir Erskine, + +I thank you for kindly sending me a copy of your Address to the +Native Youth at Bombay and their Parents, and should have done so +earlier, but it has been in circulation among many of my friends who +feel interested in the subject. Whatever may be thought of the +question as to where we should begin, all concur in acknowledging the +truth of your conclusions as to the value and use of the knowledge we +wish to impart, and in admiring the language and sentiment of your +Address. + +There are some passages of great beauty, which I wish all persons +could read and remember; and I do not recollect ever having seen one +that has pleased me more, for its truths and elegance, than that +beginning, "But if a manufacturing population." That which begins +with--"The views, young men, as to the true object and ends to be +attained," is no less truthful and excellent. + +It is unfortunate that the education which we have to supplant in +India is so blended with the religion of the people, as far as +Hindoos are concerned, that we cannot make progress without exciting +alarm. Had a nation, endowed with all the knowledge we have, come +into Europe in the days of Galileo and Copernicus, and attempted to +impart it to the mass of the people, or to the higher classes only, +the same alarm would have been raised, or nearly the same. We must be +content with small, or slow progress; but there are certain branches +of knowledge, highly useful to the people, that are finding their way +among them from our metropolitan establishments, and working good. + +I might better have said, that had we come into Greece when Homer was +the Bible of the people, with all our astronomy, chemistry, and +physical science generally, and our literature, blended as it is with +our religion, we should have found our Greek fellow-subjects as +untractable as the Hindoos or Parsees. The fact is, that every +Hindoo, educated through our language in our literature and science, +must be more or less wretched in domestic life, for he cannot feel or +think with his family, or bring them to feel or think with him. The +knowledge which he has acquired satisfies him that the faith to which +they adhere, and which guides them in all their duties, ceremonies, +acts, and habits, is monstrous and absurd; but he can never hope to +impart to them this knowledge, or to alienate them from that faith; +nor does he himself feel any confidence in any other creed: he feels +that he is an isolated being, who can exchange thoughts and feelings +unreservedly with no one. I have seen many estimable Hindoos in this +state, with minds highly gifted and cultivated, and with abilities +for anything. For such men we cannot create communities, nor can they +create them for themselves: they can enjoy their books and +conversation with men who understand and enjoy them like themselves; +but how few are the men of this class with whom they can ever hope to +associate on easy terms! It is not so with Mahommedans. All the +literature and science in the world has no more effect on their faith +than on ours; and their families apprehend no alienation in any +member who may choose to indulge in them; and they indulge in them +little, merely because they do not find that they conduce to secure +them employment and bread. + +I think it would be useful if we could get rid of the terms +_education_, _civilization_, &c., and substitute that of _knowledge_. +It would obviate much controversy, for the greater part of our +disputes arise from the vagueness of the terms we use. All would +agree that certain branches of knowledge are useful to certain +classes, and that certain modes are the best for imparting them. The +subject is deeply interesting and important; but I must not indulge +further. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir Erskine, + With great respect, + Yours very faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + To Sir Erskine Perry, + Chief Justice, Bombay. + + + ___________________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 24th September, 1848. + +My Lord, + +I feel grateful for the offer contained in your Lordship's letter of +the 16th instant, and no less so for the gracious manner in which it +has been conveyed, and beg to say that I shall be glad to avail +myself of it, and be prepared to proceed to take charge as soon as I +am directed to do so, as I have no arrears in any of my offices to +detain me, and can make them over to any one at the shortest notice, +with the assurance that he will find nothing in them to perplex or +embarrass him. + +I shall do my best to carry out your Lordship's views in the new +charge; and though I am not so strong as I could wish, I may, with +prudence, hope to have health for a few years to sustain me in duties +of so much interest. + +I hope your Lordship will pardon my taking advantage of the present +occasion to say a few words on the state of affairs in the north- +west, which are now of such absorbing interest. I have been for some +time impressed with the belief that the system of administration in +the Punjaub has created doubts as to the ultimate intention of our +Government with regard to the restoration of the country to the +native ruler when he comes of age. The native aristocracy of the +country seem to have satisfied themselves that our object has been to +retain the country, and that this could be prevented only by timely +resistance. The sending European officers to relieve the chief of +Mooltan, and to take possession of the country and fort, seems to +have removed the last lingering doubt upon this point; and Molraj +seems to have been satisfied that in destroying them he should be +acting according to the wishes of all his class, and all that portion +of the population who might aspire to employment under a native rule. +This was precisely the impression created by precisely the same means +in Afghanistan; and I believe that the notion now generally prevalent +is, that our professed intentions of delivering over the country to +its native ruler were not honest, and that we should have +appropriated the country to ourselves could we have done so. + +There are two classes of native Governments in India. In one the +military establishments are all national, and depend entirely upon +the existence of native rule. They are officered by the aristocracy +of the country, chiefly landed, who know that they are not fitted for +either civil or military office under our system, and must be reduced +to beggary or insignificance should our rule be substituted for that +of their native chief. In the other, all the establishments are +foreign, like our own. The Seiks were not altogether of the first +class, like those of Rajpootana and Bundelcund, but they were so for +the most part; and when they saw all offices of trust by degrees +being filled by Captain This and Mr. That, they gave up all hopes of +ever having their share in the administration. + +Satisfied that this was our error in Afghanistan, in carrying out the +views of Lord Ellenborough in the Gwalior State, I did everything in +my power to avoid it, and have entirely succeeded, I believe; but it +has not been done without great difficulty. I considered Lord +Hardinge's measures good, as they interposed Hindoo States between us +and a beggarly and fanatical country, which it must be ruinous to our +finances to retain, and into which we could not avoid making +encroachments, however anxious the Government might be to avoid it, +if our borders joined. But I supposed that we should be content with +guiding, controlling, and supervising the native administration, and +not take all the executive upon ourselves to the almost entire +exclusion of the native aristocracy. I had another reason for +believing that Lord Hardinge's measures were wise and prudent. While +we have a large portion of the country under native rulers, their +administration will contrast with ours greatly to our advantage in +the estimation of the people; and we may be sure that, though some +may be against us, many will be for us. If we succeed in sweeping +them all away, or absorbing them, we shall be at the mercy of our +native army, and they will see it; and accidents may possibly occur +to unite them, or a great portion of them, in some desperate act. The +thing is possible, though improbable; and the best provision against +it seems to me to be the maintenance of native rulers, whose +confidence and affection can be engaged, and administrations improved +under judicious management. + +The industrial classes in the Punjaub would, no doubt, prefer our +rule to that of the Seiks; but that portion who depend upon public +employment under Government for their subsistence is large in the +Punjaub, and they would nearly all prefer a native rule. They have +evidently persuaded themselves that our intention is to substitute +our own rule; and it is now, I fear, too late to remove the +impression. If your Lordship is driven to annexation, you must be in +great force; and a disposition must be shown on the part of the local +authorities to give the educated aristocracy of the country a liberal +share in the administration. + +One of the greatest dangers to be apprehended in India is, I believe, +the disposition on the part of the dominant class to appoint to all +offices members of their own class, to the exclusion of the educated +natives. This has been nobly resisted hitherto; but where every +subaltern thinks himself in a condition to take a wife, and the land +opens no prospect to his children but in the public service, the +competition will become too great. + +I trust that your Lordship will pardon my having written so much, and +believe me, with great respect, your Lordship's obedient humble +servant, + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +P.S.--The Commander-in-Chief has asked me, through the Quartermaster- +General, whether any corps can be spared from Bundelcund. I shall say +that we can spare two regiments--one from Nagode, whose place can be +supplied by a wing of the regiment at Nowgow, and one from Jhansee, +whose place can be supplied from the Gwalior Contingent, if your +Lordship sees no objection, as a temporary arrangement. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Right Hon. +the Earl of Dalhousie, + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + Lucknow, 30th January, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +A salute of twenty-one guns had been fired here by the King for the +sadly dear victory over Shere Sing, and another has been fired to-day +for the fall of Mooltan. The King continues very ill, but no danger +seems to be apprehended. The disease is accompanied by very untoward +secondary symptoms, which are likely ultimately to destroy him, and +render his life miserable while it lasts. How much of these symptoms +he derives from his birth, and how much from his own excesses, is +uncertain. + +The impression regarding the minister, mentioned in my last note, was +from a talk with him while he was, it seems, under the influence of +fever. In later conversations he has been more lucid; but he is a +third-rate man, and quite unequal to the burthen that the favour of +the King has placed upon him. That favour will, however, be but of +short duration, for the King is said to have expressed great distrust +in his capacity to do any of the things he promised, more especially +to collect the immense arrears of revenue now due. + +I am preparing tables of the revenue and expenditure, and of the +machinery in all branches, and hope soon to submit a clearer view of +the state of things than Government is in the habit of getting on +such occasions; but I have to wade through vast volumes of +correspondence to ascertain what has been said and done in the +questions that will come under consideration, to conduct current +duties, and to become acquainted with the people in my new field, +European and native. + +I want to ask you whether I could, with any prospect of success just +now, propose a plan which I have much at heart in the Thuggee and +Dacoity Department. The Lieutenant-Governor, I feel assured, will +advocate it. Major Graham is about to obtain his regimental majority, +with a certain prospect of soon obtaining the command of his +regiment, which will give him twelve hundred a-month. I am anxious to +retain him; for his services have been, and would continue to be, of +vast importance to the North-West Provinces. I should like to propose +that he be made superintendent of Thuggee and Dacoity in those +provinces upon a salary of, say eleven hundred rupees a-month. I +would at the same time propose that the Shahjehanpoor office, lately +under Major Ludlow, be done up, and the duties confided to the +assistant-magistrate, with a small establishment, he to receive an +extra salary, say, one hundred rupees a-month. The same with regard +to the Azimghur office, now under Captain Ward, who could be sent to +Rajpootana. Elliot is not suited well to the work, according to those +who have seen most of him and of it; and you might be able to put him +to some other for which he is fitted. Should you think it desirable +to retain him in Rajpootana, Captain Ward may for the present remain +where he is; and the saving from the Shahjehanpoor office will more +than cover the increase for Major Graham. Pray let me know as soon as +you can whether such a proposal would be likely to be well received. +Graham's services have been and will be most valuable to all the +local authorities at and under Agra. + +I suppose the fate of the Punjaub is sealed, for though the Governor- +General might wish to spare it, the home authorities and the home +people will hardly brook the prospect or the chance of another +struggle of the same kind, particularly if the Afghans have really +joined the Seiks under Chutter Sing. The tendency to annexation, +already strong at home, will become still stronger when the news of +our late losses arrive. They indicate a stronger assurance of +national sympathy on the part of the chiefs and troops opposed to us +than was generally calculated upon. The fall of Mooltan will have +relieved the Governor-General's mind from much of the anxiety caused +by the inartistic management of the Commander-in-Chief. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + + ______________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 7th March, 1849. + +My Dear Elliott, + +I may mention what has been the state of feeling at Lucknow regarding +the state of affairs in the Punjaub, though it has become of less +interest to the Governor-General now that so decided a victory has +crowned his efforts. During the whole contest the Government five per +cent. notes have been every day sold in my office at par, and I +question whether this can be said of the offices in Calcutta. One day +during the races, on the King's firing a salute for victory, the +European gentlemen talked about it at the stand with many of the +first of the native aristocracy. They said that the Seiks could not +fight as they were fighting unless there had been some general +feeling of distrust as to our ultimate intentions with regard to the +Punjaub which united them together; and that this feeling must be as +strong with the Durbar and those who did not fight as with those who +did. I was not present, as I did not attend the races; but I found +the same opinion prevailing among all with whom I conversed. But all +seemed to be perfectly satisfied as to the utter hopelessness of the +struggle, as evinced by the great barometer of the Government paper. + +I suppose Dost Mahomed's force in Peshawur will have proceeded in all +haste to the Khyber on hearing of the defeat of their friends, and +that General Gilbert's fine division will find none of them to +contend with; and that Gholab Sing will be glad of an occasion to +display his zeal by keeping Shore Sing and his father out of the +hills. + +The river Indus will, I suppose, hardly be considered so safe a +boundary as the hills; for if any danger is to be apprehended from +the west, it would not be safe to leave the enemy so fine a field to +organize their forces upon after emerging from the difficult passes. +Well organized upon that field, a force could cross the river +anywhere in the cold and hot seasons; and the revenue of that field +would aid in keeping up a force that might in the day of need be used +against us. It was a great error committed by Lord Hastings in +allowing the Nepaulese the fertile portion of the Jurac, which then +yielded only two lacs of rupees, but now yields thirteen, and will, +ere long, yield twenty. Without this their military force would have +been altogether insignificant; but it is not so now. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + _________________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 20th March, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +The King continues much the same as when I last wrote. Under skilful +treatment he might soon get well; but the prescriptions of his best +native physicians are little attended to, and he has not yet +consented to consult an European doctor. He could not have a better +doctor than Leekie, and the natives have great confidence in him; but +his Majesty has not expressed any wish to see or consult him. If he +did so, the chances are one hundred to one against his taking his +medicine. + +I do not like to write a public letter on the subject, but am anxious +to know the Governor-General's wishes as to whether any new +engagements should be entered into in case of the King's decease, and +with whom. + +The instructions contained in your letter of the 16th August, 1847, +referred to in my last, will be carried out; but the Governor-General +may wish to have the new arrangements recorded in a former treaty, +the heads of the royal family consenting thereto, as at Gwalior, when +the regency was appointed. I have no copy of the treaty made at +Lahore, where the regency was appointed. + +I should think it desirable to give the members of the regency each +distinct duties, so that he may feel responsible for them, and take a +pride in doing them well. One should be at the head of the Revenue +Department, and another at the head of the Judicial and Police, each +having a deputy; and the Resident, as president, should have a +deputy. These would be sufficient for a regency, and could form a +court, or council, to deliberate and decide about measures of +legislation and administration. + +The mother of the King would be the best person to consult upon the +nomination of the members in the first instance; but neither she nor +any other female of the royal family should have any share in the +administration. + +All important measures adopted by the Council should be submitted for +the consideration of the Governor-General; and no member of the +Council should be removed without his Lordship's consent. No +important measure adopted by the Council, and sanctioned by the +Governor-General, should at any future time be liable to be abolished +or altered without the sanction of our Government previously obtained +through the Resident. + +On the heir-apparent attaining his majority, every member of the +regency who has discharged his duties faithfully should have for life +a pension equal to half the salary enjoyed by him while in office, +and be guaranteed in the enjoyment of this half by the British +Government. + +The measures thus adopted during the minority would form a code for +future guidance, and tend at least to give the thing which Oude most +wants--stability to good sales, and to the machinery by which they +are to be enforced. + + + +The King's brother--a very excellent man, who was Commander-in-Chief +during his father's life-time, but is now nothing--might also be +consulted with the mother of the King in the nomination of the +regency, and made a party with her to the new treaty. + +These are all the points which appear to me at present to call for +instructions. + +The harvests promise to be abundant, but the collections come in +slowly, and the establishments are all greatly in arrear. I don't +like to write publicly on these subjects, because it is almost +impossible here to prevent what is so written from getting to the +Court; but the Governor-General's instructions were sent to me in +that form without the same risk. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + ___________________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 23rd March, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +It will perhaps be well to add to the regency, in case of the King's +death, a controller of the household, making three members of equal +grade, and to have no deputy for the Resident, or President of the +Regency. It may also be well to add the mother of the heir apparent +to the persons to be consulted in the selection of the members of the +regency, though she is a person of no mark or influence in either +public or private affairs at present. + +The mother of the present King, his brother, the mother of the heir- +apparent, and the young heir-apparent himself will be enough to have +a voice in the selection. + +I conclude that it will be the Governor-General's wish that the heir- +apparent should be placed on the throne immediately after the death +of his father, for the slightest hesitation or delay in this matter +would be mischievous in such a place as Lucknow. As soon as this is +done, I can proceed to consult about the nomination of the regency. +The members will, of course, be chosen from among the highest and +most able members of the aristocracy present at the capital, and they +can be installed in office the day they are chosen. I do not +apprehend any confusion or disturbance; but measures must be adopted +immediately to pay up arrears due to the establishments, and dismiss +all that are useless. + +The, King is not worse--on the contrary, he is said to be better; but +the hot season may be too much for him. His present state, with a +minister weak in body and not very strong in mind, is very +unsatisfactory. Fortunately the harvest is unusually fine. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + + ____________________________ + + + + + Lucknow, 8th May, 1849. +My Lord, + +Dr. Bell, has relieved Dr. Leekie from his charge, and I am glad that +so able and experienced a medical officer has been appointed to it by +your Lordship, for he will have the means of doing much good here if +he can secure the confidence and esteem of his native patients. The +way has been well paved for him by Dr. Leekie, who, in professional +ability, large experience, and perfect frankness of character, is one +of the first men I have met; and I regret exceedingly that the King +has never manifested any wish to consult him or any other European +physician. + +Being anxious that both Dr. Leekie and Dr. Bell should have an +opportunity of seeing the King, and forming some opinion as to his +state of health, I proposed that his Majesty should receive them at +the same time with Captain Bird on his taking leave previous to his +departure for Simla. As it is usual for the residency surgeon to wait +on his Majesty when he first enters on his charge and when he quits +it, I knew that such a proposal would not give rise to any feelings +of doubt or uneasiness, and he at once expressed his wish to see +them. Yesterday, about noon, all three went to the palace, and sat +for some time in conversation with the King. They found him much +better in bodily health than they expected, and in the course of +conversation, found no signs of any confusion of ideas, and are of +opinion that in the hands of a skilful European physician he would +soon be quite well. His Majesty is hypochondriac, and frequently +under the influence of the absurd delusions common to such persons; +but he is quite sane during long intervals, and on all subjects not +connected with such delusions. + +When in health, the King never paid much attention to business, and +his illness is, therefore, less felt than it would have been in the +conduct of affairs; but it is nevertheless felt, and that in a very +vital part--the collection of the revenue. The expenses of Government +are about one hundred (100) lacs a-year; and the collections this +year have not amounted to more than sixty (60), owing to this +illness, and to a deficiency in the autumn harvests. All +establishments are greatly in arrears in consequence; and the King +has been obliged to make some heavy drafts upon the reserved fund +left him by his father. I only wish none had been made for a less +legitimate purpose. The parasites, by whom he has surrounded himself +exclusively, have, it is said, been drawing upon it still more +largely during the King's illness, under the apprehension of a speedy +dissolution. The minister is a weak man, who stands somewhat in awe +of these musicians and eunuchs, who have no fear of anybody but the +Resident, whom it is, of course, their interest to keep as much as +possible in the dark. As soon as his Majesty gets stronger, I shall +see him more frequently than I have yet done, and be better able to +judge of what prospect of amendment there may be while he reigns. If +he ever conversed with his male relations, or any of the gentlemen at +the capital worthy of his confidence, I should have more hope than I +now have. + + With great respect I remain + Your Lordship's obedient humble servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Right Hon. +The Earl of Dalhousie, K.T., +Governor-General of India. + + + + ___________________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 11th June, 1849. +My Dear Elliot, + +It will be desirable to have at least the wing of a regiment sent as +soon as possible to Jhansee. Bukhut Sing, who was allowed to escape +after having been surrendered to Ellis at Kyrma, has been since +allowed to get too much a-head. He is aided by the Khereecha people +openly; and secretly, I fear, by some of the Powar Thakoors of Gigree +under the rose. There are four small fortified places between thirty +and forty miles west of Jhansee, and not far from the Sinde, held by +Powar Thakoors, who are a shade higher in caste than the Bondeylas; +and, in consequence, all the principal chiefs take their daughters in +marriage. They are needy, and as proud as Lucifer, and will always +eke out their means by robbery if they can. The Jhansee chief cannot +keep them in order without our aid. While I was there, they did not +venture to rob after the surrender of the Jylpoor man in September, +1844; and the Hareecha and Hyrwa people ventured only to send a few +highwaymen into the Gwalior state west of the Sinde river. + +The Powar places I mean are Jignee, Odgow, and Belchree. There was a +fourth near them just as bad, called Nowneer; but the Thakoors of +that place are all well disposed towards the Jbansee chief, and are +obedient. All are in the Jhansee state. If the marauders are pressed +with energy and sagacity, they will be soon put down; and you may +rely upon the native chiefs not supporting them, though, from their +marriage connection, they may afford them an asylum secretly when +fugitives. + +Who the Gwalior men are that are plundering I know not; but they are +men of no note, and, if pressed skilfully and rigorously in time, +will soon be put down. The chiefs may all be relied upon, I believe. +They are mere gangs of robbers; and you know how easily a fanatic or +successful robber may collect a body for plunder in any part of +India, where the danger of pursuit is small. Had they been dealt with +properly at first, they would never have got a-head so far: time has +been lost, and they will now give trouble, particularly at such a +season. The evil will be confined to the tract west of Jhansee +occupied by these Powars. The chiefs are to the east, north, and +south of Jhansee; and the marauders would be allowed to enter their +estates. The Governor-General need not feel uneasy about them. The +Nurwar chief was always needy, and disposed to keep and shelter +robbers. His few villages were resumed on his death last year, and +his widows pensioned; but some of his relations are, I conclude, +among the marauders. There is a wild tract west of the Sinde in the +Gwalior territory, to which the marauders will fly when hard pressed +in the Jhansee state. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + ___________________________________ + + Lucknow, 18th June, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +I was writing the last sentence of a long Report on Oude affairs when +your note came in. There are some parts that will amuse, some that +will interest, and the whole gives, I believe, a fair exposition of +the evils, with a suggestion for the best remedy that I can think of. +It is the formation of a Board, consisting of a President and two +members nominated by the King, subject to the confirmation of the +Governor-General, and not to be dismissed without his Lordship's +previous sanction. This Board to make the settlement of the revenue +proposed when Lord Hardinge was here, and to have the carrying it +out. + +This Board will be a substitute for the Regency, but not so good. The +King is well in body; and, unless he will abdicate, we cannot get the +minority for the Regency. I think, upon the whole, the Governor- +General will think the Report worth reading, and the remedy worth +considering. It will bring little additional trouble on Government, +but a good deal on the Resident, who will require to have had much +administrative experience. + +Things are coming fast to the crisis, in which I must be called upon +to advise and act, a thing which the fiddlers and eunuchs dread. I +can't trust the Report in the office, and the hand may not be so +legible as I could wish. + +The Court is very averse to the appointment of a successor to Wilcox; +and it is with reluctance they have kept on the native officers who +go on with the work. I told them either to keep them on or to pension +them. I don't think a successor should be urged upon them in the +present state of beggary to which they are reduced. Nobody sees any +use in it, while there are a vast number of useful things neglected +for want of funds; as to the instruments, the Court care nothing +about them, knowing nothing of their value; and would, no doubt, be +glad to give them to any establishment requiring them. + +The minister, singers, and eunuchs are all now sworn to be united; +but this cannot last many days. The "pressure from without," in the +clamour for pay, will soon upset the minister; but they will find it +difficult to get another to undertake the burthen of forty or fifty +lacs of balance, and a score of fiddlers and eunuchs as privy +councillors. Something must be done to _unthrone_ these wretches, or +things will be worse and worse. The best remedy that occurs to me is +to interpose an authority which they dare not question, and the King +cannot stultify; and if the King objects, to tell him that he must +abdicate in favour of his son. This, of all courses, will be the +best, and give no trouble; things would go on like "marriage bells," +without any trouble whatever to the Governor-General and your +_secretariat_. + +I am glad that the Punjaub Board goes on well. It is a scene of great +importance and interest. The only way to get the confidence and +affection of men is to show that we confide in them; and I don't +think we need fear Seik soldiers while we treat them, and govern the +country well. + +We were very anxious about Mrs. Elliot for many days, for the +accounts from Simla were bad; but she is now, I am told, quite +restored. I have suffered much less than I expected: I recovered much +sooner. The doctors tell me that I should have had no right to expect +an earlier recovery had I been twenty years younger. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + ___________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th July, 1849. +My Lord, + +I have to-day written to Lord Fitzroy Somerset to request that he +will do me the favour to have the name of my only son placed, if +possible, upon his Grace the Commander-in-Chiefs list of candidates +for commissions in Her Majesty's Dragoons. He was sixteen years of +age on the 6th of January last, and is now prosecuting his studies +under the care of Mr. C. J. Yeatman, Westow Hill, Norwood, Surrey, +five miles from London. + +He is an amiable and gentlemanly lad, and will, I trust, be able to +qualify himself to pass the examination required; and my agents in +London will be prepared to lodge the money for his commission when +available. He is my eldest child, and will have to take care of four +sisters when I am taken from them, as I must be ere long; and I am +anxious to place him in the position from which he can do so with +most advantage. I could wish to have had him placed in the Bengal +Civil Service. But I have no personal friend in the direction, and no +good that I may have had an opportunity of doing for the people and +government of India can be urged as a claim to any employment for my +child. + +Having carried out your Lordship's policy successfully over a large +and interesting portion of India, and to the advantage, I believe, of +many millions of people, you will not, I think, be offended at my +soliciting your Lordship's protection for my only son. He will stand +in need of it, since I know no other that I can solicit for him; and +though my name might be of some use to him in India, it can be of +none in England. With a view to his taking care of his sisters, I +could wish him to be in a regiment not likely to come to India. +General Thackwell tells me that the regiments most likely to come to +India soon are the 6th Dragoons, 9th Hussars, and 12th Lancers. +Perhaps your Lordship might be willing to speak to Lord F. Somerset, +or even to his Grace the Duke himself, in favour of my son, who will +be proud at any time when commanded to attend your Lordship. I have +the misfortune to have been with some of the most inefficient +sovereigns that ever sat upon a throne, with deficient harvests last +year, and a threat of still more deficient ones this year; and with a +Government so occupied with the new acquisitions of the Punjaub as to +be averse to interfere much with the management of any other portion +of the country. + +I remain, your lordship's most obedient, humble servant, + + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Right Hon. Gen. Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B., + &c. &c. &c. + + + + ______________________________________ + + + + + Lucknow, 24th July, 1849. + +My Lord, + +May I, request that your Lordship will do me the favour to have the +name of my only son, Henry Arthur Sleeman, placed upon his Grace the +Commander-in-Chiefs list of candidates for a commission in one of her +Majesty's Dragoon regiments? + +He was sixteen years of age on the 6th of January last; and he is now +prosecuting his studies under the care of Mr. C. J. Yeatman, at +Westow Hill, in Surrey, five miles from London, who will be +instructed to have him prepared for the examination he will have to +undergo. My agents, Messrs. Denny, Clark, and Co., Austin Friars, +London, will be prepared to lodge the money, and to forward to me any +letters with which they may be honoured by your Lordship. My rank is +that of Lieut.-Colonel in the Honourable East India Company's +service, and present situation, that of Resident at the Court of his +Majesty the King of Oude. + + I have the honour to be, + Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Lieut.-General Lord Fitzroy Somerset, G.C.B., +Military Secretary to his Grace the Commander-in-Chief, +Horse Guards, London. + + + + _________________________________ + + + Lucknow, August 1849. + +My Lord, + +1. I will answer your Lordship's queries in the order in which they +are made. + +2. The King, as I shall show in my next official report, is utterly +unfit to have anything to do with the administration, since he has +never taken, or shown any disposition to take any heed of what is +done or suffered in the country. My letters have made no impression +whatever upon him. He spends all his time with the singers and the +females they provide to amuse him, and is for seven and eight hours +together living in the house of the chief singer, Rajee-od Dowla--a +fellow who was only lately beating a drum to a party of dancing- +girls, on some four rupees a-month. These singers are all Domes, the +lowest of the low castes of India, and they and the eunuchs are now +the virtual sovereigns of the country, and must be so as long as the +King retains any power. The minister depends entirely upon them, and +between them and a few others about Court everything that the King +has to dispose of is sold. + +3. To secure any reform in the administration, it will be necessary +to require the King to delegate all the powers of sovereignty to the +Board. This he can do, retaining the name of Sovereign and control of +his household; or abdicating in favour of his son the heir apparent, +to whom the Board would be a regency till he comes of age. If the +alternative be given him, and he choose the former, it should be on +the condition, that if his favourites continue to embarrass the +Government, he will be required to submit to the latter. Oude is now, +in fact, without a Government: the minister sees the King for a few +minutes once a week or fortnight, and generally at the house of the +singer above named. The King sees nobody else save the singers and +eunuchs, and does not even pretend to know anything or care anything +about public affairs. His sons have been put under their care, and +will be brought up in the same manner. He has become utterly despised +and detested by his people for his apathy amidst so much suffering, +and will not have the sympathy of any one, save such as have been +growing rich by abusing his power. + +4. The members of such a Board as I propose, invested with full +powers, and secured in office under our guarantee during good +conduct, would go fearlessly to work; they would divide the labour; +one would have the settlement of the land-revenue, with the charge of +the police; the second would have the judicial Courts; and if the +Board be a regency during the minority, the control of the household; +the third would have the army. Each would have the nomination of the +officers of his department, subject to the confirmation of the whole +Board, and the dismissal would depend upon the sanction of the whole +or two-thirds, as might be found expedient. If the sanction of all +three be required. Court influence may secure one vote, and impunity +to great offenders. Neither of the three would be liable to be +deprived of his office, except with the consent, or on the +requisition of the Governor-General; and this privilege they would +value too highly to risk it by neglect or misconduct. The King's +brother--a most worthy and respectable, though not able man--might be +a member, if agreeable to the King. + +5. The abuses they would have to remedy are all perfectly well +understood, and the measures required to remedy them are all simple +and obvious: a settlement would be made with the landholders, based +upon past avowed collections; they would be delighted to bind +themselves to pay such an assessment, as they would escape from the +more than one-third more, which they have now to pay, in one form or +another, to contractors and Court favourites; the large landholders, +who are for the most part now in open resistance to the Government, +would rejoice at the prospect of securing their estates to their +posterity, without the necessity of continually fighting for them. + +6. The army would soon become efficient: at present every man +purchases his place in it from the minister and the singers and +eunuchs, and he loses it as soon as he becomes disabled from wounds +or sickness. The only exceptions are the four regiments under Captain +Burlow, Captain Bunbury, Captain Magness, and Soba Sing, lately +Captain Buckley's; in these, all that are disabled from wounds or +sickness are kept on the strength of the corps, and each corps has +with it a large invalid establishment of this kind unrecognized by +the Government. They could not get their men to fight, without it. +These regiments are put up at auction every season, and often several +times during one season; the contractor who bids highest gets the +services of the best for the season or the occasion; the purchase- +money is divided between the minister and the Court favourites, +singers, &c. These are really efficient corps, and the others might +soon be made the same. The men are as fine-looking and brave as those +of our, regular infantry, for Oude teems with such men, who have from +their boyhood been fighting against contractors under the heads of +their clan or families. + +7. The rest are for the most part commanded by boys, or Court +favourites, who seldom see them, keep about two-thirds of what are +borne on the rolls and paid for, and take about one-third of the pay +of what remain for themselves. The singer, Rajee-od Dowla, the prime +favourite above named, has two regiments thus treated, and of course +altogether inefficient, ragged, hungry, and discontented. It will be +easy to remedy all this, get excellent men, and inspire them with +excellent spirit by instituting a modified pension establishment for +men disabled in the discharge of their duties, and providing for +their regular pay and efficient command. + +8. This would prevent the necessity of employing British troops, +except on rare and great occasions; the settlement of the land- +revenue, and knowledge that they would be employed if required, would +keep the great landholders in obedience. It would be well to have +back the corps of infantry and two guns that were taken away from +Pertanghurh, in Oude, in 1835. This is all the addition that would be +required to secure an efficient Government; and the scale to which +our troops in Oude had been reduced up to that time (1835) was +generally considered the lowest compatible with our engagements. A +regiment of cavalry had been borrowed from Pertanghurh for the Nepaul +and Mahratta wars in 1814 and 1817; it was finally withdrawn in 1823. + +9. The judicial Courts would be well conducted while the presiding +officers felt secure in their tenure of office, which they would do +when their dismissal depended upon proof of guilt or incompetency +sufficient to satisfy a Board guaranteed by our Government. + +10. The police would soon become efficient under the supervision and +control of respectable revenue-officers, having the same feeling of +security in their tenure of office. All the revenue-officers would, +of course, be servants of Government instead of contractors. There +would be grades answering to our commissioners of divisions, say +four; 2nd, to our collectors of revenue, say twenty-eight; 3rd, +deputy-collectors, say twenty-eight; all under the Board, and guided +by the member intrusted with that branch of the administration: all +would be responsible for the police over their respective +jurisdictions. + +11. Oude ought to be, and would soon be, under such a system, a +garden; the soil is the finest in India, so are the men; and there is +no want of an educated class for civil office: on the contrary, they +abound almost as much as the class of soldiers. From the numerous +rivers which flow through the country the water is everywhere near +the surface, and the peasantry would manure and irrigate every field, +if they could do so in peace and security, with a fair prospect of +being permitted to reap the fruits. The terrible corruption of the +Court is the great impediment to all this good: the savings would +more than pay all the increased outlay required for rendering +establishments efficient in all branches, while the treasury would +receive at least one-third more than the expenditure; that is, +1,50,00,000 Rs., or one crore and a half. + +12. From the time the treaty of 1801 was made, up to within the last +few years, the term "internal enemies" was interpreted to mean the +great landholders who might be in resistance to the Government, and +this interpretation was always acted upon; the only difficulty was in +ascertaining whether the resistance was or was not, under the +circumstances, justifiable. While employed in Oude with my regiment, +and on the staff in 1818 and 1819, I saw much of the correspondence +between the Resident and Commandant; many letters from the Resident, +Colonel Baillie, mentioning how bitterly Saadulullee, with whom that +treaty was made, had complained, that after the sacrifice of half his +kingdom for the aid of British troops in keeping down these powerful +and refractory landholders, he could not obtain their assistance +without being subject to such humiliating remonstrances as he got +from officers commanding stations whenever he asked for it. Aid was +often given, and forts innumerable were reduced from time to time, +but the privilege of building them up again was purchased from the +same or another contractor next season. + +13. At this time I have calls for at least two battalions and a train +of artillery, from about six quarters, to enforce orders on these +landholders. Captain Hearsey has had men of his Frontier Police +killed and wounded by them on the western border, and declares that +nothing can be done to secure offenders, refugees from our districts, +with a less force. Captain Orr has had several men wounded, and +prisoners taken from him, by the same class on the eastern border, +and declares to the same effect. Sixteen sepoys of our army, 59th N. +I., on their way home on furlough were attacked and two of them +killed, three weeks ago, by a third Zumeendar, at Peernugger, his own +estate, within ten miles of the Setapore Cantonments, where we have a +regiment. Captain Barlow's regiment and artillery, and another, with +all Captain Hearsey's Frontier Police, are in pursuit of him. Four +others have committed similar outrages on our officers and sepoys and +their families, and the Government declares its utter inability to +enforce obedience or grant any redress, without a larger force than +they have to send. Great numbers of the same class are plundering and +burning villages, and robbing and murdering on the highway, and +laughing at the impotency of the sovereign. It was certainly for aid +in coercing these "internal enemies" that the Sovereign of Oude ceded +his territories to us, and for no other, and that aid may be afforded +at little cost, and to the great benefit of all under the system I +have submitted for your Lordship's consideration. It will be very +rarely required, and when called for, a mere demonstration will, in +three cases out of four, be sufficient to effect the object. + +14, After a time, or when the heir-apparent comes of age, the duties +of the guaranteed members of the Board may safely be united to a +supervision over the settlement made with the principal landholders, +whose obedience our Government may consider itself bound to aid in +enforcing; all the rest may be left to a competent sovereign; and +there will be nothing in the system opposed to native usages, +feelings, and institutions, to prevent its being adhered to. I should +mention, that many of these landholders have each armed and +disciplined bodies of two thousand foot and five hundred horse; and, +what is worse, the command of as many as they like of "Passies," +armed with bows and arrows. These Passies are reckless thieves and +robbers of the lowest class, whose only professions are thieving and +acting as Chowkedars, or village police. They are at the service of +every refractory Zumeendar, for what they can get in booty in his +depredations. The disorders in Oude have greatly increased this +class, and they are now roughly estimated at a hundred thousand +families; these are the men from whom travellers on the road suffer +most. + +15. A second Assistant would be required for a time to enable the +Resident to shift off the daily detail of the treasury, which has +become the largest in India,--I believe, beyond those at the three +Presidencies. + +A good English copyist, capable of mapping, will be required in the +Resident's office at 150, and two Persian writers 100; total 250. +These are the only additions which appear to me to be required. + +16. I annex a list of the regiments now in the King's service, +Telungas, or regulars, and Nujeebs, or irregulars; and with my next +official report I will submit a list of all the establishments, civil +and military. + +17. The King's habits will not alter; he was allowed by his father to +associate, as at present, with these singers from his boyhood, and he +cannot endure the society of other persons. His determination to live +exclusively in their society, and to hear and see nothing of what his +officers do or his people suffer, he no longer makes any attempt to +conceal. It would be idle to hope for anything from him but a +resignation of power into more competent hands; whatever he retains +he will assuredly give to his singers and eunuchs, or allow them to +take. No man can take charge of any office without anticipating the +income by large gratuities to them, and the average gratuity which a +contractor for a year, of a district yielding three lacs of rupees a- +year, is made to pay, before he leaves the capital to enter upon his +charge, is estimated to be fifty thousand rupees: this he exacts from +the landholders as the first payment, for which they receive no +credit in the public account. All other offices are paid for in the +same way. + +18. The King would change his minister to-morrow if the singers were +to propose it; and they would propose it if they could get better +terms or perquisites under any other. No minister could hold office a +week without their acquiescence. Under such circumstances a change of +ministers would be of little advantage to the country. + +19. The King will yield to the measure proposed only under the +assurance, that if he did not, the Governor-General would be reduced +to the necessity of having recourse to that which Lord Hardinge +threatened in the 10th, 11th, and 12th paragraphs of his letter of +October, 1847, and the Court of Directors, on the representation of +Lord William Bentinck, sanctioned in 1831. The Court was at that time +so strongly impressed with the conviction that the threat would be +carried into execution, that they prevailed upon the President to +undertake a mission to the Home Government, with a view to enlarge +the President's powers of interference, in order to save them from +the alternative. This led to Mr. Maddock's removal from the +Presidency; all subsequent correspondence has tended to keep up the +apprehension that the threatened measure would be had recourse to, +and to stimulate sovereigns and ministers to exertion till the +present reign. The present King has, from the time he ascended the +throne, manifested a determination to take no share whatever in the +conduct of affairs; to spend the whole of his time among singers and +eunuchs, and the women whom they provide for his amusement; and +carefully to exclude from access, all who suffer from the +maladministration of his servants, or who could and would tell him +what was done by the one and suffered by the other. + +20. But it is not his minister and favourites alone who take +advantage of this state of things to enrich themselves; corruption +runs through all the public offices, and Maharaja Balkishen, the +Dewan, or _Chancellor of the Exchequer_, is notoriously among the +most corrupt of all, taking a large portion of the heavy balances due +by contractors to get the rest remitted or misrepresented. There is +no Court in the capital, criminal, civil, or fiscal, in which the +cases are not tampered with by Court favourites, and divided +according to their wishes, unless the President has occasion to +interfere in behalf of guaranteed pensioners, or officers and sepoys +of our army. On his appearance they commonly skulk away, like jackals +from a dead carcase when the tiger appears; but the cases in which he +can interfere are comparatively very few, and it is with the greatest +delay and difficulty that he can get such cases decided at all. A +more lamentable state of affairs it is difficult to conceive. + + With great respect, I remain, + Your Lordship's obedient humble servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., + &c. &c. &c. + +P.S.--I find that the King's brother is altogether incompetent for +anything like business or responsibility. The minister has not one +single quality that a minister ought to have; and the King cannot be +considered to be in a sound state of mind. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + _Annexures_. + + 1. Extracts, pars. 9 to 14 of Lord Hardinge's Memorial. + 2. Statement of British troops in Oude in Jan. 1835 and 1849. + 3. Table of the King of Oude's troops of all kinds. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 6th September, 1849. + +My Lord, + +I take the liberty to enclose, for your Lordship's perusal, a more +full and correct Table of the troops and police in Oude than that +which I submitted with my last letter, as also a Table of all the +other branches of expenditure--save those of buildings, charities, +presents, &c., which are ever varying. + +It may be estimated that two-thirds of the numbers in the corps of +Telungas and Nujeebs paid for are kept up; and that one-half of what +are kept up are efficient, all having to purchase their places, and +those most unfit being disposed to pay highest. + +Further: one-half of what are kept up are supposed to be always +absent; and when they are so, they receive one-half of their pay, and +the other half is divided between the commandant and the paymaster. +These two are supposed to take, on one pretence or other, one third +of the pay of those who are actually present. The corps of Telungas +commanded by Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and Magness are exceptions; +but the pay department is not under their control, and they are +obliged to acquiesce in abuses that impair the efficiency their +corps. + +After reducing one-third-of these corps, and rendering the remaining +two-thirds efficient, the force would be sufficient for all purposes, +and we may well dispense with the corps of regular infantry which in +my last letter I proposed to restore to Oude. It will, however, be +desirable to have a good and experienced infantry officer as +inspector, to see that the measures adopted for reform are +effectually carried out. An artillery officer as inspector will also +be desirable, as it will be necessary to have that branch of the +force in the best possible order, when Oude has to depend chiefly on +its own resources. A few European officers, too, for commandants of +corps and seconds in command will be desirable--such as have been +employed with native corps as sergeant-majors or quartermaster- +sergeants, and have obtained distinctions for good conduct. + +I should propose six primary stations as seats for the principal +Revenue and Judicial Courts, and the headquarters of the best corps +with cavalry and artillery; thirty second and third rate stations for +the subordinate Courts and detachments of troops and police. All to +be chosen, with reference to position in districts under +jurisdiction, and to salubrity of climate. At all these Stations +suitable buildings would be provided; and as all would be commenced +upon simultaneously, all would soon be ready. + +Your Lordship will observe the small item put down for the judicial +establishments all over Oude. Such as are really kept up are +worthless, and are altogether without the confidence of the people. +The savings in the other branches of the expenditure will more than +cover all the outlay required for good ones. + +The King continues to show the same aversion to hear anything about +public affairs, or to converse with any but the singers, eunuchs, and +females. At the great festival of the Eed, on the first appearance of +the present moon, he went out in procession, but deputed his heir- +apparent to receive the compliments in Durbar. He does not suffer +bodily pain, but is said to have long fits of moping and melancholy, +and he is manifestly hypochondriac. He squanders the state jewels +among the singers and eunuchs, who send them out of the country as +fast as they can. The members of his family who have its interests +most at heart, are becoming anxious for some change; and by the time +the two years expire, it will not, perhaps, be difficult to induce +him to put his affairs into other hands. He would change his minister +on the slightest hint from me; but it would be of no use: the +successor, pretending to carry on the Government under the King's +orders, would be little better than the present minister is, and +things would continue to be just as bad as they now are: they +certainly could not be worse. + +The Board, composed of the first members of the Lucknow aristocracy, +would be, I think, both popular and efficient; and with the aid of a +few of the ablest of the native judicial and revenue officers of our +own districts, invited to Oude by the prospect of higher pay and +security in the tenure of office, would soon have at work a machinery +capable of securing to all their rights, and enforcing from all their +duties in every part of this, at present, distracted country. We +should soon have good roads throughout the kingdom; and both they and +the rivers would soon be as secure as in our own provinces. I think, +too, that I might venture to promise that all would be effected +without violence or disturbance; all would see that everything was +done for the benefit of an oppressed people, and in good faith +towards the reigning family. + +With great respect, I remain your Lordship's obedient, humble +servant. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., + &c. &c. &c. + +P.S.--I may mention that the King is now engaged in turning into +verse a long prose history called Hydree. About ten days ago all the +poets in Lucknow were assembled at the palace to hear his Majesty +read his poem. They sat with him, listening to his poem and reading +their own from nine at night till three in the morning. One of the +poets, the eldest son of a late minister, Mohamid-od Dowla, Aga Meer, +told me that the versification was exceedingly good for a King. These +are, I think, the only men, save the minister, the eunuchs, and the +singers who have had the honour of conversing with his Majesty since +I came here in January last. + W. H. S. + + +______________________________ + + + Lucknow, 23rd September, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +I conclude that no further Tables will be required from me on Oude +statistics for the present. Should they be so, pray let me know, and +they shall be sent. I thought at first that it would be thought bad +taste in me to refer to the domestic troubles of the King, but it is +necessary to show the state to which his Majesty is reduced in his +palace. The facts mentioned are known and talked of all over Lucknow +and Oude generally, and tend more than greater things to bring his +conduct and character into contempt. + +The time was certainly never so favourable to propose an arrangement +that shall secure a lasting and substantial reform, and render Oude +what it ought to be--a garden. The King is in constant dread of +poison, and would do anything to get relieved from that dread, and +all further importunity on the state of the country. His chief wife +would poison him to bring on the throne her son, and restore to her +her paramour, who is now at Cawnpoor, waiting for such a change. Her +uncle, the minister, would, the King thinks, be glad to see him +poisoned, in the hope of having to conduct affairs during the +minority. He is afraid to admonish his other wife for her +infidelities with the chief favourite and singer, lest she should +poison him to go off with her paramour to Rampoor, whither he has +sent the immense wealth that the King has lavished upon him. + +The whole family are most anxious that the King should resign the +reins into abler hands, and would, I feel assured, hail the +arrangement I have proposed as a blessing to them and the country. +All seems ripe for the change, and I hope the Governor-General will +consent to its being proposed soon. Any change in the ministry would +now be an obstacle to the arrangement, and such a change might happen +any morning. At the head of the Board, or Regency, I should put +Mohsin-od Dowla, grandson of Ghazee-od Deen, the first King, and son- +in-law of Moohummed Alee Shah, the third King. His only son has been +lately united in marriage to the King's daughter. He is looked up to +as the first man in Oude for character, and the most able member of +the royal family. He is forty-five years of age. I should probably +put two of the King's uncles in as the other members, Azeemoshan and +Mirza Khorum Buksh, whose names you will find in the short appended +list of those who have received no stipends since the present King +ascended the throne. These princes cannot visit, the Resident except +when they accompany the King himself, so that I have never seen the +two last that I recollect, and only once conversed with the first. +But their characters stand very high. They are never admitted to the +King, nor have they seen him for more than a year, I believe. + +The King will probably object to members of his family forming the +Board, but I dare say I shall be able to persuade him of the +advantage of it. Such a Board, so constituted, would be a pledge to +all India of the honesty of our intentions, and secure to us the +cordial good-will of all who are interested in the welfare of the +family and the good government of the country. + +I should persuade the members to draw from the _élite_ of their own +creed in our service to aid in forming and carrying out the new +system in their several departments. We can give them excellent men +in the revenue and judicial branches, who will be glad to come when +assured that they will not be removed so long as they do their duty +ably and honestly, and will get pensions if their services are +dispensed with after a time. This is all I shall say at present. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B., + &c. &c. + + + ___________________________________ + + + + Lucknow. + +My Lord, + +My Official Report went off on the 25th instant, and will have been +submitted, for your Lordship's consideration. It contains, I believe, +a faithful description of the abuses that exist and require remedy, +and of the obstacles which will be opposed to their removal. But it +does not tell all that might be told of the King himself, who has +become an object of odium and contempt to all but those few +despicable persons with whom he associates exclusively. He eats, +drinks, sleeps, and converses with the singers and eunuchs and +females alone, and the only female who has any influence over him is +the sister of the chief singer, Rusee-od Dowlah, whom he calls his +own sister. No member of the royal family or aristocracy of Oude is +ever admitted to speak to or see his Majesty, and these contemptible +singers are admitted to more equality and familiarity than his own +brothers or sons ever were; they go out, too, with greater pomp than +they or any of the royal family can; and are ordered to be received +with more honours as they pass through the different palaces. The +profligacy that exists within the palace passes all belief, and these +things excite more disgust among the aristocracy of the capital than +all the misrule and malversation that arise from the King's apathy +and incapacity. + +Should your Lordship resolve upon interposing effectually to remedy +these disorders, I think it will be necessary to have at Lucknow, for +at least the first few months, a corps of irregular cavalry. We have +no cavalry in Oude, and none of the King's can be depended upon. The +first thing necessary will be the disbanding of the African, or +Hubshee corps, of three hundred men. They are commanded by one of the +eunuchs, and a fellow fit for any dark purpose. They were formed into +a corps, I believe, because no man's life was safe in Lucknow while +they were loose upon society. + +I think the King will consent without much difficulty or reluctance +to delegate his powers to a Regency, but I am somewhat afraid that he +will object to its being composed of members of his own family. The +Sovereign has always been opposed to employing any of his own +relatives in office. I shall, I dare say, be able to get over this +difficulty, and it will be desirable to employ the best members of +the family in order to show the people of Oude, and of India +generally, that the object of our Government is an honest and +benevolent one. + +A corps of irregular cavalry might be sent to Lucknow from +Goruckpoor, and its place there supplied for a season by a wing from +the corps at Legolee. There is little occasion for the services of +cavalry at either of these places at present. Without any cavalry of +our own here, and with this corps of African assassins at Lucknow at +the beck of the singers, eunuchs, and their creature, the minister, +neither the Resident nor any of the Regency would be safe. The +treasury and crown jewels would be open to any one who would make +away with them. If, therefore, your Lordship should determine upon +offering the king the alternative proposed, no time should be lost in +ordering the irregular corps from Goruckpoor to Lucknow, to be held +at the Resident's disposal. Its presence will be required only for a +few months. + +I have mentioned, in my private letter to Sir H. M. Elliot, three +persons of high character for the Regency. Two of them are brothers +of the King's father. The third, and best, may be considered as in +all respects the first man in Oude. Mohsin-od Dowlah is the grandson +of the King, Ghasee-od Deen; his wife, and the mother of his only +son, is the sister of the King's father, and his only son has been +lately united in marriage to the present King's daughter. He and his +wife have large hereditary incomes, under the guarantee of our +Government, and his character for good sense, prudence, and integrity +stands higher, I believe, than that of any other man in Oude. + +All three belong to the number of the royal family who never visit +the Resident except in company with the King, and I have, in +consequence, never spoken to Mohsin-od Dowlah but once, and never +seen either of the other two whom I have named, Azeemoshan and Khorum +Bukeh, the King's uncles. The characters of all three are very high, +and in general esteem. + +Things are coming to a very critical state. There is no money to pay +any one in the treasury, and the greater part of what comes in is +taken for private purposes, by those who are in power. All see that +there must soon be a great change, and are anxious "to make hay while +the sun shines." The troops are everywhere in a state bordering on +mutiny, but more particularly in and about the capital, because they +cannot indemnify themselves by the plunder of the people as those in +the distant districts do. + +Fortunately the rains have this season been very favourable for +tillage, and the crops may be good if we can preserve them by, some +timely arrangement. + + With great respect I remain, + Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant, + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +the Marquis of Dalhousie. + +P.S.--I find that the irregular corps of cavalry has been moved from +Goruckpoor to Sultanpoor Benares, and that Lagolee and Goruckpoor +have now only one corps between them. + +The Sultanpoor Benares corps might well spare a wing for Lucknow, and +so might the corps at Bareilly spare one. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + + ______________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 11th October, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +Here is a little item of palace news, communicated by one of the +poets who has to assist his Majesty in selecting his verses, and who +knows a good deal about what is going on among the favourites. +Perhaps you may recollect him, Ameen-od Doulah, the eldest son of the +late Aga Meer. + +There is not a greater knave than Walee Alee in India, I believe. +That his Majesty will consent to what the Governor-General may +authorise us to propose I have no doubt, for he and his family are by +this time satisfied that we shall propose nothing but what is good +for them and the people of Oude. + +But the King is no longer in a sound state of mind, and will say and +do whatever the most plausible of the bad speakers may recommend. +When I see him, I must have his signature before respectable +witnesses to all his answers to distinct propositions, and act upon +them at once, as far as I may be authorised by the Governor-General, +or nothing will be done. It would not do for me to commune with him +about affairs till I get instructions from you, as he would be sure +to tell the singers, eunuchs, and minister all that has been said the +moment I left him. + +He has never been a cruel or badly-disposed man, but his mind, +naturally weak, has entirely given way, and is now as helpless as +that of an infant. Every hour's delay will add to our difficulties, +and I wait most anxiously for orders. I am prepared with the new +arrangements, and feel sure that the system will work well, and have +the Governor-General's approval. I can explain it in a few words, and +show the details in a small Table all ready for transmission when +called for. + +We shall have the royal family, the court, and people with us, with +the exception of the minister and the favourites, who are in league +with him, and those who share in the fruits of their corruption. +Fifteen lacs are spoken of as the means ready to get either me out of +the way or put a stop to all attempts of improvement for the present. +I have in my public letter mentioned seven lacs as the average annual +perquisites of the minister--they are at present at least twelve. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B., + &c. &c. + + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Map of the Kingdom of Oude - Drawn under the +superintendence of the Late Major General Sir Wm. Sleeman. +Approximate area covered 79° to 84° E by 25° to 28.5° N.; scale +approximately 38 miles to the inch. Map shows the route taken by the +author on his journey, as noted in his diary.] + + + +DIARY +of +A JOURNEY THROUGH OUDE + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Departure from Lucknow--Gholam Hazrut--Attack on the late Prime +Minister, Ameen-od-Dowla--A similar attack on the sons of a former +Prime Minister, Agar Meer--Gunga Sing and Kulunder Buksh--Gorbuksh +Sing, of Bhitolee--Gonda Bahraetch district--Rughbur Sing--Prethee +Put, of Paska--King of Oude and King of the Fairies--Surafraz mahal. + + +_December_ 1, 1849.--I left Lucknow to proceed on a tour through +Oude, to see the state of the country and the condition of the +people. My wish to do so I communicated to Government, on the 29th of +March last, and its sanction was conveyed to me, in a letter from the +Secretary, dated the 7th of April. On the 16th of November I reported +to Government my intention to proceed, under this sanction, on the +1st of December, and on the 19th I sent the same intimation to the +King. On the 28th, as soon as the ceremonies of the Mohurrum +terminated, His Majesty expressed a wish to see me on the following +day; and on the 29th I went at 9 A.M., accompanied by Captain Bird, +the first Assistant, and Lieutenant Weston, the Superintendant of the +Frontier Police, and took leave of the King, with mutual expression +of good-will. The minister, Alee Nakee Khan, was present. On the 30th +I made over charge of the Treasury to Captain Bird, who has the +charge of the department of the Sipahees' Petitions and the Fyzabad +Guaranteed Pensions; and, taking with me all the office +establishments not required in these three departments, proceeded, +under the usual salute, to Chenahut, eight miles.* + +[* My escort consisted, of two companies of sipahees, from the 10th +Regiment Native Infantry, and my party of Captain Hardwick, +lieutenant Weston, and Lieutenant and Mrs. Willows and my wife and +children, with occasional visitors from Lucknow and elsewhere.] + +The Minister, Dewan and Deputy Minister, Ghoolam Ruza, came out the +first stage with me, and our friend Moonuwur-od Dowla, drove out to +see us in the evening. + +_December_ 2, 1849.--We proceeded to Nawabgunge, the minister riding +out with me, for some miles, to take leave, as I sat in my tonjohn. +At sunrise I ventured, for the first time since I broke my left +thigh-bone on the 4th April, to mount an elephant, the better to see +the country. The land, on both sides of the road, well cultivated, +and studded with groves of mango and other trees, and very fertile. + +The two purgunnas of Nawabgunge and Sidhore are under the charge of +Aga Ahmud, the Amil, who has under him two naibs or deputies, Ghoolam +Abbas and Mahummud Ameer. All three are obliged to connive at the +iniquities of a Landholder, Ghoolam Huzrut, who resides on his small +estate of Jhareeapoora, which he is augmenting, in a manner too +common in Oude, by seizing on the estates of his weaker neighbours. +He wanted to increase the number of his followers, and on the 10th of +November 1849, he sent some men to aid the prisoners in the great +jail at Lucknow to break out. Five of them were killed in the +attempt, seven were wounded, and twenty-five were retaken, but forty- +five escaped, and among them Fuzl Allee, one of the four assassins, +who, in April 1847, cut down the late minister, Ameen-od Dowla, in +the midst of his followers, in one of the principal streets of +Lucknow, through which the road, leading from the city to Cawnpore, +now passes. One of the four, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, was killed in +attempting to escape on the 8th August 1849, and one, Alee Mahomed, +was killed in this last attempt. The third, Fuzl Allee, with some of +the most atrocious and desperate of his companions, is now with this +Ghoolam Huzrut, disturbing the peace of the country. The leader in +this attempt was Ghoolam Hyder Khan, who is still in jail at Lucknow. + +On my remarking to the King's wakeel that these ruffians had all +high-sounding names, he said, "They are really all men of high +lineage; and men of that class, who become ruffians, are always sure +to be of the worst description." "As horses of the best blood, when +they do become vicious, are the most incorrigible, I suppose?" +"Nothing can be more true, sir," rejoined the wakeel. An account of +the attack made by the above-named ruffians on the minister, may be +here given as both interesting and instructive, or at least as +illustrative of the state of society and government in Oude. + +At five in the morning of the 8th of April 1847, the minister, Ameen- +od Dowlah, left his house in a buggy to visit the King. Of his armed +attendants he had only three or four with him. He had not gone far +when four armed assassins placed themselves in front of his buggy and +ordered him to stop. One of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, seized the horse; +by the bridle, and told the minister, that he must give him the +arrears of pay due before he could go on. The other three, Fuzl +Allee, Allee Mahomed, and Hyder Khan, came up and stood on the right +side of the buggy. One of the minister's servants, named Hollas, +tried to prevent their coming near, but was fired upon by Allee +Mahomed. He missed him, but Fuzl Allee discharged his blunderbuss at +him, and he fell; but in falling, he wounded Hyder Khan slightly with +his sword. Hyder Khan then threw away his fire-arms and sprang into +the buggy with his naked dagger in his right hand and the minister in +his left. The minister seized him round the waist, forced him back +out of the buggy on the left, and fell upon him. Tuffuzzul Hoseyn +then quitted his hold of the horse and rushed to his comrade's +assistance, but the minister still holding Hyder Khan in his right +hand, seized Tuffuzzul Hoseyn with his left. Syud Aman Allee, another +personal servant of the minister, was cut down by Fuzl Allee, in +attempting to aid his master, and a third personal servant, Shah +Meer, was severely wounded by Allee Mahomed, and stood at a distance +of twenty paces, calling for help. Fuzl Allee now made two cuts with +his sword on the right shoulder and arm of the minister, below the +elbow, and he quitted his hold on the two assassins and fell. The +four assassins now grasped their victim, and told him that they would +do him no farther harm if no rescue were attempted. As they saw the +rest of the minister's armed attendants and a crowd approach, Fuzl +Allee and Hyder Khan, with their blunderbusses loaded and cocked, +stood one at each end of an open space of about sixty yards, and +threatened to shoot the first man who should venture to approach +nearer. The crowd and attendants of the minister were kept back, and +no one ventured to enter this space, in the centre of which the +minister lay, grasped by Tuffuzzul Hoseyn and Allee Mahomed, who held +their naked daggers at his breast. The minister called out to his +attendants and the crowd to keep back. He was then allowed to rise +and walk to a small raised terrace on the side of the street, where +he lay down on his back, being unable any longer to sit or stand from +the loss of blood. Tuffuzzul Hoseyn and Allee Mahomed knelt over him, +holding the points of their daggers at his breast, and swearing that +they would plunge them to his heart if he attempted to move, or any +one presumed to enter the open space to rescue him. Hollas and Syud +Aman Allee lay bleeding at the spot where they fell. Hollas died that +day, and Syud Aman Allee a few days after, of lock-jaw. + +As soon as the attack on the minister was made, information of it was +sent off to the Resident, Colonel Richmond, who wrote to request the +Brigadier Commanding the Troops in Oude, to send him, as soon as +possible, a regiment of infantry with two guns, from the Cantonments, +which are three miles and a-half distant from the Residency, on the +opposite side from the scene of the attack, to prevent any tumult +that the loose characters of the city might attempt to raise on the +occasion, and repaired himself to the spot attended by the Assistant, +Captain Bird, and a small guard of sipahees. They reached the open +spot, in the centre of which the minister lay, about a quarter of an +hour after he fell. He found the street, in which the attack took +place, crowded with people up to the place where the two sentries, +Fuzl Allee and Hyder Khan, stood at each end of the open space, in +the centre of which the minister lay, with the daggers of the two +other assassins pressing upon his breast. On reaching one end of the +open space, the Resident directed Captain Bird to advance to the spot +where the minister lay. The assassin who guarded that end at first +threatened to shoot him, but no sooner recognized him than he let him +pass on unattended. He asked the two men, who knelt over the +minister, what they meant by this assault. They told him, that good +men were no longer employed in the King's service, and that they +were, in consequence, without the means of subsistence; and had been +compelled to resort to this mode of obtaining them; that they +required fifty thousand rupees from the minister, with a written +assurance from the British Resident, that they should be escorted in +safety across the Ganges into the British territory with this sum. + +The Resident peremptorily refused to enter into any written agreement +with them, and told them, through the Assistant, that if they +presumed to put the minister to death, or to offer him any further +violence, they should be all four immediately shot down and cut to +pieces; but, if they did him no further harm, their lives should, be +spared; and, to prevent their being killed as soon as they quitted +their hold, that he would take them all with him to the Residency, +and neither imprison them himself, nor have them made over as +prisoners to the Oude Government; but that he declined being a party +to any arrangement that the minister might wish to make of paying +money for his life. + +They continued resolutely to threaten instant death to the minister +should any one but the Resident or his Assistant presume to enter the +open space in which he lay. Many thousands of reckless and desperate +characters filled the street, ready to commence a tumult, for the +plunder of the city, the moment that the minister or the assassins +should be killed, while the relations and dependents of the minister, +with loud cries, offered lacs of rupees to the assassins if they +spared his life, so as to encourage them to hold out. They at last +collected and brought to the spot, on three or four elephants, the +fifty thousand rupees demanded by the assassins, and offered them to +his assailants apparently with his concurrence; and the four +ruffians, having assented to the terms offered by the Resident, +permitted Doctor Login, the Residency Surgeon, to approach the +prostrate minister and dress his wounds. One of the assassins, +however, continued to kneel by his side with his naked dagger resting +on his breast till he saw the other three seated upon the elephants, +on which the money was placed, with the understanding, that the guard +of sipahees, which the Resident had brought with him, should escort +them to the Residency, and that Captain Bird, the Assistant, should +accompany them. The fourth man then quitted his hold on the minister, +who had become very faint, and climbed upon Captain Bird's elephant +and took seat behind him. Captain Bird, however, made him get off, +and mount another elephant with his companions. The crowd shouted +_shah bash, shah bash!_--well done, well done! and they attempted to +scatter some of the money from the elephants among them, but were +prevented by Captain Bird, who dreaded the consequences in such a +tumult. They were all four taken to the Residency under the guard of +sipahees, and accommodated in one of the lower rooms of the office; +and a guard was placed over the money with orders to keep back the +crowd of spectators, which was very great. Three of the four ruffians +had been wounded by the minister's attendants before they could +secure his person, and their wounds were now dressed by Doctor Login. + +It was now ten o'clock, and at twelve the Resident had an interview +with the King, who had become much alarmed, not only for the safety +of the minister, but for that of the city, threatened by the +thousands of bad characters, anxious for an occasion of pillage; and +he expressed an anxious wish that the assassins should be made over +to him for trial. But the Resident pleaded the solemn promise which +he had made, and his Majesty admitted the necessity of the promise +under the circumstances, and that of keeping it; but said that he +would have the whole affair carefully investigated. As soon as the +Resident left him, he sent a company of sipahees with fetters to the +Residency to receive charge of the prisoners, but the Resident would +not give them up. The King then wrote a letter to the Resident with +his own hand, requesting that the prisoners might be surrendered to +him. The Resident, in his reply to His Majesty's, letter, told him, +that he could not so far violate the promise he had given, but that +he would send them to answer any other charges that might be brought +against them, in any open and impartial Court that might be appointed +to try them; and if they should be found guilty of other crimes, His +Majesty might order any sentence passed upon them, short of death, to +be carried into execution. + +Charges of many successful attempts of the same kind, and many +atrocious murders perpetrated by the ruffians, in distant districts +of Oude, were preferred against them; and they were prevailed upon to +give up their arms, and to submit to a fair and open trial, on the +other charges preferred against them, on condition that they should +neither be put to death nor in any way maimed, or put in fetters, or +subjected to ill-treatment before trial and conviction. The Resident +offered them the alternative of doing this or leaving the Residency, +after he had read to them the King's letter, and told them, that his +promise extended only to saving their lives and escorting them to the +Residency; and, that he would not be answerable for their lives +beyond the court-yard of the Residency, if they refused the +conditions now offered. They knew that their lives would not be safe +for a moment after they got beyond the court-yard, and submitted. +Their arms and the fifty thousand rupees were sent to the King. At +four in the afternoon, the four prisoners were made over to the +King's wakeel, on a solemn promise given under the express sanction +of his Majesty, of safe conduct through the streets, of freedom from +fetters, or any kind of ill-treatment before conviction, and of fair +and open trial. + +But they had not gone two paces from the Residency court-yard, when +they were set upon by the very people sent by the King to take care +of them on the way; the King's wakeel having got into his palkee and +gone on before them towards the palace. They were beaten with whips, +sticks, and the hilts of swords, till one of the four fell down +insensible, and the other three were reduced to a pitiable condition. +The Resident took measures to protect them from further violence, +recalled the wakeel; and, after admonishing him for his dishonourable +conduct, had the prisoners taken unfettered to a convenient house +near the prison. The wounded minister wrote to the King, earnestly +praying that the prisoners might not suffer any kind of ill-treatment +before conviction, after a fair and impartial trial. The Resident +reported to Government all that had occurred, and stated, that he +should see that the promises made to the prisoners were fulfilled, +that, should they be convicted before the Court appointed to conduct +the trial, of other crimes perpetrated before this assault on the +minister, they would be subject to such punishment as the Mahommedan +law prescribed for such crimes. Three of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, +Hyder Khan, and Fuzl Allee, were convicted, on their own confessions, +and the testimony of their own relations, of many cold blooded +murders, and successful attempts to extort money from respectable and +wealthy persons in different parts of Oude, similar to this on the +minister, and all four were sentenced to imprisonment for life. The +Government of India had insisted on their not being executed or +mutilated. Fuzl Allee, as above stated, broke jail, and is still at +large at his old trade, and Hyder Khan is still in prison at Lucknow. + +These ruffians appear to have been encouraged, in this assault upon +the minister, for the purpose of extorting money, by a similar but +more successful attempt made in the year 1824, by a party headed by a +person named Syud Mahomed Eesa Meean, _alias_ Eesa Meean. + +This person came to Lucknow with a letter of recommendation from +Captain Gough. He delivered it in person to the Resident, but was +never after seen or heard of by him till this affair occurred. He +became a kind of saint, or _apostle_, at Lucknow; and Fakeer Mahomed +Khan Rusaldar, who commanded a corps of Cavalry, and had much +influence over the minister, Aga Meer, became one of his _disciples_, +and prevailed upon the minister to entertain him as a mosahib, or +aide-de-camp. He soon became a favourite with Aga Meer, and formed a +liaison with a dancing-girl, named Beeba Jan. His conduct towards her +soon became too violent and overbearing, and she sought shelter with +the Khasmahal, or chief consort, of the minister, who promised her +protection, and detained her in her apartments. Eesa Meean appealed +to the minister, and demanded her surrender. The minister told him +that she was mistress of her own actions, as she had never gone +through the ceremonies of permanent marriage, or _nikkah_, nor even +those of a temporary one, _motah_; and most be considered as +altogether free to choose her own lovers or mode of life. + +He then appealed to Moulavee Karamut Allee, the tutor of Aga Meer's +children, but was told, that he could not interfere, as the female +was a mere acquaintance of his, and bound to him by no legal ties +whatever; and must, therefore, be considered as free to reside where +and with whom she chose. Eesa Meean then took his resolution, and +prevailed upon some fifteen of the loose and desperate characters who +always swarm at Lucknow, to aid him in carrying it out. On the 2nd of +June 1824, Karamut Allee, the tutor, was bathing, and Aga Meer's two +eldest sons, Aga Allee, aged eleven, and Nizam-od Dowlah, aged six +years were reading their lessons in the school-room, under the +deputy-tutor, Moulavee Ameen Allee. It was early in the morning, but +the minister had gone out to wait upon the King. Eesa Meean entered +the school-room, and approached the children with the usual courtesy +and compliments, followed by six armed men, and one table attendant, +or khidmutgar. + +The two boys were sitting beside each other, the eldest, Aga Allee, +on the left, and the youngest, Nizam-od Dowla, on the right. Eesa +Meean sat down on the left side of the eldest, and congratulated both +on the rapid progress they were making in their studies. Three of his +followers, while he was doing this, placed themselves on the left of +the eldest, and the other three on the right of the youngest. On a +concerted signal all drew forth and cocked their pistols, and placed +themselves at the only three doors that opened from the school-room, +two at each, while at a signal made by the khidmutgar, eight more men +came in armed in the same manner. Two of them with naked daggers in +their right hands seized the two boys with their left, and threatened +them with instant death if they attempted to more or call for help. +The other six threatened to kill any one who should attempt to force +his way into the apartment. The khidmutgar, in the mean time, seized +and brought into the room two large gharahs or pitchers of drinking +water, that stood outside, as the weather was very hot, and the party +would require it They were afraid that poison might be put into the +water if left outside after they had commenced the assault. Eesa +Meean then declared, that he had been driven to this violent act by +the detention of his girl by the Khasmahal, and must have her +instantly surrendered, or they would put the boys to death. Hearing +the noise from his bathing-room, their tutor, Karamut Allee, rushed +into the room with nothing on his person but his waist-band, and +began to admonish the ruffians. Seeing him unarmed, and respecting +his peaceful character, they let him pass in and vociferate, but paid +no regard to what he said. + +The alarm had spread through the house and town, and many of the +chief officers of the Court were permitted to enter the room unarmed. +Roshun-od Dowlah, Sobhan Allee Khan, Fakeer Mahomed Khan, Nuzee Allee +Khan, (the Khasmahul's son-in-law,) and others of equal rank, all in +loud terms admonished the assailants, and demanded the surrender of +the children, but all were alike unheeded. The chief merchant of +Lucknow, Sa Gobind Lal, came in; and thinking that all affairs could +and ought to be settled in a business-like way, told the chief +officers to fix the sum to be given, and he would at once pledge +himself to the payment. All agreed to this, and Sobhan Allee Khan, +the Chief Secretary of the minister, set to work and drew up a long +and eloquent paper of conditions. On his beginning to read it, one of +the ruffians, who had one eye, rushed in, snatched it from his hand, +tore it to pieces, and threw the fragments into his chief's, Eesa +Meean's, face, saying, "that this fellow would write them all out of +their lives, as he was writing the people of Oude every day out of +their properties; that if they must die, it should not be by pen and +paper, but by swords and daggers in a fair fight; that all their +lives had been staked, and all should die or live together." He was +overpowered by the others, and other papers were drawn up by the +ready writer and consummate knave Sobhan Allee, but the one-eyed man +contrived to get hold of all, one after the other, and tear them up. + +The minister was with the King when he first heard of the affair, and +he went off forthwith to the Resident, Mr. Ricketts, to say, that his +Majesty had in vain endeavoured to rescue the boys through his +principal civil officers, and had sent all his available troops, but +in vain; and now earnestly entreated the British Resident to +interpose and save their lives. The Resident consented to do so, on +condition that any arrangement he might find it necessary to make +should be binding on his Majesty and the minister. Aga Meer returned +to the King with this message, and his Majesty agreed to this +condition. The Resident then sent his head moonshie, Gholam Hossein, +to promise Eesa Meean, that the woman should be restored to him, and +any grievance he might have to complain of should be redressed, and +his party all saved, if he gave up the children. But he and his +followers now demanded a large sum of money, and declared, that they +would murder the boys unless it was given and secured to them, with a +pledge for personal security to the whole party. + +The minister, on hearing this, came to the Resident, and implored him +to adopt some measures to save the lives of the children. The +Resident had been for three weeks confined to his couch from illness, +but he sent his Assistant, Captain Lockett, with full powers to make +any arrangement, and pledge himself to any engagements, which might +appear to him to be necessary, to save the lives of the boys. He +went, and being unarmed, was permitted to enter the room. He asked +for Eesa Meean, whom he had never before seen, when one of the party +that knelt over the boys rose, and saluting him, said, "I am Eesa +Meean." Captain Lockett told him that he wanted to speak to him in +private, when Eesa Meean pointed to a door leading into a side room, +into which they retired. Eesa Meean offered Captain Lockett a chair, +and at his request sat down by his side. He then entered into a long +story of grievances, which Captain Lockett considered to be +frivolous, and said, "that the minister had injured his prospects in +many ways, and at last disgraced him in the eyes of all people at +Lucknow, by conniving at the elopement of the dancing-girl that he +was a soldier and regardless of life under such disgrace, and +prepared to abide by the result of his present attempt to secure +redress, whatever it might be; that his terms were the payment down +of five lacs of rupees, the restoration of his dancing-girl, and the +security of his own person and property, with permission to go where +he pleased, unmolested." Captain Lockett reminded him quietly of what +he had just said: "that he was a soldier, and anxious only for the +recovery of his lost honour; that now, to demand, money, was to show +to the world that wounded honour was urged as a mere pretext, and the +seizure of the boys a means adopted for the sole purpose of extorting +money; that he could not condescend to hold further converse with him +if he persisted in such preposterous demands; that he might murder +the children as they seemed to be in his power, but if he did so, he +and his party would be all instantly put to death, as the house was +surrounded by thousands of the King's soldiers, ready to fall upon +them at the slightest signal." He then recommended him to release the +boys forthwith before the excitement without became more strong, and +accompany him to the Residency, where his real Wrongs would be +inquired into and redressed. + +Eesa Meean then rose and said: "Money is not my object. I despise it. +I regard nothing but the preservation of my honour, and agree to what +you propose; but I have several companions here who require to be +consulted: let me speak to them." He then went into the large room. +His companions all made objections of one kind or another, and what +they all agreed to one moment was rejected the next. They vociferated +loudly, and disputed violently with each other, and with all around +them, and at times appeared desperate and determined to sacrifice the +boys, and sell their own lives as dearly as possible. Eesa Meean +himself seemed to be the most violent and boisterous of all, and had +his hand frequently on the hilt of his sword when he disputed with +the King's officers, whom he abused in the grossest possible terms. +They did more harm than good by their want of temper and patience, +but above all by their utter want of character, since no one could +place the slightest reliance on the word of any one of them in such a +trying moment. They seemed to have no control over their feelings, +and to think that they could do all that was required by harsh +language and loud bawling. + +Captain Lockett at last persuaded them to leave the whole affair in +his hands; and had they done so at first, he would have settled the +matter, he thought, in half the time. They had been discussing +matters in this angry manner for four hours and a half, without +making the slightest impression on the ruffians; but when all became +silent, Captain Lockett prevailed on them to release the boys on the +conditions agreed to between him and Eesa Meean, and recorded on +paper. In this paper it was declared--"That Syud Mahomed Eesa Khan, +together with the woman, Beeba Jan, shall be allowed to go where he +liked, with security to his life and honour, and with all the +property and effects he might have, whether he got it from the King +of Oude or from his minister; and that no one, either in the +Honourable Company's or in the King of Oude's dominions, shall offer +him any molestation; that no obstruction shall be thrown in his way +by the officers of the British Government in the countries of any of +the Rajahs at whose courts there may be a British Resident; and +further, that no molestation shall be offered to him in the British +territories in consequence of the disturbance which took place at +Bareilly in 1816. + +"(Signed) A. LOCKETT, _Assistant Resident_." + +After this paper had been signed by Captain Lockett, the two boys +were set at liberty, and sent off in palanqeens to their mother under +a guard. The minister had, in the morning, promised to give the +assailants twenty thousand rupees, and they arrived before the +discussions closed, and were placed on the floor of the school-room. +The girl, Beeba Jan, was now brought into the room, and made over to +Eesa Meean. When first brought before him, she thought she was to be +sacrificed to save the lives of the boys, and was in a state of great +agitation. She implored Captain Lockett to save her life; but, to the +great surprise of all present, Eesa Meean took up one of the bags of +money, containing one thousand rupees, and, with a smile, put it into +her arms, and told her that she was now at liberty to return to her +home or go where she pleased. The joy expressed by the girl and by +all who witnessed this scene was very great; for they had all +considered him to be a mere ruffian, incapable of anything like a +generous action. + +It had been arranged that Eesa Meean, with all his party, should go +with Captain Lockett to the Residency; but when the time came, and +the excitement had passed away in the apartment, he began to be +alarmed, and told Captain Lockett that he felt sure he should be +murdered on the road. He wanted to go with Captain Lockett on the +same elephant, but to this Captain Lockett would not consent, as it +would compromise his dignity, to sit on the same elephant with so +atrocious a character. There was no palanqeen available for him, and +he would not allow Captain Lockett to enter his, declaring that if he +did so, he, Eesa Meean, would be instantly cut down by the King's +people. Captain Lockett was, therefore, obliged to walk with him from +the minister's house at Dowlut Poora to the Residency, a distance of +a mile, in the heat of the day, and the hottest month in the year, +followed by the King's troops, and an immense multitude from the +city. About four o'clock Captain Lockett reached the Residency, and +made over Eesa Meean and his sixteen followers to the Resident, who +ratified the written engagement, and sent the party to the +cantonments, three miles distant from the city, to Brigadier-General +Price, who commanded the troops in Oude, to be taken care of for a +few days till arrangements could be made for their safe conduct to +Cawnpore, within the British territory. Their arms were taken from +them, to be sent to the magistrate at Cawnpore, for delivery to them +when they might be released. On the morning of the 3rd the King came +to the Resident to thank him for what he had done, and express the +sense he entertained of the judicious conduct of his Assistant during +the whole of this trying scene; and to request that he might be +permitted to go to the palace to receive some mark of distinction +which his Majesty wished to confer upon him. Captain Lockett went +with the minister, and was received with marked distinction; and +thirteen trays of shawls and other articles were presented to him. +Captain Lockett selected one pair, which he accepted, and placed, as +usual, in the Resident's Toshuk-khana. + +When he signed the paper he remarked the omission of all mention of +Eesa Meean's associates in that document, but did not consider it to +be his duty to point out the oversight, lest it might increase the +excitement, and prolong the angry discussions. In his report of the +circumstances to the Resident, however, he mentioned it to him, and +told him that the omission clearly arose from an oversight, and +unless his associates received the same indulgence as the principal, +Eesa Meean himself, their exclusion from the benefits of the +engagement might be attributed to decoit or artifice on his part. The +Resident concurred in this opinion, and in his report of the +following day to Government, he recommended that they should all be +considered as included in the engagement. + +Government, in its reply of the 25th of June 1824, consents to this +construction of the written engagement, but notices a no less +important oversight on the part of the Resident and his Assistant, in +the free pardon given to Eesa Meean, for the share he had taken in +the Bareilly insurrection, which had caused the loss of so many lives +in April 1816. Government infers, that they could, neither of them +have been aware, that this ruffian was the original instigator and +most active leader in that formidable insurrection; that it was +chiefly, if not entirely, owing to his endeavours to inflame the +popular phrenzy, and to collect partizans from the neighbouring +towns, that the efforts of the local authorities, to quell or avert +the rising storm, failed wholly of success; that he stood charged as +a principal in the murder of Mr. Leycester's son, and that, on these +grounds, he was expressly excluded from the general amnesty, declared +after the successful suppression of the rebellion, and a reward of +two thousand rupees offered for his arrest; that this written pledge +had involved Government in the dilemma of either cancelling a public +act of the British Resident, or pardoning and setting at large, +within its territory, a proclaimed outlaw, and notorious rebel and +most dangerous incendiary; and that it felt bound in duty to guard +the public peace from the hazard of further interruption, through the +violence or intrigue of so desperate and atrocious an offender; and +to annul that part of the engagement which absolves Eesa Meean from +his guilt in the Bareilly insurrection, since the Resident and his +Assistant went beyond their powers in pledging their Government to +such a condition. Government directed, that he and his associates +should be safely escorted over the border into the British territory, +and that he should not be brought to trial before a Judicial Court, +with a view to his being capitally punished for his crimes at +Bareilly, but be confined, as a state prisoner, in the fortress of +Allahabad. The Government, in strong but dignified terms, expresses +its surprise and displeasure at his having been placed in so +confidential a position, and permitted to bask in the sunshine of +ministerial favour, when active search was being made for him all +over India; for the King and his minister must have been both aware +of the part he had taken in the Bareilly insurrection, since the King +himself alludes to it in a letter submitted by the Resident to +Government on the 8th of June 1824. + +The Resident and his Assistant, in letters dated 15th of July, +declare that they were altogether unacquainted with the part which +Eesa Meean had taken in the Bareilly rebellion in 1816, the Resident +being at that time at the Cape of Good Hope, and his Assistant in +England. Eesa Meean was confined, as directed, in the fort of +Allahabad; but soon afterwards released on the occasion of the +Governor-General's visit to that place. He returned again to Lucknow +in the year 1828, soon after Aga Meer had been removed from his +office of minister. As soon as it was discovered that he was in the +city, he was seized and sent across the Ganges; and is said to have +been killed in Malwa or Goozerat, in a similar attempt upon some +native chief or his minister. + +The two boys are still living, the eldest, Aga Allee, or Ameen-od +Dowla, at Lucknow, and Nizam-od Dowla, the youngest, at Cawnpore; +both drawing large hereditary pensions, under the guarantee of the +British Government. This is not the Ameen-od Dowla who was attacked +in the streets, as above described, in the year 1847. + +About two years ago this Ghoolam Huzrut took by violence possession +of the small estate of Golha, now in the Sibhore purgunnah; and +turned out the proprietor, Bhowannee Sing, a Rathore Rajpoot, whose +ancestors had held it for several centuries. The poor man was re- +established in it by the succeeding contractor, Girdhara Sing; but on +his losing his contract, Ghoolam Huzret, on the 23rd of September +last, again attacked Bhowanne Sing at midnight, at the head of a gang +of ruffians; and after killing five of his relatives and servants, +and burning down his houses, turned him and his family out, and +secured possession of the village, which he still holds. The King's +officers were too weak to protect the poor man, and have hitherto +acquiesced in the usurpation of the village. Ghoolam Huzrut has +removed all the autumn crops to his own village; and cut down and +taken away sixty mango-trees planted by Bhowannee Sing's ancestors. +Miherban Sing, the son of the sufferer, is a sipahee in the 63rd +Regiment Native Infantry, and he presented a petition through the +Resident in behalf of his father. Other petitions have been since +presented, and the Court has been strongly urged to afford redress. +Ghoolam Huzrut has two forts, to which he retires when pursued, one +at _Para_, and one at _Sarai_, and a good many powerful landholders +always ready to support him against the government, on condition of +being supported by him when necessary. + +On crossing the river Ghagra, I directed Captain Bunbury, (who +commands a regiment in the King of Oude's service with six guns, and +was to have accompanied me, and left the main body of his regiment +with his guns under his second in command, Captain Hearsey, at +Nawabgunge,) to surprise and capture Ghoolam Huzrut, if possible, by +a sudden march. He had left his fort of Para, on my passing within a +few miles of it, knowing that the minister had been with me, and +thinking that he might have requested my aid for the purpose. Captain +Bunbury joined his main body unperceived, made a forced march during +the night, and reached the fort of Para at daybreak in the morning, +without giving alarm to any one on the road. In this surprise he was +aided by Khoda Buksh, of Dadra, a very respectable and excellent +landholder, who had suffered from Ghoolam Huzrut's depredations. + +He had returned to his fort with all his family on my passing, and it +contained but few soldiers, with a vast number of women and children. +He saw that it would be of no use to resist, and surrendered his fort +and person to Captain Bunbury, who sent him a prisoner to Lucknow, +under charge of two Companies, commanded by Captain Hearsey. He is +under trial, but he has so many influential friends about the Court, +with whom he has shared his plunder, that his ultimate punishment is +doubtful. Captain Bunbury was praised for his skill and gallantry, +and was honoured with a title by the king. + +_December_ 3, 1849.--Kinalee, ten miles over a plain, highly +cultivated and well studded with groves, but we could see neither +town, village, nor hamlet on the road. A poor Brahmin, Gunga Sing, +came along the road with me, to seek redress for injuries sustained. +His grandfather was in the service of our Government, and killed +under Lord Lake, at the first siege of Bhurtpore in 1804. With the +little he left, the family had set up as agricultural capitalists in +the village of Poorwa Pundit, on the estate of Kulunder Buksh, of +Bhitwal. Here they prospered. The estate was, as a matter of favour +to Kulunder Buksh, transferred from the jurisdiction of the +contractor to that of the Hozoor Tehseel.* Kulunder Buksh either +could not, or would not, pay the Government demand; and he employed +two of his relatives, Godree and Hoseyn Buksh, to plunder in the +estate and the neighbourhood, to reduce Government to his own terms. +These two persons, with two hundred armed men, attacked the village +in the night; and, after plundering the house of this Brahmin, Gunga +Sing, they seized his wife, who was then pregnant, and made her point +out a hidden treasure of one hundred and seven gold mohurs, and two +hundred and seventy-seven rupees. She had been wounded in several +places before she did this, and when she could point out no more, one +of the two brothers cut her down with his sword, and killed her. In +all the Brahmin lost two thousand seven hundred and fifty-five +rupees' worth of property; and, on the ground of his grandfather +having been killed in the Honourable Company's service, has been ever +since urging the Resident to interpose with the Oude government in +his behalf. + +[* The term "Hozoor Tehseel" signifies the collections of the revenue +made by the governor himself whether of a district or a kingdom. The +estates of all landholders who pay their land-revenues direct to the +governor, or to the deputy employed under him to receive such +revenues and manage such estates, are said to be in the "Hozoor +Tehseel." The local authorities of the districts on which such +estates are situated have nothing whatever to do with them.] + +The estate of Bhitwal has been retransferred to the jurisdiction of +the Amil of Byswara, who has restored it to Kulunder Buksh; and his +two relatives, Godree and Hoseyn Buksh, are thriving on the booty +acquired, and are in high favour with the local authorities. I have +requested that measures may be adopted to punish them for the robbery +and the cruel murder of the poor woman; but have little hope that +they will be so. _No government in India is now more weak for +purposes of good than that of Oude_. + +This village of Kinalee is now in the estate of Ramnuggur Dhumeereea, +held by Gorbuksh, a large landholder, who has a strong fort, +Bhitolee, at the point of the Delta, formed by the Chouka and Ghagra +rivers, which here unite. He has taken refuge with some four thousand +armed followers in this fort, under the apprehension of being made to +pay the full amount of the Government demand, and called to account +for the rescue of some atrocious offenders from Captain Hearsey, of +the Frontier Police, by whom they had been secured. Gorbuksh used to +pay two hundred thousand rupees a-year for many years for this +estate, without murmur or difficulty; but for the last three years he +has not paid the rate, to which he has got it reduced, of one hundred +and fifty thousand. Out of his rents and the revenues due to +Government he keeps up a large body of armed followers, to intimidate +the Government, and seize upon the estates of his weaker neighbours, +many of which he has lately appropriated by fraud, violence, and +collusion. An attempt was this year made to put the estate under the +management of Government officers; but he was too strong for the +Government, which was obliged to temporise, and at last to yield. He +is said to exact from the landholders the sum of two hundred and +fifty thousand rupees a-year. He holds also the estate of Bhitolee, +at the apex of the delta of the Ghagra and Chouka rivers, in which +the fort of Bhitolee is situated. The Government demand on this +estate is fifty thousand (50,000) rupees a-year. His son, Surubjeet +Sing, is engaged in plunder, and, it is said, with his father's +connivance and encouragement, though he pretends to be acting in +disobedience of his orders. The object is, to augment their estate, +and intimidate the Government and its officers by gangs of ruffians, +whom they can maintain only by plunder and malversation. The greater +part of the lands, comprised in this estate of Ramnuggur Dhumeereea, +of which Rajah Gorbuksh is now the local governor, are hereditary +possessions which have been held by his family for many generations. +A part has been recently seized from weaker neighbours, and added to +them. The rest are merely under him as the governor or public +officer, intrusted with the collection of the revenue and the +management of the police. + +_December_ 4, 1849.--Gunesh Gunge, _alias_ Byram-ghat, on the right +bank of the river Ghagra, distance about twelve miles. The country +well cultivated, and studded with good groves of mango and other +trees. We passed through and close to several villages, whose houses +are nothing but mud walls, without a thatched or tiled roof to one in +twenty. The people say there is no security in them from the King's +troops and the passies, a large class of men in Oude, who are village +watchmen but inveterate thieves and robbers, when not employed as +such. All refractory landholders hire a body of passies to fight for +them, as they pay themselves out of the plunder, and cost little to +their employers. They are all armed with bows and arrows, and are +very formidable at night. They and their refractory employers keep +the country in a perpetual state of disorder; and, though they do not +prevent the cultivation of the land, they prevent the village and +hamlets from being occupied by anybody who has anything to lose, and +no strong local ties to restrain him. + +The town of Ramnuggur, in which Gorbuksh resides occasionally, is on +the road some five miles from the river. It has a good many houses, +but all are of the same wretched description; mud walls, with +invisible coverings or no coverings at all; no signs of domestic +peace or happiness; but nothing can exceed the richness and variety +of the crops in and around Ramnuggur. It is a fine garden, and would +soon be beautiful, were life and property better secured, and some +signs of domestic comfort created. The ruined state of the houses in +this town and in the villages along the road, is, in part, owing to +the system which requires all the King's troops to forage for +themselves on the march, and the contractors, and other collectors of +revenue, to be continually on the move, and to take all their troops +with them. The troops required in the provinces should be cantoned in +five or six places most convenient, with regard, to the districts to +be controlled, and most healthy for the people; and provided with +what they require, as ours are, and sent out to assist the revenue +collectors and magistrates only when their services are indispensably +necessary. Some Chundele Rajpoot landholders came to me yesterday to +say, that Ghoolam Huzrut, with his bands of armed ruffians, seemed +determined to seize upon all the estates of his weaker Hindoo +neighbours, and they would soon lose theirs, unless the British +Government interposed to protect them. Gorbuksh has not ventured to +come, as he was ordered, to pay his respects to the Resident; but has +shut himself up in his fort at Bhitolee, about six miles up the river +from our camp. The Chouka is a small river which there flows into the +Ghagra. He is said to have four or five thousand men with him; and +several guns mounted in his fort. The ferry over the Ghagra is close +to our tents, and called Byram-ghat. + +_December_ 5, 1849.--Crossed the river Ghagra, in boats, and encamped +at Nawabgunge, on the left bank, where we were met by one of the +collectors of the Gonda Bahraetch district. He complained of the +difficulties experienced in realizing the just demands of the +exchequer, from the number and power of the tallookdars of the +district, who had forts and bands of armed followers, too strong for +the King's officers. There were, he said, in the small purgunnah of +Gouras-- + +1.--Pretheeput Sing, of Paska, who has a strong fort called Dhunolee, +on the right bank of the Ghagra, opposite to Paska and Bumhoree, two +strongholds, which he has on the left bank of that river, and he is +always ready to resist the Government. + +2.--Murtonjee Buksh, of Shahpoor, who is always ready to do the same; +and a great ruffian. + +3.--Shere Bahader Sing, of Kuneear.* + +4.--Maheput Sing, of Dhunawa.* + +5.--Surnam Sing, of Arta.* + +6.--Maheput Sing, of Paruspoor.* + +[* All four are at present on good terms with the Government and its +local authorities.] + +They have each a fort, or stronghold, mounting five or six guns, and +trained bands of armed and brave men of five or six hundred, which +they augment, as occasion requires, by Gohars, or auxiliary bands +from their friends. + +Hurdut Sing, of Bondee, _alias_ Bumnootee, held an estate for which +he paid one hundred and eighty-two thousand (1,82,000) rupees a year +to Government; but he was driven, out of it in 1846-47, by Rughbur +Sing, the contractor, who, by rapacity and outrage, drove off the +greater part of the cultivators, and so desolated the estate that it +could not now be made to yield thirty thousand (30,000) rupees a- +year. The Raja has ever since resided with a few followers in an +island in the Ghagra. He has never openly resisted or defied the +Government, but is said to be sullen, and a bad paymaster. He still +holds the estate in its desolate condition. + +The people of Nawabgunge drink the water of wells, close to the bank +of the river, and often the water of the river itself, and say that +they never suffer from it; but that a good many people in several +villages, along the same bank, have the goitre to a very distressing +degree. + +_December_ 6, 1849.--Halted at Byram-ghat, in order to enable all our +people and things to come up. One of our elephants nearly lost his +life yesterday in the quick-sands of the river. Capt. Weston rode out +yesterday close to Bhitolee, the little fort of Rajah Gorbuksh Sing, +who came out in a litter and told him, that he would come to me to- +day at noon, and clear himself of the charges brought against him of +rescuing and harbouring robbers, and refusing to pay the Government +demand. He had been suffering severely from fever for fifteen days. + +Karamut Allee complains that his father, Busharut Allee, had been +driven out from the purgunnahs of Nawabgunge and Sidhore, by Ghoolum +Huzrut and his associates, who had several times attacked and +plundered the town of Nawabgunge, our second stage, and a great many +other villages around, from which they had driven off all the +cultivators and stock, in order to appropriate them to themselves, +and augment their landed estates; that they had cut down all the +groves of mango-trees planted by the rightful proprietors and their +ancestors, in order to remove all local ties; and murdered or maimed +all cultivators who presumed to till any of the lands without their +permission, that Busharut Allee had held the contract for the land +revenue of the purgunnah for twenty years, and paid punctually one +hundred and thirty-five thousand (1,35,000) rupees a-year to the +treasury, till about four years ago, when Ghoolam Huzrut commenced +this system of spoliation and seizure, since which time the purgunnah +had been declining, and could not now yield seventy thousand (70,000) +rupees to the treasury; that his family had held many villages in +hereditary right for many generations, within the purgunnah, but that +all had, been or were being seized by this lawless freebooter and his +associates. + +Seeta Ram, a Brahmin zumeendar of Kowaree, in purgunnah Satrick, +complains, that he has been driven out of his hereditary estate by +Ghoolam Imam, the zumeendar of Jaggour, and his associate, Ghoolam +Huzrut; that his house had been levelled with the ground, and all the +trees, planted by his family, have been cut down and burned; that he +has been plundered of all he had by them, and is utterly ruined. Many +other landholders complain in the same manner of having been robbed +by this gang, and deprived of their estates; and still more come in +to pray for protection, as the same fate threatens all the smaller +proprietors, under a government so weak, and so indifferent to the +sufferings of its subjects. + +The Nazim of Khyrabad, who is now here engaged in the siege of +Bhitolee, has nominally three thousand four hundred fighting men with +him; but he cannot muster seventeen hundred. He has with him only the +seconds in command of corps, who are men of no authority or +influence, the commandants being at Court, and the mere creatures of +the singers and eunuchs, and other favourites about the palace. They +always reside at and about Court, and keep up only half the number of +men and officers, for whom they draw pay. All his applications to the +minister to have more soldiers sent out to complete the corps, or +permission to raise men in their places, remain unanswered and +disregarded. The Nazim of Bharaetch has nominally four thousand +fighting men; but he cannot muster two thousand, and the greater part +of them are good for nothing. The great landholders despise them, but +respect the Komutee corps, under Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and +Magness, which is complete, and composed of strong and brave men. The +despicable state to which the Court favourites have reduced the +King's troops, with the exception of these three corps, is +lamentable. They are under no discipline, and are formidable only to +the peasantry and smaller landholders and proprietors, whose houses +they everywhere deprive of their coverings, as they deprive their +cattle of their fodder. + +_December_ 7, 1849.--Hissampoor, 12 miles north-east, over a plain of +fine soil, more scantily tilled than any we saw on the other side of +the Ghagra, but well studded with groves and fine single trees, and +with excellent crops on the lands actually under tillage. One cause +assigned for so much fine land lying waste is, that the Rajpoot +tallookdars, above named, of the Chehdewara, have been long engaged +in plundering the Syud proprietors of the soil, and seizing upon +their lands, in the same manner as the Mahomedan ruffians, on the +other side of the river, have been engaged in plundering the small +Rajpoot proprietors, and seizing upon their lands. Four of them are +now quiet; but two, Prethee Put and Mirtonjee, are always in +rebellion. Lately, while the Chuckladar was absent, employed against +Jote Sing, of Churda, in the Turae, these two men took a large train +of followers, with some guns, attacked the two villages of Aelee and +Pursolee, in the estate of Deeksa, in Gonda, killed six persons, +plundered all the houses of the inhabitants, and destroyed all their +crops, merely because the landholders of these two villages would not +settle a boundary dispute in the way 'they proposed'. The lands of +the Hissampoor purgunnah were held in property by the members of a +family of Syuds, and had been so for many generations; but +neighbouring Rajpoot tallookdars have plundered them of all they had, +and seized upon their lands by violence, fraud, or collusion, with +public officers. Some they have seized and imprisoned, with torture +of one kind or another, till they signed deeds of sale, _Bynamahs_; +others they have murdered with all their families, to get secure +possession of their lands; others they have despoiled by offering the +local authorities a higher rate of revenue for their lands than they +could possibly pay. + +The Nazim has eighteen guns, and ten auxiliary ones sent out on +emergency--not one-quarter are in a state for service; and for these +he has not half the draft-bullocks required, and they are too weak +for use; and of ammunition or _stores_ he has hardly any at all. + +Rajah Gorbuksh Sing came yesterday, at sunset, to pay his respects, +and promised to pay to the Oude Government all that is justly +demandable from him. Written engagements to this effect were drawn +up, and signed by both the "high contracting parties." Having come in +on a pledge of personal security, he was, of course, permitted to +return from my camp to his own stronghold in safety. In that place he +has collected all the loose characters and unemployed soldiers he +could gather together, and all that his friends and associates could +lend him, to resist the Amil; and to maintain such a host, he will +have to pay much more than was required punctually to fulfil his +engagements to the State. He calculates, however, that, by yielding +to the Government, he would entail upon himself a perpetual burthen +at an enhanced rate, while, by the temporary expenditure of a few +thousands in this way, he may still further reduce the rate he has +hitherto paid. + +The contract for Gonda and Bahraetch was held by Rughbur Sing, one of +the sons of Dursun Sing, for the years 1846 and 1847 A.D., and the +district of Sultanpoor was held by his brother, Maun Sing, for 1845- +46 and 1847 A.D. Rughbur Sing in 1846-47 is supposed to have seized +and sold or destroyed no less than 25,000 plough-bullocks in +Bhumnootee, the estate of Rajah Hurdut Sing, alone. The estate of +Hurhurpoor had, up to that time, long paid Government sixty thousand +(60,000) rupees a-year, but last year it would not yield five +thousand (5,000) rupees, from the ravages of this man, Rughbur Sing. +The estate of Rehwa, held by Jeswunt Sing, tallookdar, had paid +regularly fifty-five thousand (55,000) rupees a-year; but it was so +desolated by Rughbur Sing, that it cannot now yield eleven thousand +(11,000) rupees. This estate adjoins Bhumnootee, Rajah Hurdut Sing's, +which, as above stated, regularly paid one hundred and eighty-two +thousand (182,000) rupees; it cannot now pay thirty thousand (30,000) +rupees. Such are the effects of the oppression of this bad man for so +brief a period. + +Some tallookdars live within the borders of our district of +Goruckpoor, while their lands lie in Oude. By this means they evade +the payment of their land revenues, and with impunity commit +atrocious acts of murder and plunder in Oude. These men maim or +murder all who presume to cultivate on the lands which they have +deserted, without their permission, or to pay rents to any but +themselves; and the King of Oude's officers dare not follow them, and +are altogether helpless. Only two months ago, Mohibollah, a zumeendar +of Kuttera, was invited by Hoseyn Buksh Khan, one of these +tallookdars, to his house, in the Goruckpoor district, to negotiate +for the ransom of one of his cultivators, a weaver by caste, whom he +had seized and taken away. As he was returning in the evening, he was +waylaid by Hoseyn Buksh Khan, as soon as he had recrossed the Oude +borders, and murdered with one of his attendants, who had been sent +with him by the Oude Amil. Such atrocities are committed by these +refractory tallookdars every day, while they are protected within our +bordering districts. Their lands must lie waste or be tilled by men +who pay all the rent to them, while they pay nothing to the Oude +Government. The Oude Government has no hope of prosecuting these men +to conviction in our Judicial Courts for specific crimes, which they +are known every day to commit, and glory in committing. In no part of +India is there such glaring abuse of the privileges of sanctuary as +in some of our districts bordering on Oude; while the Oude Frontier +Police, maintained by the King, at the cost of about one hundred +thousand (100,000) rupees a-year, and placed under our control, +prevents any similar abuse on the part of the Oude people and local +authorities. Some remedy for this intolerable evil should be devised. +At present the magistrates of all our conterminous districts require, +or expect, that their charges against any offender in Oude, who has +committed a crime in their districts, shall be held to be sufficient +for their arrest; but some of them, on the other band, require that +nothing less than some unattainable judicial proof, on the part of +the officers of the Oude Government, shall be held to be sufficient +to justify the arrest of any Oude offender who takes refuge in our +districts. They hold, that the sole object of the Oude authorities is +to get revenue defaulters into their power, and that the charges +against them for heinous crimes are invented solely for that purpose. +No doubt this is often the object, and that other charges are +sometimes invented, for the sole purpose of securing the arrest and +surrender of revenue defaulters; but the Oude revenue defaulters who +take refuge in our districts are for the most part, the tallookdars, +or great landholders, who, either before or after they do so, +invariably fight with the Oude authorities, and murder and plunder +indiscriminately, in order to reduce them to their own terms. + +The Honourable the Court of Directors justly require that requisition +for the surrender of offenders by and from British officers and +Native States, shall be limited to persons charged with having +committed heinous crimes within their respective territories; and +that the obligation to surrender such offenders shall be strictly +reciprocal, unless, in any special case, there be very strong reason +for a departure from the rule.* But some magistrates of districts +disregard altogether applications made to them by the sovereign of +Oude, through the British Resident, for the arrest of subjects of +Oude who have committed the most atrocious robberies and murders in +the Oude territory in open day, and in the sight of hundreds; and +allow refugees from Oude to collect and keep up gangs of robbers +within their own districts, and rob and murder within the Oude +territory. Happily such Magistrates are rare. Government, in a letter +dated the 25th February, 1848, state--"that it is the duty of the +magistrates of our districts bordering on Oude to adopt vigorous +measures for preventing the assembling or entertaining of followers +by any party, for the purpose of committing acts of violence on the +Oude side of the frontier." + +[* See their letter to the Government of India, 27th May 1835.] + +_December_ 8, 1849.--Pukharpoor, a distance of fourteen miles, over a +fine plain of good soil, scantily tilled. For some miles the road lay +through Rajah Hurdut Sing's estate of Bumnootee, which was, with the +rest of the district of Bahraetch and Gonda, plundered by Rughbur +Sing, during the two years that he held the contract. We passed +through no village or hamlet, but saw some at a distance from the +road, with their dwellings of naked mud walls, the abodes of fear and +wretchedness; but the plain is well studded with groves and fine +single trees, and the crops are good where there are any on the +ground. Under good management, the country would be exceedingly +beautiful, and was so until within the last four years. + +In the evening I had a long talk with the people of the village, who +had assembled round our tents. Many of them had the goitre; but they +told me, that in this and all the villages within twenty miles the +disease had, of late years, diminished; that hardly one-quarter of +the number that used to suffer from it had now the disease; that the +quality of the water must have improved, though they knew not why, as +they still drank from the same wells. These wells must penetrate into +some bed of mineral or other substance, which produces this disease +of the glands, and may in time exhaust it. But it is probable, that +the number who suffer from this disease has diminished merely with +the rest of the population, and that the proportion which the +goitered bear to the ungoitered may be still the same. They told me +that they had been plundered of all their stock and moveable property +by the terrible scourge, Rughber Sing, during his reign of two years, +and could not hope to recover from their present state of poverty for +many more; that their lands were scantily tilled, and the crops had +so failed for many years, since this miscreant's rule, that the +district which used to supply Lucknow with grain was obliged to draw +grain from it, and even from Cawnpore. This is true, and grain has in +consequence been increasing in price ever since we left Lucknow. It +is now here almost double the price that it is at Lucknow, while it +is usually twice as cheap here. + +_December_ 9, 1849.--Bahraetch, ten miles north-east. We encamped on +a fine sward, on the left bank of the Surjoo river, a beautiful clear +stream. The cultivation very scanty, but the soil good, with water +everywhere, within a few feet of the surface. Groves and single trees +less numerous; and of villages and hamlets we saw none. Under good +government, the whole country might, in a few years, be made a +beautiful garden. The river Surjoo is like a winding stream in a +park; and its banks might, everywhere, be cultivated to the water's +edge. No ravines, jungle, or steep embankments. It is lamentable to +see so fine a country in so wretched a state. + +The Turae forest begins a few miles to the north of Bahraetch, and +some of the great baronial landholders have their residence and +strongholds within it. The Rajah of Toolseepoor is one of them. He is +a kind-hearted old man, and a good landlord and subject; but he has +lately been driven out by his young and reprobate son, at the +instigation and encouragement of a Court favourite. The Rajah had +discharged an agent, employed by him at Court for advocating the +cause of his son while in rebellion against his father. The agent +then made common cause with the son, and secured the interest of two +powerful men at Court, Balkrishen Dewan and Gholam Ruza, the deputy +minister, who has charge of the estates in the Hozoor Tehsel. The +jurisdiction over the estate had been transferred from the local +authorities to the Hozoor Tehsel; and, by orders from Court, the +father's friends, the Bulrampoor and other Rajahs of the clan, were +prevented from continuing the aid they had afforded to support the +father's authority. The father unwilling to have the estate +devastated by a contest with the band of ruffians whom his son had +collected, retired, and allowed him to take possession. The son +seized upon all the property the father had left, and now employs it +in maintaining this band and rewarding the services of Court +favourites. The Nazim of the district is not permitted to interfere, +to restore rights or preserve order in the estate, nor would he, +perhaps, do either, if so permitted, for he has been brought up in a +bad school, and is not a good man. The pretext at Court is, that the +father is deranged; but, though not wise, he is learned, and no man +can be more sober than he is, or better disposed towards his +sovereign and tenants. That he is capable of managing his estate, is +shown by the excellent condition in which he left it. + +Prethee Put, of Paska, is not worse than many of the tallookdars of +Oude, who now disturb the peace of the country; and I give a brief +sketch of his history, as a specimen of the sufferings inflicted on +the people by the wild licence which such landholders enjoy under the +weak, profligate, and apathetic government of Oude. + +Keerut Sing, the tallookdar of Paska, on the left bank of the Ghagra, +between Fyzabad and Byram-ghaut, was one of the Chehdwara +landholders, and had five sons, the eldest Dirgpaul Sing, and the +second Prethee Put, the hero of this brief history. Before his death, +Keerut Sing made over the management of his estate to his eldest son +and heir; but gave to his second son a portion of land out of it, for +his own subsistence and that of his family. The father and eldest son +continued to reside together in the fort of Dhunolee, situated on the +right bank of the Ghagra, opposite Paska. Prethee Put took up his +residence in his portion of the estate at Bumhoree, collected a gang +of the greatest ruffians in the country, and commenced his trade, and +that of so many of his class, as an indiscriminate plunderer. Keerut +Sing and his eldest son, Dirgpaul, continued to pay the Government +demand punctually, to obey the local authorities, and manage the +estate with prudence. + +Prethee Put, in 1836, attacked and took a despatch of treasure, +consisting of twenty-six thousand rupees, on its way to Lucknow, from +the Nazim of Bahraetch. In 1840 he attacked and took another of +eighty-five thousand rupees, on its way to Lucknow from the same +place. With these sums, and the booty which he acquired from the +plunder of villages and travellers, he augmented his gang, built a +fort at Bumhoree, and extended his depredations. In January 1842, his +father, who had been long ill, died. The local authorities demanded +five thousand rupees from the eldest son, Dirgpaul Sing, on his +accession. He promised to pay, and sent his eldest son, Dan Bahader +Sing, a lad of eighteen, as a hostage for the payment to the Nazim. +Soon after, Prethee Pat attacked the fort of Dhunolee, in which his +elder brother resided with his family, killed fifty-six persons, and +made Dirgpaul, his wife, and three other sons prisoners. Dirgpaul's +sister tried to conceal her brother under some clothes; but, under a +solemn oath from Prethee Put, that no personal violence should be +offered to him, he was permitted to take him. His wife and three sons +were sent off to be confined under the charge of Byjonauth Bhilwar, +zumeendar of Kholee, in the estate of Sarafraz Ahmud, one of his +associates in crime, on the left bank of the Goomtee river. + +Three days after, finding that no kind of torture or intimidation +could make his elder brother sign a formal resignation of his right +to the estate in his favour, he took him into the middle of the river +Ghagra, cut off his head with his own hands, and threw the body into +the stream. Deeming this violation of his pledge a dishonourable act +his friend, Byjonauth, from whom he had demanded the widow and her +three sons, released them all, to seek protection elsewhere, as he +was not strong enough to resist Prethee Put himself. They found +shelter with some friends of the family in another district, and +Wajid Allee Khan, the Nazim of Bahraetch, in the beginning of +November 1843, went with the best force he could muster, drove +Prethee Pat out of Dhunolee and Paska, and put Dan Bahader Sing, the +eldest son of Dirgpaul, and rightful heir, into possession. In the +latter end of the same month, however, he was attacked by his uncle, +Prethee Put, and driven out with the loss of ten men. He again +applied for aid to the Nazim; but, thinking it more profitable to +support the stronger party, he took a bribe of ten thousand rupees +from Prethee Put, and recognized him as the rightful heir of his +murdered brother. Dan Bahader collected a small party of fifteen men, +and took possession of a small stronghold in the jungle of the +Shapoor estate, belonging to Murtonjee, another of the Chehdwara +tallookdars, where he was again attacked by his uncle in March 1844, +and driven out with the loss of four out of his fifteen men. Soon +after Prethee Put attacked and took another despatch of treasure, on +its way to Lucknow from Bahraetch, consisting of eighteen thousand +rupees. Soon after, in June, the Nazim, Ehsan Allee, sent a force +with Dan Bahader, and re-established him in possession of the estate +of Paska; but Ehsan Allee was soon after superseded in the contract +by Rughbur Sing, who adopted the cause of the strongest, and restored +Prethee Put, who continued to hold the estate for 1845. + +In April 1847, Mahommed Hossein, one of the Tusseeldars under Rughbur +Sing, seized and confined Prethee Put, once more put Dan Bahader in +possession of the estate, and sent his uncle to Rughbur Sing. In +November 1847, Incha Sing superseded his nephew, Rughbur Sing; and, +thinking Prethee Put's the more profitable cause to adopt, he turned +out Dan Bahader, and restored Prethee Put to the possession of the +Paska estate, which he has held ever since. He has continued to +pursue his system of indiscriminate plunder and defiance of the +Government authorities, and has seized upon the estates of several of +his weaker neighbours. + +In 1848, he attacked and plundered the village of Sahooreea, +belonging to Sarafraz Allee, Chowdheree of Radowlee, and this year he +has done the same to the village of Semree, belonging to Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing. He carried off fifty-two persons from this village of +Semree, and confined them for two months, flogging and burning them +with red-hot ramrods, till they paid the ransom of five thousand +rupees required. He has this year plundered another village, +belonging to the same person, called Nowtee, and its dependent hamlet +of Hurhurpoora. He has also this year attacked, plundered, and burnt +to the ground the villages of Tirkolee, in the Radowlee purgunnah, +and Aelee Pursolee, in Bahraetch. The attack on Tirkolee took place +in September last, and five of the inhabitants were killed; and in +the attack on Aelee Pursolee, six of the zumeendars were killed in +defending themselves. In this attack he was joined by the gang under +Murtonjee. He also plundered and confined a merchant of Gowaris till +he paid a ransom of seven hundred rupees; and about twenty-five days +ago he attacked and plundered two persons from Esanugur, on their way +to Ojodheea, on pilgrimage, and kept them confined and tortured till +they paid a ransom of five hundred rupees. + +Prethee Put has, as before stated, in collusion with local +authorities, and by violence, seized upon a great portion of the +lands of Hissampoor, and ruined and turned out the Syud proprietors, +by whose families they had been held for many generations. He is +bound to pay twenty thousand rupees a year; but has not, for many +years, paid more than seven thousand. + +Mahommed Hossein, the present Nazim of the Gonda Bahraetch districts, +describes the capture of Prethee Put by himself, as follows:-"In +1846, the purgunnahs of Gowaris and Hissampoor were reduced to a +state of great disorder by the depredations of Prethee Put, and the +roads leading through them were shut up. He had seized Syud Allee +Asgar, the tallookdar of Aleenughur, in the Hissampoor purgunnah, +taken possession of his estate, and driven out, or utterly ruined, +all the landholders and cultivators. He tried, by all kinds of +torture, to make Allee Asgar sign, in his favour, a deed of sale; but +his family found means to complain to the Durbar, and Rughbur Sing, +the Nazim, was ordered to seize him and rescue his prisoner. I was +sent to manage the two purgunnahs, seize the offender, and rescue +Allee Asgar. When I approached the fort of Bumhoree, where he kept +his prisoner confined, Prethee Put put him in strong irons, left him +in that fort, and, with his followers, passed over the Ghagra, in +boats, to his stronger fort of Dhunolee, on the right bank. I took +possession of Bumhoree without much resistance, rescued the prisoner, +and restored him to the possession of his estate, and put all the +rest of the lands held by Prethee Put under the management of +Government officers. Two months after, seeing my force much reduced +by these arrangements, he came at the head of a band of seventeen +hundred men to attack me in the village of Dhooree Gunge. The place +was not defended by any wall, but we made the best of it, drove him +back, and killed or wounded about fifty of his men, with the loss on +our side, in killed or wounded, of about twenty-three. + +"I kept Prethee Put confined for two months, when Rughbur Sing sent +for him, on pretence that he wished to send him to Lucknow. He kept +him till the end of the year, when he was superseded in the contract +by his uncle, Incha Sing, who released Prethee Put at the +intercession of Maun Sing, the brother of Rughbur Sing, who expected +to make a good deal out of him." Prethee Put, of Paska, was attacked +on the morning of the 26th of March, 1850, in his fort of Dhunolee, +by a force under the command of Captains Weston, Thompson, Magness, +and Orr; and, on their approach, he vacated the fort, separated +himself from his gang, and took shelter in the house of a Brahmin. He +was then traced by a party from Captain Magness's corps; and, as he +refused to surrender, he was cut down and killed. His clan, the +Kulhunsies, refused to take the body for interment. The head had been +cut off to be sent to Lucknow as a trophy, but Captain Weston opposed +this, and it was replaced on the body, which was sewn up in a +winding-sheet and taken into the river Ghagra by some sipahees, as +the best kind of interment for a Hindoo chief of his rank. The +persons employed in the ceremony were Hindoos, who knew nothing of +Prethee Put's history; but it was afterwards found that the place +where the body was committed to the stream was that on which he had +killed his eldest brother, and thrown his body into the river from +his boat. This was a remarkable coincidence, and tended to impress +upon the minds of the people around a notion that his death was +effected by divine interposition. All, except his followers, were +rejoiced at the death of so atrocious a character. Dan Bahader, the +eldest son of the brother he had murdered, being poor and unable to +pay the usual fees and gratuities to the minister and court +favourites, was not, however, permitted to take possession of his +patrimonial estate, and he died in December, 1850, in poverty and +despair. Dhunolee and Bhumoree have been levelled with the ground. + +_December_ 9, 1849.--In the news-writer's report of the 3rd December, +1849, it is stated--"that Ashfakos Sultan, Omrow Begum, one of the +King's wives, reported to his Majesty, that a man named Sadik Allee +had come to Lucknow while the King was suffering from palpitations of +the heart, and, in the disguise of a Durveish, hired a house in +Muftee Gunge, and taken up his residence in it. He there gave himself +out as one of the Kings of the Fairies (_Amil-i-Jinnut_); and the +fakeer, to whom his Majesty's confidential servants, the singers, had +taken him to be cured of his disease, was no other than this Sadik +Allee. The King, on hearing this, sent for Sadik Allee, who was +seized and brought before him on the 2nd December. He confessed the +imposture, but pleaded that he had practised it merely to obtain some +money, and that the singers were associated with him in all that he +did. The King soothed his apprehensions, and conferred upon him a +dress of honour, consisting of a doshala and roomul, and then made +him over to the custody of Ashfak-os Sultan. At night the King sent +for the minister, and, summoning Sadik Allee, bid him dress himself +exactly as he was dressed on the night he visited him, and prepare a +room in the palace exactly in the same manner as he had prepared his +own to receive his Majesty on that night. He chose a small room in +the palace, and under the ceiling he suspended a second ceiling, so +that no one could perceive how it was fixed on, and placed himself +between the two. When all was ready the King went to the apartment +with the minister, accompanied by Ruzee-od Dowlah, the head singer. +When the door of the apartment was closed, they first heard a +frightful voice, without being able to perceive whence it came. +Neither the minister nor the King could perceive the slightest +opening or fissure in the ceiling. They then came out and closed the +door, but immediately heard from within the peaceful salutation of +'salaam aleekom,' and the man appeared within as King of the Fairies, +and presented his Majesty with some jewels and other offerings. All +was here enacted precisely as it had been acted on the occasion of +the King's visit to Muftee Gunge. Turning an angry look upon Ruzee-od +Dowlah, the King said, 'All the evil that I have so often heard of +you, men of Rampoor, I have now with my own eyes seen realized;' and, +turning to the minister, he said, 'How often have these men spoken +evil of you before me!' Ruzee-od Dowlah then said, 'If your Majesty +thinks me guilty, I pray you to punish me as may seem to you proper; +but I entreat you not to make me over to the minister.' The King, +without deigning any reply, summoned Hajee Shureef, and told him to +place mounted sentries of his own corps of cavalry over the door of +Saadut Allee Khan's mausoleum, in which these singers resided, and +infantry sentries in the apartments with them, with strict orders +that no one should be permitted to go out without, being first +strictly searched. The sister of Ruzee-od Dowla could nowhere be +found, and was supposed to have made her escape." + +The King had several interviews of this kind with his Majesty, the +King of the Fairies, who described the symptoms from which he +suffered, and prescribed the remedies, which consisted chiefly of +rich offerings to the Fairies, who were to relieve him. He frequently +received letters from the Fairy King to the same effect, written in +an imperious style, suited to the occasion. The farce was carried on +for several months, and the King at different times is supposed to +have given the Fairy King some two lacs of rupees, which he shared +liberally with the singers. + +I had heard of the affair of the Durveish from the minister, through +his wakeel, and from Captain Bird, the first Assistant, in a letter. +I requested that he would ask for an audience, and congratulate his +Majesty on the discovery of the imposture, and offer any assistance +that he might require in the banishment of the impostors. He was +received by the King in the afternoon of the 6th. He expressed his +regret that the King should have been put to so much trouble by the +bad conduct of those who had received from him all that a king could +give-wealth, titles, and intimate companionship; hinted at the +advantage taken of this by Ruzee-od Dowlah, in his criminal +intercourse with one of his Sultanas, Surafraz Muhal; and earnestly +prayed him to put an end to the misery and disgrace which these men +had brought and were still bringing on himself, his house, and his +country. The King promised to have Ruzee-od Dowlah, his sister, and +Kotub-od Dowlah, banished across the Ganges; but stated, that he +could do nothing against Sadik Allee, however richly he deserved +punishment, since he had pledged his royal word to him, on his +disclosing all he knew about the imposition. The King asked captain +Bird, whether he thought that he had felt no sorrow at parting with +Surafraz Muhal, with whom he had lived so intimately for nine years; +that he had, he said, cast her off as a duty, and did Captain Bird +think that he would spare the men who had so grossly deceived him, +caused so much confusion in his kingdom, and ill-feeling towards him, +on the part of the British Government and its representative? His +Majesty added, "I cherished low-bred men, and they have given me the +low-bred man's reward, had I made friends of men of birth and +character it would have been otherwise;" and concluded by saying, +that he could not touch the money he had given to these fellows, +because people would say that he had got rid of them merely to +recover what he had bestowed upon them.* + +[* When he afterwards confined and banished them in June and July +1850, he took back from them all that they had retained; but they had +sent to their families and friends, property to the value of many +lacs of rupees.] + +The King, in the latter end of November, divorced Surafraz Muhal, and +sent her across the Ganges, to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. She had +long been cohabiting with the chief singer, Gholam Ruza, and was +known to be a very profligate woman. She is said to have given his +Majesty to understand that she would not consent to remain in the +palace with him without the privilege of choosing her own lovers, a +privilege which she had freely enjoyed before she came into it, and +could not possibly forego. + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Bahraetch--Shrine of Syud Salar--King of the Fairies and the +Fiddlers--Management of Bahraetch district for forty-three years-- +Murder of Amur Sing, by Hakeem Mehndee--Nefarious transfer of +_khalsa_ lands to Tallookdars, by local officers--Rajah Dursun Sing-- +His aggression on the Nepaul Territory--Consequences--Intelligence +Department--How formed, managed, and abused--Rughbur Sing's +management of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846-47--Its fiscal effects--A +gang-robber caught and hung by Brahmin villagers--Murder of +Syampooree Gosaen--Ramdut Pandee--Fairies and Fiddlers--Ramdut +Pandee, the Banker--the Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor--Murder +of Mr. Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, at Bhinga, in 1823. + + +Bahraetch is celebrated for the shrine of Syud Salar, a _martyr_, who +is supposed to have been killed here in the beginning of the eleventh +century, when fighting against the Hindoos, under the auspices of +Mahmood Shah, of Ghuznee, his mother's brother. Strange to say, +Hindoos as well as Mahommedans make offerings to this shrine, and +implore the favours of this military ruffian, whose only recorded +merit consists of having destroyed a great many Hindoos in a wanton +and unprovoked invasion of their territory. They say, that he did +what he did against Hindoos in the conscientious discharge of his +duties, and could not have done it without God's permission--that God +must then have been angry with them for their transgressions, and +used this man, and all the other Mahommedan invaders of their +country, as instruments of his vengeance, and means to bring about +his purposes: that is, the thinking portion of the Hindoos say this. +The mass think that the old man must still have a good deal of +interest in heaven, which he may be induced to exercise in their +favour, by suitable offerings and personal applications to his +shrine. + +The minister reports to the Resident on the 9th, that the King had +relented, and wished to retain the singer, Ruzee-od Dowlah, and his +sister, and Kotub Allee, at Lucknow, with orders never to approach +the presence. Captain Bird, in a letter, confirms this report. + +_December_ 11, 1849.--Left Bahraetch and came south-east to Imaleea, +on the road to Gonda, over a plain in the Pyagpoor estate, almost +entirely waste. Few groves or single trees to be seen; scarcely a +field tilled or house occupied; all the work of the same atrocious +governor, Rughbur Sing. No oppressor ever wrote a more legible hand. + +The brief history of the management of this district for the last +forty-three years, is as follows. The district consisted in 1807, of + + + + Khalsa Lands Present Khalsa Lands + Bahraetch . . . 2,50,000 4,000 + Hissampoor . . . 2,00,000 40,000 + Hurhurpoor . . . 1,25,000 10,000 + Buhareegunge . . . 1,50,000 15,000 + ________ ______ + 7,25,000 69,000 + ________ ______ + + +The contract was held by Balkidass Kanoongoe, for five years, from +1807 to 1811, when he died, and was succeeded in the contract by his +son, Amur Sing, who held it till 1816. In the end of that year, or +early in 1817, Amur Sing was seized, put into confinement, and +murdered by Hakeem Mehndee, who held the contract for 1817 and 1818. +In the year 1816, Hakeem Mehndee, who held the contract for the +Mahomdee district, at four lacs of rupees a-year, and that for +Khyrabad at five, heard of the great wealth of Amur Sing, and the +fine state to which he and his father had brought the district by +good management; and offered the Oude government one lac of rupees a- +year more than he paid for the contract for the ensuing year. Hakeem +Mehndee resided chiefly at the capital of Lucknow, on the pretence of +indisposition, while his brother, Hadee Allee Khan, managed the two +districts for him. He had acquired a great reputation by his +judicious management of these two districts, and become a favourite +with the King, by the still more skilful management of a few male and +female favourites about his Majesty's person. The minister, Aga Meer, +was jealous of his growing fame and favour, and persuaded the King to +accept the offer, in the hope that he would go himself to his new +charge, in order to make the most of it. As soon as he heard of his +appointment to the charge of Bahraetch, Hakeem Mehndee set out with +the best body of troops he could collect, and sent on orders for Amur +Sing to come out and meet him. He declined to do so until he got the +pledge of Hadee Allee Khan, the Hakeem's brother, for his personal +security. This mortified the Hakeem, and tended to confirm him in the +resolution to make away with Amur Sing, and appropriate his wealth. +Both Hakeem Mehndee and his brother are said to have sworn on their +Koran that no violence whatever should be offered to or restraint put +upon him; and, relying on these oaths and pledges, Amur Sing met them +on their approach to Bahraetch. + +After discussing affairs and adjusting accounts for some months at +Bahraetch, the Hakeem, by his courteous manners and praises of his +excellent management, put Amur Sing off his guard. When sitting with +him one evening in his tents, around which he had placed a select +body of guards, he left him on the pretext of a sudden call, and Amur +Sing was seized, bound, and confined. Meer Hyder and Baboo Beg, Mogul +troopers, were placed in command of the guards over him, with orders +to get him assassinated as soon as possible. Sentries were, at the +same time, placed over his family and wealth. At midnight he was soon +after strangled by these two men and their attendants. Baboo Beg was +a very stout, powerful man; and he attempted to strangle him with his +own hands, while his companions held him down; but Amur Sing managed +to scream out for help, and, in attempting to close his mouth with +his left hand, one of his fingers got between Amur Sing's teeth, and +he bit off the first joint, and kept it in his mouth. His companions +finished the work; and Baboo Beg went off to get his fingers dressed +without telling any one what had happened. In the morning Hakeem +Mehndee gave out, that Amur Sing had poisoned himself, made the body +over to his family, and sent off a report of his death to the +minister, expressing his regret at Amur Sing's having put an end to +his existence by poisoning, to avoid giving an account of his +stewardship. The property which Hakeem Mehndee seized and +appropriated, is said to have amounted, in all, to between fifteen +and twenty lacs of rupees! + +Amur Sing's family, in performing the funeral ceremonies, had to open +his mouth, to put in the usual small bit of gold, Ganges water, and +leaf of the toolsee-tree; and, to their horror, they there found the +first joint of a man's finger. This confirmed all their suspicions, +that he had been murdered during the night, and they sent off the +joint of the finger to the minister, demanding vengeance on the +murderer. Aga Meer was delighted at this proof of his rival's guilt, +and would have had him seized and tried for the murder forthwith, but +Hakeem Mehndee gave two lacs of rupees, out of the wealth he had +acquired from the murder, to Rae Doulut Rae, Meer Neeaz Hoseyn, +Munshee Musaod, Sobhan Allee Khan, and others, in the minister's +confidence; and they persuaded him, that he had better wait for a +season, till he could charge him with the more serious offence of +defalcations in the revenue, when he might crush him with the weight +of manifold transgressions. + +They communicated what they had done to Hakeem Mehnde, who, by +degrees, sent off all his disposable wealth to Shabjehanpoor and +Futtehghur, in British territory. In April 1818, the Governor-General +the Marquess of Hastings passed through the Khyrabad and Bahraetch +districts, attended by Hakeem Mehndee, on a sporting excursion, after +the Mahratta war; and the satisfaction which he expressed to the King +with the Hakeem's conduct during that excursion, added greatly to the +minister's hatred and alarm. He persuaded his Majesty to demand from +Hakeem Mehndee an increase of five lacs of rupees upon nine lacs a- +year, which he already paid for Mahomdee and Khyrabad; and resolved +to have him tried for the murder of Amur Sing, as soon as he could +get him into his power. Hakeem Mehndee knew all this from the friends +he had made at Court, refused to keep the contract at the increased +rate, and, on pretence of settling his accounts, went first to +Seetapoor from Bahraetch, and thence over the border to +Shahjehanpoor, with all his family, and such of the property as he +had not till then been able to send off. The family never recovered +any of the property he had taken from Amur Sing, nor was any one of +the murderers ever punished, or called to account for the crime. + +On the departure of Hakeem Mehndee, Hadee Allee Khan (not the brother +of Hakeem Mehndee, but a member of the old official aristocracy of +Oude) got the contract of the district of Bahraetch with that of +Gonda, which had been held in Jageer by and for the widow of Shoja-od +Dowlah, the mother of Asuf-od Dowlah, commonly known by the name of +the Buhoo Begum, of Fyzabad, where she resided. Hadee Allee Khan held +the contract of these two districts for nine years, up to 1827. He +was succeeded by Walaeut Allee Khan, who held the contract for only +half of the year 1828, when he was superseded by Mehndoo Khan, who +held it for two years and a half, to the end of 1830, when Hadee +Allee Khan again got the contract, and he held it till he died in +1833. He was succeeded by his nephew, Imdad Allee Khan, who held the +contract till 1835. + +Rajah Dursun Sing superseded him in 1836, and was the next year +superseded by the widow of Hadee Allee, named "Wajee-on-Nissa Begum," +who held the contract for one year and a half to 1838. For the +remainder of 1838, the contract was held by Fida Allee Khan and Ram +Row Pandee jointly; and for 1839, by Sunker Sahae Partuk. For 1840, +it was held by Sooraj-od Dowlah, and for 1841 and up to September +1843, Rajah Dursun Sing held it again. For 1844 and 1845, Ehsan Allee +and Wajid Allee held it. For 1846 and 1847, Rughbur Sing, one of the +three sons of Rajah Dursun Sing, held it. For 1848, it was held by +Incha Sing, brother of Dursun Sing; and for 1849, it has been held by +Mahummud Hasun. The Gonda district consisted of the purgunnahs of +Gonda and Nawabgunge, and a number of tallooks, or baronial estates. + +Under the paternal government of Balukram and his son, Amur Sing, +hereditary canoongoes of the district, life and property were secure, +the assessment moderate, and the country and people prosperous. It +was a rule, strictly adhered to, under the reign of Saadut Allee +Khan, from 1797 to 1814, never under any circumstances to permit the +transfer of _khalsa_ or allodial lands (that is, lands held +immediately under the Crown) to tallookdars or baronial proprietors, +who paid a quit-rent to Government, and managed their estates with +their own fiscal officers, and military and police establishments. +Those who resided in or saw the district at that time, describe it as +a magnificent garden; and some few signs of that flourishing state +are still to be seen amidst its present general desolation. + +The adjoining district of Gonda became no less flourishing under the +fostering care of the Buhoo Begum, of Fyzabad, who held it in Jageer +till her death, which took place 18th December, 1815. Relying upon +the pledge of the British Government, under the treaty of 1801, to +protect him against all foreign and domestic enemies, and to put down +for him all attempts at insurrection and rebellion by means of its +own troops, without any call for further pecuniary aid, Saadut Allee +disbanded more than half his army, and reduced the cost, while he +improved the efficiency of the other half, to bring his expenditure +within his income, now so much diminished by the cession of the best +half of his dominions to the British Government. He assessed, or +altogether resumed, all the rent-free lands in his reserved half of +the territory; and made all the officers of his two lavish and +thoughtless predecessors,* disgorge a portion of the wealth which +they had accumulated by the abuse of their confidence; and, at the +same time, laboured assiduously to keep within bounds the powers and +possessions of his landed aristocracy. + +[* Asuf-od Dowlah and Wuzeer Allee.] + + +Hakeem Mehndee exacted from the landholders of Bahraetch two annas in +the rupee, or one-eighth, more than the rate they had hitherto paid; +and his successor, Hadee Allee, exacted an increase of two annas in +the rupee, upon the Hakeem's rate. It was difficult to make the +landholders and cultivators pay this rate, and a good deal of their +stock was sold off for arrears; and much land fell out of cultivation +in consequence. To facilitate the collection of this exorbitant rate, +and at the same time to reduce the cost of collection, he disregarded +systematically the salutary rule of Saadut Allee Khan, who had died +in 1814, and been succeeded by his do-nothing and see-nothing son, +Ghazee-od Deen Hyder; and transferred the khalsa estates of all +defaulters to the neighbouring tallookdars, who pledged themselves to +liquidate the balances due, and pay the Government demand punctually +in future. This arrangement enabled him to reduce his fiscal, +military, and police establishments a good deal for the time, and his +tenure of office was too insecure to admit of his bestowing much +thought on the future. + +As soon as these tallookdars got possession of khalsa villages, they +plundered them of all they could find of stock and other property; +and, with all possible diligence, reduced to beggary all the holders +and cultivators who had any claim to a right of property in the +lands, in order to prevent their ever being again in a condition to +urge such claims in the only way in which they can be successfully +urged in Oude--cut down all the trees planted by them or their +ancestors, and destroyed all the good houses they had built, that +they might have no local ties to link their affections to the soil. +As the local officers of the Oude government became weak, by the +gradual withdrawal of British troops, from aiding in the collection +of revenue and the suppression of rebellion and disorder, and by the +deterioration in the character of the Oude troops raised to supply +their places, the tallookdars became stronger and stronger. They +withheld more and more of the revenue due to Government, and expended +the money in building forts and strongholds, casting or purchasing +cannon, and maintaining large armed bands of followers. All that they +withheld from the public treasury was laid out in providing the means +for resisting the officers of Government; and, in time, it became a +point of honour to pay nothing to the sovereign without first +fighting with his officers. + +Hadee Allee Khan's successors continued the system of transferring +khalsa lands to tallookdars, as the cheapest and most effectual mode +of collecting the revenue for their brief period of authority. The +tallookdars, whose estates were augmented by such transfers, in the +Gonda Bahraetch district, are Ekona, Pyagpoor, Churda, Nanpoora, +Gungwal, Bhinga, Bondee, Ruhooa, and the six divisions of the Gooras, +or Chehdwara estate. The hereditary possessions of the tallookdars, +and, indeed, all the lands in the permanent possession of which they +feel secure, are commonly very well cultivated; but those which they +acquire by fraud, violence, or collusion, are not so, till, by long +suffering and "hope deferred," the old proprietors have been +effectually crushed or driven out of the country. The old proprietors +of the lands so transferred to the tallookdars of the Gonda Baraetch +districts from time to time had, under a series of weak governors, +been so crushed or driven out before 1842, and their lands had, for +the most part, been brought under good tillage. + +The King of Oude, in a letter, dated the 31st of August 1823, tells +the Resident, "that the villages and estates of the large refractory +tallookdars are as flourishing and populous as they can possibly be; +and there are many estates among them which yield more than two and +three times the amount at which they have been assessed; and even if +troops should be stationed there, to prevent the cultivation of the +land till the balances are liquidated, the tallookdars immediately +come forward to give battle; and, in spite of everything, cultivate +the lands of their estates, so that their profits from the land are +even greater than those of the Government." This picture is a very +fair one, and as applicable to the state of Oude now as in 1823. + +But if a weak man, by favour, fraud, or collusion, gets possession of +a small estate, as he often does, the consequences are more serious +than where the strong man gets it. The ousted proprietors fight "to +the death" to recover possession; and the new man forms a gang of the +most atrocious ruffians he can collect, to defend his possession. He +cannot afford to pay them, and permits them to subsist on plunder. In +the contest the estate itself and many around it become waste, and +the fellow who has usurped it, often--nolens-volens--becomes a +systematic leader of banditti; and converts the deserted villages +into strongholds and dens of robbers. I shall have occasion to +describe many instances of this kind as I proceed in my Diary. + +Dursung Sing was strong both in troops and Court favour, and he +systematically plundered and kept down the great landholders +throughout the districts under his charge, but protected the +cultivators, and even the smaller land proprietors, whose estates +could not be conveniently added to his own. When the Court found the +barons in any district grow refractory, under weak governors, they +gave the contract of it to Dursun Sing, as the only officer who could +plunder and reduce them to order. During the short time that he held +the districts of Gonda and Bahraetch in 1836, he did little mischief. +He merely ascertained the character and substance of the great +landholders, exacted from the weaker all that they could pay, and +"bided his time." When he resumed the charge in 1842, the greater +landholders had become strong and substantial; and he was commanded +by the Durbar to coerce and make them pay all the arrears of revenue +due, or pretended to be due, by them. + +Nothing loth, he proceeded to seize and plunder them all, one after +the other, and put their estates under the management of his own +officers. The young Rajah of Bulrampoor had gone into the Goruckpoor +district, to visit his friend, the Rajah of Basee, Mahpaul Sing, when +Dursun Sing marched suddenly to his capital at the head of a large +force. The garrison of the small stronghold was taken by surprise; +and, in the absence of their chief, soon induced to surrender, on a +promise of leave to depart with all their property. They passed over +into a small island in the river, which flows close by; and as soon +as Dursun Sing saw them collected together in that small space, he +opened his guns and musketry upon them, and killed between one and +two hundred. The rest fled, and he took possession of all their +property, amounting to about two hundred thousand rupees. The Rajah +was reduced to great distress; but his personal friend, Matabur Sing, +the minister of Nepaul, aided him with loans of money; and gave him a +garden to reside in, about five hundred yards from the village of +Maharaj Gunge, in the Nepaul territory, fifty-four miles from +Bulrampoor, where Dursun Sing remained encamped with his large force. + +The Rajah had filled this garden with small huts for the +accommodation of his family and followers during the season of the +rains, and surrounded it with a deep ditch, knowing the unscrupulous +and enterprising character of his enemy. In September 1843, Dursun +Sing, having had the position and all the road leading to it well +reconnoitred, marched one evening, at the head of a compact body of +his own followers, and reached the Rajah's position at daybreak the +next morning. The garden was taken by a rush; but the Rajah made his +escape with the loss of thirty men killed and wounded. Dursun Sing's +party took all the property the Rajah and his followers left behind +them in their flight, and plundered the small village of Maharaj +Gunge; but in their retreat they were sorely pressed by a sturdy +landholder of the neighbourhood, who had become attached to his young +sporting companion, the Rajah, and whose feeling of patriotism had +been grievously outraged by this impudent invasion of his sovereign's +territory; and they had five sipahees and one trooper killed. The +Bulrampoor Rajah had been plundered in the same treacherous manner in +1839, by the Nazim, Sunkersahae and Ghalib Jung, his deputy or +_collector_. He had invited them to a feast, and they brought an +armed force and surrounded and plundered his house and capital. He +escaped with his mother into British territory; and tells me, that he +was a lad at the time, and had great difficulty in making his mother +fly with him, and leave all her wardrobe behind her. + +The Court of Nepaul complained of this aggression on their territory, +and demanded reparation. The Governor-General Lord Ellenborough +called upon the Oude government, in dignified terms, to make prompt +and ample atonement to that of Nepaul. "Promptness," said his +Lordship, "in repairing an injury, however unintentionally committed +is as conducive to the honour of a sovereign, as promptness in +demanding reparation where an injury has been sustained." The Nepaul +Court required, that Dursun Sing should be seized and sent to Nepaul, +to make an apology in person to the sovereign of that state; should +be deprived of all his offices, with an assurance, on the part of +Oude, that he should never be again employed in any office under that +government; and, that the amount of injury sustained by the subjects +of Nepaul should be settled by arbitrators sent to the place on the +part of both States, and paid by the Oude government. The Governor- +General did not insist upon Oude's complying with the first of these +requirements; but Dursun Sing was dismissed from all employments, +arbitrators were sent to the place, and the Oude government paid the +nine hundred and fourteen rupees, which they decided to be due to the +subjects of Nepaul. + +Dursun Sing at first fled in alarm into the British territory, as the +Nepaul government assembled a large force on the border, and appeared +to threaten Oude with invasion; while the Governor-General held in +readiness a large British force to oppose them; and he knew not what +the Oude government, in its alarm, might do to the servant who had +wantonly involved it in so serious a scrape. His brother, Bukhtawar +Sing, the old courtier, knew that they had enemies, or interested +persons at Court, who would take advantage of the occasion to +exasperate the King, and persuade him to plunder them of all they +had, and confiscate their estates, unless Dursun Sing appeared and +pacified the King by his submission, and aided him in a judicious +distribution of the ready money at their command; and he prevailed +upon him to hasten to Court, and throw himself at his Majesty's feet. + +He came, acknowledged that he had been precipitate in his over-zeal +for his Majesty's service; but pleaded, in excuse, that the young +Rajah of Bulrampore had been guilty of great contumacy, and owed a +large balance to the Exchequer, which he had been peremptorily +commanded to recover; and declared himself ready to suffer any +punishment, and make any reparation or atonement that his master, the +King, might deem proper. The British and Nepaul governments had +expressed themselves satisfied; but other parties had become deeply +interested in the dispute. The King, with many good qualities, was a +very parsimonious man, who prided himself upon adding something every +month to his reserved treasury; and he thought, that advantage should +be taken of the occasion, to get a large sum out of so wealthy a +family. Three of his wives, Hoseynee Khanum, Mosahil Khanum, and +Sakeena Khanum, had at the time great influence over his Majesty, and +they wished to take advantage of the occasion, not only to screw out +of the family a large sum for the King and themselves, but to +confiscate the estates, and distribute them among their male +relations. The minister, Menowur-od Dowlah, the nephew and heir of +Hakeem Mehndee, who has been and will be often mentioned in this +Diary, thought that, after paying a large sum to gratify his +Majesty's ruling passion, and enable him to make handsome presents to +the three favourites, Dursun Sing ought to be released and restored +to office, for he was the only man then in Oude capable of +controlling the refractory and turbulent territorial barons; and if +he were crushed altogether for subduing one of them, the rest would +all become unmanageable, and pay no revenue whatever to the +Exchequer. He, therefore, recommended the King to take from the two +brothers the sum of twenty-five lacs of rupees, leave them the +estates, and restore Dursun Sing to all his charges, as soon as it +could be done without any risk of giving umbrage to the British +Government. + +The King thought the minister's advice judicious, and consented; but +the ladies called him a fool, and told him, that the brothers had +more than that sum in stores of seed-grain alone, and ought to be +made to pay at least fifty lacs, while the brothers pleaded poverty, +and declared that they could only pay nineteen. The minister urged +the King, to take even this sum, give two lacs to the three females, +and send seventeen to the reserved treasury; and called upon the +Chancellor of the Exchequer to give in his accounts of the actual +balance due by the two brothers, on their several contracts, for the +last twenty-five years. He, being on good terms with the minister, +and anxious to meet his wishes, found a balance of only one lac and +thirty-two thousand due by Dursun Sing, and one of only fifteen lacs +due by his brother, Bukhtawar Sing, in whose name the contracts had +always been taken up to 1842. The King, sorely pressed by the +females, resolved to banish Dursun Sing, and confiscate all his large +estates; but the British Resident interposed, and urged, that Dursun +Sing should be leniently dealt with, since he had made all the +reparation and atonement required. The King told him, that Dursun +Sing was a notorious and terrible tyrant, and had fearfully oppressed +his poor subjects, and robbed them by fraud, violence, and collusion, +of lands yielding a rent-roll of many lacs of rupees a-year; and, +that unless he were punished severely for all these numerous +atrocities, his other servants would follow his example, and his poor +subjects be everywhere ruined! + +The Resident admitted the truth of all these charges; but urged, in +reply, that the Oude government had, in spite of all these +atrocities, without any admonition, continued to employ him with +unlimited power in the charge of many of its finest districts, for +twenty-five or thirty years; and, that it would now be hard to banish +him, and confiscate all his fine estates, when his Majesty had so +lately offered, not only to leave them all untouched, but to restore +him to all his charges, on the payment of a fine of twenty-five lacs. +The King was perplexed in his desire to please the Resident, meet the +wishes of his three ladies, and add a good round sum to his reserved +treasury; and at last closed all discussions by making Dursun Sing +pay the one lac and thirty-two thousand rupees, found to be due by +him, and sending him into banishment; holding Bukhtawar Sing +responsible for the fifteen lacs due by him, and seizing upon his +estates, and putting them under the management of Hoseyn Allee, the +father of Hoseynee Khanum, the most influential of the three +favourites, till the whole should be paid. She satisfied herself that +she should be able to make the banishment of the man and the +confiscation of the estate perpetual; and, before he set out, she +secured the transfer of the strong fort of Shahgunge, with all its +artillery and military stores, from Dursun Sing's to the King's +troops. Dursun Sing went into banishment on the 17th of March 1844; +but before he set out he addressed a remonstrance to the British +Resident, stating--"that he had paid all that had been found to be +due by him to the Exchequer, and made every atonement required for +the offence charged against him; but had, nevertheless, been ordered +into banishment--had all his charges taken from him, and his lands, +houses, gardens, &c., worth fifty lacs, taken from him, and made over +to strangers and Court favourites." + +Hoseyn Allee had promised to pay to the Exchequer one lac of rupees +a-year for these estates more than Dursun Sing had paid. He had paid +annually for the Mehdona estates two lacs and eight thousand two +hundred and seventy-six; and for the Asrewa estates, in the same +district of Sultanpoor, one lac thirty-one thousand and eighty-nine- +total, three lacs and thirty-nine thousand three hundred and sixty- +five; and they probably yielded to him an annual rent of nearly +double that sum, or at least five lacs of rupees. Hoseyn Allee, +however, found it impossible to fulfil his pledges. The landholders +and cultivators would not be persuaded that the sovereign of Oude +could long dispense with the services of such a man as Dursun Sing, +or bring him back without restoring to him his landed possessions; or +that he would, when he returned, give them credit for any payments +which they might presume to make to any other master during his +absence. They, therefore, refused to pay any rent for the past +season, and threatened to abandon their lands before the tillage for +the next season should commence, if any attempt were made to coerce +them. All the great revenue contractors and other governors of +districts declared their inability to coerce the territorial barons +into paying anything, since they had lost the advantage of the +prestige of his great name; and the minister found that he must +either resign his office or prevail upon his sovereign to recall him. +The King, finding that he must either draw upon his reserved treasury +or leave all his establishments unpaid under such a falling off in +the revenue, yielded to his minister's earnest recommendation, and in +May 1844, consented to recall Dursun Sing from our district of +Goruckpoor, in which he had resided during his banishment. + +On the 10th of that month he was taken by the minister to pay his +respects to his Majesty, who, on the 30th, conferred upon him +additional honours and titles, and appointed him Inspector-general of +all his dominions, with orders "to make a settlement of the land +revenue at an increased rate; to cut down all the jungles, and bring +all the waste lands into tillage; to seize all refractory barons, +destroy all their forts, and seize and send into store all the cannon +mounted upon them; to put down all disturbances, protect all high +roads, punish all refractory and evil-minded persons; to enforce the +payment of all just demands of his sovereign upon landholders of all +degrees and denominations; to invite back all who had been driven off +by oppression, and re-establish them on their estates, or punish them +if they refused to return; to ascertain the value of all estates +transferred from the jurisdiction of the local authorities to the +'Hozoor Tehsel,' without due inquiry; and report, for the +consideration of his Majesty and his minister, any _nankar_ or rent- +free lands, assigned, of late years, by Amils and other governors of +districts; to enforce the payment of all recoverable balances, due on +account of past years; to muster the troops, and report, through the +commander-in-chief, all officers and soldiers borne on the muster- +rolls, and paid from the treasury, but in reality dead, absent +without leave, or unfit for further service;" in short, to reform all +abuses, and make the government of the country what the King and his +minister thought it ought to be. Dursun Sing assured them that he +would do his best to effect all the objects they had in view; and, +after recovering possession of his estates, and conciliating, by +suitable gratuities, all the reigning favourites at Court, he went to +work heartily at his Herculean task after his wonted way. But he, +soon after, became ill, and retired to his residence at Fyzabad, +where he died on the 20th of August, 1844, leaving his elder brother, +Bukhtawar Sing--my Quartermaster-general--at Court; and his three +sons, Ramadeen, Rughbur Sing, and Mann Sing, to fight among +themselves for his landed possessions and immense accumulated wealth. + +The minister was a man of good intentions; and, having inherited an +immense fortune from his uncle, Hakeem Mehndee, he cared little about +money; but he was an indolent man, and indulged much in opiates, and +his object was to reform the administration at the least possible +cost of time and trouble to himself. He had, he thought, found the +man who could efficiently supervise and control the administration in +all its branches; and he invested him with plenary powers to do so. +Of the duty, on his part and that of his master; efficiently to +supervise and control the exercise of these plenary powers on the +part of the man of their choice, in order to prevent their being +abused to the injury of the state and the people; or of the necessity +of taking from Court favourites the nomination of officers to the +charge of all districts and all fiscal and judicial Courts, and to +the command of all corps and establishments, in order to render them +efficient and honest, and prevent justice from being perverted, and +the revenues of the state from being absorbed on their way to the +treasury, they took no heed. Court favourites retained their powers, +and the King and his minister relied entirely, as heretofore, upon +the reports of the news-writers, who attend officially upon all +officers in charge of districts, fiscal and judicial Courts, corps +and establishments of all kinds, for the facts of all cases on which +they might have to pass orders; and remained as ignorant as their +predecessors of the real state of the administration and the real +sufferings of the people, if not of the real losses to the Exchequer. + +The news department is under a Superintendent-general, who has +sometimes contracted for it, as for the revenues of a district, but +more commonly holds it in _amanee_, as a manager. When he contracts +for it he pays a certain sum to the public treasury, over and above +what he pays to the influential officers and Court favourites in +gratuities. When he holds it in _amanee_, he pays only gratuities, +and the public treasury gets nothing. His payments amount to about +the same in either case. He nominates his-subordinates, and appoints +them to their several offices, taking from each a present gratuity +and a pledge for such monthly payments as he thinks the post will +enable him to make. They receive from four to fifteen rupees a-month +each, and have each to pay to their President, for distribution among +his patrons or patronesses at Court from one hundred to five hundred +rupees a-month in ordinary times. Those to whom they are accredited +have to pay them, under ordinary circumstances, certain sums monthly, +to prevent their inventing or exaggerating cases of abuse of power or +neglect of duty on their part; but when they happen to be really +guilty of great acts of atrocity, or great neglect of duty, they are +required to pay extraordinary sums, not only to the news-writers, who +are especially accredited to them, but to all others who happen to be +in the neighbourhood at the time. There are six hundred and sixty +news-writers of this kind employed by the King, and paid monthly +three thousand one hundred and ninety-four rupees, or, on an average, +between four and five rupees a-month each; and the sums paid by them +to their President for distribution among influential officers and +Court favourites averages above one hundred and fifty thousand rupees +a-year. Many, whose avowed salary is from four to ten rupees a-month, +receive each, from the persons to whom they are accredited, more than +five hundred, three-fourths of which they must send for distribution +among Court favourites, or they could not retain their places a week, +nor could their President retain his. Such are the reporters of the +circumstances in all the cases on which the sovereign and his +ministers have to pass orders every day in Oude. Some of those who +derive part of their incomes from this source are "persons behind the +throne, who are greater than the throne itself." The mother of the +heir-apparent gets twelve thousand rupees a-year from it. + +But their exactions are not confined to government officers of all +grades and denominations; they are extended to contractors of all +kinds and denominations, to him who contracts for the supply of the +public cattle with grain, as well as to him who contracts for the +revenue and undivided government of whole provinces; and, indeed, to +every person who has anything to do under, or anything to apprehend +from, government and its officers and favourites; and, in such a +country, who has not? The European magistrate of one of our +neighbouring districts one day, before the Oude Frontier Police was +raised, entered the Oude territory at the head of his police in +pursuit of some robbers, who had found an asylum in one of the King's +villages. In the attempt to secure them some lives were lost; and, +apprehensive of the consequences, he sent for the official news- +writer, and _gratified_ him in the usual way. No report of the +circumstances was made to the Oude Durbar; and neither the King, the +Resident, nor the British Government ever heard anything about it. Of +the practical working of the system, many illustrations will be found +in this Diary. + +The Akbar, or Intelligence Department, had been farmed out for some +years, at the rate of between one and two lacs of rupees a-year, +when, at the recommendation of the Resident, the King expressed his +willingness to abolish the farm, and intrust the superintendence to +_men of character and ability_, to be paid by Government. This +resolution was communicated to Government by the Resident on the 24th +of April, 1839; and on the 6th of May the Resident was instructed to +communicate to his Majesty the satisfaction which the Governor- +General derived on hearing that he had consented to abolish this +farm, which had produced _so large a revenue to the state_. This was +considered by the Resident to be a great boon obtained for the people +of Oude, as the farmers of the department consented to pay a large +revenue, only on condition that they should be considered as the only +legitimate reporters of events--the only recognised _masters in the +Oude Chancery_; and, as the Resident observed, "they choked up all +the channels the people had of access to their sovereign;" but they +have choked them up just as much since the abolition of the farm, and +have had to pay just as much as before. + +A brief sketch of the proceedings of Rughbur Sing, the son of Dursun +Sing, in his government of these districts of Gonda and Baraetch, for +the years 1846 and 1847, may here be given as further illustration of +the Oude government and its administration, in this part of the +country at least. It had not suffered very much under his uncle's +brief reign in 1842 and 1843, and the governors who followed him, up +to 1846, were too weak to coerce the Tallookdars, or do much injury +to their estates. Rughbur Sing had a large body of the King's troops +to aid him in enforcing from them the payment of the current revenue +and balances, real or pretended, for past years; and a large body of +armed retainers of his own to assist him in his contest with his +brothers for the possessions of the Mehdona and Asrewa estates, which +had been going on ever since the death of their father. + +I have stated that Rughbur Sing held in contract the districts of +Gonda and Bahraetch for the years 1846 and 1847, and shown to what a +state of wretchedness he managed to reduce them in that brief period. +In 1849, some months after I took charge of my office, I deputed a +European gentleman of high character, Captain Orr, of the Oude +Frontier Police, to pass through these districts, and inquire into +and report upon the charges of oppression brought against him by the +people, as his agents were diligently employed at Lucknow in +distributing money among the most influential persons about the +Court, and a disposition to restore him to power had become manifest. +He had purchased large estates in our districts of Benares and +Goruckpoor, where he now resided for greater security, while he had +five thousand armed men, employed under other agents, in fighting +with his brother, Maun Sing, for the possession of the _bynamah_ +estates, above described, in the Sultanpoor district. In this contest +a great many lives were lost, and the peace of the country was long +and much disturbed, but, after driving all his brother's forces and +agents out of the district. Maun Sing retained quiet possession of +the estates. This contest would, however, have been again renewed, +and the same desolating disorders would have again prevailed, could +Rughbur Sing's agents at the capital, by a judicious distribution of +the money at their disposal, have induced the Court to restore him to +the government of these or any other districts in Oude. + +On the 23rd of July 1849, Captain Orr sent in his report, giving a +brief outline of such of the atrocities committed by Rughbur Sing and +his agents in these districts as he was able, during his tour, to +establish upon unquestionable evidence; but they made but a small +portion of the whole, as the people in general still apprehended that +he would be restored to power by Court favour, and wreak his +vengeance upon all who presumed to give evidence against him; while +many of the most respectable families in the districts were ashamed +to place on record the suffering and dishonour inflicted on their +female members; and still more had been reduced by them to utter +destitution, and driven in despair into other districts. To use his +own words--"The once flourishing districts of Gonda and Bahraetch, so +noted for fertility and beauty, are now, for the greater part, +uncultivated; villages completely deserted in the midst of lands +devoid of all tillage everywhere meet the eye; and from Fyzabad to +Bahraetch I passed through these districts, a distance of eighty +miles, over plains which had been fertile and well cultivated, till +Rughbur Sing got charge, but now lay entirely waste, a scene for two +years of great misery ending in desolation." + +Rajah Hurdut Sahae, the proprietor of the Bondee estate, was the head +of one of the oldest Rajpoot families in Oude. Having placed the most +notorious knaves in the country as revenue collectors over all the +subdivisions of his two districts, Rajah Rughbur Sing, in 1846, +demanded from Hurdut Sahae an increase of five thousand rupees upon +the assessment of the preceding year. The Rajah pleaded the badness +of preceding seasons, and consequent poverty of his tenants and +cultivators; but at last he consented to pay the increase, and on +solemn pledges of personal security he collected all his tenants, to +take upon themselves the responsibility of making good this demand. +To this they all agreed; but they had no sooner done so, than Rughbur +Sing's agent, Prag Pursaud, demanded a gratuity of seven thousand +rupees for himself, over and above the increase of five thousand upon +the demand of the preceding year. The Rajah would not agree to pay +the seven thousand, but went off to request some capitalists to +furnish securities for the punctual payment of the rent. + +The agent sent off secretly to Rughbur Sing to say, that unless he +came at the head of his forces he saw no chance of getting the +revenues from the Rajah or his tenants, who were all assembled and +might be secured if he could contrive to surprise them. Rughbur Sing +came with a large force at night, surrounded his agent's camp, where +the tenants and the Rajah's officers were all assembled, and seized +them. He then sent out parties of soldiers of from one hundred to two +hundred each, to plunder all the towns and villages on the estate, +and seize all the respectable residents they could find. They +plundered the town of Bondee, and pulled down all the houses of the +Rajah, and those of his relatives and dependents; and, after +plundering all the other towns and villages in the neighbourhood, +they brought in one thousand captives of both sexes and all ages, who +were subjected to all manner of torture till they paid the ransom +demanded, or gave written pledges to pay. Five thousand head of +cattle were, at the same time, brought in and distributed as booty. + +The Rajah made his escape, but his agents were put to the same +tortures as his tenants. Rughbur Sing, among other things, commanded +them to sign a declaration, to the effect that his predecessor and +enemy, Wajid Allee Khan, had received from them the sum of thirty +thousand rupees more than he had credited to his government, but this +they all refused to do. Rughbur Sing remained at Bondee for six +weeks, superintending personally all these atrocities; and then went +off, leaving, as his agent, Kurum Hoseyn. He continued the tortures +upon the tenants and officers of the Rajah, and the captives +collected in his camp. He rubbed the beards of the men with moist +gunpowder; and, as soon as it became dry in the sun, he set fire to +it. Other tortures, too cruel and indecent to be named, were +inflicted upon four servants of the Rajah, Kunjun Sing, Bustee Ram, +Admadnt Pandee, and Bhugwant Rae, and upon others, who were likely to +be able to borrow or beg anything for their ransom. + +Finding that the tenants did not return, and that the estate was +likely to be altogether deserted, unless the Rajah returned, Kurum +Hoseyn was instructed by Rughbur Sing to invite him back on any +terms. The poor Rajah, having nothing in the jungles to which he had +fled to subsist upon, ventured back on the solemn pledge of personal +security given by Pudum Sing, a respectable capitalist, whom the +collector had induced, by solemn oaths on the holy Koran, to become a +mediator; and, as a token of reconciliation and future friendship, +the Rajah and collector changed turbans. They remained together for +five months on the best possible terms, and the Rajah's tenants +returned to their homes and fields. All having been thus lulled into +security, Rughbur Sing suddenly sent another agent, Maharaj Sing, to +supersede Kurum Hoseyn, and seize the Rajah and his confidential +manager, Benee Ram Sookul. They, however, went off to Balalpoor, +forty miles distant from Bondee, and kept aloof from the new +collector, till he prevailed upon all the officers, commanding corps +and detachments under him, to enter into solemn written pledges of +personal security. The Rajah had been long suffering from ague and +fever, and had become very feeble in mind and body. He remained at +Balalpoor; but, under the assurance of these pledges from military +officers of rank and influence, Benee Ram and other confidential +officers of the Rajah came to his camp, and entered upon the +adjustment of their accounts. + +When he found them sufficiently off their guard, Maharaj Sing, while +sitting one evening with Benee Ram, who was a stout, powerful man, +asked him to show him the handsome dagger which he always wore in his +waistband. He did so, and as soon as he got it in his hand, the +collector gave the concerted signal to Roshun Allee, one of the +officers present, and his armed attendants, to seize him. As he rose +to leave the tent he was cut down from behind by Mattadeen, +khasburdar; and the rest fell upon him and cut him to pieces in +presence of the greater part of the officers who had given the solemn +pledges for his personal security. Not one of them interposed to save +him. Doulut Rae, another confidential servant of the Rajah, however, +effected his escape, and ran to the Rajah, who prepared to defend +himself at Balalpoor, where Maharaj Sing tried, in vain, to persuade +his troops' to attack him. For two months the towns and villages were +deserted, but the crops were on the ground, and guarded by the Passee +bowmen, who are usually hired for the purpose. + +Beharee Lal, the principal agent of Rughbur Sing in these districts, +now wrote a letter of condolence to the Rajah, on the death of his +faithful servant, Benee Ram--told him that he had dismissed from all +employ the villain Maharaj Sing, and appointed to his place Kurum +Hoseyn, who would make all reparation and redress all wrongs. This +letter he sent by a very plausible man, Omed Rae, the collector of +the Rahooa estate. Kurum Hoseyn resumed charge of his office, and +went unattended to the Rajah, with whom he remained some days +feasting, and swearing on the Koran, that all had been without his +connivance or knowledge, and that he had come back with a full +determination to see justice done to his friend, the Rajah, and his +landholders and cultivators in everything. Having thus soothed the +poor old Rajahs apprehensions, he prevailed on him to go back with +him to Bondee, where he behaved for some time with so much seeming +frankness and cordiality, and swore so solemnly on the Koran to +respect the persons of all men who should come to him on business, +that the Rajah's tenants and agents lost all their fears, and again +came freely to his camp. The Rajah now invited all his tenants as +before, to enter into engagements to pay their rents to officers +appointed by the collector as jumogdars; and the people had hopes of +being permitted to gather their harvests in peace. Kurum Hoseyn now +suggested to Beharee Lal, to come suddenly with the largest force he +could collect, and seize the many respectable men who had assembled- +at his invitation. + +He made a forced march daring the night, appeared suddenly at Bondee +with a large force, and seized all who were there assembled, save the +Rajah and his family, who escaped to the jungles. Detachments of from +one hundred to two hundred were sent out as before, to plunder the +country, and seize all from whom anything could be extorted. All the +towns and villages on the estate were plundered of everything that +could be found, and fifteen hundred men, and about five hundred women +and children, were brought in prisoners, with no less than eighty +thousand animals of all kinds. There were twenty-five thousand head +of cattle; and horses, mares, sheep, goats, ponies, &c., made up the +rest. All with the men, women, and children were driven off, pell- +mell, a distance of twenty miles to Busuntpoor, in the Hurhurpoor +district, where Beharee Lal's headquarter had been fixed. For three +days heavy rain continued to fall. Pregnant women were beaten on by +the troops with bludgeons and the butt-ends of muskets and +matchlocks. Many of them gave premature birth to children and died on +the road; and many children were trodden to death by the animals on +the road, which was crowded for more than ten miles. + +Rughbur Sing and his agents, Beharee Lal, Kurum Hoseyn, Maharaj Sing, +Prag Sing, and others, selected several thousand of the finest +cattle, and sent them to their homes; and the rest were left to the +officers and soldiers of the force to be disposed of; and, for all +this enormous number of animals, worth at least one hundred thousand +rupees, the small sum of one hundred and thirty rupees was credited +in the Nazim's accounts to the Rajah's estate. At Busuntpoor the +force was divided into two parties, for the purpose of torturing the +surviving prisoners till they consented to sign bonds, for the +payment of such sums as might be demanded from them. Beharee Lal +presided over the first party, in which they were tortured from day- +break till noon. They were tied up and flogged, had red-hot ramrods +thrust into their flesh, their tongues were pulled out with hot +pincers and pierced through; and, when all would not do, they were +taken to Kurum Hoseyn, who presided at the other party, to be +tortured again till the evening. He sat with a savage delight, to +witness this brutal scene and invent new kinds of torture. No less +than seventy men, besides women and children, perished at Busuntpoor +from torture and starvation; and their bodies were left to rot in the +mud, and their friends were afraid to approach them. Bustee's body +was stolen at night by his son, and Guyadut's was sold to his family +by the soldiers. + +Among the persons of respectability who died under the tortures, +several are named below.* Buldee Sing, the husband of the Rajah's +sister, took poison and died; and Ramdeen, a Brahmin of great +respectability, stabbed himself to death, to avoid further torture +and dishonour. For two months did these atrocities continue at +Busuntpoor; and during that time the prisoners got no food from the +servants of Government. All that they got was sent to them by their +friends, or by the charitable peasantry of the country around; and +when sweetmeats were sent to them as food, which the most scrupulous +could eat from any hand, the soldiers often snatched them from them +and ate them themselves, or took them to their officers. The women +and children were all stripped of their clothes, and many died from +cold and want of sustenance. It was during the months of September +and October that these atrocities were perpetrated. The heavy rain +had inundated the country, and the poor prisoners were obliged to lie +naked and unsheltered on the damp ground. + +[* 1. Byjonauth, the Rajah's accountant. + 2. Gijraj Sing, Rajpoot. + 3. Sheopersaud. + 4. Rampersaud. + 5. Jhow Lal. + 6. Guyadut. + 7. Duyram. + 8. Budaree Chobee. + 9. Mungul Sing, Rajpoot. + 10. Seodeen Sing, ditto. + 11. Akber Sing. + 12. Bustee, a farmer.] + + +Apreel Sing, a respectable Jagheerdar of Bondee, was tortured till he +consented to sell his two daughters, and pay the money; and a great +many respectable females, who were taken from Bondee to Busuntpoor, +have never been heard of since. Whether they perished or were sold +their friends have never been able to discover. The sipahees and +other persons, employed to torture, got money from their victims or +their friends, who ventured to approach, or from the pitying +peasantry around; and all laughed and joked at the screams of the +sufferers. Several times, during the two months, Rughbur Sing paid +off heavy arrears, due to his personal servants, by drafts on his +agents for prisoners, to be placed at the disposal of the payee, ten +and twenty at a time. It is worthy of remark, that an old Subadar of +one of our regiments of Native Infantry, who was then at home in +furlough, happened to pass Busuntpoor with his family, on his way to +Guya, on a pilgrimage. He and his family had saved what was to them a +large sum, to be spent in offerings, for the safe passage of his +deceased relatives through purgatory. On witnessing the sufferings of +the poor prisoners at Busuntpoor, he and his family offered all they +had for a certain number of women and children, who were made over to +them. He took them to their homes, and returned to his own, saying, +that he hoped God would forgive them for the sake of the relief which +they had afforded to sufferers. + +In the latter end of October, Beharee Lal took off all the force that +could be spared, to attack the Rajah of Bhinga, and plunder his +estate in the same manner; and Kurum Hoseyn took another to plunder +Koelee, Murdunpoor, Budrolee, and some other villages of the Bondee +estate, which had suffered least in the last attack. He collected two +thousand plough-bullocks, and sold them for little to Nuzur Allee and +Sufder Allee, who commanded detachments under him. He soon after made +an attack upon Sookha and other villages, in the vicinity of +Busuntpoor, and collected between twenty and thirty thousand head of +cattle; but, on his way back, he was attacked by a party of twenty +brave men (under a landholder named Nabee Buksh, whom he wished to +seize), and driven back to his camp at Busuntpoor, with the loss of +all his booty. He attempted no more enterprises after this check. The +tortures ceased, and ten days after he ran off, on hearing that +Rughbur Sing had been deprived of his charge by orders from Lucknow. +At this time one hundred and fifty prisoners remained at Busuntpoor, +and they were released by Incha Sing, the successor and uncle of +Rughbur Sing. + +The Akhbar Naveeses, so far from admonishing the perpetrators of +these atrocities, were some of them among the most active promoters +of them. Jorakhun, the news-writer at Bondee, got one anna for every +prisoner brought in; and from two to three rupees for every prisoner +released. He got every day subsistence for ten men from Kurum Hoseyn. +All the news-writers in the neighbourhood got a share of the booty in +bullocks, cows, and other animals. Two chuprassies are said to have +come from Government, and remained at Busuntpoor for nearly the whole +two months, while these tortures were being inflicted, without making +any report of them. When the order for dismissing Rughbur Sing came +from the Durbar, Maharaj Sing went off, saying, that he would soon +smother all complaints, in the usual way, at Lucknow. + +In September 1847, Rughbur Sing's agents, with a considerable force, +encamped at Parbatee-tolah, in the Gonda district, and made a sudden +attack upon the fine town of Khurgoopoor. After plundering the town, +the troops seized forty of the most respectable merchants and +shopkeepers of the place, and made them over to Rughbur Sing's +agents, at the rate agreed upon, of so much a head, as the +perquisites of the soldiers; and these agents confined and tortured +them till they each paid the ransom demanded, and rated according to +their supposed means. The troops did the same by Bisumberpoor, +Bellehree Pundit, Pyaree, Peepree, and many other towns and villages +in the same district of Gonda. A trooper and his son, who tried to +save the honour of their family, by defending the entrance to their +house, were cut down and killed at Khurgapoor; and in Bisumberpoor +one of the soldiers, with his sword, cut off the arm of a respectable +old woman, in order the more easily to get her gold bracelets. The +poor woman died a few hours afterwards. The only relative of the poor +old woman who could have assisted her was seized, with forty other +respectable persons, and taken off to the camp at Parbatee-tola, +where they were all tortured till they paid the ransom demanded, and +a gratuity, in addition, to the soldiers who had seized them. One of +the persons died under the tortures inflicted upon him. + +In the Gungwal district similar atrocities were committed by Rughbur +Sing's agents and their soldiers. These agents were Gouree Shunkur +and Seorutun Sing. The district formed the estate of Rajah Sreeput +Sing, who resided with his family in the fort of Gungwal. The former +Nazim, Suraj-od Dowlah, had attacked this fort on some frivolous +pretence; and, having taken it by surprise, sacked the place and +plundered the Rajah and his family of all they had. The Rajah died +soon after of mortification, at the dishonour he and his family had +suffered, and was succeeded by his son, Seetul Persaud Sing, the +present Rajah, who was now plundered again, and driven an exile into +the Nepaul hills. The estate was now taken possession of by the +agents, Goureeshunker and Seorutun Sing. Seorutun Sing seized a +Brahmin who was travelling with his wife and brother, and, on the +pretence that he must be a relation of the fugitive Rajah, had him +murdered, and his head struck off on the spot. The wife took the head +of her murdered husband in her arms, wrapped it up in cloth, and, +attended by his brother, walked with it a distance of fifty miles to +Ajoodheea, where Rughbur Sing was then engaged in religious +ceremonies. The poor woman placed the head before him, and demanded +justice on her husband's murderers. He coolly ordered the head to be +thrown into the river, and the woman and her brother-in-law to be +driven from his presence. Many other respectable persons were seized +and tortured on similar pretext of being related to, or having served +or assisted, the fugitive Rajah. Moistened gunpowder was smeared +thickly over the beards of the men, and when dry set fire to; and any +friend or relatives who presumed to show signs of pity was seized and +tortured, till he or she paid a ransom. All the people in the country +around, who had moveable property of any kind, were plundered by +these two atrocious agents, and tortured till they paid all that they +could beg and borrow. Many respectable families were dishonoured in +the persons of wives, sisters, or daughters, and almost all the towns +and villages around became deserted. + +In Rajah Nirput Sing's estate of Pyagpoor, the same atrocities were +committed. Rajah Rughbur Sing seized upon this estate as soon as he +entered upon his charge in 1846, and put it under the management of +his own agents; and, after extorting from the tenants more than was +justly due, according to engagement, he attacked the Rajah's house by +surprise, and plundered it of property to the value of fifteen +thousand rupees. The Rajah, however, contrived to make his escape +with his family. He had nothing with him to subsist upon, and in 1847 +he was invited back on solemn pledges of personal security; and, from +great distress, was induced again to undertake the management of his +own estate, at an exorbitant rate of assessment. + +In spite of this engagement, Goureeshunker, when the tenants had +become lulled into security by the hope of remaining under their own +chief, suddenly, with his troops, seized upon all he could catch, +plundered their houses, and tortured them till they paid all that +they could prevail upon their relatives and friends to lend them. +Eighteen hundred of their plough-bullocks were seized and sold by +him, together with many of their wives and daughters. While under +torture, Seetaram, a respectable Brahmin, of Kandookoeea, put an end +to his existence, to avoid further sufferings and dishonour. Sucheet, +another respectable Brahmin, of Pagaree, did the same by opening a +vein in his thigh. A cloth steeped in oil was bound round the hands +of those who appeared able, but unwilling, to pay ransoms, and set +fire to, so as to burn like a torch. In these tortures, Lala Beharee +Lal, Rughbur Sing's deputy, was the chief agent. "I found," says +Captain Orr, "the estate of Pyagpoor in a desolate condition; village +after village presenting nothing but bare walls--the finest arable +lands lying waste, and no sign of cultivation was anywhere to be +seen. Even the present Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, after conciliating and +inviting in the Rajah on further solemn assurances of personal +security, seized him and all his family, and kept them confined in +prison for several months, till they paid him an exorbitant ransom. +The poorer classes told me, that it was impossible for them to plough +their fields, since all their plough-bullocks had been seized and +sold by the Nazim's agents. Great numbers in this and the adjoining +estates have subsisted entirely upon wild fruits, and some species of +aquatic plants, since they were ruined by these atrocities." + +This picture is not at all overdrawn. In passing through the estate, +and communing with the few wretched people who remain, I find all +that Captain Orr stated in his report to be strictly correct. + +In the Hurhurpoor district similar atrocities were committed by +Rughbur Sing and his agents. He confided the management to his agent, +Goureeshunker. In 1846 he made his settlement of the land revenue, at +an exorbitant rate, with the tallookdar, Chinghy Sing; and, in the +following year, he extorted from him an increase to this rate of +twenty-five thousand rupees. He was, in consequence, obliged to fly; +but he was soon invited back on the usual solemn assurances for his +personal security, and induced to take on himself the management of +the estate. But he was no sooner settled in his house than he was +again attacked at night and plundered. One of his attendants was +killed, and another wounded; and all the respectable tenants and +servants who had ventured to assemble around him on his return were +seized and tortured till they paid ransoms. No less than two thousand +and five hundred bullocks from this estate were seized and sold, or +starved to death. A great many women were seized and tortured till +they paid ransoms like the men; and many of them have never since +been seen or heard of. Some perished in confinement of hunger and +cold, having been stripped of their clothes, and exposed at night to +the open air on the damp ground, while others threw themselves into +wells and destroyed themselves after their release, rather than +return to their families after the exposure and dishonour they had +suffered. + +In the Bahraetch district, the same atrocities were practised by +Rughbur Sing and his agents. Here also Goureeshunker was the chief +agent employed, but the few people who remained were so terrified, +that Captain Orr could get but little detailed information of +particular cases. The present Nazim had been one of Rughbur Sing's +agents in all these atrocities, and the people apprehended that he +was in office merely as his "locum tenens;" and that Rughbur Sing +would soon purchase his restoration to power, as he boasted that he +should. The estate of the Rajah of Bumunee Paer was plundered in the +same manner; and Rughbur Sing's agents seized, drove off, and sold +two thousand bullocks, and cut down and sold or destroyed five +hundred and five mhowa-trees, which had, for generations, formed the +strongest local ties of the cultivators, and their best dependence in +seasons of drought. + +In the Churda estate, in the Tarae forest, the same sufferings were +inflicted on the people by the same agents, Goureeshunker and Beharee +Lal. They seized Mudar Buksh, the manager, and made him over to +Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn, who had him beaten to death. The estate of the +Rajah of Bhinga was treated in the same way. Beharee Lal attacked the +town with a large force, plundered all the houses in it, and all the +people of their clothes and ornaments. They seized all the plough- +bullocks and other cattle, and had them driven off and sold. The +women were all seized and driven off in crowds to the camp of Rughbur +Sing at Parbatee-tolah. Many of them who were far gone in pregnancy +perished on the road, from fatigue and harsh treatment The estate of +the Rajah of Ruhooa was treated in the same manner; and the Rajah, to +avoid torture and disgrace, fled with his family to the jungles. In +July 1846, being in great distress, he was induced to come back on +the most solemn assurances from Rughbur Sing of personal security for +himself, family, and attendants. He left the Rajah his _nankar_ lands +for his subsistence, pledging himself to exact no rents or revenues +from them; but put the estate under the management of his own agents, +Lala Omed Rae and others. He at the same time pledged himself not to +exact from any of the poor Rajah's tenants higher rates than those +stipulated for in the engagements then made. But he immediately after +saddled the Rajah with the payment of five hundred armed men, on the +pretence that they were necessary to protect him, and aid him in the +management of these _nankar_ lands. In May 1847, when the harvests +had been gathered, and he had exacted from the tenants and +cultivators the rates stipulated, Goureeshunker was put into the +management. He seized all the tenants and cultivators by a sudden and +simultaneous attack upon their several villages, and extorted from +them a payment of fifty thousand rupees more. Not satisfied with +this, Goureeshunker seized the Rajah's chief manager, Mungul Pershad, +tied him up to a tree, and had him beaten to death. Many of the +Rajah's tenants and servants were beaten to death in the same manner; +and no less than forty villages were attacked and plundered. A good +many respectable females were seized and compelled to make up the +ransoms of their husbands and fathers who were under torture. Many of +the females who had been seized perished from the cruel treatment and +from want of food. Two thousand head of cattle, chiefly plough- +bullocks, were seized and sold from this estate. + +I have passed through all the districts here named, save two, Churda +and Bhinga, and I can say, that everything I saw and heard tended to +confirm the truth of what has here been told. Rughbur Sing and the +agents employed by him were, by all I saw, considered more as +terrible demons who delighted in blood and murder than as men endowed +with any feelings of sympathy for their fellow-creatures; and the +government, which employed such men in the management of districts +with uncontrolled power, seemed to be utterly detested and abhorred. + +It will naturally be asked, whether the circumstances described were +ever reported to the Oude Government or to the British Resident; and +whether they did anything to punish the guilty and afford redress and +relief to the sufferers. The following are the reports which were +made to the Oude Durbar by the news-writers, employed in the several +districts, and communicated to the Resident and his Assistant, by the +Residency news-writer, in his daily reports, which are read out to +them every morning. + +_July_ 10, 1847.--Report from Bondee states, that Rajaram, Rughbur +Sing's collector of Mirzapoor and other villages in that estate, had +attacked and plundered Mirzapoor, and carried off sixty head of +cattle. + +_August_ 12, 1847.--Report from Bondee states, that the estates of +Bondee and Tiperha, which yielded one hundred and fifty thousand +rupees a-year, had become so desolated by the oppression of Beharee +Lal and Kurum Hoseyn, the agents of Rughbur Sing, that they could not +possibly yield anything for the ensuing year; that Kurum Hoseyn had +seized all the cattle and other property of the peasantry, sold them +and appropriated the money to his own use, and had so beaten the +landholders and cultivators, that many of them had died. Order by the +Durbar, that these two agents be deterred from such acts of +oppression, fined five thousand rupees, and made to release the +remaining prisoners, and restore the property taken. Nothing whatever +was done! + +_August_ 14, 1847.--Report from Bondee states, that although the +landholders and cultivators of this estate had paid all that was due, +according to engagements, Beharee Lal and Kurum Hoseyn were having +them flogged and tortured every day to extort more; selling off all +their stock and other property, and selecting all the good bullocks +and cows and sending them to their own houses. Order by the Durbar, +that the minister punish the oppressors, and cause their property to +be given back to the oppressed. The minister ordered his deputy, +Ramchurn, to see this done. He did nothing whatever! + +_September_ 6, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that all the lands +from Bondee and Pyagpoor had been left waste from the oppression of +Rughbur Sing. Order by the Durbar, that the minister hasten to get +the lands tilled, as the season was passing away. Nothing whatever +was done! + +_September_ 24, 1847.--Report from the same place states, that +Rughbur Sing had seized no less than eighteen thousand bullocks, from +the villages of the Bondee estate, collected them at Neemapoor, and +ordered his agents to get them all sold off as fast as possible; and +that the cultivators could till none of the lands in consequence. +Order by the Durbar, that the minister put a stop to all this +oppression. Nothing whatever was done! + +_September_ 24, 1847.--Report from the same place states, that Kurum +Hoseyn had seized Ahlad Sing, the malgoozar of Hurkapoor in Bondee, +and had red-hot ramrods thrust into his flesh, on account of a +balance due, and then had him put upon an ass and paraded through the +streets. Order by the Durbar, that the minister see to this. Nothing +whatever was done! + +_August_ 2, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that the troops under +Beharee Lal were robbing all the females of the country of their +ornaments; and that Beharee Lal neither did nor said anything to +prevent them. Order by the Durbar, that Rughbur Sing be directed to +restrain his soldiers and restore the ornaments. Nothing whatever was +done! + +_September_ 6, 1847--Report from the same place states, that Luchman +Naraen, malgoozar of Bhurduree in Gonda, had paid all the rents due, +according to his engagements; that Beharee Lal had, nevertheless, +sent a force of three hundred men, who attacked his house, plundered +it of all that it contained, and took off five thousand seven hundred +and thirty-one maunds of stored grain. Order by the Durbar, that the +minister punish and restrain the oppressors, and cause all the +property to be restored. Nothing whatever was done in the matter! + +_October_ 2, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Jafir Allee and +Hemraj Sing, Rughbur Sing's agents, had, with a body of sixteen +hundred troops, attacked the town of Khurgapoor in Gonda, plundered +it, and attacked and plundered five villages in the vicinity, and +seized Sudasook and thirty other merchants and shopkeepers of +Khurgapoor, Chungul Sing, the farmer of that place, Kaleechurn, a +writer, and Benee, the agent of the Gonda Rajah, and no less than one +hundred landholders and cultivators. Order by the Durbar: Let the +minister seize all the offenders, and release and satisfy all the +sufferers. Nothing whatever was done in the matter. + +_October_ 5, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Rughbur Sing's +troops had seized and brought off from Gonda to Nawabgunge, two +hundred men and women, and shut up the road where they were confined, +that no one might pass near them--that three or four of the women were +pregnant, and near their confinement, and suffered much from harsh +treatment and want of food. Order by the Durbar: Let the minister +grant redress, and send a suzawal to see that the sufferers are +released. A suzawal was sent, it appears, but he remained a quiet +spectator of the atrocities, having received something for doing so. + +_September_ 1, 1847.--Report from Hissampoor states, that Byjonauth +Sing, agent of Rughbur Sing, in Hissampoor, had seized all the +plough-bullocks and cows he could find, sent the best to his own +home, and made the rest over to Wazeer Allee, Canongoe, to be sold. +Order by the Durbar, that Rughbur Sing be directed to restore all +that has been taken, and collect the revenue with more moderation. +Nothing whatever was done. + +_September_ 11, 1847.--Report from Bahraetch states, that the estate +of Aleenugger in Hissampoor, which yielded eighteen thousand rupees +a-year, had become so deserted from the oppressions of Rughbur Sing, +that it could no longer yield anything. Order by the Durbar, that +Rughbar Sing be directed to restore the tillage, or hold himself +responsible for the King's revenue! + +_July_ 28, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Goureeshunker, the +collector of Gungwal and Pyagpoor, had, by order of Beharee Lal, +attacked the village of Ruhooa, and seized and carried off sixty-four +cultivators, and confined them in his camp. No order whatever was +passed by the Durbar. + +_September_ 7, 1847.--From Nawabgunge in Gonda reports, that Beharee +Lal's soldiers were then engaged in sacking that town, and carrying +off the property. Order by the Durbar. Let the minister see that the +property be restored and wrongs redressed. Nothing whatever was done. + +_September_ 18, 1847.--Report from Bahraetch states, that Cheyn Sing, +the tallookdar of Bahmanee Paer, had fled into the British territory, +but returned to his fort; that Beharee Lal heard of his return and +sent two thousand men to seize him; that the tallookdar had only +sixty men, but held out for three hours, killed ten of the King's +soldiers, and then evacuated the fort and fled; that Beharee Lal's +soldiers had collected two thousand bullocks from the estate, and +brought them all off to his camp. Order by the Durbar, that the +minister give stringent orders in this case. Nothing whatever was +done. + +_October_ 2, 1847.--Report from Seerora states, that Mahommed Hussan +(the present Nazim), one of Rughbur Sing's collectors, with one +thousand horse and foot and one gun, had come to the hamlet of Sondun +Lal, and the village of Seerora, attacked and plundered these places, +and seized and taken off one hundred men and women, and two hundred +bullocks, killed two hundred Rajpoots in a fight, and then gone back +to his camp at Bahoreegunge. Order by the Durbar, that the minister +seize and send the oppressors to Lucknow, and restore the property to +its proper owners. The minister did nothing of the kind; and soon +after made this oppressor the governor of these districts. + +_September_ 20, 1847.--Report from Radowlee states, that armed men +belonging to Kurum Hoseyn, escorting one thousand selected bullocks, +sent by Rughbar Sing, had come to Radowlee, on their way to his fort +of Shahgunge. Order by the Durbar: Let the minister see to this +affair. Nothing was done. + +On the 28th September 1847 an order was addressed by the Durbar to +Rughbur Sing, that his agent, Kurum Hoseyn, appeared to have attacked +the house of Seodeen, though he had paid all that was due by him to +the State, according to his engagements, and plundered it of property +to the value of eighteen thousand rupees, and seized and confined all +his relations--that he must cause all the property to be restored, +and obtain acquittances from the sufferers. Rughbur Sing took no +notice whatever of this order. + +On the 2nd of October 1847, the Resident, Colonel Richmond, wrote to +the King, acquainting him, that he had heard, that Rughbur Sing had +seized and sold all the ploughs and bullocks in the Bahraetch +district, and, seized and sold also five hundred men, women, and +children of the landholders and cultivators; that he regrets all this +and prays that his Majesty will cause inquiries to be made; and, +should the charges prove true, cause the articles taken, or their +value, to be restored, and the men, women, and children to be +released. On the 25th of October 1847, the Resident again addressed +the King, stating, that he had heard, that, on the 2nd of October, +Jafir Allee and Maharaj Sing, agents of Rughbur Sing, with eleven +hundred soldiers, had attacked and plundered the town of Khurgapoor +and five villages in its neighbourhood, and seized and taken off +Ramdeen Sudasook, and thirty merchants, shopkeepers and other +respectable persons, also Junglee, the farmer of that town, +Kaleechurn Mutsudee, Dabey Pershad, the Rajah's manager, and one +hundred landholders and cultivators; and praying that orders be given +for inquiry and redress. Nothing whatever was done; but on the 30th +of October, the King replied to these letters, and to one written to +him by the Resident on the 31st of August 1847, transmitting a list +of unanswered letters. His Majesty stated, that he had sent orders to +Rughbur Sing and to his brother Maun Sing, in all the cases referred +to by the Resident; but that they were contumacious servants, as he +had before described them to the Resident to be; and had taken no +notice whatever of his orders! + +_August_ 20, 1846.--Report from Bahraetch states, that Goureeshunkur, +the agent of Rughbur Sing, in Bahraetch, had taken four persons from +among the many whom he had in confinement on account of balances, had +them suspended to trees, and cruelly flogged, and then had their +hands wrapped up in thick cloth, steeped in oil, and set fire to till +they burned like torches; and that he sat listening to their screams +and cries for mercy with indifference. Order by the King: Let the +minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, be furnished with a copy of this report, +and let him send out three troopers, as suzawuls, to bring in +Goureeshunkur and the four men whose hands had been burnt, and let +him employ Mekhlis Hoseyn, to inquire into the affair, and report the +result. Nothing was done. + +On the 29th of August, the Resident, Mr. Davidson, addressed a letter +to the King stating, that he had before represented the cruelties +which Rughbur Sing was inflicting upon the people of his district, +but had heard of no redress having been afforded in any case; that he +had received another report on the same subject, and now forwards it +to show what atrocities his agent, Goureeshunkur, was committing in +Bahraetch; that in no other country could the servants of the +sovereign commit such cruel outrages upon his subjects; that he had +been wrapping up the bodies of the King's subjects in oilcloths, and +setting, fire to them as to torches; that he could not do all this +without the knowledge and sanction of his master, Rughbur Sing; and +the Resident prays, that he may be punished, and that his punishment +may be intimated to him, the Resident. Nothing was ever done, nor was +any answer given to this letter, till it was, on the 30th of August +1847, acknowledged with the many others contained in the list sent to +the King, in his letter of the 31st August 1847, by the then +Resident, Colonel Richmond. + +No report appears to have reached either the Durbar or the Resident, +of the atrocious proceedings of Rughbur Sing's agents at Busuntpoor, +where so many persons perished from torture, starvation, and +exposure; nor was any notice taken of them till I took charge of my +office in January 1849. Incha Sing had offered for the contract of +the two districts four lacs less than Rughbur Sing had pledged +himself to pay, and obtained it, and quietly superseded his nephew, +with whom he was on cordial good terms. Rughbur Sing went into the +British territory, to evade all demands for balances, and reside for +an interval, with the full assurance that he would be able to +purchase a restoration to favour and power in Oude, unless the +Resident should think it worth while to oppose him, which my +predecessor did not.* I had his agents arrested, and charges sent in +against them, with all the proofs accumulated, by Captain Orr; but +they all soon purchased their way out, and no one was punished. At my +suggestion the King proclaimed Rughbur Sing as an outlaw, and offered +three thousand rupees for his arrest, if he did not appear within +three months. He never appeared, but continued to carry on his +negociations for restoration to power at Lucknow, through the very +agents whom he had employed in the scenes above described, Beharee +Lal, Goureeshunker, Kurum Hoseyn, Maharaj Sing, &c. + +[* Incha Sing absconded before the end of the season, and has never +returned to Oude. Mahommed Hussan got the contract on a reduction of +two hundred and thirty-one thousand rupees, below the rates which +Incha Sing bound himself to pay. But in 1850, he consented to an +increase of three hundred and ninety-nine thousand, with, I believe, +the deliberate intention to raise the funds for the payment by the +murder of Ramdut Pandee, and the confiscation of his estate.] + +Amjud Allee Shah, who was something of a man of business, died 13th +February 1847, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the present King, +who knows nothing of, and cares nothing whatever about, business. His +minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, who had some character of his own, was +removed some three or four months after, and succeeded by the present +minister, Allee Nakee Khan, who has none. + +The following table of the actual payments into the treasury, from +these two districts of Gonda-Bahraetch, for four years from 1845, +will serve to show the fiscal effects of such atrocities as were +permitted to be perpetrated in them for a brief period of +two years:-- + + For 1845, under Wajid Allee . 11,65,132 5 3 + For 1846, under Rughbur Sing . 14,01,623 7 6 + For 1847, under ditto . 10,27,898 4 6 + For 1848, under Incha Sing . . 6,05,492 0 3 + +But what table can show the sufferings of the people, and the +feelings of hatred and abhorrence of the Government and its officers, +to which they gave rise! Not one of the agents, employed in the +atrocities above described, was ever punished. The people see that +all the members of the Government are accessaries, either before or +after the fact, in all these dreadful cruelties and outrages, and, +that the more of them a public officer commits, the more secure is he +of protection and favour at Court. Their hatred and abhorrence of the +individual, in consequence, extend to and embrace the whole of the +Government, and would extend also to the British Government, by whom +that of Oude is supported, did they not see how earnestly the British +Resident strives to alleviate their sufferings, and make the Oude +sovereign and minister do their duty towards them; and how much all +British officers sympathise with their sufferings as they pass +through the country.* + +[* Beharee Lal is now (June 1851) employed in a confidential +situation, in the office of the deputy minister. Goureeshunker is a +Tusseeldar, or native collector, in the same district of Bahraetch, +under the new contractor, Mann Sing. Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn holds a +similar office in some other district. Maharaj Sing, and the rest, +all hold, I believe, situations of equal emolument and +respectability.] + +Almost all the khalsa lands of the Hissampoor purgunnah belonged to +the different branches of a very ancient and respectable family of +Syuds. Their lands have, as already stated, been almost all +transferred to powerful tallookdars, and absorbed by them in their +estates, by the usual process. It is said, and I believe truly, that +Hadee Allee Khan tried to induce the head of the Syud family to take +his daughter in marriage for his eldest son, as he was also a Syud, +(lineal descendant of the prophet.) The old Syud was too proud to +consent to this; and he and all his relations and connection were +ruined in consequence. The son, to whom Hadee Allee wished to unite +his daughter, still lives on his lands, but in poverty and fear. The +people say that family pride is more inveterate among the aristocracy +of the country than that of the city; and had the old man lived at +Lucknow, he would probably have given his son, and saved his family +and estate. + +Captain Hardwick, while out shooting on the 10th, saw a dead man +hanging by the heels in a mango-tree, close to the road. He was one +of a gang of notorious robbers who had attacked a neighbouring +village belonging to some Brahmins. They killed two, and caught a +third member of the gang, and hung him up by the heels to die. He was +the brother-in-law of the leader of the gang, Nunda Pandee. There he +still hangs, and the greater part of my camp took a look at him in +passing. + + ____________________ + + +Tallookdars of Bahraetch-Government Land Revenue according + to the Estimate of this Year. + +___________________________________________________________________ +Names of Villages Government Present Condition + Demand +___________________________________________________________________ + +Bandee . . . . . 65,000 Almost waste +Ruhooa . . . . . 20,000 Ditto +Nanpara . . . . . 1,50,000 Falling off +Gungwal . . . . . 26,000 Much out of tillage +Pyagpoor . . . . . 59,000 Ditto +Ekona . . . . . . 1,80,000 Ditto +Bulrampoor . . . . 1,50,000 Well tilled +Toolseepoor . . . . 1,05,000 Ditto +Atrola . . . . . 80,000 Much out of tillage +Munkapoor . . . . 35,000 Ditto +Bahmanee Paer . . . 12,000 Ditto +___________________________________________________________________ + +Gowras alias Chehdwara +Paruspoor. . . . . 14,000 Well tilled +Aruta . . . . . . 18,000 Ditto +Shahpoor . . . . . 30,000 Ditto +Dhunawa . . . . . 42,000 Ditto +Paska . . . . . . 20,000 Ditto +Kumeear . . . . . 48,000 Ditto +___________________________________________________________________ + +Churda . . . . . 62,000 Falling off +___________________________________________________________________ +___________________________________________________________________ + + Gonda Pergunnah. +___________________________________________________________________ + +Desumberpoor. . . . 95,000 Rajah Davey Buksh, in + Good order. +Bhinga. . . . . . 64,000 Recovering. +Akkerpoor. . . . . 46,015 In good order under + Ramdut Pandee. +Sagha Chunda. . . . 1,20,729 Ramdut Pandee, in good + order. +Birwa . . . . . . 24,000 A little out of tillage. +___________________________________________________________________ + + + +_December_ 12, 1849.--Gungwal, thirteen miles. The road lay through +the estate of Pyagpoor to within a mile of Gungwal. Little +cultivation was to be seen the whole way, and what we could see was +bad. Little variety of crops, and the tillage slovenly, and without +manure or irrigation. The tallookdar was ruined by Rughbur Sing, and +is not on terms with the present Nazim, and he did not appear. The +estate of Gungwal is not better cultivated than that of Pyagpoor; nor +better peopled--both may be considered as mere wastes, and their +assessments as merely nominal. The tallookdar did not appear. Both +were ruined by the rapacious Nazim and his atrocious agents, +Goureeshunker, Beharee Lal, Kurum Hoseyn, and others. + +The Rajah of Toolseepoor, Dirgraj Sing, has an only son, Sahibjee, +now 17 years of age. The Rajah's old servants, thinking they could +make more out of the boy than out of the prudent father, first +incited him to go off, with all the property he could collect, to +Goruckpoor, where he spent it in ten months of revelry. The father +invited him back two mouths ago, on condition that he should come +alone. When he got within six miles of Toolseepoor, however, the +father found, that three thousand armed followers had there been +assembled by his agents, to aid him in seizing upon him and the +estate. Fearing that his estate might be desolated, and he himself +confined, and perhaps put to death, the Rajah ran off to his friend, +the Rajah of Bulrampore, for protection. + +_December_ 13, 1849.--Purenda, eleven miles. The first half of the +way, through the lands of Gungwal, showed few signs of tillage or +population; the latter half through, those of Purenda and other +villages of Gonda, held by Ramdut Pandee, showed more of both. Some +nice villages on each side, at a small distance, and some fine groves +of mango-trees. On the road this morning, Omrow Pooree, a non- +commissioned officer of the Gwalior Contingent, whose family resided +in a neighbouring village, came up to me as I passed along, and +prayed me to have the murderer of his father seized and punished. He +described the circumstances of the case, and on reaching camp, I +requested Captain Weston to take the depositions of the witnesses, +and adopt measures for the arrest of the offenders. Syampooree was +the name of the father of the complainant. He resided in a small +hamlet, near the road, called after himself, as the founder, +"Syampooree ka Poorwa," or Syampooree's Hamlet. He had four sons, all +fine, stout men. The eldest, Omrow Pooree, a corporal in the Gwalior +Contingent, Bhurut Pooree, a private in Captain Barlow's regiment, +Ramchurun and Ramadeen, the two youngest, still at home, assisting +their father in the management of their little estate, which the +family had held for many generations. One day in the beginning of +December 1848, a short, thick-set man passed through the hamlet, +accosted Syampooree and his two sons, as they sat at the door, and +asked for some tobacco, and entered into conversation with them. He +pretended that his cart had been seized by the Nazim's soldiers; and, +after chatting with them for a short time, departed. + +The second morning after this, before daylight, Ramadeen, the +youngest son, was warming himself at a fire on a small terrace in +front of the door, when he saw a party of armed men approaching. He +called out, and asked who they were and what they wanted. They told +him that they were Government servants, had traced a thief to the +village, and come to seize him. Four of the party, who carried +torches, now approached the fire and lighted them. Syampooree and his +other son, Ramchurun, hearing the noise, came out, and placed +themselves by the side of Ramadeen. By the light of the torches they +now recognised the short, thick-set man with whom they had been +talking two days before, at the head of a gang of fifteen men, +carrying fire-arms with matches lighted, and five more armed with +swords and shields. The short, thick-set man was Nunda Pandee, the +most notorious robber in the district. He ordered his gang to search +the house: on the father and sons remonstrating, he drew his sword +and cut down Ramchurun. The father and Ramadeen having left their +swords in the house, rushed back to secure them; but Nunda Pandee, +calling out to one of his followers, Bhowaneedeen, to despatch the +son, overtook the father, and at one cut severed his right arm from +his body. He inflicted several other cuts upon him before the old man +could secure his sword with his left arm. Having got it, he placed +the scabbard under his foot, drew forth the blade, and cut Nunda +Pandee across his sword-arm which placed him _hors-de-combat_; and +rushing out among the assailants, he cut down two more, when he was +shot dead by a third and noted robber, Goberae. Bhowaneedeen and +others of the gang had cut down Ramadeen, and inflicted several +wounds upon him as he lay on the ground. The gang then plundered the +house, and made off with property to the value of one thousand and +fifty rupees, leaving the father and both sons on the ground. The +brave old father died soon after daybreak; but before he expired he +named his assailants. + +The two youngest sons were too severely wounded to admit of their +pursuing the murderers of their father, but their brother, Bhurut +Pooree, obtaining leave of absence, returned home, and traced the +leader of the gang, Nunda Pandee, to the house of one of his +relatives in the village of Kurroura, in Pyagpoor, where he had had +his wound sewn up and dressed, and lay concealed. The family then +tried, in vain, to get redress from all the local authorities, none +of whom considered it to be their duty to look after murderers and +robbers of this kind. Captain Weston succeeded in arresting this +atrocious gang-leader, Nunda Pandee, who described to him minutely +many of the numerous enterprises of this kind in which he had been +engaged, and seemed to glory in his profession. He mentioned that the +man whom he had seen suspended in the tree was his brother-in-law; +that he had had two other members of his gang killed by the villagers +on that occasion, but had succeeded in carrying off their bodies; +that Goberae, Bhowaneedeen, and the rest of his followers were still +at large and prosecuting their trade. Nunda Pandee was by the +Resident made over for trial and punishment to the Durbar; and +Goberae and Bhowaneedeen have since been arrested and made over also. +They both acknowledged that they murdered the Gosaen in the manner +above described, May 1851. The Mahommedan law-officer before whom the +case was tried declared, that he could not, according to law, admit +as valid the evidence of the wife and two sons of the murdered +Gosaen, because they were relatives and prosecutors; and, as the +robbers denied before him that they were the murderers, he could not, +or pretended he could not, legally sentence them to punishment The +King was, in consequence, obliged to take them from his Court, and +get them sentenced to perpetual imprisonment by another Court, not +trammelled by the same law of evidence. This difficulty arises from +_blood_ having its _price_ in money in the country where the law was +made, or the _Deeut_; any person who had a right to share in this +_Deeut_, or price of blood, was therefore held to be an invalid or +incompetent witness to the fact. + +On the road from Bahraetch to Gungwal we saw very few groves or fine +single trees on either side. The water is close to the surface, and +the soil good, but for the most part flooded during the rains, and +fit only for rice-cultivation. To fit it for the culture of other +autumn crops would require a great outlay in drainage; and this no +one will incur without better security for the returns than the +present government can afford. Ramdut Pandee is the greatest +agricultural capitalist in these parts. + +On the 8th of December it had become known all over the city of +Lucknow, that the King had promised Captain Bird that he would banish +Gholam Ruza and his sister, and Kotub Allee, across the Ganges; and +it was entered in the news-writer's report, though Captain Bird had +spoken of it to no one. He was asked by the minister whether he would +excuse the King for not keeping his word so far, and said he could +not. He demanded an audience of the King, who tried to avoid a +meeting by pleading indisposition; but the first Assistant, being +very urgent, he was admitted. He found the King in a small inner room +lying on a cot covered with a ruzae or quilt. + +There were closed doors on the side of the room where the cot stood, +and Captain Bird perceived that persons were behind listening to the +conversation. On the minister advancing to meet him at the door. +Captain Bird declined taking his proffered hand, and in a loud voice +declared--"that he believed that he was mixed up with the fiddlers, +and was afraid of their being removed, or he would have carried his +Majesty's order for their dismissal into effect." He then advanced to +the King, shook him by the hand, apologized for intruding upon him +after his excuse of illness, and stated--"that his own character was +at stake, and he had been obliged to take this step to save it, and +requested that the minister might be told to retire during the +conversation, as he had already shown his partiality for the +characters whom his Majesty had stigmatized as low, intriguing, and +untrustworthy--as ruiners of his good name and his kingdom, and the +cause of ill-feeling between the British Government and himself. The +King expressed a wish that the minister might remain, that he might +have an opportunity to listen to what Captain Bird had to state, as +it appeared to be against him. Captain Bird replied, that he had no +complaint to make against the minister; that his object in coming +was, to claim the fulfilment of the promise which his Majesty had so +solemnly made to him, to dismiss Gholam Ruza and his sister, and +Kotub Allee, and send them across the Ganges; that he was induced to +demand this audience by the minister's visit of the preceding +evening, to ask him to excuse his Majesty's fulfilling the promise +which he had made; and by the written report given to him that +morning by the news-writer, stating, that his Majesty had changed his +mind, and pardoned the parties." + +The King declared that he had never given Captain Bird any such +promise. Captain Bird then repeated to his Majesty the conversation +which had taken place on that occasion. The King seemed to be +staggered; but the minister came to his aid, and said--"that his +Majesty had ascertained from Sadik Allee himself, that Gholam Ruza +was not an accomplice in that affair." Captain Bird replied--"that +the King had told him, that the deception had been so fully proved, +that they were speechless; and that his Majesty had spit in their +faces." The King said "not in Gholam Ruza's. His sister and Kotub +Allee are alone guilty." Captain Bird urged, that all were alike +guilty, and he besought the King to fulfil his promise, saying,--"that +his, Captain Bird's, name was at stake; that if the parties were not +removed, the whole city would say, that the King had bribed him, and +bought off his promise." The King replied, "This is all nonsense; do +you wish me to swear that Gholam Ruza is innocent, and that I never +gave the promise you mention?" and, calling the minister, he placed +his right hand on his head, and said,--"I swear, as if this was my +son's head, and by God, that I believe Gholam Ruza to be entirely +innocent; and that I never promised to turn him out, or to send him +across the Ganges." Captain Bird then heard a movement of feet in the +next room behind the closed doors. He was horrified; but returning to +the charge, said, "Your Majesty has, at any rate, acknowledged the +guilt of Gholam Ruza's sister, and that of Khotub Allee; pray fulfil +your promise on the guilty." The King said--"When absent from my +sight, they are as far off as across one hundred rivers. I know they +are intriguers, and shall keep my eyes upon them." Captain Bird said +--"I have reported the circumstances of the case thus far to the +Resident. Your Majesty has made me a participator in the breaking of +your word. I have told Colonel Sleeman you would turn these men out." +The King said--"This case has reference only to my house--it has no +connection with the Government; but if you wish to use force, take me +also by the beard, and pull me from my throne!" Captain Bird said--"I +pray your Majesty to recollect how often, when force might have been +used, under your own sign-manual and seal, on these fiddlers +interfering in State affairs, the Resident has hesitated to put your +written permission for their removal into force; and now who can be +your friend, or save you from any danger, which may hereafter +threaten your life or your well-being? I must, of course, report all +to the Resident." The minister now said--"Yes, report to the Resident +that the King has changed his mind, broken his word, and will not +fulfil his promise; and ask for permission to employ direct force for +the removal of these men: see if he will give permission." Captain +Bird replied, "that any orders he received from the Resident would +certainly be carried, into effect; but if his Majesty's own +acknowledgment of the deceitfulness of these men, and their +intriguing rascality were not sufficient to induce him to remove +them--if the King set so little value on his promise--a promise now +known to the whole city, and which he must in self-defence now speak +openly of, he foresaw the speedy downfall of the kingdom. Who, he +asked, will subject themselves to be deceived in an endeavour to prop +it up by the removal of those who were living on its heart's blood, +or be made liars by reporting promises never to be fulfilled?" Thus +ended this interview. + +The next day Sadik Allee had a dress of honour conferred upon him, +and an increase of one hundred rupees a-month made to his salary; and +Gholam Ruza, and his relative the fiddler, Anees-od Dowla, were +seated behind his Majesty in his carriage-and-four, and paraded +through the city, as in full possession of his favour. After the King +had alighted from the carriage at the palace, the coachman drove the +two singers to their apartments in the Mukbura, seated as before in +the khuwas, or hind seat. [On the 25th of May 1850, the King caused +the chief singer, Gholam Ruza, his father, Nathoo, his sister, and +her husband, Dummun Khan, Gholam Hyder Khan, Kotub Allee, his +brother, Sahib Allee, and the females of his family, in all fourteen +persons, to be seized and confined in prison. On the 2nd of June, all +but Gholam Ruza and Dummun Khan were transported across the Ganges +into British territory; and, on the 23rd of July, these two men were +transported in the same manner. The immediate cause of the King's +anger was the discovery that his divorced and banished wife, +Surafrazmahal, had actually come back, and remained concealed for +seven days and seven nights in the palace, in the apartments of the +chief singer, Gholam Ruza. They were all made to disgorge the +Company's notes and jewels found upon them, but the King visited +Gholam Ruza the day before his departure, and treated him with great +kindness, and seemed very sorry to part with him.] + +On the 10th, I had written to Captain Bird to mention the distinction +which he appeared to have overlooked in his zeal to get the fiddlers +removed. The offence with which these persons stood charged in this +case was a personal affront to the King, or an affront to his +understanding, and not any interference with the administration of +the Government; and the first Assistant was requested by the Resident +to wait upon his Majesty, merely with a view to encourage him in his +laudable resolution to banish them, and to offer his aid in doing so +should his Majesty manifest any wish to have it; and not to demand +their punishment on the part of the British Government. In the one +case, if the King promised to punish the offenders and relented and +forgave them, we could only regret his weakness; but in the other, if +he promised to punish them and failed to do so, we should consider it +due to the character of our Government to insist upon the fulfilment +of his promise. On the evening of the 11th I got the above report of +his interview with the King from Captain Bird; and, on the 12th, I +wrote to tell him, that I considered him to have acted very +indiscreetly; that he had brought this vexation and mortification +upon himself by his overweening confidence in his personal influence +over the King; that he ought to have waited for instructions from me, +or at least for a reply from me to his letter, regarding the former +interview at Court; that I could not now give him the support he +required, as I could neither demand that his requisitions should be +complied with, nor tell the King that I approved of them that he had +been authorized by me to act on his own discretion in any case of +great emergency, but this could not be considered of such a +character, for no evil or inconvenience was to be apprehended from a +day or two's delay, since the question really was, whether his +Majesty should have a dozen fiddlers or only ten. + +In the beginning of September 1850, the King became enamoured of one +of his mother's waiting-maids, and demanded her in marriage. See was +his mother's favourite bedfellow, and she would not part with her. +The King became angry, and to soothe him his mother told him that it +was purely out of regard for him and his children that she refused to +part with this young woman; that she had a "_sampun_," or the coiled +figure of a snake in the hair on the back of her neck. No man, will +purchase a horse with such a mark, or believe that any family can be +safe in which a horse or mare with such a mark is kept. His mother +told him, that if he cohabited with a woman having such a mark, he +and all his children must perish. The King said that he might +probably have, among his many wives, some with marks of this kind; +and that this might account for his frequent attacks of palpitation +of the heart. "No doubt," said the old Queen Dowager; "we have long +thought so; but your Majesty gets into such a towering passion when +we venture to speak of your wives, that we have been afraid to give +expression to our thoughts and fears." "Perhaps," said the King, "I +may owe to this the death, lately, of my poor son, the heir- +apparent." "We have long thought so," replied his mother. The chief +eunuch, Busheer, was forthwith ordered to inspect the back of the +necks of all save that of the chief consort, the mother of the late +and present heir-apparent. He reported that he had found the _fatal +mark_ upon the necks of no less than eight of the King's wives, +Nishat-mahal, Koorshed-mahal, Sooleeman-mahal, Huzrut-mahal, Dara +Begum, Buree Begum, Chotee Begum, and Huzrut Begum. The chief priest +was summoned, and the divorce, from the whole eight, pronounced +forthwith; and the ladies were ordered to depart with all that they +had saved while in the palace. Some of their friends suggested to his +Majesty, that Mahommedans were but unskilful judges in such matters, +and that a Court of Brahmins should be assembled, as they had whole +volumes devoted exclusively to this science. The most learned were +accordingly collected, and they declared that though there were marks +resembling in some degree the _sampun_, it was of no importance; and +the evil it threatened might be averted by singeing the head of the +snake with a hot iron. The ladies were very indignant, and six of +them insisted upon leaving the palace, in virtue of the divorce. Two +only consented to remain, the Buree Begum and Chota Begum. + +_December_ 14, 1849.--Came on twelve miles to Gonda. The country well +studded with groves and fine single trees; the soil naturally +fertile, and water near the surface. Cultivation good about Gonda, +and about some of the villages along the road it is not bad; but +there is nowhere any sugar-cane to be seen beyond a small garden +patch. The country is so wretchedly stocked with cattle that little +manure is available for tillage. + +The Bulrampore Rajah, a lively, sensible, and active young man, +joined me this morning, and rode along by the side of my elephant, +with the capitalist, Ramdut Pandee, the Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, and +old Bukhtawar Sing, the brother of the late Dursun Sing, whom I have +often mentioned in this Diary. Rajah Bukhtawar Sing is the King's +Mohtamin, or Quartermaster-General of the Resident's' camp. The Rajah +of Toolseepore also, who has been ousted by his son from his estate, +joined me last night; but he was not well enough to ride with me. +Dogs, hawks, and panthers attend for sport, but they afford little or +no amusement. Hawking is a very dull and very cruel sport. A person +must become insensible to the sufferings of the most beautiful and +most inoffensive of the brute creation before he can feel any +enjoyment in it. The cruelty lies chiefly in the mode of feeding the +hawks. I have ordered all these hunting animals to return to Lucknow. + +Although the personal character of the Toolseepoor Rajah is not +respected, that of his son is much worse; and the Bulrampoor Rajah +and other large landholders in the neighbourhood would unite and +restore him to the possession of his estate, but the Nazim is held +responsible for their not moving in the matter, in order that the +influential persons about the Court may have the plucking of it at +their leisure. The better to insure this, two companies of one of the +King's regiments have been lately sent out with two guns, to see that +the son is not molested in the possession. The father was restored to +his estate in 1850, and the son fled again to the Goruckpoor +district. He became reconciled to his father some months after, +through the mediation of the magistrate, Mr. Chester, and returned to +Toolseepoor. The father and son, however, distrusted each other too +much to live long together on amicable terms, and the son has gone +off again to Goruckpoor. + +The Toolseepoor estate extends along from east to west for about one +hundred miles, in a belt of from nine to twelve miles wide, upon the +southern border of that part of the Oude Tarae forest which we took +from Nepaul in 1815, and made over to the Oude Government by the +treaty of the 11th May 1816, in lieu of the one crore of rupees which +our Government borrowed from Oude for the conduct of that war. The +rent-roll of Toolseepoor is now from two to three lacs of rupees a- +year; but it pays to the Oude Government a revenue of only one lac +and five thousand, over and above gratuities to influential officers. +The estate comprises that of Bankee, which was held by a Rajah Kunsa. +Dan Bahader, the father of the present Rajah of Toolseepoor, attacked +him one night in 1832, put him and some two hundred and fifty of his +followers and family to death, and absorbed the estate. Mahngoo, the +brother of Kunsa, escaped and sought redress from the Oude Durbar; +but he had no money and could get no redress; and, in despair, he +went off to seek employment in Nepaul, and died soon after. Dan +Bahader, enriched by the pillage of Bankee, came to Lucknow, and +purchased permission to incorporate Bankee with his old estate of +Toolseepoor. + +Khyreeghur and Kunchunpoor, on the western border of that forest, +were made over by us to Oude at the same time, as part of the +cession. They had been ceded to our Government by the treaty of 1801, +at an estimated value of two hundred and ten thousand, but, up to +1816, they had never yielded to us fifty thousand rupees a-year. They +had, however, formerly yielded from two to three lacs of rupees a- +year to the Oude Government, and under good management may do so +again; but, at present, Oude draws from them a revenue of only +sixteen thousand, and that with difficulty. The rent-roll, however, +exceeds two hundred thousand, and may, in a few years, amount to +double that sum, as population and tillage are rapidly extending. + +The holders of Khyreegur and Kunchunpoor are always in a state of +resistance against the Oude Government, and cannot be coerced into +the payment of more than their sixteen thousand rupees a-year; and +hundreds of lives have been sacrificed in the collection of this sum. +The climate is so bad that no people from the open country can +venture into it for more than four months in the year--from the +beginning of December to the end of March. The Oude Government +occasionally sends in a body of troops to enforce the payment of an +increased demand during these four months. The landholders and +cultivators retire before them, and they are sure to be driven out by +the pestilence, with great loss of life, in a few months; and the +landholders refuse to pay anything for some years after, on the +ground that all their harvests were destroyed by the troops. The rest +of the Tarae lands ceded had little of tillage or population at that +time, and no government could be less calculated than that of Oude to +make the most of its capabilities. It had, therefore, in a fiscal +point of view, but a poor equivalent for its crore of rupees; but it +gained a great political advantage in confining the Nepaulese to the +hills on its border. Before this arrangement took place there used to +be frequent disputes, and occasionally serious collisions between the +local authorities about boundaries, which were apt to excite the +angry feelings of the sovereigns of both States, and to render the +interposition of the paramount power indispensable. + +It was at Bhinga, on the left bank of the Rabtee River, in the Gonda +district, and eight miles north-east from Bulrampoor, that Mr. George +Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, was murdered on the night +of the 6th May, 1823. He had been the collector of the land revenue +of the Cawnpore district for many years; but, having taken from the +treasury a very large sum of money, and spent it in lavish +hospitality and unsuccessful speculations, he absconded with his wife +and child, and found an asylum with the Rajah of Bhinga, on the +border of the Oude Tarae, where he intended to establish himself as +an indigo planter. Strict search was being made for him throughout +India by the British Government, and his residence at Bhinga was +concealed from the Oude Government by the local authorities. The +Rajah made over to him a portion of land for tillage, and a suitable +place in a mango grove, about a mile from his fort, to build a house +upon. He built one after the Hindoostanee fashion, with bamboos and +grass from the adjoining jungle. It consisted of a sitting-room, bed- +room, and bathing-room, all in a line, and forming one side of a +quadrangle, and facing inside, with only one small door on the +outside, opening into the bathing-room. The other three sides of the +quadrangle consisted of stables, servants' houses, and out-offices, +all facing inside, and without any entrances on the outside, save on +the front side, facing the dwelling-house, where there was a large +entrance. + + + PLAN OF MR. RAVENSCROFT'S HOUSE. + + _____________________________________ ___ + | | | | + | | Bathing| + | Sitting Room. | Bed Room. Room. | + |_______ ________|____ ______|_______| + | | | | + | | | | + | ___ | + | | | | + | | | | | | + |_____| |___| |_______| + | | Cot | | + | | | | + | O S | + | u t | + | t | | a | + | | | b | + |__O__| |___l___| + | f | | e | + | f | | s | + | i | | | + | c | + | e | + | s | | | + | | | | + |_____| |_______| + | | | | + | | + | | Entrance | | + | |___ _____ ____ ____| | + | | | | + | | | | + |________________| |__________________| + + + + +The Rajah, Seo Sing, was a worthy old man. He had four sons, +Surubjeet Sing, the eldest, Omrow Sing, Kaleepurkas Sing, and +Jypurkas Sing. The eldest was then married, and about the age of +twenty-five; the other three were still boys. The old man left the +management of the estate to the eldest son, a morose person, who led +a secluded life, and was never seen out of the female apartments, +save twice a-year, on the festival of the hooley and the anniversary +of his marriage. Mr. Ravenscroft had never seen or held any communion +with him, save through his father, brothers, or servants; but he was +in the habit of daily seeing and conversing with the father and his +other sons on the most friendly terms. The eldest son became alarmed +when he saw Mr. Ravenscroft begin to plant indigo, and prepare to +construct vats for the manufacture; and apprehended that he would go +on encroaching till he took the whole estate from him, unless he was +made away with. He therefore hired a gang of Bhuduk dacoits from the +neighbouring forest of the Oude Tarae to put him to death, after he +had been four months at Bhinga. During this time Mrs. Ravenscroft had +gone on one occasion to Cawnpoor, and on another to Secrora, on +business. + +Bhinga lies fifty miles north-east from Secrora, where the 20th +Regiment of Native Infantry, under the command of Colonel Patton, was +then cantoned. On the 6th of May 1823, Ensign Platt, of that corps, +had come out to see him. In the evening, the old Rajah and his second +and third sons came to visit Mr. Ravenscroft as usual, and they sat +conversing with the family on the most friendly terms till nine +o'clock, when they took leave, and Mrs. Ravenscroft, with her child +and two female attendants, retired to the sleeping-room in the house. +Ensign Platt went to his small sleeping-tent outside the quadrangle, +under a mango-tree. This tent was just large enough to admit his +small cot, and a few block-tin travelling-boxes, which he piled away +inside, to the right and left of his bed. Mr. Ravenscroft slept on a +cot in the open air, in the quadrangle, a few paces from the door +leading to Mrs. Ravenscroft's sleeping-apartment. He that night left +his arms in the sitting-room, and Ensign Platt had none with him. Mr. +Ravenscroft was the handsomest and most athletic European gentleman +then in India, and one of the most expert in the use of the sword and +shield. + +His servants had been accustomed to stand sentry, by turns, at the +entrance of the quadrangle, and it was his groom Munsa's turn to take +the first watch that night. He was to have been relieved by the +chowkeedar, Bhowaneedeen; but, in the middle of his watch, he roused +the chowkeedar, and told him that he had been taken suddenly ill, and +must go to his house for relief. The chowkeedar told him that he +might go at once, and he would get up and take his place immediately; +but he lay down and soon fell asleep again. + +About eleven o'clock the whole quadrangle was filled by a gang of +about sixty dacoits, who set their torches in a blaze, and began to +attack Mr. Ravenscroft with their spears. He sprang up, and called +loudly for his sword and shield, but there was no one to bring them. +He received several spears through his body as he made for the door +of Mrs. Ravenscroft's apartment, calling out to her in English to fly +and save herself and child, and defending himself as well as he could +with his naked arms. Mosahib, a servant who slept by his cot, got to +Mrs. Ravenscroft's room and assisted her to escape, with her child +and two female attendants, through the bathing-room to the outside. A +party had been placed to stab Ensign Platt with their long spears +through the sides of his small tent; but they passed through and +through the block-tin boxes, and roused without hurting him. He +rushed out and attempted to defend himself by seizing the spears of +his assailants; but he received several of them through his arms. He +made for the entrance to the quadrangle, and there, by the blaze of +the torches, saw Mr. Ravenscroft still endeavouring to defend +himself, but covered with blood, which was streaming from his wounds +and mouth. + +On seeing Ensign Platt at the entrance, he staggered towards him, but +the dacoits made a rush at Ensign Platt with their spears at the same +time. He saved himself by springing over a thick and thorny hedge on +one side of the quadrangle, and ran round behind to the small door +leading into the bathing-room, which he reached in time to assist +Mrs. Ravenscroft to escape, as the dacoits were forcing their way +through the screen into her bed-room from the sitting-room. As soon +as he saw her under the shade of the trees, beyond the blaze of the +torches, he left her and her child, and the two female attendants, to +the care of Mosahib, and went round to the entrance in search of her +husband. He had got to a tree, outside the entrance, into which +Deena, Ensign Platt's servant, had climbed to save himself as soon as +he saw his master attacked, and was leaning against it; but, on +seeing Ensign Platt, he again staggered towards him, saying faintly +_bus, bus_--enough, enough. These were the last words he was heard to +utter, and must have referred to the escape of his wife and child, of +which he had become conscious. By this time the gang had made off +with the little booty they found. On attacking Mr. Ravenscroft at +first, some of them were heard to say, "You have run from Cawnpoor to +come and seize upon the estate of Bhinga, but we will settle you." +Mrs. Ravenscroft, her infant, and female attendants, remained +concealed under the shade of the trees, and her husband was now taken +to her with eighteen spear wounds through his body. The Rajah and his +two young sons soon after made their appearance, and in the evening +the survivors were all taken by the old man to a spacious building, +close outside the fort, where they received every possible attention; +but the eldest son never made his appearance. Out of the twenty-nine +men who composed the party when the attack commenced, seven had been +killed and eighteen wounded. Mr. Ravenscroft died during the night of +the 7th, after great suffering. He retained his consciousness till +near the last; but the blood continued to flow from his mouth, and he +could articulate nothing. On the morning of the 8th, he was buried in +the grove, and Ensign Platt read the funeral service over his grave. +Mrs. Ravenscroft and her child were taken to Colonel Patton, at +Secrora, and soon after sent by him to Lucknow. + +On the 10th, he reported the circumstances of this murder to the +Resident, Mr. Ricketts; and sent him the narratives of Mosahib and +Deena; and his report, with translations of these narratives, was +submitted by the Resident to Government on the 12th of that month. +But in these narratives no mention whatever was made of a British +officer having been present at the murder and the burial of Mr. +Ravenscroft. This suppression arose, no doubt, from the apprehension +that Government might be displeased to find that the military +authorities at Secrora had become aware of Mr. Ravenscroft's +residence at Bhinga without reporting the circumstance to Government; +and still more so to find, that he had been there visited by a +British officer, when search was being made for him throughout India. + +In acknowledging the receipt of the Resident's letter on the 23rd of +May, the Secretary, Mr. George Swinton, observes, that the Governor- +General in Council concludes, that he shall receive a more full and +satisfactory report on the subject from Colonel Patton than that to +which his letter had given cover, since he considered that report to +be very imperfect; that one of the narrators, Mosahib, states, that +he himself conducted Mrs. Ravenscroft and her child to a neighbouring +village, and yet he brought no message whatever from that lady to +Colonel Patton at Secrora; that none of the wounded people or +servants of the deceased, except Deena, appear to have found their +way to Sacrora, though four days had elapsed from the date of the +murder to that of the despatch of the report; that the body seemed to +have been hastily interred by the people of the village, without any +notice having been sent to the officer commanding the troops at +Secrora; that such an atrocious outrage as that described in these +narratives, on the person of a subject and servant of the British +Government, demanded the exertion of every effort to ascertain the +real facts of the case by local inquiry; yet it did not appear that +any person had been despatched to the spot to verify the evidence of +the two men examined by Colonel Patton, or to clear up the doubts to +which all these circumstances must naturally have given rise; nor did +it appear that the defects in Colonel Patton's report had occurred to +the Resident, or that he had directed any further inquiry to be made. + +The Resident was, therefore, directed to instruct Colonel Patton, to +depute one or more officers to the place where the murder was said to +be perpetrated, with orders to hold an inquiry on the spot in +communication with the King of Oude's officers, to take the evidence +of the wounded men, and that of any other persons who might have been +witnesses to any part of the transaction, and to the burial of Mr. +Ravenscroft; and to examine the grave in which the body of the +deceased was said to have been deposited; and further, to call upon +Colonel Patton to state whether any information had previously +reached Secrora of Mr. Ravenscroft's actually residing at Bhinga, or +at any other place within the dominions of the King of Oude. "His +Lordship in Council was," Mr. Swinton says, "satisfied, from the +known humanity of Colonel Patton's character, that every possible aid +and comfort had been extended to Mrs. Ravenscroft and her child; and +the information which that lady and her attendants must have it in +their power to give, could not fail to place the whole affair in its +proper light." Extracts from this letter were sent by the Resident to +Colonel Patton, on the 2nd of June, with a request that he would +adopt immediate measures to carry the orders of Government into +effect; and reply to the question whether any information of Mr. +Ravenscroft's residing at Bhinga had previously reached him. + +A committee of British officers was assembled at Bhinga on the 11th +June, and their proceedings were transmitted to the Resident on the +18th of that month; but the committee, for some reasons stated in the +report, did not examine "the grave in which the body of the deceased +was said to have been deposited." Though in this committee Ensign +Platt stated that he was present when the murder was perpetrated; +that he attended the deceased till he died the next night, and +performed the funeral ceremonies over the body on the morning of the +8th; still he seemed to narrate the circumstances of the event with +some reserve, while there was a good deal of discrepancy in the +evidence of the other eye-witnesses, as recorded in the report, +seemingly from the dread of compromising Ensign Platt. + +The Resident did not, therefore, think that Government would be +satisfied with the result of this inquiry; and, on the 20th of June +he directed Colonel Patton to reassemble the committee at Bhinga, and +require it to hold an inquest on the body, and take the depositions +of all the witnesses on oath. On the same day the Resident reported +to Government what he had done. The second committee proceeded to +Bhinga, and, on the 13th of July, Colonel Patton transmitted its +report to the Resident, who submitted it to Government on the 17th of +that month. The committee had taken the evidence of the witnesses on +oath, and held an inquest on the body; but, in doing so, it had been +necessary to dig through the tomb which Mrs. Ravenscroft had, in the +interval, caused to be erected over the remains of her husband; and, +at the suggestion of Colonel Patton, this tomb was rebuilt and +improved at the cost of Government, who were perfectly satisfied with +the result. + +But in its reply, dated the 31st July, Government very justly +remarks, that all the unnecessary trouble which had attended this +investigation, as well as the very painful step of having the body +disinterred, which the Resident found himself compelled to adopt in +obedience to its orders, arose from a want of those obvious +precautions in the first instance which ought to have suggested +themselves to Colonel Patton. Had he made the requisite inquiries at +Secrora, he must have learnt that an English officer belonging to his +own regiment, who had been present at the interment, had been wounded +when Mr. Ravenscroft was murdered, and, for a time, rendered unfit +for duty. The facts since deposed to on oath by Ensign Platt might +have been elicited, and his testimony, if necessary, might have been +confirmed by the evidence of the widow of the deceased; and had such +conclusive evidence been submitted to Government in the first +instance, the doubts excited by the extraordinary circumstances of +the whole affair would never have existed. When ordered on the +inquiry to Bhinga, had Ensign Platt at once declared at Secrora that +he could there afford all the information required as to the fact of +the murder and interment of the body, the necessity of further +inquiry on the spot would have been obviated. He had apparently been +deterred from doing this by the apprehension of compromising both +himself and his commanding officer. Colonel Patton had no knowledge +of Mr. Ravenscroft being at Bhinga, though he had heard a rumour of +his being somewhere in the Oude territory; and, in his application +for a few days' leave, Ensign Platt made no mention of him or of his +intention to visit him. This is stated in a subsequent letter from +Colonel Patton to the Resident, dated 27th of August 1823. + +The opinion that the Rajah had nothing whatever to do with the +murder, and that the gang was secretly hired for the purpose by his +eldest son, Surubjeet, has been confirmed by time, and is now +universal among the people of these parts. He died soon after of +dropsy, and the people believe that the disease was caused by the +crime. He left an only son, Krishun Dutt Sing. The Rajah, Seo Sing, +survived his eldest son some years; and, on his death, he was +succeeded by Krishun Dutt Sing, who now leads precisely the same +secluded life that his father led, and leaves the management of the +Bhinga estate entirely to his only surviving uncle, Kaleepurkas Sing, +the youngest of the two boys who visited Mr. Ravenscroft on the +evening of the murder. The other three sons of the old Rajah are +dead. The actual perpetrators of the murder were never punished or +discovered. Mrs. Ravenscroft afterwards became united in marriage to +the Resident at the time, Mr. Mordaunt Ricketts, and still lives. Her +child, a boy, was drowned at the Lucknow Residency some time after +his mother's marriage with the Resident. He had been shut up by his +mother in a bathing-room for some fault; and, looking into a bathing- +tub at his image in the water, he lost his balance, fell in, and was +drowned. When the servants went to let him out they found him quite +dead. + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Legendary tale of breach of Faith--Kulhuns tribe of Rajpoots--Murder +of the Banker, Ramdut Pandee, by the Nazim of Bahraetch--Recrossing +the Ghagra river--Sultanpoor district, State of Commandants of +troops become sureties for the payment of land revenue--Estate of +Muneearpoor and the Lady Sogura--Murder of Hurpaul Sing, Gurgbunsee, +of Kupragow--Family of Rajahs Bukhtawar and Dursun Sing--Their +_bynama_ Lands--Law of Primogeniture--Its object and effect--Rajah +Ghalib Jung--Good effects of protection to Tenantry--Disputes about +Boundaries--Our army a safety-valve for Oude--Rapid decay of Landed +Aristocracy in our Territories--Local ties in groves, wells, &c. + +_December_ 15, 1849.-Wuzeergunge. On the way this morning, we passed +Koorassa, which is said once to have been the capital of a formidable +Rajah, the head of the Kulhuns tribe of Rajpoots. The villages which +we see along the road seem better, and better peopled and provided +with cattle. The soil not naturally very fertile, but yields fine +returns under good culture, manure, and irrigation. Water everywhere +very near the surface. The place is called after the then _Nawab +Wuzeer_, Asuf-od Dowlah, who built a country-seat here with all +appurtenances of mosque, courts, dwelling-houses, &c., on the verge +of a fine lake, formed in the old bed of the Ghagra river, with +tillage and verdure extending down to the water's edge. The garden- +wall, which surrounds a large space of ground, well provided with +fruit and ornamental trees, is built of burnt bricks, and still +entire. The late minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, persuaded his master, +Amjad Allee Shah, to give this garden and the lands around, with +which it had been endowed, to his moonshee, Baker Allee Khan, who now +resides at Fyzabad, and subsists upon the rents which he derives from +them, and which are said to be about twelve hundred rupees a-year. + +The Bulrampoor Rajah, Ramdut Pandee, the banker, and Rajah Bukhtawar +Sing, rode with me this morning. The Rajah of Bulrampoor is an +intelligent and pleasing young man. He was a child when Mr. +Ravenscroft was killed, but said he had heard, that the Bhinga chief +had suffered for the share which he had had in the murder; his body +swelled, and he died within a month or two. "If men's bodies swelled +for murder, my friend," I said, "we should have no end of swelled +bodies in Oude, and among the rest, that of Prethee Put's, of Paska." +"Their bodies all swell, sooner, or later," said old Bukhtawar Sing, +"when they commit such atrocious crimes, and Prethee Puts will begin +to swell when he finds that you are inquiring into his." "I am +afraid, my friends, that the propensity to commit them has become +inveterate. One man hears that another has obtained lands or wealth +by the murder of his father or brother, and does not rest till he has +attempted to get the same by the murder of his, for he sees no man +punished for such crimes." "It is not all nor many of our clan" +(Rajpoots), said the Rajah of Bulrampoor, "that can or will do this: +we never unite our sons or daughters in marriage with the family of +one who is so stained with crimes. Prethee Put and all who do as he +has done, must seek an union with families of inferior caste." I +asked him whether the people, in the Tarae forest, were still afraid +to point out tigers to sportsmen. "I was lately out with a party +after a tiger," he said, "which had killed a cowherd, but his +companions refused to point out any trace of him, saying, that their +relatives' spirit must be now riding upon his head, to guide him from +all danger, and we should have no chance of shooting him. We did +shoot him, however," said the Rajah, exultingly, "and they were all, +afterwards, very glad of it. The tigers in the Tarae do not often +kill men, sir, for they find plenty of deer and cattle to eat."--"Can +you tell me, Rajah Sahib," said I, "why it is that among the Arabs, +the lion is called 'the father of cultivation,' '_abol hurs_, or _abo +haris_.'" "No," replied the Rajah; "it is an odd name for a beast +that feeds on nothing but the flesh of deer, cattle, and men." "It +is, I suppose, Rajah Sahib," I remarked, "because he feeds upon the +deer, which are the greatest enemies of their young crops." + +The Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor, and all the merchants and +respectable landholders in these parts assure me, that all the large +colonies of Bhuduks, or gang robbers by hereditary profession, who +had, for so many generations, up to A.D. 1840, been located in the +Oude Terae forest, have entirely disappeared under the operation of +the "Special Police," of the Thuggee and Dacoitee Department, aided +and supported by the Oude Government; and that not one family of them +can now be found anywhere in Oude. They have not been driven out as +formerly, to return as soon as the temporary pressure ceased, but +hunted down and punished, or made to blend with the rest of society +in service or at honest labour. + +_December_ 16, 1849.--Nawabgunge, eight miles, over a plain of the +same good soil, but not much better cultivated. The people tell me, +that garden tillage is now almost unknown in these districts; first, +because kachies or gardeners (here called moraes) having been robbed, +ruined, and driven into exile by Rughbur Sing, cannot be induced to +return to and reside in places, where they would have so little +chance of reaping the fruits of their labour; and, secondly, because +there are no people left who can afford to purchase their garden +produce. They tell me also, that the best classes of ordinary +cultivators, the Koormies and Lodhees, have been almost all driven +out of the district from the same cause. The facts are manifest-- +there are no gardeners, and but few Koormies and Lodhees left; and +there is, in consequence, little good tillage of any kind, and still +less of garden cultivation. + +The Rajah of Bulrampoor and Ramdut Pandee, the banker, rode with me, +and related the popular tradition regarding the head of the Kulhuns +family of Rajpoots, Achul Sing, who, about a century and a quarter +ago, reigned over the district intervening between Gonda and Wuzeer +Gunge, and resided at his capital of Koorassa. The Rajah had a +dispute with one of his landholders, whom he could not get into his +power. He requested Rutun Pandee, the banker, to mediate a +reconciliation, and invite the landholder to an amicable adjustment +of accounts, on a pledge of personal security. The banker consented, +but made the Rajah swear by the _River Sarjoo_, which flowed near the +town, that he should be received with courtesy, and escorted back +safely. The landholder relied on the banker's pledge and came; but +the Rajah no sooner got him into his power, than he caused him to be +put to death. The banker could not consent to live under the +dishonour of a violated pledge; and, abstaining from food, died in +twenty-one days, invoking the vengeance of the _River Sarjoo_, on the +head of the perfidious Prince. In his last hours the banker was +visited by one of the Rajah's wives, who was then pregnant, and +implored him to desist from his purpose in mercy to the child in her +womb; but she was told by the dying man, that he could not consent to +survive the dishonour brought upon him by her perjured husband; and +that she had better quit the place and save herself and child, since +the incensed river Sarjoo would certainly not spare any one who +remained with the Rajah. She did so. The banker died, and his death +was followed by a sudden rise of the river and tempest. The town was +submerged, and the Rajah with all who remained with him perished. The +ruins of the old town are said to be occasionally still visible, +though at a great depth under the water in the old bed of the Sarjoo, +which forms a fine lake, near the present village of Koorassa, midway +between Gonda and Wuzeer Gunge. + +The pregnant wife fled, and gave birth to a son, whose descendant is +now the head of the Kulhuns Rajpoots, and the Rajah of Bahmanee Paer, +a district on the eastern border of Oude towards Goruckpoor. But, it +is a remarkable fact, that the male descendants have been all blind +from their birth, or, at least, the reigning portion of them, and the +present Rajah is said to have two blind sons. This is popularly +considered to be one of the effects of the Rajah's violated pledge to +the banker. A handmaid of the Rajah, Achul Sing, is said to have fled +at the same time, and given birth to a son, from whom are descended +the Kulhuns tallookdars of the Chehdwara, or Gowaris district, +already noticed. The descendants of Rutun Pandee are said still to +hold rent-free lands, under Achul Sing's descendant, in Bahmanee +Paer; and the Pandee is worshipped throughout the districts as a +saint or martyr. He has a shrine in every village, at which offerings +are made on all occasions of marriage, and blessings invoked for the +bride and bridegroom, from the spirit of one who set so much value on +his plighted faith while on earth. The two branches of the Kulhuns +family above mentioned, propitiate the spirit of the deceased Pandee +by offerings; but there is a branch of the same family at Mohlee, in +the Goruckpoor district, who do not. Though Hindoos, they adopt some +Mussulman customs, and make offerings to the old Mussulman saint, at +Bahraetch, in order to counteract the influence of the Pandee's +spirit. + +Such popular traditions, arising from singular coincidences of +circumstances, have often a salutary effect on society, and seem to +be created by its wants and wishes; but rivers have, of late years, +become so much less prompt in the vindication of their honour, that +little reliance is placed, upon the oaths taken in their names by the +Prince, his officers or his landowners in Oude. + +Nawabgunge, Munkapoor, and Bahmanee transferred to the British +Government, with the other lands, under the treaty of 1801; and +retransferred to Oude, by the treaty of the 11th of May 1816, in +exchange for Handeea, alias Kewae, a slip of land extending along the +left bank of the Ganges, between Allahabad and Benares. + + + Rent Roll. Kankur. Govt. demand + +Nawabgunge, Wuzeergunge,.} l,08,000 32,000 76,000 + Mahadewa . . . . .} + +Munkapoor . . . . . 40,000 12,000 28,000 +Bahmanee Paer . . . . 12,000 3,000 9,000 + + + + + +The landholders and cultivators complain sadly of the change of +sovereigns; and the tillage and population have greatly diminished +under the Oude Government since 1816, but more especially, since the +monster, Rughbur Sing got the government. Here Ramdut Pandee, the +Rajah of Bulrampoor, and the Nazim of the district, have taken leave +of me, this being my last stage in their district. Ramdut Pandee +holds two estates in this district, for which he pays an annual +revenue to Government of 1,66,744 13 3.* He holds, at the same time, +a small estate in our district of Goruckpoor, where he resides and +keeps his family, till he obtains solemn written pledges, confirmed +on oath, for their security, not only from the local authority of the +day, but from all the commandants of corps and establishments, +comprising the military force employed under him. These pledges +include all his clients, who may have occasion to visit or travel +with him, as the Rajah of Bulrampoor is now doing. These pledges +require to be renewed on every change in the local authorities and in +the military officers employed under them. He is one of the most +substantial and respectable of the agricultural capitalists of Oude, +and the highest of his rank and class in this district. He every year +stands security for the punctual payment of the revenues due, +according to existing engagements, by the principal landholders of +the district, to the extent of from six to eight lacs of rupees; and +for this he gets a certain per centage, varying with the character +and capability of the landholders. Some are of doubtful ability, +others of doubtful character, and he rates his risks and per centage +accordingly. He does much good, and is more generally esteemed than +any other man in the district; but he has, no doubt, enlarged his own +landed possessions occasionally, by taking advantage of the +necessities of his clients, and his influence over the local +authorities of government The lands he does get, however, he improves +by protecting and aiding his tenants, and inviting and fostering a +better class of cultivators, He is looked up to with respect and +confidence by almost all the large landholders of the district, for +his pledge for the punctual payment of the revenues saves their +estates from the terrible effects of a visit from the Nazim and his +disorderly and licentious troops; and this pledge they can always +obtain, when necessary, by a fair assurance of adherence to their +engagements. + +[* The estate of Ramdut Pandee, for this year, 1849, comprises-- + Sirgha, Chunda, &c. . . . 1,20,729 11 0 + Akberpoor, &c. . . . . . 46,015 2 3 + Total . . 1,66,744 13 3 ] + +On the 8th of November 1850, Ramdut Pandee lent the Nazim eighty +thousand rupees on his bond, after paying all that was due to the +State for the season, by him and all his clients, and on the 16th of +that month he went to Gonda, where the Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, was +encamped with his force, to take leave preparatory to his going to +bathe at Ajoodheea, on the last day of the month of Kartick, as was +his invariable custom. He was accompanied by the Rajah of Bulrampoor, +and they encamped separately in two mango-groves near to each other, +and about a mile and a half from the Nazim's camp. About nine at +night the Nazim sent two messengers, with silver sticks, to invite +and escort them to his tent. They set out immediately, leaving all +their armed followers in their camps, and taking only a few personal +attendants and palankeen bearers. No person is permitted to take arms +into the Nazim's tent; nor does any landholder or merchant of Oude +enter his tent without the pledges for personal security above +mentioned. Ramdut Pandee and the Rajah entered with only a few +personal servants, leaving all their other attendants outside the +outer curtain. This curtain surrounded the tent at a distance of only +a few yards from it, and the tent was pitched in the centre. They +were received with all due ceremony, and in the same friendly manner +as usual. The Rajah had no business to talk about, while the Nazim +and banker had; and, after a short conversation, he took leave to +return to his tents and break his fast, which he had kept that day +for some religious purpose. He left in the tent the Nazim, his +deputy, Jafir Allee, and his nephew and son-in-law, Allee Hoseyn, +sitting together on the carpet, on the right, all armed, and Ramdut +sitting unarmed, on the left, with a Brahmin lad, Jowahir, standing +at the door, with the banker's paundan and a handkerchief. Kurunjoo, +a second person, with the banker's shoes, and a third attendant of +his standing outside the tent door. + +The Nazim and Ramdut talked for some time together, seemingly on the +most friendly and cordial terms; but the Nazim, at last, asked him +for a further loan of money, and further securities for landholders +of doubtful character, before he went to bathe. The banker told him, +that he could lend him no more money till he came back from bathing, +as he had lent him eighty thousand rupees only eight days before; +and, that he could not increase his pledges of security without +further consultation with the landholders, as he had not yet +recovered more than four out of the seven lacs of rupees which he had +been obliged to advance to the Treasury, on the securities given for +them during the last year. He then took leave and rose to depart. The +Nazim turned and made some sign to his deputy, Jafir Allee, who rose, +presented his gun and shot Ramdut through the right side close under +the arm-pit. Exclaiming "Ram! Ram!"--God! God!--the banker fell; and +the Nazim, seizing and drawing the sword which lay on the carpet +before him, cut the falling banker across the forehead. His nephew +and deputy drew theirs; and together they inflicted no less than +twenty-two cuts upon the body of Ramdut. + +The banker's three attendants, seeing their master thus shot down and +hacked to pieces, called out for help; but one of the three ruffians +cut Jowahir, the Brahmin lad, across the shoulder, with his sword, +and all ran off and sought shelter across the border in the British +territory. The Nazim and his attendants then buried the body hastily +near the tent, and ordered the troops and artillery to advance +towards and fire into the two camps. They did so, and the Bulrampoor +Rajah had only just reached his tents when the shot came pouring in +upon them from the Nazim's guns. He galloped off as fast as he could +towards the British border, about twenty miles distant, attended only +by a few mounted followers, some of whom he sent off to Bulrampoor, +to bring his family as fast as possible across the border to him. The +rest he ordered to follow him. His followers and those of the +murdered banker fled before the Nazim's forces, which had been +concentrated for this atrocious purpose, and both their camps were +plundered. Before the Rajah fled, however, the murdered banker's son- +in-law, who had been left in the camp, ran to him with a small +casket, containing Ramdut's seals, the bond for the eighty thousand +rupees, and the written pledges given by the Nazim and commanding +officers of corps, for the banker's and the Rajah's personal +security. He mounted him upon one of his horses, and took both him +and the casket off to the British territory. + +It was now about midnight, and the Nazim took his forces to the towns +and villages upon the banker's estate, in which his family and +relatives resided, and in which he kept the greater part of his +moveable property. He sacked and plundered them all without regard to +the connection or relationship of the inhabitants with the murdered +banker. The property taken from the inhabitants of these towns and +villages is estimated at from ten to twelve lacs of rupees. As many +as could escape fled for shelter across the border, into the British +territory. The banker's brother, Kishen Dutt, who resided in the +British territory, came over, collected all he could of his brother's +followers, attacked the Amil's forces, killed and wounded some forty +or fifty of his men, and captured two of his guns. The body of the +banker was discovered two days after, and disinterred by his family +and friends, who counted the twenty-two wounds that had been +inflicted upon it by the three assassins, and had it burned with due +ceremonies. + +The Nazim's agent at Court, on the 18th of November, submitted to the +minister his master's report of this affair, in which it was stated, +that the banker was a defaulter on account of his own estate, and +those of the other landholders for whom he had given security--that +he, the Nazim, had earnestly urged him to some adjustment of his +accounts, but all in vain--that the banker had disregarded all his +demands and remonstrances, and had with him five hundred armed +followers, one of whom had fired his pistol at him, the Nazim, and +killed one of his men--that they had all then joined in an attack +upon the Nazim and his men, and that, in defending themselves, they +had killed the banker. On the 19th, another report, dated the 16th, +reached the minister from the Nazim's camp, stating, that the banker +had come to his tent at ten at night, with his armed followers, and +had an interview [with] him--that as the banker rose to depart, the +Nazim told him that he must not go without some settlement of his +accounts; and a dispute followed, in which the banker was killed, and +two of the Nazim's followers were severely wounded-that so great was +the confusion that the Durbar news-reporters could not approach to +get information. + +On the 20th, a third report reached the minister, stating, that the +Rajah of Bulrampoor had come with the banker to visit the Nazim, but +had taken leave and departed before the collision took place--that +the Nazim urged the necessity of an immediate settlement of accounts, +but the banker refused to make any, grossly abused the Nazim, and, at +last, presented his pistol and fired at him; and thereby wounded two +of his people--that he was, in consequence, killed by the Nazim's +people, who joined the banker's own people in the plunder of his +camp. + +On receiving this last report, the minister, by order of his Majesty, +presented to the agent of the Nazim a dress of honour of fourteen +pieces, such as is given to the highest officers for the most +important services; and ordered him to send it to his master, to mark +the sense his sovereign entertained of his gallant conduct and +valuable services, in crushing so great _a rebel and oppressor_, and +to assure him of a long-continued tenure of office. + +By the interposition of the British Resident and the aid of the +magistrate of Goruckpoor, Mr. Chester, the real truth was elicited, +the Nazim was dismissed from office, and committed for trial, before +the highest judicial Court at Lucknow. He at first ran off to +Goruckpoor, taking with him, besides his own, two elephants belonging +to the Rajah of Gonda, with property on them to the value of fifty +thousand rupees, which he overtook in his flight. The Rajah had sent +off these elephants with his valuables, on hearing of the +assassination of the banker, thinking that the Nazim would secure +impunity for this murder, as Hakeem Mehndee had for that of Amur +Sing, and be tempted to extend his operations. Finding the district +of Goruckpoor unsafe, the Nazim came back and surrendered himself at +Lucknow. Jafir Allee was afterwards seized in Lucknow. There is, +however, no chance of either being punished, since many influential +persons about the Court have shared in the booty, and become +accessaries interested in their escape. Moreover, the Nazim is a +Mahommedan, a Syud, and a Sheeah. No Sheeah could be sentenced to +death, for the murder, even of a Soonnee, at Lucknow, much less for +that of a Hindoo. If a Hindoo murders a Hindoo, and consents to +become a Mussulman, he cannot be so sentenced; and if he consents to +become so after sentence has been passed, it cannot be carried into +execution. Such is the law, and such the every-day practice. + +The elephants were recovered and restored through the interposition +of the Resident, but none of the property of the Rajah or the banker +has been recovered. May 18, 1851.--The family of the banker has +obtained a renewal of the lease of their, two estates, on agreeing to +pay an increase of forty thousand rupees a-year. + +Sirgha Chunda . . . . 1,20,729 11 0 + Increase . . . . 30,000 0 0 + _______________ 1,50,729 11 0 + +Akberpoor . . . . . 46,015 2 3 + Increase. . . . . 10,000 0 0 + _______________ 56,015 2 3 + _______________ +Total annual demand . . . . . . . 2,06,744 13 3 + _______________ + +They bold the Nazim's bond for the eighty thousand rupees, borrowed +only eight days before his murder. + +_December_ 17, 1849.--Five miles to the left bank of the Ghagra, +whence crossed over to Fyzabad, on platformed boats, prepared for the +purpose by the Oude authorities. Our tents are in one of the large +mango-groves, which are numerous on the right bank of the river, but +scanty on the opposite bank. From the time we crossed this river at +Byram-ghaut on the 5th, till we recrossed it this morning, we were +moving in the jurisdiction of the Nazim of the Gonda and Bahraetch +district. After recrossing the Ghagra we came within that of the +Nazim of Sultanpoor, Aga Allee, who was appointed to it this year, +not as a contractor, but manager, under the Durbar. The districts +under contractors are called _ijara_, or farmed districts; those +under the management of non-contracting servants of Government are +called _amanee_, or districts under the _amanut_, or trust of +Government officers. The morning was fine, the sky clear, and the +ground covered with hoar frost. It was, pleasing to see so large a +camp, passing without noise, inconvenience, or disorder of any kind +in so large a river. + +The platformed boats were numerous, and so were the pier-heads +prepared on both sides, for the convenience of embarking and landing. +Carriages, horses, palankeens, camels and troops, all passed without +the slightest difficulty. The elephants were preparing to cross, some +in boats and some by swimming, as might seem to them best. Some +refuse to swim, and others to enter boats, and some refuse to do +either; but the fault is generally with their drivers. On the present +occasion, two or three remained behind, one plunged into the stream +from his boat, in the middle of the river, with his driver on his +back, and both disappeared for a time, but neither was hurt. Those +that remained on the left bank, got tired of their solitude, and were +at last coaxed over, either in boats or in the water. + +The Sarjoo rejoins the Ghagra a little above Fyzabad, and the united +stream takes the old name of the Sarjoo. This is the name the river +bears, till it emerges from the Tarae forest, when the large body +takes that of the Ghagra, and the small stream, which it throws off, +or which perhaps flows in the old bed, retains that of the Sarjoo. +The large branch absorbs the Kooreeala, Chouka, and other small +streams, on its way to rejoin the smaller. Some distance below +Fyzabad, the river takes the name of _Dewa_; and uniting, afterwards, +with the Gunduck, flows into the Ganges. Fyzabad is three miles above +Ajoodheea, on the same bank of the river. It was founded by the first +rulers of the reigning family, and called for some time _Bungalow_, +from a bungalow which they built on the verge of the stream. Asuf-od +Dowlah disliked living near his mother, after he came to the throne, +and he settled at Lucknow, then a small village on the right bank of +the Goomtee river. This village, in the course of eighty years, grown +into a city, containing nearly a million of souls. Fyzabad has +declined almost in the same proportion. + +The Nazim has six regiments, and part of a seventh, on duty under +him, making, nominally, six thousand fighting men, but that he +cannot, he tells me, muster two thousand; and out of the two +thousand, not five hundred would, he says be ready to fight on +emergency. All the commandants of corps reside at Court, knowing +nothing whatever of their duties, and never seeing their regiments. +They are mere children, or Court favourites, worse than children. He +has, nominally, forty-two guns, of various calibre; but he, with +great difficulty, collected bullocks enough to draw the three small +guns he brought with him from Sultanpoor, to salute the Resident, on +his entering his district. I looked at them in the evening. They were +seventy-four in number, but none of them were in a serviceable +condition, and the greater part were small, merely skin and bone. He +was obliged to purchase powder in the bazaar for the salutes; and +said, that when he entered his charge two months ago, the usual +salute of seven guns, for himself, could not be fired for want of +powder, and he was obliged to send to the bazaar to purchase what was +required. The bazaar-powder used by the Oude troops is about one- +third of the strength of the powder used by our troops. His authority +is despised by all the tallookdars of the district, many of whom +refuse to pay any rent, defy the Government, and plunder the country, +as all their rents are insufficient to pay the armed bands which they +keep up. All his numerous applications to Court, for more and better +troops and establishments, are disregarded, and he is helpless. He +cannot collect the revenue, or coerce the refractory landholders and +robbers, who prey upon the country.* + +[* The Nazim for 1850-51, got both Captain Magness's and Captain +Banbury's regiments.] + +He says that the two companies and two guns, which were sent out at +the Resident's urgent recommendation, to take possession of +Shahgunge, and prevent the two brothers, Maun Sing and Rughbur Sing, +from disturbing the peace of the country, in their contests with each +other, joined Maun Sing, as partisan; to oppose his brother; and that +Maun Sing has taken for himself all the _bynamah_ lands, from which +his brother, Rughbur Sing, has been ousted, under the favour of the +minister. He tells me also, that Beebee Sogura, the lady who holds +the estate of Muneearpoor, and pays fifty thousand rupees a-year to +the Government, was seized by Wajid Allee, his predecessor, before he +made over charge of the district to him, and made over to a body of +troops, on condition, that she should enter into engagement to pay to +them the ten months' arrears of pay due to them, out of the rents of +the ensuing year; and that they should give him receipts for the full +amount of these arrears of pay at once, to be forwarded to the +Durbar, that he might get credit for the amount in his accounts for +last year--that she has paid them fifteen thousand rupees, but can +collect no more from her tenants, as the crops are all being cut or +destroyed by the troops, and she is in close confinement, and treated +with cruel indignity. The rent-roll of her estate is, it is said, +equal to one hundred thousand rupees a year. + +This was a common practice among governors of districts at the close +of last year; and thus they got credit, on account, for large sums, +pretended to have been paid out of the revenues of last year; but, in +reality, to be paid out of the revenues of the ensuing year. But the +collections are left to be made by the troops, for whose arrears of +pay the revenue has been assigned, and they generally destroy or +extort double what they are entitled to from their unhappy debtors. +This practice of assigning revenues due, or to be due, by +landholders, for the arrears of pay due to the troops, is the source +of much evil; and is had recourse to only when contractors and other +collectors of revenue are unable to enforce payment in any other way; +or require to make it appear that they have collected more than they +really have; and to saddle the revenue of the ensuing year with the +burthens properly incident upon those of the past. The commandant of +the troops commonly takes possession of the lands, upon the rents, or +revenues, of which the payments have been assigned, and appropriates +the whole produce to himself and his soldiers, without regard to the +rights of landholders, farmers, cultivators, capitalists, or any +other class of persons, who may have invested their capital and +labour in the lands, or depend upon the crops for their subsistence. +The troops, too, are rendered unfit for service by such arrangements, +since all their time is taken up in the more congenial duty of +looking after the estate, till they have desolated it. The officers +and soldiers are converted into manorial under-stewards of the worst +possible description. They are available for no other duty till they +have paid themselves all that may have been due or may become due to +them during the time of their stay, and credit to Government but a +small portion of what they exact from the landholders and +cultivators, or consume or destroy as food, fodder, and fuel. + +This system, injurious alike to the sovereign, the troops, and the +people, is becoming every season more and more common in Oude; and +must, in a few years, embrace nearly the whole of the land-revenue of +the country. It is denominated _kubz_, or contract, and is of two +kinds, the "_lakulame kubz_," or pledge to collect and pay a certain +sum, for which the estate is held to be liable; and "_wuslee kubz_," +or pledge to pay to the collector or troops the precise sum which the +commandant may be able to collect from the estate put under him. In +the first, the commandant who takes the _kubz_ must pay to the +Government collector or the troops the full sum for which the estate +is held to be liable, whether he be able to collect it or not, and +his _kubz_ is valid at the Treasury, as so much money paid to the +troops. In the second, it is valid only as a pledge, to collect as +much as he can, and to pay what he collects to the Government +collector, or the troops he commands. The collector, however, +commonly understands that he has shifted off the burthen of payment +to the troops--to the extent of the sum named--from his own shoulders +to those of the commandant of the troops; and the troops understand, +that unless they collect this sum they will never get it, or be +obliged to screw it out of their commandant; and they go to the work +_con amore_. If they can't collect it from the sale of all the crops +of the season, they seize and sell all the stock and property of all +kinds to be found on the estate; and if this will not suffice, they +will not scruple to seize and sell the women and children. The +collector, whose tenure of office seldom extends beyond the season, +cares little as to the mode as long as he gets the money, and feels +quite sure that the sovereign and his Court will care just as little, +and ask no questions, should the troops sell every living thing to be +found on the estate. + +The history, for the last few years, of the estate of Muneearpoor, +involves that of the estate of Kupragow and Seheepoor, held by the +family of the late Hurpaul Sing, and may be interesting as +illustrative of the state of society in Oude. Hurpaul Sing's family +is shown in the accompanying note.* + +[* Purotee Sing had two sons, Gunga Persaud and Nihal Sing. Gunga +Persaud had one son, Seosewak, who had three sons, Seoumber Sing, +Hobdar Sing, and Hurpaul Sing. Seoumber Sing had one son, Ramsurroop +Sing, the present head of the family, who holds the fort and estate +of Kupradehee. Hobdar Sing had one son, who died young. Hurpaul Sing +died young, Nihal Sing had no son, but left a widow, who holds his +share of one-half of the estate, and resides at Seheepoor.] + +In the year A.D. 1821, after the death of Purotee Sing, his second +son, Nihal Sing, held one-half of the estate, and resided in +Seheepoor, and the family of his eldest son, Gunga Persaud, held the +other half, and resided in Kupragow. The whole paid a revenue to +Government of between six and seven hundred rupees a-year, and +yielded a rent-roll of something more than double that sum. The +neighbouring estate of Muneearpoor, yielding a rent-roll of about +three hundred and fifty thousand rupees a-year, was held by Roshun +Zuman Khan, in whose family it had been for many generations. He had +an only brother, Busawan Khan, who died, leaving a widow, Bussoo, and +a daughter, the Beebee, or Lady, Sogura. Roshun Zuman Khan also died, +leaving a widow Rahamanee, who succeeded to the estate, but soon +died, and left it to the Lady Sogura and her mother. They made Nihal +Sing, Gurgbunsee, of Seheepoor, manager of their affairs. From the +time that he entered upon the management, Nihil Sing began to +increase the number of his followers from his own clan, the +Gurgbunsies; and, having now become powerful enough, he turned out +his mistress, and took possession of her estate, in collusion with +the local authorities. + +Rajah Dursun Sing, who then, 1836, held the contract for the +district, wished to take advantage of the occasion, to seize upon the +estate for himself, and a quarrel, in consequence, took place between +him and Nihal Sing. Unable, as a public servant of the State, to lead +his own troops against him, Dursun Sing instigated Baboo Bureear +Sing, of Bhetee, a powerful tallookdar, to attack Nihal Sing at +night, with all the armed followers he could muster, and, in the +fight, Nihal Sing was killed. Hurpaul Sing, his nephew, applied for +aid to the Durbar, and Seodeen Sing was sent, with a considerable +force, to aid him against Bureear Sing. When they were ready for the +attack, Dursun Sing sent a reinforcement of troops, secretly, to +Bureear Sing, which so frightened Seodeen Sing, that he retired from +the conflict. + +The Gurgbunsee family had, however, by this time added a great part +of the Muneearpoor estate to their own, and many other estates +belonging to their weaker neighbours; and, by the plunder of +villages, and robbery on the highways, become very powerful. Dursun +Sing was superseded in the contract, in 1837, by the widow of Hadee +Allee Khan; and Hurpaul recovered possession of the Muneearpoor +estate, which he still held in the name of the _Lady Sogura_. In +1843, she managed to get the estate transferred from the jurisdiction +of the contractor for Sultanpoor, to that of the Hozoor Tehseel, and +held it till 1845, when Maun Sing, who had succeeded to the contract +for the district, on the death of his father, Dursun Sing, in 1844, +managed through his uncle, Bukhtawar Sing, to get the estate restored +to his jurisdiction. Knowing that his object was to absorb her +estate, as he and his father had done so many others, she went off to +Lucknow to seek protection; but Maun Sing seized upon all her nankar +and seer lands, and put the estate under the management of his own +officers. The Lady Sogura, unable to get any one to plead her cause +at Court, in opposition to the powerful influence, of Bukhtawur Sing, +returned to Muneearpoor. Maun Sing, after he had collected the +greater part of the revenue for 1846, made over the estate to Hurpaul +and Seoumber Sing, who put the lady into confinement, and plundered +her of all she had left. + +Feeling now secure in the possession of the Muneearpoor estate, +Hurpaul and Seoumber Sing left a small guard to secure the lady, and +went off, with the rest of their forces, to seize upon the estate of +Birsingpoor, in the purgunnah of Dehra, belonging to the widow of +Mahdoo Sing, the tallookdar. She summoned to her aid Roostum Sa and +other Rajkomar landholders, friends of her late husband. A fight +ensued, in which Seoumber Sing and his brother, Hobdar Sing were +killed. Hurpaul Sing fled and returned to his fort of Kupragow. The +Lady Sogura escaped, and presented herself again to the Court of +Lucknow, under better auspices; and orders were sent to Maun Sing, +and all the military authorities, to restore her to the possession of +her estate, and seize or destroy Hurpaul Sing. In alarm Hurpaul Sing +then released the mother of the Lady Sogura, and prepared to fly. + +Maun Sing sent confidential persons to him to say, that he had been +ordered by the Court of Lucknow to confer upon him a dress of honour +or condolence, on the death of his two lamented brothers, and should +do so in person the next day. Hurpaul Sing was considered one of the +bravest men in Oude, but he was then sick on his bed, and unable to +move. He received the message without suspicion, being anxious for +some small interval of repose; and willing to believe that common +interests and pursuits had united him and Maun Sing in something like +bonds of friendship. + +Maun Sing came in the afternoon, and rested under a banyan-tree, +which stood opposite the gateway of the fort. He apologized for not +entering the fort, on the ground, that it might lead to some +collision between their followers, or that his friend might not wish +any of the King's servants, who attended with the dress of honour, to +enter his fortress. Hurpaul Sing left all his followers inside the +gate, and was brought out to Maun Sing in a litter, unable to sit up +without support. The two friends embraced and conversed together with +seeming cordiality till long after sunset, when Maun Sing, after +investing his friend with the dress of honour, took leave and mounted +his horse. This was the concerted signal for his followers to +despatch his sick friend, Hurpaul. As he cantered off, at the sound +of his kettle-drum and the other instruments of music, used by the +Nazims of districts, his armed followers, who had by degrees gathered +round the tree, without awakening any suspicion, seized the sick man, +dragged him on the ground, a distance of about thirty paces, and then +put him to death. He was first shot through the chest, and then +stabbed with spears, cut to pieces with swords, and left on the +ground. They were fired upon from the fort, while engaged in this +foul murder, but all escaped unhurt. Maun Sing had sworn by the holy +Ganges, and still more holy head of Mahadeo, that his friend should +suffer no personal hurt in this interview; and the credulous and no +less cruel and rapacious Gurgbunsies were lulled into security. The +three persons who murdered Hurpaul, were Nujeeb Khan, who has left +Mann Sing's service, Benee Sing, who still serves him, and Jeskurun +Sing, who has since died. Sadik Hoseyn and many others aided them in +dragging their victim to the place where he was murdered, but the +wounds which killed him were inflicted by the above-named persons. + +The family fled, the fort was seized and plundered of all that could +be found, and the estate seized and put under the management of +Government officers. Maun Sing had collected half the revenues of +1847, when he was superseded in the contract by Wajid Allee Khan, who +re-established the Lady Sogura in the possession of all that remained +of her estate. He, at the same time, reinstated the family of Hurpaul +Sing, in the possession of their now large estate--that is, the widow +of Nihal Sing, to Seheepoor, comprising one-half; and Ramsurroop +Sing, the son of Seoumber Sing, to Kupragow, comprising the other +half.* The rent-roll of the whole is now estimated at 1,29,000 a- +year; and the _nankar_, or recognized allowance for the holders, is +73,000, leaving the Government demand at 56,000, of which they hardly +ever pay one-half, or one-quarter, being inveterate robbers and +rebels. Wajid Allee Khan had been commissioned, by the Durbar, to +restore the Lady Sogura to her patrimonial estate, and he brought her +with him from Lucknow for the purpose; but he soon after made over a +part of the estate to his friend, Bakir Allee, of Esoulee, and +another part to Ramsurroop, the son of Seoumber Sing, for a suitable +consideration, and left only one-half to the Lady Sogura. This she at +first refused to take, but he promised to restore the whole the next +year, when he saw she was resolved to return again to her friends at +Lucknow, and she consented to take the offered half on condition of a +large remission of the Government demand upon it. When the season of +collections came, however, he would make no remission for the half he +had permitted her to retain, or give her any share in the perquisites +of the half he had made over to others; nor would he give her credit +for any portion of the collections, which had been anticipated by +Maun Sing. He made her pledge the whole rents of her estate to Hoseyn +Allee Khan, the commandant of a squadron of cavalry, on detached +duty, under him. Unable to conduct the management under all these +outrages and exactions, she begged to have the estate put under +Government officers. Her friends at Court got an order issued for her +being restored to the possession of the whole estate, having credit +for the whole amount collected by Maun Sing, and a remission in the +revenue equal to all that Government allowed to the proprietors of +such estates. + +[* In May 1851, the Nazim besieged Ramsurroop, in Kupragow, with a +very large force, including Bunbury's and Magness's Regiments and +Artillery. After the loss of many lives from fighting, and more from +cholera, on both sides, Ramsurroop marched out with all his garrison +and guns at night, and passed, unmolested, through that part of the +line where the non-fighting corps were posted.] + +Wajid Allee Khan disregarded the order, and made over or sold +Naraenpoor and other villages belonging to the estate, to Rughbur +Sing, the atrocious brother of Maun Sing, who sent his myrmidons to +take possession. They killed the Lady Sogura's two agents in the +management, plundered her of all she had of property, and all the +rents which she had up to that time collected, for payment to +Government; and took possession of Naraenpoor and the other villages, +sold to their master by Wajid Allee. Wajid Allee soon after came with +a large force, seized the lady and carried her off to his camp, put +all her officers and attendants into confinement, and refused all +access to her. When she became ill, and appeared likely to sink under +the treatment she received, he made her enter into written +engagements to pay to the troops, in liquidation of their arrears of +pay, all that he pretended that she owed to the State. He prevailed +upon Ghuffoor Beg, who commanded the artillery, to take these her +pledges, and give him, Wajid Allee, corresponding receipts for the +amount, for transmission to the Treasury; and then made her over a +prisoner to him. Ghuffoor Beg took possession of the lady and the +estate, kept her in close confinement, and employed his artillery-men +in making the collections in their own way, by appropriating all the +harvests to themselves. + +Wajid Allee was superseded in October 1849, by Aga Allee, who, on +entering on his charge, directed that martial-law should cease in +Muneearpoor; but Ghuffoor Beg and his artillery-men were too strong +for the governor, and refused to give up the possession of so nice an +estate. When I approached the estate in my tour, Ghuffoor Beg took +the lady off to Chundoly, where she was treated with all manner of +indignity and cruelty by the artillery. The estate was going to utter +ruin under their ignorant and reckless management, and the Nazim, Aga +Allee, prayed me to interpose and save it, and protect the poor Lady +Sogura. I represented the hardship of the case to the Durbar, but +with little hope of any success, under the present government, who +say, that if the troops are not allowed to pay themselves in this +way, they shall have to pay them all the arrears for which the estate +is pledged, not one rupee of which is reduced by the collections they +make. If they were to hold the estate for twenty years, they would +not allow it to appear that any portion of the arrears had been paid +off. The estate is a noble one, and, in spite of all the usurpations +and disorders from which it has lately suffered, was capable last +year of yielding to Government a revenue of fifty thousand rupees a- +year, after providing liberally for all the requirements of the poor +Lady Sogura and her family, or a rent-roll of one hundred thousand +rupees a-year. + +_December_ 19, 1849.--Shahgunge, distance twelve miles. This town is +surrounded by a mud wall, forty feet thick, and a ditch three miles +round, built thirty years ago, and now much out of repair. It belongs +to the family of Rajah Bukhtawar Sing. The wall, thirty feet high, +was built of the mud taken from the ditch, in which there is now some +six or seven feet of water. The wall has twenty-four bastions for +guns, but there is no platform, or road for guns, round it on the +inside. A number of respectable merchants and tradesmen reside in +this town, where they are better protected than in any other town in +Oude. It contains a population of between twenty and thirty thousand +persons. They put thatch over the mud walls during the rains to +preserve them. The fortifications and dwelling-houses together are +said to have cost the family above ten lacs of rupees. There are some +fourteen old guns in the fort. Though it would be difficult to shell +a garrison out of a fort of this extent, it would not be difficult to +take it. No garrison, sufficient to defend all parts of so extended a +wall, could be maintained by the holder; and it would be easy to fill +the ditch and scale the walls. Besides, the family is so very +unpopular among the military classes around, whose lands they have +seized upon, that thousands would come to the aid of any government +force brought to crush them, and overwhelm the garrison. They keep +their position only by the purchase of Court favour, and have the +respect and attachment of only the better sort of cultivators, who +are not of the military classes, and could be of little use to them +in a collision with their sovereign. The family by which it is held +has long been very influential at Court, where it has been +represented by Bukhtawar Sing, whose brother, Dursun Sing, was the +most powerful subject that Oude has had since the time of Almas Allee +Khan. They live, however, in the midst of hundreds of sturdy +Rajpoots, whom they have deprived of their lands, and who would, as I +have said, rise against them were they to be at any time opposed to +the Government The country over which we have passed this morning is +well studded with groves, and well cultivated; and the peasantry +seemed contented and prosperous. The greater part of the road lay +through the lands acquired, as already described, by this family. +Though they have acquired the property in the land by abuse of +authority, collusion and violence, from its rightful owners, they +keep their faith with the cultivators, effectually protect them from +thieves, robbers, the violence of their neighbours, and, above all, +from the ravages of the King's troops; and they encourage the +settlement of the better or more skilful and industrious classes of +cultivators in their villages, such as Kachies, Koormies, and +Lodhies. They came out from numerous villages, and in considerable +bodies, to salute me, and expressed themselves well satisfied with +their condition, and the security they enjoyed under their present +landholders. We came through the village of Puleea, and Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing seemed to have great pleasure in showing me the house +in which he was born, seventy-five years ago, under a fine tamarind- +tree that is still in vigour. The history of this family is that of +many others in the Oude territory. + +The father of Bukhtawar Sing, Porunder, was the son of Mungul, a +Brahmin, who resided in Bhojpoor, on the right bank of the Ganges, a +little below Buxar. The son, Porunder, was united in marriage to the +daughter of Sudhae Misser, a respectable Brahmin, who resided in +Puleea, and held a share of the lands. He persuaded his son-in-law to +take up his residence in the same village. Prouder had five sons born +to him in this village:-- 1. Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, my Quartermaster- +General. 2. Pursun Sing, died without issue. 3. Rajah Dursun Sing, +died 1844, leaving three sons. 4. Incha Sing lives, and has two sons. +5. Davey Sing died, leaving two sons. + +The eldest son was a trooper in the Honourable Company's 8th Regiment +of Light Cavalry; and while still a very young man, and home on +furlough, he attracted the attention of Saadnt Allee Khan, the +sovereign of Oude, whom he attended on a sporting excursion. He was +very tall, and exceedingly handsome; and, on one occasion, saved his +sovereign's life from the sword of an assassin. He became one of +Saadut Alee's favourite orderlies, and rose to the command of a +squadron. In a fine picture of Saadut Allee and his Court on the +occasion of a Durbar, at which the Resident, Colonel Scott, and his +suite were present, Bukhtawar Sing is represented in the dress he +wore as an orderly cavalry officer. This picture is still preserved +at Lucknow. His brothers, Dursun, Incha, and Davey Sing became, one +after the other, orderlies in the same manner, under the influence of +Bukhtawar Sing, during the reign of Saadnt Allee, and his son, +Ghazee-od Deen. Dursan Sing got the command of a regiment of Nujeebs +in 1814, and Incha Sing and Davey Sing rose in favour and rank, both +civil and military. + +Bhudursa and five other villages were held in proprietary right by +the members of a family of Syuds. They enjoyed Bhudursa rent free, +and still hold it; but the other five villages (Kyl, Mahdono, +Tindooa, Teroo, and Pursun) were bestowed, in jagheer, upon another +Syud, a Court favourite, Khoda Buksh, in 1814. He fell into disfavour +in 1816, and all these and other villages were let, in 1817, to +Dursun Sing, in farm, at 60,000 rupees a-year. The bestowal of an +estate in jagheer, or farm, ought not to interfere with the rights of +the proprietors of the lands comprised in it, as the sovereign +transfers merely his own territorial rights, not theirs; but Dursun +Sing, before the year 1820, had, by rack-renting, lending on +mortgage, and other fraudulent or violent means, deprived all the +Syud proprietors of their lands in the other five villages. They +were, however, still left in possession of Bhudursa. He pursued the +same system, as far as possible, in the other districts, which were, +from time to time, placed under him, as contractor for the revenue. +He held the contract for Sultanpoor and other districts, altogether +yielding fifty-nine lacs of rupees a-year, in 1827; and it was then +that he first bethought himself of securing his family permanently in +the possession of the lands he had seized, or might seize upon, by +_bynamahs_, or deeds of sale, from the old proprietors. + +He imposed upon the lands he coveted, rates which he knew they could +never pay; took all the property of the proprietors for rent, or for +the wages of the mounted and foot soldiers, whom he placed over them, +or quartered upon their villages, to enforce his demands; seized any +neighbouring banker or capitalist whom he could lay hold of, and by +confinement and harsh treatment, made him stand security for the +suffering proprietors, for sums they never owed; and when these +proprietors were made to appear to be irretrievably involved in debt +to the State and to individuals, and had no hope of release from +prison by any other means, they consented to sign the _bynamahs_, or +sale deeds for lands, which their families had possessed for +centuries. Those of the capitalists who had no friends at Court were +made to pay the money, for which they had been forced to pledge +themselves; and those who had such friends, got the sums which they +had engaged to pay, represented as irrecoverable balances due by +proprietors, and struck off. The proprietors themselves, plundered of +all they had in the world, and without any hope of redress, left the +country, or took service under our Government, or that of Oude, or +descended to the rank of day-labourers or cultivators in other +estates.* + +[* Estates held by the family under _bynamahs_ or sale deeds: + + 1. Puchumrath . . . . . . . . . 1,13,000 + 2. Howelee . . . . . . . . . . 45,000 + 3. Mogulsee, including Hindoo Sing's + estate of Shapoor, obtained by + fraud and violence . . . . . . 28,000 + 4. Bhurteepoor and Laltapoor . . . . 30,000 + 5. Rudowlee . . . . . . . . . 12,000 + Turolee in Huldeemow. . . . . . 17,000 + 6. Bahraetch in Sagonputtee . . . . 4,000 + 7. Gosaengunge . . . . . . . . 3,000 + ________ + + Total Company's Rupees . . . 2,52,000 + ________ + + +Dursun Sing's contracts, for the land revenue, of districts, amounted +from 1827 to 1830, to 59,00,000 rupees a year. From 1830 to 1836, to +58,00,000. In 1836 to 46,100,000. In 1837 to 47,00,000. He continued +to hold the whole or greater part of these districts up to September +1843.] + +There were four brothers, the sons of a Canoongo, of Fyzabad; first, +Birj Lal; second, Lala; third, Humeer Sing, a corporal in one of our +Regiments of Native Infantry; fourth, Hunooman Persaud; fifth, Gunga +Persaud. The family held-eight villages, in hereditary right, with a +rent-roll of 6,000, of which they paid 3,000 to Government, and took +3,000 for themselves. While Dursun Sing was dying, in 1844, his +eldest son, Ramadeen, tried to get possession of this estate. He +seized and confined, in the usual way, Gunga Persaud, the Canoongo, +and kept him with harsh treatment, for 1844; and when his brother the +corporal complained, in the usual way, through the Resident, Gunga +Persaud was released, and he attended the Residents Court, as his +brother's attorney, till 1847, when the family recovered possession +of the estate. But in 1846, when Dursun Sing's son saw that the case +was going against him, he made their local agent, Davey Persaud, +plunder all the eight villages of all the stock in cattle, grain, +&c., that they contained, and all the people, of whatever property +they possessed. + +Dursun Sing's family now pay to the Oude Government, a revenue of +1,88,000 rupees a-year, for their _bynamah_ estates, which were +acquired by them in the manner described. The rent-roll, recognized +in the Exchequer, is 2,56,000; and the _nankar_ 68,000; but the real +rent-roll is much greater-perhaps double. The village of Tendooa, in +Mehdona, belonged, in hereditary right, to Soorujbulee Sing and +Rugonauth Sing, Rajpoots, whom the family of Dursun Sing wished to +coerce, in the usual mode, into signing a _bynamah_, or deed of sale. +They refused, and some of the family are said to have been in +confinement in consequence, since the year A.D. 1844. When Gunga +Persaud, the Canoongo, was confined by Dursun Sing's family, on +account of his own estate, they extorted from him, on the pretence of +his being security for the punctual payment of what might be demanded +from these two men, Soorujbulee' and Rugonauth, the sum of 4,000 +rupees. One of the eight villages, held by the Canoongoes, named Aboo +Surae, Ghalib Jung, alias Dursun Sing, another Court favourite, is +now trying to take by violence, for himself, following the practice +of his namesake. He has possessed himself of many by the same means, +keeping the troops he commands upon them at exercise and target- +practice, till he drives both cultivators and proprietors out, or +shoots them. + +This Rajah, Ghalib Jung, is now a great favourite with the minister, +and no man manifests a stronger disposition to make his influence +subservient to his own interest and that of his family. By fraud and +violence, and collusion with the officers who have charge of +districts and require his aid at Court, he seizes upon the best lands +of his weaker neighbours, in the same manner as his namesake, Rajah +Dursun Sing, used to do; and of the money which he receives for +contracts of various kinds, he appropriates by far the greater part +to himself. He is often sent out, with a considerable force, to +adjust disputes between landholders and local authorities, and he +decides in favour of the party most able and willing to pay, under +the assurance that, if called to account, he will be able to clear +himself, by giving a share of what he gets to those who send and +support him. He commands a large body of mounted and foot police, and +he is often ordered to go and send detachments in pursuit of daring +offenders, particularly those who have given offence to the British +authorities. In such cases he generally succeeds in arresting and +bringing in some of the offenders; but he as often seizes the +landholders and others who may have given them shelter, intentionally +or otherwise; and, after extorting from them as much as they can be +made to pay, lets them go. He is not, of course, very particular as +to the quantity or quality of the evidence forthcoming to prove that +a person able to pay has intentionally screened the offenders from +justice. + +Rajah Ghalib Jung was the superintendent of the City Police, and +commandant of a Brigade of Infantry, and a prime favourite of the +King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, for two years, up to November 1835. He +had many other employments, was always in attendance upon the King, +and was much liked by him, because he saw his orders carried into +immediate effect, without any regard to the rank or sufferings of the +persons whom they were to affect. For these two years he was one of +the most intimate companions of his sovereign, in his festivities and +most private debaucheries. He became cordially detested throughout +the city for his reckless severity, and still more throughout the +Court, for the fearless manner in which he spoke to the King of the +malversation and peculations of the minister and all the Court +favourites who were not in his interest. He thwarted the imbecile old +minister, Roshun-od Dowlah, in everything; and never lost an +opportunity of turning him into ridicule, and showing his contempt +for him. + +The King had become very fond of a smart young lad, by name Duljeet, +who had been brought up from his infancy by the minister, but now +served the King as his most confidential personal attendant. He was +paid handsomely by the minister for all the services he rendered him, +and deeply interested in keeping him in power and unfettered, and he +watched eagerly for an opportunity to remove the man who thwarted +him. _Mucka_, the King's head tailor, was equally anxious, for his +own interests, to get rid of the favourite, and so was _Gunga +Khowas_, a boatman, another personal servant and favourite of the +King. These three men soon interested in their cause some of the most +influential ladies of the palace, and all sought with avidity the +opportunity to effect their object. Ghalib Jung was the person, or +one of the persons, through whom the King invited females, noted for +either their beauty or their accomplishments, and he was told to +bring a celebrated dancing-girl, named Mogaree. She did not appear, +and the King became impatient, and at last asked Dhuneea Mehree the +reason. She had often been employed in a similar office, and was +jealous of Ghalib Jung's rivalry. She told his Majesty, that he had +obstructed his pleasures on this as on many other occasions, and +taken the lady into his own keeping. All the other favourites told +him the same thing, and it is generally believed that the charge was +true; indeed the girl herself afterwards confessed it. The King, +however, "bided his time," in the hope of finding some other ground +of revenging himself upon the favourite, without the necessity of +making him appear in public as his rival. + +On the 7th of October, 1835, the King was conversing with Ghalib +Jung, in one of his private apartments, on affairs of state. Several +crowns stood on the table for the King's inspection. They had been +prepared under Mucka, the tailor's, inspection, from materials +purchased by him. He always charged the King ten times the price of +the articles which he was ordered to provide, and Ghalib Jung thought +the occasion favourable to expose his misconduct to his master. He +took up one of the crowns, put his left hand into it, and, turning it +round on his finger, pointed out the flimsy nature of the materials +with which it had been made. His left finger slipped through the silk +on the crown, whether accidentally, or designedly, to prove the +flimsy nature of the silk and exasperate the King, is not known; but +on seeing the finger pass through the crown, his Majesty left the +room without saying a word. Soon after several attendants came in, +surrounded Ghalib Jung, and commanded him to remain till further +orders. In this state they remained for about two hours, when other +attendants came in, struck off his turban on the floor, and had it +kicked out of the room by sweepers. + +They then dragged out Ghalib Jung, and thrust him into prison. The +next day heavy iron fetters were put upon his legs, and upon those of +three of his principal followers, who were imprisoned along with him; +and his mother, father, wife, and daughters were made prisoners in +their own houses; and all the property of the family that could be +found was confiscated. On the third day, while still in irons, Ghalib +Jung and his three followers were tied up and flogged severely, to +make them point out any hidden treasure that they might have. That +night the King got drunk, and, before many persons, ordered the +minister to have Ghalib Jung's right hand and nose cut off forthwith. +The minister, who prayed forgiveness and forbearance, was abused and +again commanded, but again entreated his Majesty to pause, and prayed +for a private audience. It was granted, and the minister told his +Majesty that the British Government would probably interpose if the +order were carried into effect. + +The King then retired to rest, but the next morning had Ghalib Jung +and his three followers again tied up and flogged. Six or seven days +after, all Ghalib Jung's attendants were taken from him, and no +person was permitted to enter the room where he lay in irons, and he +could in consequence get neither food nor drink of any kind. On the +19th of October, the King ordered all the females of Ghalib Jung's +family to be brought on foot from their houses to the palace by +force, and publicly declared that they should all on the next day +have their hair shaved off, be stripped naked, and in that state +turned out into the street. After giving these orders, the King went +to bed, and the females were all brought, as ordered, to the palace; +but the sympathies of the King's own servants were excited by the +sufferings of these unoffending females, and they disobeyed the order +for their being made to walk on foot through the streets, and brought +them in covered litters. + +The Resident, apprehending that these poor females might be further +disgraced, and Ghalib Jung starved to death, determined to interpose, +and demanded an interview, while the King was still in bed. The King +was sorely vexed, and sent the minister to the Resident to request +that he would not give himself the trouble to come, if his object was +to relieve Ghalib Jung's family, as he would forthwith order the +females to be taken to their homes. The minister had not been to the +Resident for ten or twelve days, or from the first or second day +after the fall of the favourite. He prayed that the Resident would +not speak harshly to the King on the subject of the treatment Ghalib +Jung and his family had received, lest he, the minister, should +himself suffer. The Resident insisted upon an audience. He found the +King sullen and doggedly silent. The minister was present, and spoke +for his master. He denied, what was known to be true, that the +prisoner had been kept for two days and two nights' without food or +drink; but admitted that he had been tied up and flogged severely, +and that the females of his family were still there, but he promised +to send them back. He said that it was necessary to confiscate the +property of the prisoner, since he owed large sums to the State. The +females were all sent back to their homes, and Ghalib Jung was +permitted, to have four of his own servants in attendance upon him. + +The Resident reported all these things to Government, who entirely +approved of his proceedings; and desired that he would tell his +Majesty that such savage and atrocious proceedings would ruin his +reputation, and, if persisted in, bring on consequences most +injurious to himself. When the Resident, at the audience above +described, remonstrated with the King for not calling upon his +officers periodically to render their accounts, instead of letting +them run on for indefinite periods, and then confining them and +confiscating their property, he replied--"What you state is most +true, and you may be assured that I will in future make every one +account to me every three months for the money he has received, and +never again show favour to any one." + +Rajah Dursun Sing, the great revenue contractor, and at that time the +most powerful of the King's subjects beyond the precincts of the +Court, had, like the minister himself, been often thwarted by Ghalib +Jung when in power; and, after the interposition of the Resident, he +applied to have him put into his power. The King and minister were +pleased at the thought of making their victim suffer beyond the +immediate supervision of a vigilant Resident, and the minister made +him over to the Rajah for a _consideration_, it is said, of three +lacs of rupees; and at the same time assured the Resident that this +was the only safe way to rescue him from the further vengeance of an +exasperated King; that Rajah Dursun Sing was a friend of his, and +would provide him and his family and attendants with ample +accommodation and comfort. The Rajah had him put into an iron cage, +and sent to his fort at Shahgunge, where, report says, he had snakes +and scorpions put into the cage to torment and destroy him, but that +Ghalib Jung had "a charmed life," and escaped their poison. The +object is said to have been to torment and destroy him without +leaving upon his body any marks of violence. + +On the death of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, Ghalib Jung was released from +confinement, on the payment, it is said, of four lacs of rupees, in +Government securities, and a promise of three lacs more if restored +to office. He went to reside at Cawnpore, in British territory; but, +on the dismissal of the minister, Roshun-od Dowlah, three months +after, and the appointment of Hakeem Mehndee to his place, Ghalib +Jung was restored to his place. The promise of the three lacs was +communicated to the new King, Mahommed Allee Shah, by Roshun-od +Dowlah himself, while in confinement; and it is said that Ghalib Jung +paid one-half, or one hundred and fifty thousand. + +Ghalib Jung had, in many other ways, abused the privileges of +intimate companionship which he enjoyed with his master, as better +servants under better and more guarded masters will do; and the King, +having discovered this, had for some time resolved to take advantage +of the first fair occasion to discharge him. The people of Lucknow +liked their King, with all his faults--and they were many--and hated +the favourite as much for the injury which he did to his master's +reputation, as for the insults and injuries inflicted by him on +themselves. But when the unoffending females of the favourite were +dragged from their privacy to the palace, to be disgraced, the +feelings of the whole city were shocked, and expressed in tones which +alarmed the minister as much as the Resident's interposition alarmed +the King. They had no sympathy for the fallen favourite, but a very +deep one for the ladies and children of his family, who could have no +share in his guilt, whatever it might be. + +Ghalib Jung was raised, from a very humble grade, by Ghazee-od Deen +Hyder, and about the year 1825 he had become as great a favourite +with him as he afterwards became with his son, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, +and he abused his master's favour in the same manner. The minister, +Aga Meer, finding his interference and vulgar insolence intolerable, +took advantage one day of the King's anger against him, had him +degraded, seized, and sent off forthwith to one of his creatures, +Taj-od Deen Hoseyn, then in charge of the Sultanpoor district, where +he was soon reduced almost to death's door by harsh treatment and +want of food, and made to disgorge all the wealth he had accumulated. +Four years after the death of Ghazee-od Deen and the accession of his +son, Nuseer-od Deen, Ghalib Jung was, in the year 1831, again +appointed to a place of trust at Court by the minister, Hakeem +Mehndee, who managed to keep him in order during the two years that +he held the reins of government.* + +[* Ghalib Jung died on the 1st of May 1851, at Lucknow, aged about 80 +years.] + +_December_ 20, 1849.--Saleepoor, ten miles. The country, on both +sides of the road, well studded with trees, hamlets, and villages, +and well cultivated and peopled. The landholders and peasantry seem +all happy and secure under their present masters, the brother and son +of the late Dursun Sing. They are protected by them from thieves and +robbers, the attacks of refractory barons, and, above all, from the +ravages of the King's troops; and the whole face of the country, at +this season, is like that of a rich garden. The whole is under +cultivation, and covered with the greatest possible variety of crops. +The people showed us, as we passed, six kinds of sugar-cane, and told +us that they had many more, one soil agreeing best with one kind, +another with another. The main fault in the cultivation of sugar-cane +is here, as in every other part of India that I have seen, the want +of room and the disregard of cleanliness. They crowd the cane too +much, and never remove the decayed leaves, and sufficient air is +never admitted. + +Bukhtawar Sing has always been considered as the head of the family +to whom Shahgunge belongs, but he has always remained at Court, and +left the local management of the estate and the government of the +districts, placed under their charge in contract or in trust, to his +brothers and nephews. Bukhtawar Sing has no child of his own, but he +has adopted Maun Sing, the youngest son of his brother, Dursun Sing, +and he leaves all local duties and responsibilities to him. He is a +small, slight man, but shrewd, active, and energetic, and as +unscrupulous as a man can be. Indeed old Bukhtawar Sing himself is +the only member of the family that was ever troubled with scruples of +any kind whatever; for he is the only one whose boyhood was not +passed in the society of men in the every-day habit of committing +with impunity all kinds of cruelties, atrocities, and outrages. There +is, perhaps, no school in the world better adapted for training +thoroughbred ruffians (men without any scruple of conscience, sense +of honour, or feeling of humanity) than the camp of a revenue- +contractor in Oude. It has been the same for the last thirty years +that I have known it, and must continue to be the same as long as _we +maintain, in absolute sway over the people, a sovereign who never +bestows a thought upon them, has no feeling in common with them, and +can never be persuaded that his high office imposes upon him the +obligation to labour to promote their good, or even to protect them +against the outrage and oppression of his own soldiers and civil +officers_. All Rajah Bukhtawar Sing's brothers and nephews were bred +up in such camps, and are thorough-bred ruffians. + +They have got the lands which they hold by much fraud and violence no +doubt, but they have done much good to them. They have invited and +established in comfort great numbers of the best classes of +cultivators from other districts, in which they had ceased to feel +secure, and they have protected and encouraged those whom they found +on the land. To establish a new cultivator of the better class, they +require to give him about twenty-five rupees for a pair of bullocks; +for subsistence for himself and family till his crops ripen, thirty- +six more, for a house, wells, &c., thirty more, or about ninety +rupees, which he pays back with or without interest by degrees. Every +village and hamlet is now surrounded by fine garden cultivation, +conducted by the cultivators of the gardener caste, whom the family +has thus established. + +The greatest benefit conferred upon the lands which they hold has +been in the suppression of the fearful contests which used to be +perpetual between the small proprietors of the military classes, +among whom the lands had become minutely subdivided by the law of +inheritance, about boundaries and rights to water for irrigation. +Many persons used to be killed every year in these contests, and +their widows and orphans had to be maintained by the survivors. Now +no such dispute leads to any serious conflict. They are all settled +at once by arbitrators, who are guided in their decisions by the +accounts of the Putwaries of villages and Canoongoes of districts. +These men have the detailed accounts of every tenement for the last +hundred years; and, with their assistance, village traditions, and +the advice of their elders, all such boundary disputes and +misunderstandings about rights to water are quickly and amicably +adjusted; and the landlords are strong, and able to enforce whatever +decision is pronounced. They are wealthy, and pay the Government +demand punctually, and have influence at Court to prevent any attempt +at oppression on the part of Government officers on themselves or +their tenants. Not a thief or a robber can live or depredate among +their tenants. The hamlets are, in consequence, numerous and peopled +by peasantry, who seem to live without fear. They adhere strictly to +the terms of their engagements with their tenants of all grades; and +their tenants all pay their rents punctually, unless calamities of +season deprive them of the means, when due consideration is made by +landlords, who live among them, and know what they suffer and +require. + +The climate must be good, for the people are strong and well-made, +and without any appearance of disease. Hardly a beggar of any kind is +to be seen along the road. The residence of religious mendicants +seems to be especially discouraged, and we see no others. It is very +pleasing to pass over such lands after going through such districts +as Bahraetch and Gonda, where the signs of the effects of bad air and +water upon men, women, and children are so sad and numerous; and +those of the abuse of power and the neglect of duty on the part of +the Government and its officers are still more so. + +Last evening I sent for the two men above named, who had been +confined for six or seven years, and were said to have been so +because they would not sign the _bynamahs_ required from them by Mann +Sing: their names are Soorujbulee Sing and Rugonath Sing. They came +with the King's wakeel, accompanied by their cousin, Hunooman Sing, +on whose charge they were declared to have been confined. I found +that the village of Tendooa had been held by their family, in +proprietary right, for many generations, and that they were Chouhan +Rajpoots by caste. When Dursun Sing was securing to himself the lands +of the district, those of Tendooa were held in three equal shares by +Soorujbulee and his brothers, Narind and Rugonath; Hunooman Sing, +their cousin; and Seoruttun, their cousin. + +Maun Sing took advantage of a desperate quarrel between them, and +secured Soorujbulee and Rugonath. Narind escaped and joined a +refractory tallookdar, and Seoruttun and Hunooman did the same. +Hunooman Sing was, however, invited back, and intrusted, by Maun +Sing, with the management of the whole estate, on favourable terms. +In revenge for his giving in to the terms of Maun Sing, and serving +him, the absconded co-sharers attacked his house several times, +killed three of his brothers, and many other persons of his family, +and robbed him of almost all he had. This was four years ago. He +complained, and the two brothers were kept more strictly confined +than ever, to save him and the village. Hunooman Sing looked upon the +two prisoners as the murderers of his brothers, though they were in +confinement when they were killed, and had been so for more than two +years, and was very violent against them in my presence. They were no +less violent against him, as the cause of their continued confinement +They protested to me, that they had no communication whatever with +Seoruttun or Narind Sing, but thought it very likely, that they +really did lead the gangs in the attacks upon the village, to recover +their rights. They offered to give security for their future good +behaviour if released; but declared, that they would rather die than +consent to sign a _bynamah_, or deed of sale, or any relinquishment +whatever of their hereditary rights as landholders. + +Bukhtawar and Maun Sing said,--"That the people of the village would +not be safe, for a moment, if these two brothers were released, which +they would be, on the first occasion of thanksgiving, if sent to +Lucknow; that people who ventured to seize a thief or robber in Oude +must keep him, if they wished to save themselves from his future +depredations, as the Government authorities would have nothing to do +with them." + +I ordered the King's wakeel to take these two brothers to the +Chuckladar, and request him to see them released on their furnishing +sufficient security for their future good behaviour, which they +promised to produce.* They were all fine-looking men, with limbs that +would do honour to any climate in the world. These are the families +from which our native regiments are recruited; and hardly a young +recruit offers himself for enlistment, on whose body marks will not +be found of wounds received in these contests, between landlords +themselves, and between them and the officers and troops of the +sovereign. I have never seen enmity more strong and deadly than that +exhibited by contending co-sharers and landholders of all kinds in +Oude. The Rajah of Bulrampoor mentioned a curious instance of this +spirit in a village, now called the _Kolowar_ village, in the Gonda +district, held in copartnership by a family of the Buchulgotee tribe +of Rajpoots. One of them said he should plant sugar-cane in one of +his fields. All consented to this. But when he pointed out the place +where he should have his mill, the community became divided. A +contest ensued, in which all the able-bodied men were killed, though +not single cane had been planted. The widows and children survived, +and still hold the village, but have been so subdued by poverty that +they are the quietest village community in the district. The village +from that time has gone by the name of _Kolowar_ village, from Koloo, +the sugar-mill, though no sugar-mill was ever worked in the village, +he believed. He says, the villagers cherish the recollection of this +_fight_; and get very angry when their neighbours _twit_ them with +the folly of it. + +[* They were released, and have been ever since at large on security. +One of them visited me in April 1851, and said, that as a point of +honour, they should abstain from joining in the fight for their +rights, but felt it very hard to be bound to do so.] + +In our own districts in Upper India, they often kill each other in +such contests; but more frequently ruin each other in litigation in +our Civil Courts, to the benefit of the native attorneys and law- +officers, who fatten on the misery they create or produce. In Oude +they always decide such questions by recourse to arms, and the loss +of life is no doubt fearful. Still the people generally, or a great +part of them, would prefer to reside in Oude, under all the risks to +which these contests expose them, than in our own districts, under +the evils the people are exposed to from the uncertainties of our +law, the multiplicity and formality of our Courts, the pride and +negligence of those who preside over them, and the corruption and +insolence of those who must be employed to prosecute or defend a +cause in them, and enforce the fulfilment of a decree when passed. + +The members of the landed aristocracy of Oude always speak with +respect of the administration in our territories, but generally end +with remarking on the cost and uncertainty of the law in civil cases, +and the gradual decay, under its operation, of all the ancient +families. A less and less proportion of the annual produce of their +lands is left to them in our periodical settlements of the land +revenue, while family pride makes them expend the same sums in the +marriage of their children, in religious and other festivals, +personal servants, and hereditary retainers. They fall into balance, +incur heavy debts, and estate after estate is put up to auction, and +the proprietors are reduced to poverty. They say, that four times +more of these families have gone to decay in the half of the +territory made over to us in 1801, than in the half reserved by the +Oude sovereign; and this is, I fear, true. They named the families--I +cannot remember them. + +In Oude, the law of primogeniture prevails among all the tallookdars, +or principal landholders; and, to a certain extent, among the middle +class of landholders, of the Rajpoot or any other military class. If +one co-sharer of this class has several sons, his eldest often +inherits all the share he leaves, with all the obligations incident +upon it, of maintaining the rest of the family. + +The brothers of Soorujbulee, above named, do not pretend to have any +right of inheritance in the share of the lands he holds; but they +have a prescriptive right to support from him, for themselves and +families, when they require it. This rule of primogeniture is, +however, often broken through during the lifetime of the father, who, +having more of natural affection than family pride, divides the lands +between his sons. After his death they submit to this division, and +take their respective shares, to descend to their children, by the +law of primogeniture, or be again subdivided as may seem to them +best; or they fight it out among themselves, till the strongest gets +all. Among landholders of the smallest class, whether Hindoos or +Mahommedans, the lands are subdivided according to the ordinary law +of inheritance. + +Our army and other public establishments form a great "safety-valve" +for Oude, and save it from a vast deal of fighting for shares in +land, and the disorders that always attend it. Younger brothers +enlist in our regiments, or find employment in our civil +establishments, and leave their wives and children under the +protection of the elder brother, who manages the family estate for +the common good. They send the greater part of their pay to him for +their subsistence, and feel assured that he will see that they are +provided for, should they lose their lives in our service. From the +single district of Byswara in Oude, sixteen thousand men were, it is +said, found to be so serving in our army and other establishments; +and from Bunoda, which adjoins it to the east, fifteen thousand, on +an inquiry ordered to be made by Ghazee-od Deen Hyder some twenty- +five years ago. + +The family of Dursun Sing, like good landholders in all parts of +Oude, assigned small patches of land to substantial cultivators, +merchants, shopkeepers, and others, whom it is useful to retain in +their estates, for the purpose of planting small groves of mango and +other trees, as local ties. They prepare the well and plant the +trees, and then make over the land to a gardener or other good +cultivator, to be tilled for his own profit, on condition that he +water the trees, and take care to preserve them from frost during the +cold season, and from rats, white ants, and other enemies; and form +terraces round them, where the water lies much on the surface during +the rains, so that it may not reach and injure the bark. The land +yields crops till the trees grow large and cover it with their shade, +by which time they are independent of irrigation, and begin to bear +fruit. The crops do not thrive under the shade of the trees, and the +lands they cover cease to be of any value for tillage. The stems and +foliage of the trees, no doubt, deprive the crops of the moisture, +carbonic gas and ammonia, they require from the atmosphere. They are, +generally, watered from six to ten years. These groves form a +valuable local tie for the cultivators and other useful tenants. No +man dare to molest them or their descendants, in the possession of +their well and grove, without incurring, at least, the odium of +society; and, according to their notion, the anger of their gods. + +The cultivators always point out to them, in asserting their rights +to the lands they hold; and reside and cultivate in the village, +under circumstances that would drive them away, had they no such ties +to retain them. They feel a-great pride in them; and all good +landlords feel the same in having their villages filled with tenants +who have such ties. + +_December_ 21, 1849.--Bhurteepoor, ten miles, almost all the way +through the estate of Maun Sing. No lands could be better cultivated +than they are all the way, or better studded with groves and +beautiful single trees. The villages and hamlets along the road are +numerous, and filled with cultivators of the gardener and other good +classes, who seem happy and contented. The season has been +favourable, and the crops are all fine, and of great variety. Sugar- +cane abounds, but no mills are, as yet, at work. We passed through, +and by three or four villages, that have been lately taken from Maun +Sing, and made over to farmers by the local authorities, under +instructions from Court; but they are not so well cultivated, as +those which he retains. The cultivators and inhabitants generally do +not appear to enjoy the same protection or security in the +engagements they make. The soil is everywhere good, the water near +the surface, and the climate excellent. The soil is here called +doomuteea, and adapted to all kinds of tillage. + +I should mention, with regard to the subdivision of landed property, +that the Rajahs and tallookdars, among whom the law of primogeniture +prevails, consider their estates as principalities, or _reeasuts_. +When any Rajah, or tallookdar, during his lifetime, assigns portions +of the land to his sons, brothers, or other members of the family, +they are separated from the _reeasut_, or principality, and are +subdivided as they descend from generation to generation, by the +ordinary Hindoo or Mahommedan law of inheritance. This is the case +with portions of the estate of the Rajah of Korwar, in the Sultanpoor +district, one of the oldest Hindoo principalities in Oude, which are +now held by his cousins, nephews, &c., near this place, Bhurteepoor.* + +[* Sunkur Sing, of Korwar, had four sons: first, Dooneeaput died +without issue; second, Sookraj Sing, whose grandson, Madhoo Persaud, +is now the Rajah; third, Bureear Sing, who got from his brother lands +yielding forty thousand rupees a-year out of the principality. They +are now held by his son, Jydut; fourth, Znbar Sing, who got from his +brother lands yielding nineteen thousand rupees a-year, which are now +held by his son, Moheser Persaud. Sunkir Sing was the second brother, +but his elder brother died without issue.] + +Dooneeaput succeeded to the _reeasut_ on the death of his uncle, the +Rajah, who died without issue; and he bestowed portions of the estate +on his brothers, Burear and Zubur Sing, which their descendants +enjoy, but which do not go to the eldest son, by the law of +primogeniture. He was succeeded by his brother, Sookraj, whose +grandson, Madhoo Persaud, now reigns as Rajah, and has the undivided +possession of the lands belonging to this branch. All the descendants +of his grandfather, Sookraj, and their widows and orphans, have a +right to protection and support from him, and to nothing more. Jydut, +who now holds the lands, yielding forty thousand rupees a-year, +called upon me, this morning, and gave me this history of his family. +The Rajah himself is in camp, and came to visit me this afternoon. + +It is interesting and pleasing to see a large, well-controlled camp, +moving in a long line through a narrow road or pathway, over plains, +covered with so rich a variety of crops, and studded with such +magnificent evergreen trees. The solitary mango-tree, in a field of +corn, seems to exult in its position-to grow taller and spread wider +its branches and rich foliage, in situations where they can be seen +to so much advantage. The peepul and bargut trees, which, when +entire, are still more ornamental, are everywhere torn to pieces and +disfigured by the camels and elephants, buffaloes and bullocks, that +feed upon their foliage and tender branches. There are a great many +mhowa, tamarind, and other fine trees, upon which they do not feed, +to assist the mango in giving beauty to the landscape. + +The Korwar Rajah, Madhoo Persaud, a young man of about twenty-two +years of age, came in the evening, and confirmed what his relative, +Jydut, had told me of the rule which required that his lands should +remain undivided with his eldest son, while those which are held by +Jydut, and his other relatives, should be subdivided among all the +sons of the holder. This rule is more necessary in Oude than +elsewhere, to preserve a family and its estate from the grasp of its +neighbours and Government officers. When there happens to be no heir +left to the portion of the estate which has been cut off, it is re- +annexed to the estate; and the head of the family frequently +anticipates the event, by murdering or imprisoning the heir or +incumbent, and seizing upon the lands. Another Rajah, of the same +name, Mahdoo Persaud, of Amethee, in Salone, has lately seized upon +the estate of Shahgur, worth twenty thousand rupees a-year, which had +been cut off from the Amethee estate, and enjoyed by a collateral +branch of the family for several generations. He holds the +proprietor, Bulwunt Sing, in prison, in irons, and would soon make +away with him were the Oude Government to think it worth while to +inquire after him. He has seized upon another portion, Ramgur, held +by another branch of the family, worth six thousand rupees a-year, +and crushed all the proprietors. This is the way in which estates, +once broken up, are reconsolidated in Oude, under energetic and +unscrupulous men. Of course when they think it worth while to do so, +they purchase the collusion of the local authorities of the day, by +promising to pay the revenues, which the old proprietors paid during +their tenure of office. The other barons do not interfere, unless +they happen to be connected by marriage with the ousted proprietors, +or otherwise specially bound, by interest and honour, to defend them +against the grasp of the head of their family. Many struggles of this +kind are taking place every season in Oude. + + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Recross the Goomtee river--Sultanpoor Cantonments--Number of persons +begging redress of wrongs, and difficulty of obtaining it in Oude-- +Apathy of the Sovereign--Incompetence and unfitness of his Officers-- +Sultanpoor, healthy and well suited for Troops--Chandour, twelve +miles distant, no less so--lands of their weaker neighbours absorbed +by the family of Rajah Dursun Sing, by fraud, violence, and +collusion; but greatly improved--Difficulty attending attempt to +restore old Proprietors--Same absorptions have been going on in all +parts of Oude--and the same difficulty to be everywhere encountered-- +Soils in the district, _mutteear_, _doomutteea_, _bhoor_, _oosur-- +Risk at which lands are tilled under Landlords opposed to their +Government--Climate of Oude more invigorating than that of Malwa-- +Captain Magness's Regiment--Repair of artillery guns--Supply of grain +to its bullocks--Civil establishment of the Nazim--Wolves--Dread of +killing them among Hindoos--Children preserved by them in their dens, +and nurtured. + + +_December_ 22, 1849.--Sultanpoor, eight miles. Recrossed the Goomtee +river, close under the Cantonments, over a bridge of boats prepared +for the purpose, and encamped on the parade-ground. The country over +which we came was fertile and well cultivated. For some days we have +seen and heard a good many religions mendicants, both Mahommedans and +Hindoos, but still very few lame, blind, and otherwise helpless +persons, asking charity. The most numerous and distressing class of +beggars that importune me, are those who beg redress for their +wrongs, and a remedy for their grievances,--"their name, indeed, is +_Legion_," and their wrongs and grievances are altogether without +remedy, under the present government and inveterately vicious system +of administration. It is painful to listen to all these complaints, +and to have to refer the sufferers for redress to authorities who +want both the power and the will to afford it; especially when one +knows that a remedy for almost every evil is hoped for from a visit +such as the poor people are now receiving from the Resident. He is +expected "to wipe the tears from off all faces;" and feels that he +can wipe them from hardly any. The reckless disregard shown by the +depredators of all classes and degrees to the sufferings of their +victims, whatever be the cause of discontent or object of pursuit, is +lamentable. I have every day scores of petitions delivered to me +"with quivering lip and tearful eye," by persons who have been +plundered of all they possessed, had their dearest relatives murdered +or tortured to death, and their habitations burnt to the ground, by +gangs of ruffians, under landlords of high birth and pretensions, +whom they had never wronged or offended; some, merely because they +happened to have property, which the ruffians wished to take--others, +because they presumed to live and labour upon lands which they +coveted, or deserted, and wished to have left waste. In these +attacks, neither age, nor sex, nor condition are spared. The greater +part of the leaders of these gangs of ruffians are Rajpoot +landholders, boasting descent from the sun and moon, or from the +demigods, who figure in the Hindoo religious fictions of the Poorans. +There are, however, a great many Mahommedans at the head of similar +gangs. A landholder of whatever degree, who is opposed to his +government from whatever cause, considers himself in a state of +_war_', and he considers a state of war to authorize his doing all +those things which he is forbidden to do in a state of peace. + +Unless the sufferer happens to be a native officer or sipahee of our +army, who enjoys the privilege of urging his claims through the +Resident, it is a cruel mockery to refer him for redress to any +existing local authority. One not only feels that it is so, but sees, +that the sufferer thinks that he must know it to be so. No such +authority considers it to be any part of his duty to arrest evil- +doers, and inquire into and redress wrongs suffered by individuals, +or families, or village communities. Should he arrest such people, he +would have to subsist and accommodate them at his own cost, or to +send them to Lucknow, with the assurance that they would in a few +days or a few weeks purchase their way out again, in spite of the +clearest proofs of the murders, robberies, torturings, dishonourings, +house-burning, &c., which they have committed. No sentence, which any +one local authority could pass on such offenders, would be recognised +by any other authority in the State, as valid or sufficient to +justify him in receiving and holding them in confinement for a single +day. The local authorities, therefore, either leave the wrong-doers +unmolested, with the understanding that they are to abstain from +doing any such wrong within their jurisdictions as may endanger or +impede the _collection of revenues_ during their period of office, or +release them with that understanding after they have squeezed all +they can out of them. The wrong-doers can so abstain, and still be +able to _murder, rob, torture, dishonour, and burn_, upon a pretty +large scale; and where they are so numerous, and so ready to unite +for purposes "offensive and defensive," and the local authorities so +generally connive at or quietly acquiesce all their misdeeds, any +attempt on the part of an honest or overzealous individual to put +them down would be sure to result in his speedy and utter ruin! + +To refer such sufferers to the authorities at Lucknow would be a +still more cruel mockery. The present sovereign never hears a +complaint or reads a petition or report of any kind. He is entirely +taken up in the pursuit of his personal gratifications. He has no +desire to be thought to take any interest whatever in public affairs; +and is altogether regardless of the duties and responsibilities of +his high office. He lives, exclusively, in the society of fiddlers, +eunuchs, and women: he has done so since his childhood, and is likely +to do so to the last. His disrelish for any other society has become +inveterate: he cannot keep awake in any other. In spite of average +natural capacity, and more than average facility in the cultivation +of light literature, or at least "_de faire des petits vers de sa +focon_," his understanding has become so emasculated, that he is +altogether unfit for the conduct of his domestic, much less his +public, affairs. He sees occasionally his prime minister, who takes +care to persuade him that he does all that a King ought to do; and +nothing whatever of any other minister. He holds no communication +whatever with brothers, uncles, cousins, or any of the native +gentlemen at Lucknow, or the landed or official aristocracy of the +country. He sometimes admits a few poets or poetasters to hear and +praise his verses, and commands the unwilling attendance of some of +his relations, to witness and applaud the acting of some of his own +silly comedies, on the penalty of forfeiting their stipends; but any +one who presumes to approach him, even in his rides or drives, with a +petition for justice, is instantly clapped into prison, or otherwise +severely punished. + +His father and grandfather, while on the throne, used to see the +members of the royal family and aristocracy of the city in Durbar +once a-day, or three or four times a-week, and have all petitions and +reports read over in their own presence. They dictated the orders, +and their seal was affixed to them in their own presence, bearing the +inscription _molahiza shud_, "it has been seen." The seal was then +replaced in the casket, which was kept by one confidential servant, +Muzd-od Dowlah, while the key was confided to another. Documents were +thus read and orders passed upon them twice a-day-once in the +morning, and once again in the evening; and, on such occasions, all +heads of departments were present. The present King continued this +system for a short time, but he soon got tired of it, and made over +seal and all to the minister, to do what he liked with them; and +discontinued altogether the short Durbar, or levees, which his +father, grandfather, and all former sovereigns had held--before they +entered on the business of the day--with the heads of departments and +secretaries, and at which all the members of the royal family and +aristocracy of the city attended, to pay their respects to their +sovereign; and soon ceased altogether to see the heads of departments +and secretaries, to hear orders read, and to ask questions about +state affairs. + +The minister has become by degrees almost as inaccessible as his +sovereign, to all but his deputies, heads of departments, +secretaries, and Court favourites, whom it is his interest to +conciliate. Though the minister has his own confidential deputies and +secretaries, the same heads of departments are in office as under the +present King's father and grandfather; and, though no longer +permitted to attend upon or see the King, they are still supposed to +submit to the minister, for orders, all reports from local +authorities, intelligence-writers, &c., and all petitions from +sufferers; but, in reality, he sees and hears read very few, and +passes orders upon still less. Any head of a department, deputy, +secretary, or favourite, may receive petitions, to be submitted to +the minister for orders; but it is the special duty of no one to +receive them, nor is any one held responsible for submitting them for +orders. Those only who are in the special confidence of the minister, +or of those about Court, from whom he has something to hope or +something to fear, venture to receive and submit petitions; and they +drive a profitable trade in doing so. A large portion of those +submitted are thrown aside, without any orders at all; a portion have +orders so written as to show that they are never intended to be +carried into effect; a third portion receive orders that are really +intended to be acted upon. But they are taken to one of the +minister's deputies, with whose views or interests some of them may +not square well; and he may detain them for weeks, months, or years, +till the petitioners are worn out with "hope deferred," or utterly +ruined, in vain efforts to purchase the attention they require. +Nothing is more common than for a peremptory order to be passed for +the immediate payment of the arrears of pension due to a stipendiary +member of the royal family, and for the payment to be deferred for +eight, ten, and twelve months, till he or she consents to give from +ten to twenty per cent., according to his or her necessities, to the +deputy, who has to see the order carried out. A sufferer often, +instead of getting his petition smuggled on to the minister in the +mode above described, bribes a news-writer to insert his case in his +report, to be submitted through the head of the department. + +At present the head of the intelligence department assumes the same +latitude, in submitting reports for orders to the minister, that his +subordinates in distant districts assume in framing and sending them +to him; that is, he submits only such as may suit his views and +interests to submit! Where grave charges are sent to him against +substantial men, or men high in office, he comes to an understanding +with their representatives in Lucknow, and submits the report to the +minister only as a _derničre resort_, when such representatives +cannot be brought to submit to his terms. If found out, at any time, +and threatened, he has his feed _patrons_ or _patronesses_ "behind +the throne, and greater than the throne itself," to protect him. + +The unmeaning orders passed by the minister on reports and petitions +are commonly that _so and so_ is to inquire into the matter +complained of; to see that the offenders are seized and punished; +that the stolen property and usurped lands be restored; that +_razeenamas_, or acquittances, be sent in by the friends of persons +who have been murdered by the King's officers; that the men, women, +and children, confined and tortured by King's officers, or by robbers +and ruffians, be set at liberty and satisfied; the said _so and so_ +being the infant commander-in-chief, the King's chamberlain, footman, +coachman, chief fiddler, eunuch, barber, or person uppermost in his +thoughts at the time. Similar orders are passed in his name by his +deputies, secretaries, and favourites upon all the other numerous +petitions and reports, which he sends to them unperused. Not, +perhaps, upon one in five does the minister himself pass any order; +and of the orders passed by him, not one in five, perhaps, is +intended to be taken notice of. His deputies and favourites carry on +a profitable trade in all such reports and petitions: they extort +money alike from the wrong-doer and the wrong-sufferer; and from all +local authorities, or their representatives, for all neglect of duty +or abuses, of authority charged against them. + +As to any investigation into the real merits of any case described in +these reports from the news-writers and local authorities, no such +thing has been heard of for several reigns. The real merits of all +such cases are, however, well and generally known to the people of +the districts in which they occur, and freely discussed by them with +suitable remarks on the "darkness which prevails under the lamp of +royalty;" and no less suitable execrations against the intolerable +system which deprives the King of all feeling of interest in the +well-being of his subjects, all sense of duty towards them, all +feeling of responsibility to any higher power for the manner in which +he discharges his high trust over the millions committed to his +care. + +As I have said, the King never sees any petition or report: he hardly +ever sees even official notes addressed to him by the British +Resident, and the replies to almost all are written without his +knowledge.* The minister never puts either his seal or signature to +any order that passes, or any document whatsoever, with his own hand: +he merely puts in the date, as the 1st, 5th, or 10th; the month, +year, and the order itself are inserted by the deputies, secretaries, +or favourites, to whom the duty is confided. The reports and +petitions submitted for orders often accumulate so fast in times of +great festivity or ceremony, that the minister has them tied up in +bundles, without any orders whatever having been passed on them, and +sent to his deputies for such as they may think proper to pass, +merely inserting his figure 1, 5, or 10, to indicate the date, on the +outermost document of each bundle. If any orders are inserted by his +deputies on the rest, they have only to insert the same date. There +is nothing but the _figure_ to attest the authenticity of the order; +and it would be often impossible for the minister himself to say +whether the figure was inserted by himself or by any other person. +These deputies are the men who adjust all the nuzuranas, or +unauthorized gratuities, to be paid to the minister. + +[* On the 17th of October, 1850, Hassan Khan, one of the _khowas_, or +pages, whose special duty it is to deliver all papers to the King, +fell under his Majesty's displeasure, and his house was seized and +searched. Several of the Resident's official notes were found +unopened among his papers. They had been sent to the palace as +emergent many months before, but never shown to the King. Such +official notes from the Resident are hardly every shown to the King, +nor is he consulted about the orders to be passed upon them.] + +They share largely in all that he gets; and take a great deal, for +which they render him no account. Knowing all that he takes, and +_ought not to take_, he dares not punish them for their +transgressions; and knowing this, sufferers are afraid to complain +against them. In ordinary times, or under ordinary sovereigns, the +sums paid by revenue authorities in _nazuranas_, or gratuities, +before they were permitted to enter on their charges, amounted to, +perhaps, ten or fifteen per cent.: under the present sovereign they +amount, I believe, to more than twenty-five per cent. upon the +revenue they are to collect. Of these the minister and his deputies +take the largest part. A portion is paid in advance, and good bonds +are taken for the rest, to be paid within the year. Of the money +collected, more than twenty-five per cent., on an average, is +appropriated by those intrusted with the disbursements, and by their +patrons and patronesses. The sovereign gets, perhaps, three-fourths +of what is collected; and of what is collected, perhaps two-thirds, +on an average, reaches its legitimate destination; so that one-half +of the revenues of Oude may be considered as taken by officers and +Court favourites in unauthorized gratuities and perquisites. The pay +of the troops and establishments, on duty with the revenue +collectors, is deducted by them, and the surplus only is sent to the +Treasury at Lucknow. In his accounts he receives credit for all sums +paid to the troops and establishments on duty under him. Though the +artillery-bullocks get none of the grain, for which he pays and +charges Government, a greater portion of the whole of what he pays +and charges in his accounts reaches its legitimate destination, +perhaps, than of the whole of what is paid from the Treasury at the +capital. On an average, however, I do not think that more than two- +thirds of what is paid and charged to Government reaches that +destination. + +I may instance the two regiments, under Thakur Sing, Tirbaydee; which +are always on duty at the palace. It is known that the officers and +sipahees of those regiments do not get more than one-half of the pay +which is issued for them every month from the Treasury; the other +half is absorbed by the commandant and his patrons at Court. On +everything sold in the palace, the vender is obliged to add one-third +to the price, to be paid to the person through whom it is passed in. +Without this, nothing can be sold in the palace by European or +native. Not a single animal in the King's establishments gets one- +third of the food allowed for it, and charged for; not a building is +erected or repaired at less than three times the actual outlay, two- +thirds at least of the money charged going to the superintendent and +his patrons. + +_December_ 23, 1849.--Halted at Sultanpoor, which is one of the +healthiest stations in India, on the right bank of the Goomtee river, +upon a dry soil, among deep ravines, which drain off the water +rapidly. The bungalows are on the verge, looking down into the river, +upon the level patches of land, dividing the ravines. The water in +the wells is some fifty feet below the surface, on a level with the +stream below. There are no groves within a mile of the cantonments; +and no lakes, marshes, or jungles within a great many; and the single +trees in and near the cantonments are few. The gardens are small and +few; and the water is sparingly used in irrigating them, as the +expense of drawing it is very great. + +There is another good site for a cantonment at Chandour, some twelve +miles up the river, on the opposite bank, and looking down upon the +stream, from the verge, in the same manner. Chandour was chosen for +his cantonments by Rajah Dursun Sing when he had the contract for the +district; and it would be the best place for the head-quarters of any +establishments, that any new arrangements might require for the +administration of the Sultanpoor and surrounding districts. Secrora +would be the best position for the head-quarters of those required +for the administration of the Gonda-Bahraetch, and other surrounding +districts. It is central, and has always been considered one of the +healthiest places in Oude. It was long a cantonment for one of our +regiments of infantry and some guns, which were, in 1835, withdrawn, +and sent to increase the force at Lucknow, from two to three +regiments of infantry. The regiment and guns at Sultanpoor were taken +away in 1837. Secrora was, for some years after our regiment and guns +had been withdrawn, occupied by a regiment and guns under Captain +Barlow, one of the King of Oude's officers; but it is now altogether +deserted. Sultanpoor has been, ever since 1837, occupied by one of +the two regiments of Oude local Infantry, without any guns or cavalry +of any kind. There was also a regiment of our regular infantry at +Pertabghur, three marches from Sultanpoor, on the road to Allahabad, +with a regiment of our light cavalry. The latter was withdrawn in +1815 for the Nepaul war, and employed again under us during the +Mahratta war in 1817 and 1818. It was sent back again in 1820; but +soon after, in 1821, withdrawn altogether, and we have since had no +cavalry of any kind in Oude. Seetapoor was also occupied by one of +our regular regiments of infantry and some guns till 1837, when they +were withdrawn, and their place supplied by the second regiment of +Oude Local Infantry. Our Government now pays the two regiments of +Oude Local Infantry stationed at Sultanpoor and Seetapoor; but the +places of those stationed at Secrora and Pertabghur have never been +supplied. One additional regiment of infantry is kept at Lucknow, so +that our force in Oude has only been diminished by one regiment of +infantry, one of cavalry, and eight guns, with a company and half of +artillery. To do our duty _honestly_ by Oude, we ought to restore the +regiment of infantry; and in the place of the corps of light, send +one of irregular cavalry. We ought also to restore the company and +half of artillery and eight guns which have been withdrawn. We draw +annually from the lands ceded to as in 1801, for the protection which +we promised to the King and his people from "all internal and +external enemies," no less than two crores and twelve lacs of rupees, +or two millions sterling a-year; while the Oude Government draws from +the half of its territories which it reserved only one-half that sum, +or one crore of rupees. + +Maun Sing is to leave my camp to-day, and return to Shahgunge. Of the +fraud and violence, abuse of power, and collusion with local +authorities, by which he and his father seized upon the lands of so +many hundreds of old proprietors, there can be no doubt; but to +attempt to make the family restore them now, under such a government, +would create great disorder, drive off all the better classes of +cultivators, and desolate the face of the country, which they have +rendered so beautiful by an efficient system of administration. Many +of the most powerful of the landed aristocracy of Oude have acquired, +or augmented, their estates in the same manner and within the same +time; and the same difficulty would attend the attempt to restore the +old proprietors in all parts. A strong and honest government might +overcome all these difficulties, and restore to every rightful +proprietor the land unjustly taken from him, within a limited period; +but it should not attempt to enforce any adjustment of the accounts +of receipts and disbursements for the intervening period. The old +proprietor would receive back his land in an improved condition, and +the usurper might fairly be considered to have reimbursed himself for +all his outlay. The old proprietor should be required to pledge +himself to respect the rights of all new tenants. + +_December_ 24, 1849.--Meranpoor, twelve miles. Soil between this and +Sultanpoor neither so fertile nor so well cultivated, as we found it +on the other side of the Goomtee river, though it is of the same +denomination--generally doomut, but here and there mutear. The term +mutear embraces all good argillaceous earth, from the light brown to +the black, humic or ulmic deposit, found in the beds of tanks and +lakes in Oude. The natives of Oude call the black soil of Malwa and +southern India, and Bundlekund, _muteear_. This black soil has in its +exhausted state abundance of silicates, sulphates, phosphates, and +carbonates of alumina, potassa, lime, &c., and of organic acids, +combined with the same unorganic substances, to attract and fix +ammonia, and collect and store up moisture, and is exceedingly +fertile and strong. + +Both saltpetre and common salt are made by lixiviation from some of +the poor oosur soils; but, from the most barren in Oude, carbonates +of soda, used in making _glass_ and _soap_, are taken. The earth is +collected from the surface of the most barren spots and formed into +small, shallow, round tanks, a yard in diameter. Water is then poured +in, and the tank filled to the surface, with an additional supply of +the earth, and smoothed over. This tank is then left exposed to the +sun for two days, during the hottest and driest months of the year. +March, April, and May, and part of June, when the crust, formed on +the surface, is taken off. The process is repeated once; but in the +second operation the tank is formed around and below by the debris of +the first tank, which is filled to the surface, after the water has +been poured in, with the first _crust_ obtained. The second crust is +called the _reha_, which is carbonate or bicarbonate of soda. This is +formed into small cakes, which are baked to redness in an oven, or +crucible, to expel the moisture and carbonic acid which it contains. +They are then powdered to fine dust, which is placed in another +crucible, and fused to liquid glass, the _reha_ containing in itself +sufficient silica to form the coarse glass used in making bracelets, +&c. + +A superabundance of nitrates seem also to impair or destroy fertility +in the soil, and they may arise from the decomposition of animal or +vegetable matter, in a soil containing a superabundance of porous +lime. The atmospheric air and water, contained in the moist and +porous soil, are decomposed. The hydrogen of the water combines with +the nitrogen of the air, and that given off by the decomposing +organic bodies, and forms ammonia. The nitrogen of the ammonia then +takes up the oxygen of the air and water, and becoming nitric acid, +forms nitrates with the lime, potash, soda, &c., contained in the +soil. Without any superabundance of lime in the soil, however, the +same effects may be produced, when there is a deficiency of decaying +vegetable and animal matter, as the oxygen of the decomposed air and +water, having no organic substances to unite with, may combine with +the nitrogen of the ammonia, and form nitric acid; which, uniting +with the lime, potash, soda, &c., may form the superabounding +nitrates destructive of fertility. + +This superabundance of reha, or carbonate of soda, which renders so +much of the surface barren, must, I conclude, arise from deposits of +common salt, or chloride of sodium. The water, as it percolates +through these deposits towards the surface, becomes saturated with +their alkaline salts; and, as it reaches the surface and becomes +evaporated in the pure state, it leaves them behind at or near the +surface. On its way to the surface, or at the surface, the chloride +of sodium becomes decomposed by contact with _carbonates of ammonia +and potassa--sulphuric and nitric acids_. In a soil well supplied +with decaying animal or vegetable matter, these carbonates or +sulphates of soda, as they rise to the surface, might be formed into +nutriment for plants, and taken up by their roots; or in one well +flooded occasionally with fresh water, any superabundance of the +salts or their bases might be taken up in solution and carried off. +The people say, that the soil in which these carbonates of soda +(reha) abound, are more unmanageable than those in which nitrates +abound: they tell me that, with flooding, irrigating, manuring, and +well ploughing, they can manage to get crops from all but the soils +in which this _reha_ abounds. + +The process above described, by which the bracelet makers extract the +carbonates of soda and potash from the earth of the small, shallow +tanks, is precisely the same as that by which they are brought from +the deep bed of earth below and deposited on or near the surface. In +both processes, the water which brings them near the surface goes off +into the atmosphere in a pure state, and leaves the salts behind. To +make soap from the reha, they must first remove the silex which it +contains. + +There are no rocks in Oude, and the only form in which lime is found +for building purposes and road-pavements is that of kunkur, which is +a carbonate of lime containing silica, and oxide of iron. In +proportion as it contains the last, the kunkur is more or less red. +That which contains none is of a dirty-white. It is found in many +parts of India in thin layers, or amorphous masses, formed by +compression, upon a stiff clay substratum; but in Oude I have seen it +only in nodules, usually formed on nuclei of flint or other hard +substances. The kingdom of Oude must have once been the bed, or part +of the bed, of a large lake, formed by the diluvial detritus of the +hills of the Himmalaya chain, and, as limestone abounds in that +chain, the bed contains abundance of lime, which is taken up by the +water that percolates through it from the rivers and from the rains +and floods above. The lime thus taken up and held in solution with +carbonic add gas, is deposited around the small fragments of flint or +other hard substances which the waters find in their way. Where the +floods which cover the surface during the rains come in rivers, +flowing from the Himmalaya or other hills abounding in limestone +rocks, they of course contain lime and carbonic-acid gas, which add +to the kunkur nodules formed in the bed below; but in Oude the rivers +seldom overflow to any extent, and the kunkur is, I believe, formed +chiefly from the lime already existing in the bed. + +Doctor O'Shaughnessy, the most eminent chemist now in India, tells me +that there are two marked varieties of kunkur in India--the red and +the white; that the red differs from the white solely in containing a +larger proportion of peroxide of iron; that the white consists of +carbonate of lime, silica, alumina, and sometimes magnesia and +protoxide of iron. He states that he considers the kunkur to be +deposited by calcareous waters, abounding in infusorial animalculę; +that the waters of the annual inundation are rich in lime, and that +all the facts that have come under his observation appear to him to +indicate that this is the source of the kunkur deposit, which is seen +in a different form in the Italian travertine, and the crescent +nodules of the Isle of Sheppey and of Bologne. + +Doctor O'Shaughnessy further states, that the _reha_ earth, which I +sent to him from Oude, is identical with the _sujjee muttee_ of +Bengal, and contains carbonate of soda and sulphate of soda as its +essential characteristic ingredients, with silicious clay and oxide +of iron. But in Oude, the term "_sujjee_" is given to the carbonate +and sulphate of soda which remains after the silex has been removed +from the reha. The reha is fused into glass after the carbonic acid +and moisture have been expelled by heat, and the sujjee is formed +into soap, by the addition of lime, fat, and linseed oil, in the +following proportions, I am told:--6 sujjee, 4 lime, 21/2 fat, and +11/2 ulsee oil. + +The sujjee is formed from the reha by filtration. A tank is formed on +a terrace of cement. In a hole at one corner is a small tube. Rows of +bricks are put down from one end to the other, with intervals between +for the liquor to flow through to the tube. On these rows a layer of +stout reeds is first placed, and over them another layer composed of +the leaves of these reeds. On this bed the coarse reha earth is +placed without being refined by the process described in the text +above. Some coarse common salt (kharee nimuck) is mixed up with the +reha. The tank is then filled with water, which filters slowly +through the earth and passes out through the tube into pans, whence +it is taken to another tank upon a wider terrace of cement, where it +evaporates and leaves the sujjee deposited. The second tank is +commonly made close under the first, and the liquor flows into it +through the tube, rendering pans unnecessary. It is only in the hot +months of March, April, May, and part of June, till the rains begin +to fall, that the reha and sujjee are formed. During the other nine +months, the _Looneas_, who provide them, turn their hands to +something else. The _reha_, deprived of its carbonic acid and +moisture by heat, is fused into glass. Deprived of silex by this +process of filtration, it is formed into sujjee, from which the soap +is made. + +On this process of filtration. Doctor O'Shaughnessy observes:-"I do +not clearly understand the use of the common salt, used in the +extraction of soda, in the process you described. But many of the +empirical practices of the natives prove, on investigation, to square +with the most scientific precepts. For example, their proportions in +the manufacture of corrosive sublimate are precisely identical with +those which the _atomic theory_ leads the European chemist to follow. +The filtering apparatus which you describe is really admirable, and I +doubt much whether the best practical chemist could devise any +simpler or cheaper way of arriving at the object in view." + +The country is well provided with mango and other fine trees, single, +and in clusters and groves; but the tillage is slovenly and scanty, +strongly indicative of want of security to life, property, and +industry. No symptom of the residence of gardeners and other +cultivators of the better classes, or irrigation, or the use of +manure in tillage. + +_December_ 25, 1849.--Nawabgunge, eleven miles. The soil good, as +indicated by the growth of fine trees on each side of the road as far +as we could see over the level plain, and by the few fields of corn +in sight; but the cultivation is deficient and slovenly. A great part +of the road lay through the estate of Mundone, held by Davey Persaud, +the tallookdar; and the few peasants who stood by the side of the +road to watch their fields as we passed, and see the cavalcade, told +me that the deficient tillage and population arose from his being in +opposition to Government and diligently employed in plundering the +country generally, and his own estates in particular, to reduce the +local authorities to his own terms. The Government demand upon him is +twenty thousand rupees. He paid little last year, and has paid still +less during the present year, on the ground that his estate yields +nothing. This is a common and generally successful practice among +tallookdars, who take to fighting against the Government whether +their cause be just or unjust. These peasants and cultivators told us +that they had taken to the jungles for shelter, after the last +harvest, till the season for sowing again commenced; remained in the +fields, still houseless, during the night, worked in their fields in +fear of their lives during the day; and apprehended that they should +have to take to the jungles again as soon as their crops were +gathered, if they were even permitted to gather them. They attributed +as much blame to their landlord as to the Nazim, Wajid Allee Khan. +He, however, bears a very bad character, and is said to have +designedly thrown a good deal of the districts under his charge out +of tillage in the hope that no other person would venture to take the +contract for it in that condition, and that he should, in +consequence, be invited to retain it on more favourable terms. He was +twelve lacs of rupees in balance when superseded at the end of the +year, in September last, by the present governor, Aga Allee, who +manages the same districts on a salary of two thousand rupees a- +month, without any contract for the revenues, but with the +understanding that he is to collect, or at least to pay, a certain +sum. + +The late contractor will no doubt relieve himself from the burthen of +this balance in the usual way. He will be imprisoned for a time till +he pays, or enters into engagements to pay, to the minister and the +influential men at Court, as much as they think he can be made to +pay, in bribes, and some half of that sum into the Treasury, and have +all the rest struck out of the accounts as irrecoverable--perhaps two +lacs in bribes, and one to the Treasury may secure him an +acquittance, and a fair chance of employment hereafter. His real name +is Wajid Allee; but as that is the name of the King, he is commonly +called Ahmud Allee, that the royal ears may not take offence. + +_December_ 26, 1849.--Pertabghur, distance eight miles. In the course +of fourteen years, almost all signs of one of the most healthful and +most agreeable cantonments of the Bengal army have been effaced. Fine +crops of corn now cover what were the parades for cavalry, infantry, +and artillery, and the gardens and compounds of officers' bungalows. +The grounds, which were once occupied by the old cantonments, are now +let out to cultivators, immediately under Government, and they are +well cultivated; but the tillage of the rest of the country we have +this morning passed over is scanty and slovenly. The Rajah of +Pertabghur has, for some time, been on bad terms with the +contractors, greatly in arrears, and commonly in opposition to the +Government, having his band of armed followers in the jungles, and +doing nothing but mischief. This is the case with most of the +tallookdars of the country over which I have passed. Not one in five, +or I may say one in ten, attends the viceroys, because it would not +be safe to do so; or pays the demands of Government punctually, +because there is no certainty in them. + +I passed down the line of Captain Magness's corps, which is at +present stationed at Pertabghur. It is as well-dressed, and as fine a +looking corps as any infantry regiment in our own native army, and +has always shown itself as good on service. It has eight guns +attached to it, well provided and served. The artillery-men, drivers, +&c., are as well dressed and as fit for their duties as our own. +Stores and ammunition are abundant, but the powder is execrable. +Captain Magness is a good officer. The guns are six 6-pounders, drawn +by bullocks; and two gallopers of very small calibre, drawn by +horses. They are not adapted for the duties they have to perform, +which is chiefly against mud-forts and strongholds; and four 9- +pounders, two howitzers, and two mortars would be better. They are, +however, well manned and provided with bullocks, ammunition and +stores. The finest young men in Oude are glad to take service under +Captain Magness; and the standard height of his men is at present +five feet ten inches. He has some few men, good for nothing, called +_sufarishies_, whom he is obliged to keep in on account of the +persons by whom they are recommended, eunuchs, fiddlers, and Court +favourites, of all kinds. In no country are there a body of finer +looking recruits than Captain Magness now has at drill. All of the +first families in the country, and of unquestionable courage and +fidelity to their salt. He has four hundred Cavalry, of what is +called the _body guard_, men well dressed, and of fine appearance. +These Cavalry are, however, likely soon to be taken from him, and +made over to some good-for-nothing Court favourite.* He has about +seven hundred men present with his Infantry corps. His adjutant, +Yosuf Khan, speaks English well, and has travelled a good deal in +England, Europe generally, and Palestine. He is a sensible, +unprejudiced man, and good soldier. Captain Magness attends the Nazim +of the district; but, unfortunately, like all the commandants of +corps and public servants of the State, he is obliged to forage for +fodder and fuel. A foraging party is sent out every day, be where +they will, to take these things gratis, wherever they can find them +most conveniently. Bhoosa, grass and wood are the things which they +are authorized to take, without payment, wherever they can find them; +but they, of course, take a good many other things. The Government +allows nothing to any of its troops or establishments, for these +things, except when they are in Lucknow. The consequence is, that +there is hardly a good cover to any man's house, or sufficient fodder +for the cattle of any village, during the hot season and rains. + +[* They were soon after taken from Captain Magness and given to Mr. +Johannes; and soon after taken from him, and made over to an eunuch, +who turned out all the good men, to sell their places to men good for +nothing. They mutinied; but the King and minister supported the +eunuch, and the greater part of the men were discharged and their +officers ruined.] + +_December_ 27, 1849--Halted at Pertabghur. I had a visit from many of +the persons who were in my service, when I was here with my regiment +thirty years ago, as watchmen, gardeners, &c. They continue to hold +and till the lands, which they or their fathers then tilled; and the +change in them is not so great as that which has taken place within +the same time among my old native friends, who survive in the Saugor +and Nerbudda districts, where the air is less dry, and the climate +less congenial to the human frame. The natives say that the air and +water of Malwa may produce as good trees and crops as those of Oude, +but can never produce such good soldiers. This, I believe, is quite +true. The Sultanpoor district is included in the Banoda division of +Oude; and the people speak of the _water_ of this division for +_tempering_ soldiers, as we talk of the water of Damascus, for +tempering sword blades. They certainly never seem so happy as when +they are fighting in earnest with swords, spears, and matchlocks. The +_water_ of the Byswara division is considered to be very little +inferior to that of Banoda, and we get our sipahees from these two +divisions almost exclusively. + +Captain Magness's corps is, at present, attached to the Nazim of this +district, with its guns, and squadron of horse, as an auxiliary +force. Over and above this force, he has nine regiments of Nujeebs, +detachments of other Corps, Artillery, Pioneers, &c., amounting, in +all, according to the musters and pay-drafts, to seven thousand seven +hundred and seventy-eight men, for whom thirty-seven thousand seven +hundred and ninety-three rupees a-month are drawn. Of these, fifteen +hundred are dead or have deserted, or are absent on leave without +pay. Their pay is all appropriated by the commandants of corps or +Court favourites. Fifteen hundred more are in attendance on the +commandants of corps, who reside at the capital, and their friends or +other influential persons about the Court, or engaged in their own +trades or affairs, having been put into the corps by influential +persons at Court, to draw pay, but do no duty. Of the remaining four +thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, one-third, or one thousand +five hundred and ninety-two, are what is called _sufarishies_, or men +who are unfit for duty, and have been put in by influential persons +at Court, to appear at muster and draw pay. Of the remaining three +thousand one hundred and eighty-six present, there would be no chance +of getting more than two-thirds, or two thousand one hundred and +twenty-four men to fight on emergency--indeed, the Nazim would think +himself exceedingly lucky if he could get one-third to do so. + +Of the forty-two guns, thirteen are utterly useless on the ground; +and out of the remaining twenty-nine, there are draft bullocks for +only five. But there are no stores or ammunition for any of them; and +the Nazim is obliged to purchase what powder and ball he may require +in the bazaars. None of the gun-carriages have been repaired for the +last twenty years, and the strongest of them would go to pieces after +a few rounds. Very few of them would stand one round with good +powder. Five hundred rupees are allowed for fitting up the carriage +and tumbril of each gun, after certain intervals of from five to ten +years; and this sum has, no doubt, been drawn over and over for these +guns, during the twenty years, within which they have had no repairs +whatever. If the local governor is permitted to draw this sum, he is +sure never to expend one farthing of it on the gun. If the person in +charge of the ordnance at Lucknow draws it, the guns and tumbrils are +sent in to him, and returned with, at least, a coating of paint and +putty, but seldom with anything else. The two persons in charge of +the two large parks at Lucknow, from which the guns are furnished, +Anjum-od Dowlah, and Ances-od Dowlah, a fiddler, draw the money for +the corn allowed for the draft bullocks, at the rate of three pounds +per diem for each, and distribute, or pretend to distribute it +through the agents of the grain-dealers, with whom they contract for +the supply; and the district officers, under whom these draft +bullocks are employed, are never permitted to interfere. They have +nothing to do but pay for the grain allowed; and the agents, employed +to feed the bullocks, do nothing but appropriate the money for +themselves and their employers. Not a grain of corn do the bullocks +ever get. + +The Nazim has charge of the districts of Sultanpoor, Haldeemow, +Pertabghur, Jugdeespoor, and that part of Fyzabad which is not +included in the estate of Bukhtawar Sing, yielding, altogether, about +ten and a half lacs of rupees to Government. He exercises entire +fiscal, judicial, magisterial and police authority over all these +districts. To aid him in all these duties, he has four deputies--one +in each district--upon salaries of one hundred and fifty rupees each +a-month, with certain fees and perquisites. To inquire into +particular cases, over all these districts, he employs a special +deputy, paid out of his own salary. All the accountants and other +writers, employed under him, are appointed by the deputies and +favourites of the minister; and, considering themselves as their +creatures, they pay little regard to their immediate master, the +Nazim. But over and above these men, from whom he does get some +service, he has to pay a good many, from whom he can get none. He is, +before he enters upon his charge, obliged to insert, in his list of +civil functionaries, to be paid monthly, out of the revenues, a +number of writers and officers, of all descriptions, _recommended_ to +him by these deputies and other influential persons at Court. Of +these men he never sees or knows anything. They are the children, +servants, creatures, or dependents of the persons who recommend them, +and draw their pay. These are called _civil sufarishies_, and cost +the State much more than the military sufarishies_, already +mentioned--perhaps not less than six thousand rupees a-month in this +division alone. + +The Nazim is permitted to levy for incidental expenses, only ten per +cent. over and above the Government demand; and required to send one- +half of this sum to Court, for distribution. He is ostensibly +required to limit himself to this sum, and to abstain from taking the +gratuities, usually exacted by the _revenue contractors_, for +distribution among ministers and other influential persons at Court. +Were he to do so, they would all be so strongly opposed to the +_amanee_, or trust system of management, and have it in their power +so much to thwart him, in all his measures and arrangements, that he +could never possibly get on with his duties; and the disputes between +them generally results in a compromise. He takes, in gratuities, +something less than his contracting predecessors took, and shares, +what he takes, liberally, with those whose assistance he requires at +Court. These gratuities, or nuzuranas, never appeared, in the public +accounts; and were a governor, under the _amanee_ system, to demand +the full rates paid to contractors, the more powerful landholders +would refer him to these public accounts, and refuse to pay till he +could assure them of the same equivalents in _nanker_ and other +things, which they were in the habit of receiving from contractors. +These, as a mere trust manager, he may not be able to give; and he +consents to take something less. The landholders know that where the +object is to exact the means to gratify influential persons about +Court, the Nazim would be likely to get good military support, if +driven to extremity, and consent to pay the greater part of what is +demanded. When the trust manager, by his liberal remittances to Court +patrons, gets all the troops he requires, he exacts the full +gratuities, and still higher and more numerous if strong enough. The +corps under Captains Magness, Bunbury, Barlow, and Subha Sing, are +called _komukee_, or auxiliary regiments; and they are every season, +and sometimes often in the same season, sold to the highest bidder as +a perquisite by the minister. The services of Captain Magness and +Captain Bunbury's corps were purchased in this way for 1850 and 1851, +by Aga Allee, the Nazim of Sultanpoor, and he has made the most of +them. No _contractor_ ever exacted higher _nazuranas_ or _gratuities_ +than he has, by their aid, this season, though he still holds the +district as a trust manager. Ten, twenty, or thirty thousand rupees +are paid for the use of one of these regiments, according to the +exigency of the occasion, or the time for which it may be required. + +The system of government under which Oude suffers during the reign of +the best king is a fearful one; and what must it be under a +sovereign, so indifferent as the present is, to the sufferings of his +people, to his own permanent interests, and to the duties and +responsibilities of his high station? Seeing that our Government +attached much importance to the change, from the _contract_ to the +_trust_ system of management, the present minister is putting a large +portion of the country under that system in the hope of blinding us. +But there is virtually little or no change in the administration of +such districts; the person who has the charge of a district under it +is obliged to pay the same gratuities to public officers and court +favourites, and he exacts the same, or nearly the same from the +landholders; he is under no more check than the contractor, and the +officers and troops under him, abuse their authority in the same +manner, and commit the same outrages upon the suffering people. +Security to life and property is disregarded in the same manner; he +confines himself as exclusively to the duties of collecting revenue, +and is as regardless of security to life and property, and of +fidelity to his engagements, as the landholders in his jurisdiction. +The trust management of a district differs from that of the +contractors, only as the _wusoolee kubaz_ differs from the +_lakulamee_; though he does not enter into a formal contract to pay a +certain sum, he is always expected to pay such a sum, and if he does +not, he is obliged to wipe off the balance in the same way, and is +kept in gaol till he does so, in the same way. Indeed, I believe, the +people would commonly rather be under a contractor, than a trust +manager under the Oude Government; and this was the opinion of +Colonel Low, who, of all my predecessors, certainly knew most about +the real state of Oude. + +The Nazim of Sultanpoor has authority to entertain such Tehseeldars +and _Jumogdars_ as he may require, for the collection of the revenue. +Of these he has, generally, from fifty to sixty employed, on salaries +varying from fifteen to thirty rupees a-month each. The Tehseeldar is +employed here, as elsewhere, in the collection of the land revenue, +in the usual way; but the _Jumogdar_ is an officer unknown in our +territories. Some are appointed direct from Court, and some by the +Nazims and Amils of districts. When a landholder has to pay his +revenue direct to Government (as all do, who are included in what is +called the Hozoor Tehseel), and he neglects to do so punctually, a +Jumogdar is appointed. The landholder assembles his tenants, and they +enter into pledges to pay direct to the Jumogdar the rents due by +them to the landholder, under existing engagements, up to a certain +time. This may be the whole, or less than the whole, amount due to +Government by the landholder. If any of them fail to pay what they +promise to the Jumogdar, the landholder is bound to make good the +deficiency at the end of the year. He also binds himself to pay to +Government whatever may be due over and above what the tenants pledge +themselves to pay to the Jumogdar. This transfer of responsibility, +from the landholder to his tenants, is called "_Jumog Lagana_," or +transfer of the jumma. The assembly of the tenants, for the purpose +of such-adjustment, is called _zunjeer bundee_, or linking together. +The adjustment thus made is called the _bilabundee_. The salary of +the Jumogdar is paid by the landholder, who distributes the burthen +of the payment upon his tenants, at a per centage rate. The Jumogdar +takes written engagements from the tenants; and they are bound not to +pay anything to the landholder till they have paid him (the Jumogdar) +all that they are, by these engagements, bound to pay him. He does +all he can to make them pay punctually; but he is not, properly, held +responsible for any defalcation. Such responsibility rests with the +landlords. Where much difficulty is expected from the refractory +character of the landholder, the officer commanding the whole, or +some part of the troops in the district, is often appointed the +Jumogdar; and the amount which the tenants pledge themselves to pay +to him is debited to him, in the pay of the troops, under his +command. + +The Jumogdars, who are appointed by the Nazims and Amils, act in the +same manner with regard to the landlords and tenants, to whom they +are accredited, and are paid in the same manner. There may be one, or +there may be one hundred, Jumogdars in a district, according to the +necessity for their employment, in the collection of the revenue. +They are generally men of character, influence, and resolution; and +often useful to both, or all three parties; but when they are +officers commanding troops, they are often very burthensome to +landlords and tenants. The Jumogdar has only to receive the sums due, +according to existing engagements between the parties, and to see +that no portion of them is paid to any other person. He has nothing +to do with apportioning the demand, or making the engagements between +tenants and landlords, or landlords and Government officers. + +The Canoongoes and Chowdheries in Oude are commonly called Seghadars, +and their duties are the same here as everywhere else in India. + +_December_ 28, 1849.--Twelve miles to Hundore, over a country more +undulating and better cultivated than any we have seen since we +recrossed the Goomtee river at Sultanpoor. It all belongs to the +Rajah of Pertabghur, Shumshere Babadur, a Somebunsee, who resides at +Dewlee, some six miles from Pertabghur. His family is one of the +oldest and most respectable in Oude; but his capital of Pertabghur, +where he used to reside till lately, is one of the most beggarly. He +seems to have concentrated there all the beggars in the country, and +there is not a house of any respectable to be seen. The soil, all the +way, has been what they call the doomut, or doomuteea, which is well +adapted to all kinds of tillage, but naturally less strong than +muteear or argillaceous earth, and yields scanty crops, where it is +not well watered and manured. + +The Rajah came to my camp in the afternoon, and attended me on his +elephant in the evening when I went round the town, and to his old +mud fort, now in ruins, within which is the old residence of the +family. He does not pay his revenue punctually, nor is he often +prepared to attend the viceroy when required; and it was thought that +he would not come to me. Finding that the Korwar and other Rajahs and +large landholders, who had been long on similar terms with the local +authorities, had come in, paid their respects, and been left free, he +also ventured to my camp. For the last thirty years the mutual +confidence which once subsisted between the Government authorities +and the great landholders of these districts has been declining, and +it ceased altogether under the last viceroy, Wajid Allee Khan, who +appears to have been a man without any feeling of humanity or sense +of honour. No man ever knew what he would be called upon to pay to +Government in the districts under him; and almost all the respectable +landholders prepared to defend what they had by force of arms; +deserted their homes, and took to the jungles with as many followers +as they could collect and subsist, as soon as he entered on his +charge. The atrocities charged against him, and upon the best +possible evidence, are numerous and great. + +The country we have passed through to-day is well studded with fine +trees, among which the mhowa abounds more than usual. The parasite +plant, called the bandha, or Indian mistletoe, ornaments the finest +mhowa and mango trees. It is said to be a disease, which appears as +the tree grows old, and destroys it if not cut away. The people, who +feel much regard for their trees, cut these parasite plants away; and +there is no prejudice against removing them among Hindoos, though +they dare not cut away a peepul-tree which is destroying their wells, +houses, temples, or tombs; nor do they, with some exceptions, dare to +destroy a wolf, though he may have eaten their own children, or +actually have one of them in his mouth. In all parts of India, +Hindoos have a notion that the family of a man who kills a wolf, or +even wounds it, goes soon to utter ruin; and so also the village +within the boundaries of which a wolf has been killed or wounded. +They have no objection to their being killed by other people away +from the villages; on the contrary, are very glad to have them so +destroyed, as long as their blood does not drop on their premises. +Some Rajpoot families in Oude, where so many children are devoured by +wolves, are getting over this prejudice. The bandha is very +ornamental to the fine mhowa and mango trees, to the branches of +which it hangs suspended in graceful festoons, with a great variety +of colours and tints, from deep scarlet and green to light-red and +yellow. + +Wolves are numerous in the neighbourhood of Sultanpoor, and, indeed, +all along the banks of the Goomtee river, among the ravines that +intersect them; and a great many children are carried off by them +from towns, villages, and camps. It is exceedingly difficult to catch +them, and hardly any of the Hindoo population, save those of the very +lowest class who live a vagrant life, and bivouac in the jungles, or +in the suburbs of towns and villages, will attempt to catch or kill +them. All other Hindoos have a superstitious dread of destroying or +even injuring them; and a village community within the boundary of +whose lands a drop of wolf's blood has fallen believes itself doomed +to destruction. The class of little vagrant communities above +mentioned, who have no superstitious dread of destroying any living +thing, eat jackalls and all kinds of reptiles, and catch all kinds of +animals, either to feed upon themselves, or to sell them to those who +wish to keep or hunt them. + +But it is remarkable, that they very seldom catch wolves, though they +know all their dens, and could easily dig them out as they dig out +other animals. This is supposed to arise from the profit which they +make by the gold and silver bracelets, necklaces and other ornaments +worn by the children whom the wolves carry to their dens and devour, +and are left at the entrance of their dens. A party of these men +lately brought to our camp alive a very large hyęna, which was let +loose and hunted down by the European officers and the clerks of my +office. One of the officers asked them whether this was not the +reason why they did not bring wolves to camp, to be hunted down in +the same way, since officers would give more for brutes that ate +children, than for such as fed only on dogs or carrion. They dared +not deny, though they were ashamed or afraid to acknowledge, that it +was. I have myself no doubt that this is the reason, and that they do +make a good deal in this way from the children's ornaments, which +they find at the entrance of wolves' dens. In every part of India, a +great number of children are every day murdered for the sake of their +ornaments, and the fearful examples that come daily to the knowledge +of parents, and the injunctions of the civil authorities are +unavailing against this desire to see their young children decked out +in gold and silver ornaments. + +There is now at Sultanpoor a boy who was found alive in a wolf's den, +near Chandour, about ten miles from Sultanpoor, about two years and a +half ago. A trooper, sent by the native governor of the district to +Chandour, to demand payment of some revenue, was passing along the +bank of the river near Chandour about noon, when he saw a large +female wolf leave her den, followed by three whelps and a little boy. +The boy went on all fours, and seemed to be on the best possible +terms with the old dam and the three whelps, and the mother seemed to +guard all four with equal care. They all went down to the river and +drank without perceiving the trooper, who sat upon his horse watching +them. As soon as they were about to turn back, the trooper pushed on +to cut off and secure the boy; but he ran as fast as the whelps +could, and kept up with the old one. The ground was uneven, and the +trooper's horse could not overtake them. They all entered the den, +and the trooper assembled some people from Chandour with pickaxes, +and dug into the den. When they had dug in about six or eight feet, +the old wolf bolted with her three whelps and the boy. The trooper +mounted and pursued, followed by the fleetest young men of the party; +and as the ground over which they had to fly was more even, he headed +them, and turned the whelps and boy back upon the men on foot, who +secured the boy, and let the old dam and her three cubs go on their +way. + +They took the boy to the village, but had to tie him, for he was very +restive, and struggled hard to rush into every hole or den they came +near. They tried to make him speak, but could get nothing from him +but an angry growl or snarl. He was kept for several days at the +village, and a large crowd assembled every day to see him. When a +grown-up person came near him, he became alarmed, and tried to steal +away; but when a child came near him, he rushed at it, with a fierce +snarl like that of a dog, and tried to bite it. When any cooked meat +was put before him, he rejected it in disgust; but when any raw meat +was offered, he seized it with avidity, put it on the ground under +his paws, like a dog, and ate it with evident pleasure. He would not +let any one come near him while he was eating, but he made no +objection to a dog coming and sharing his food with him. The trooper +remained with him four or five days, and then returned to the +governor, leaving the boy in charge of the Rajah of Hasunpoor. He +related all that he had seen, and the boy was soon after sent to the +European officer commanding the First Regiment of Oude Local Infantry +at Sultanpoor, Captain Nicholetts, by order of the Rajah of +Hasunpoor, who was at Chandour, and saw the boy when the trooper +first brought him to that village. This account is taken from the +Rajah's own report of what had taken place. + +Captain Nicholetts made him over to the charge of his servants, who +take great care of him, but can never get him to speak a word. He is +very inoffensive, except when teased, Captain Nicholetts says, and +will then growl surlily at the person who teases him. He had come to +eat anything that is thrown to him, but always prefers raw flesh, +which he devours most greedily. He will drink a whole pitcher of +butter-milk when put before him, without seeming to draw breath. He +can never be induced to keep on any kind of clothing, even in the +coldest weather. A quilt stuffed with cotton was given to him when it +became very cold this season, but he tore it to pieces, and ate a +portion of it, cotton and all, with his bread every day. He is very +fond of bones, particularly uncooked ones, which he masticates +apparently with as much ease as meat. He has eaten half a lamb at a +time without any apparent effort, and is very fond of taking up earth +and small stones and eating them. His features are coarse, and his +countenance repulsive; and he is very filthy in his habits. He +continues to be fond of dogs and jackals, and all other small four- +footed animals that come near him; and always allows them to feed +with him if he happens to be eating when they approach. + +Captain Nicholetts, in letters dated the 14th and 19th of September, +1850, told me that the boy died in the latter end of August, and that +he was never known to laugh or smile. He understood little of what +was said to him, and seemed to take no notice of what was going on +around him. He formed no attachment for any one, nor did he seem to +care for any one. He never played with any of the children around +him, or seemed anxious to do so. When not hungry he used to sit +petting and stroking a pareear or vagrant dog, which he used to +permit to feed out of the same dish with him. A short time before his +death Captain Nicholetts shot this dog, as he used to eat the greater +part of the food given to the boy, who seemed in consequence to be +getting thin. The boy did not seem to care in the least for the death +of the dog. The parents recognised the boy when he was first found, +Captain Nicholetts believes; but when they found him to be so stupid +and insensible, they left him to subsist upon charity. They have now +left Hasunpoor, and the age of the boy when carried off cannot be +ascertained; but he was to all appearance about nine or ten years of +age when found, and he lived about three years afterwards. He used +signs when he wanted anything, and very few of them except when +hungry, and he then pointed to his mouth. When his food was placed at +some distance from him, he would run to it on all fours like any +four-footed animal; but at other times he would walk upright +occasionally. He shunned human beings of all kinds, and would never +willingly remain near one. To cold, heat, and rain he appeared to be +indifferent; and he seemed to care for nothing but eating. He was +very quiet, and required no kind of restraint after being brought to +Captain Nicholetts. He had lived with Captain Nicholetts' servants +about two years, and was never heard to speak till within a few +minutes of his death, when he put his hands to his head, and said "it +ached," and asked for water: he drank it, and died. + +At Chupra, twenty miles east from Sultanpoor, lived a cultivator with +his wife and son, who was then three years of age. In March, 1843, +the man went to cut his crop of wheat and pulse, and the woman took +her basket and went with him to glean, leading her son by the arm. +The boy had lately recovered from a severe scald on the left knee, +which he got in the cold weather, from tumbling into the fire, at +which he had been warming himself while his parents were at work. As +the father was reaping and the mother gleaning, the boy sat upon the +grass. A wolf rushed upon him suddenly from behind a bush, caught him +up by the loins, and made off with him towards the ravines. The +father was at a distance at the time, but the mother followed, +screaming as loud an she could for assistance. The people of the +village ran to her aid, but they soon lost sight of the wolf and his +prey. + +She heard nothing more of her boy for six years, and had in that +interval lost her husband. At the end of that time, two sipahees +came, in the month of February, 1849, from the town of Singramow, +which is ten miles from Chupra, on the bank of the Khobae rivulet. +While they sat on the border of the jungle, which extended down to +the stream, watching for hogs, which commonly come down to drink at +that time in the morning, they saw there three wolf cubs and a boy +come out from the jungle, and go down together to the stream to +drink. The sipahees watched them till they had drank, and were about +to return, when they rushed towards them. All four ran towards a den +in the ravines. The sipahees followed as fast as they could; but the +three cubs had got in before the sipahees could come up with them, +and the boy was half way in when one of the sipahees caught him by +the hind leg, and drew him back. He seemed very angry and ferocious, +bit at them, and seized in his teeth the barrel of one of their guns, +which they put forward to keep him off, and shook it. They however +secured him, brought him home, and kept him for twenty days. They +could for that time make him eat nothing but raw flesh, and they fed +him upon hares and birds. They found it difficult to provide him with +sufficient food, and took him to the bazaar in the village of +Koeleepoor; and there let him go to be fed by the charitable people +of the place till he might be recognised and claimed by his parents. +One market-day a man from the village of Chupra happened to see him +in the bazaar, and on his return mentioned the circumstance to his +neighbours. The poor cultivator's widow, on hearing this, asked him +to describe the boy more minutely, when she found that the boy had +the mark of a scald on the left knee, and three marks of the teeth of +an animal on each side of his loins. The widow told him that her boy +when taken off had lately recovered from a scald on the left knee, +and was seized by the loins when the wolf took him off, and that the +boy he had seen must be her lost child. + +She went off forthwith to the Koelee bazaar, and, in addition to the +two marks above described, discovered a third mark on his thigh, with +which her child was born. She took him home to her village, where he +was recognised by all her neighbours. She kept him for two months, +and all the sporting landholders in the neighbourhood sent her game +for him to feed upon. He continued to dip his face in the water to +drink, but he sucked in the water, and did not lap it up like a dog +or wolf. His body continued to smell offensively. When the mother +went to her work, the boy always ran into the jungle, and she could +never get him to speak. He followed his mother for what he could get +to eat, but showed no particular affection for her; and she could +never bring herself to feel much for him; and after two months, +finding him of no use to her, and despairing of even making anything +of him, she left him to the common charity of the village. He soon +after learnt to eat bread when it was given him, and ate whatever +else he could get during the day, but always went off to the jungle +at night. He used to mutter something, but could never be got to +articulate any word distinctly. The front of his knees and elbows had +become hardened from going on all fours with the wolves. If any +clothes are put on him, he takes them off, and commonly tears them to +pieces in doing so. He still prefers raw flesh to cooked, and feeds +on carrion whenever he can get it. The boys of the village are in the +habit of amusing themselves by catching frogs and throwing them to +him; and he catches and eats them. When a bullock dies, and the skin +is removed, he goes and eats it like a village dog. The boy is still +in the village, and this is the description given of him by the +mother herself, who still lives at Chupra. She has never experienced +any return of affection for him, nor has he shown any such feeling +for her. Her story is confirmed by all her neighbours, and by the +head landholders, cultivators, and shopkeepers of the village.* + +[* In November, 1850, Captain Nicholetts, on leaving the cantonments +of Sultanpoor, where he commanded, ordered this boy to be sent in to +me with his mother, but he got alarmed on the way and ran to a +jungle. He will no doubt find his way back soon if he lives.] + +The Rajah of Hasunpoor Bundooa mentions, as a fact within his own +knowledge, besides the others, for the truth of which he vouches, +that, in the year 1843, a lad came to the town of Hasunpoor, who had +evidently been brought up by wolves. He seemed to be twelve years of +age when he saw him--was very dark, and ate flesh, whether cooked or +uncooked. He had short hair all over his body when he first came, but +having, for a time, as the Rajah states, eaten salt with his food, +like other human beings, the hair by degrees disappeared. He could +walk, like other men, on his legs, but could never be taught to +speak. He would utter sounds like wild animals, and could be made to +understand signs very well. He used to sit at a bunneea's shop in the +bazaar, but was at last recognised by his parents, and taken off. +What became of him afterwards he knows not. The Rajah's statement +regarding this lad is confirmed by all the people of the town, but +none of them know what afterwards became of him. + +About the year 1843, a shepherd of the village of Ghutkoree, twelve +miles west from the cantonments of Sultanpoor, saw a boy trotting +along upon all fours, by the side of a wolf, one morning, as he was +out with his flock. With great difficulty he caught the boy, who ran +very fast, and brought him home. He fed him for some time, and tried +to make him speak, and associate with men or boys, but he failed. He +continued to be alarmed at the sight of men, but was brought to +Colonel Gray, who commanded the first Oude Local Infantry, at +Sultanpoor. He and Mrs. Gray, and all the officers in cantonments, +saw him often, and kept him for several days. But he soon after ran +off into the jungle, while the shepherd was asleep. The shepherd, +afterwards, went to reside in another village, and I could not +ascertain whether he recovered the boy or not. + +Zoolfukar Khan, a respectable landholder of Bankeepoor, in the estate +of Hasunpoor, ten miles east from the Sultahpoor cantonments, +mentions that about eight or nine years ago a trooper came to the +town, with a lad of about nine or ten years of age, whom he had +rescued from wolves among the ravines on the road; that he knew not +what to do with him, and left him to the common charity of the +village; that he ate everything offered to him, including bread, but +before taking it he carefully smelt at it, and always preferred +undressed meat to everything else; that he walked on his legs like +other people when he saw him, though there were evident signs on his +knees and elbows of his having gone, very long, on all fours; and +when asked to run on all fours he used to do so, and went so fast +that no one could overtake him; how long he had been with the +trooper, or how long it took him to learn to walk on his legs, he +knows not. He could not talk, or utter any very articulate sounds. He +understood signs, and heard exceedingly well, and would assist the +cultivators in turning trespassing cattle out of their fields, when +told by signs to do so. Boodhoo, a Brahmin cultivator of the village, +took care of him, and he remained with him for three months, when he +was claimed and taken off by his father, a shepherd, who said that +the boy was six years old when the wolf took him off at night some +four years before; he did not like to leave Boodhoo, the Brahmin, and +the father was obliged to drag him away. What became of him +afterwards he never heard. The lad had no hair upon his body, nor had +he any dislike to wear clothes, while he saw him. This statement was +confirmed by the people of the village. + +About seven years ago a trooper belonging to the King, and in +attendance on Rajah Hurdut Sing of Bondee, alias Bumnotee, on the +left bank of the Ghagra river, in the Bahraetch district, was passing +near a small stream which flows into that river, when he saw two wolf +cubs and a boy drinking in the stream. He had a man with him on foot, +and they managed to seize the boy, who appeared to be about ten years +of age. He took him up on the pummel of his saddle, but he was so +wild and fierce that he tore the trooper's clothes and bit him +severely in several places, though he had tied his hands together. He +brought him to Bondee, where the Rajah had him tied up in his +artillery gun-shed, and gave him raw-flesh to eat: but he several +times cut his ropes and ran off; and after three months the Rajah got +tired of him, and let him go. He was then taken by a Cashmeeree +mimic, or comedian (_bhand_), who fed and took care of him for six +weeks*; but at the end of that time he also got tired of him (for his +habits were filthy), and let him go to wander about the Bondee +bazaar. He one day ran off with a joint of meat from a butcher's +shop, and soon after upset some things in the shop of a _bunneeah_, +who let fly an arrow at him. The arrow penetrated the boy's thigh. At +this time Sanaollah, a Cashmere merchant of Lucknow, was at Bondee, +selling some shawl goods to the Rajah, on the occasion of his +brother's marriage. He had many servants with him, and among them +Janoo, a khidmutgar lad, and an old sipahee, named Ramzan Khan. Janoo +took compassion upon the poor boy, extracted the arrow from his +thigh, had his wound dressed, and prepared a bed for him under the +mango-tree, where he himself lodged, but kept him tied to a tent-pin. +He would at that time eat nothing but raw flesh. To wean him from +this, Janoo, with the consent of his master, gave him rice and pulse +to eat. He rejected them for several days, and ate nothing; but Janoo +persevered, and by degrees made him eat the balls which he prepared +for him: he was fourteen or fifteen days in bringing him to do this. +The odour from his body was very offensive, and Janoo had him rubbed +with mustard-seed soaked in water, after the oil had been taken from +it (_khullee_), in the hope of removing this smell. He continued this +for some months, and fed him upon rice, pulse, and flour bread, but +the odour did not leave him. He had hardened marks upon his knees and +elbows, from having gone on all fours. In about six weeks after he +had been tied up under the tree, with a good deal of beating, and +rubbing of his joints with oil, he was made to stand and walk upon +his legs like other human beings. He was never heard to utter more +than one articulate sound, and that was "Aboodeea," the name of the +little daughter of the Cashmeer mimic, who had treated him with +kindness, and for whom he had shown some kind of attachment. In about +four months he began to understand and obey signs. He was by them +made to prepare the hookah, put lighted charcoal upon the tobacco, +and bring it to Janoo, or present it to whomsoever he pointed out. + +[* Transcriber's note--'six weeks' was printed as 'six months', but +is corrected by the author, in Volume ii, in a P.S. to his letter, +dated 20th November, 1852, to Sir James Weir Hogg.] + +One night while the boy was lying under the tree, near Janoo, Janoo +saw two wolves come up stealthily, and smell at the boy. They then +touched him, and he got up; and, instead of being frightened, the boy +put his hands upon their heads, and they began to play with him. They +capered around him, and he threw straw and leaves at them. Janoo +tried to drive them off but he could not, and became much alarmed; +and he called out to the sentry over the guns, Meer Akbur Allee, and +told him that the wolves were going to eat the boy. He replied, "Come +away and leave him, or they will eat you also;" but when he saw them +begin to play together, his fears subsided and he kept quiet. Gaining +confidence by degrees, he drove them away; but, after going a little +distance, they returned, and began to play again with the boy. At +last he succeeded in driving them off altogether. The night after +three wolves came, and the boy and they played together. A few nights +after four wolves came, but at no time did more than four come. They +came four or five times, and Janoo had no longer any fear of them; +and he thinks that the first two that came must have been the two +cubs with which the boy was first found, and that they were prevented +from seizing him by recognising the smell. They licked his face with +their tongues as he put his hands on their heads. + +Soon after his master, Sanaollah, returned to Lucknow, and threatened +Janoo to turn him out of his service unless he let go the boy. He +persisted in taking the boy with him, and his master relented. He had +a string tied to his arm, and led him along by it, and put a bundle +of clothes on his head. As they passed a jungle the boy would throw +down the bundle and try to run into the jungle, but on being beaten, +he would put up his hands in supplication, take up the bundle and go +on; but he seemed soon to forget the beating, and did the same thing +at almost every jungle they came through. By degrees he became quite +docile. Janoo was one day, about three months after their return to +Lucknow, sent away by his master for a day or two on some business, +and before his return the boy had ran off, and he could never find +him again. About two months after the boy had gone, a woman, of the +weaver caste, came with a letter from a relation of the Rajah, Hurdut +Sing, to Sanaollah, stating that she resided in the village of +Chureyrakotra, on his estate, and had had her son, then about four +years of age, taken from her, about five or six years before, by a +wolf; and, from the description which she gave of him, he, the +Rajah's relation, thought he must be the boy whom his servant, Janoo, +took away with him. She said that her boy had two marks upon him, one +on the chest of a boil, and one of something else on the forehead; +and as these marks corresponded precisely with those found upon the +boy, neither she nor they had any doubt that he was her lost son. She +remained for four months with the merchant Sanaollah, and Janoo, his +kidmutghur, at Lucknow; but the boy could not be found, and she +returned home, praying that information might be sent to her should +he be discovered. Sanaollah, Janoo, and Ramzan Khan, are still at +Lucknow, and before me have all three declared all the circumstances +here stated to be strictly true. The boy was altogether about five +months with Sanaollah and his servants, from the time they got him; +and he had been taken about four months and a half before. The wolf +must have had several litters of whelps during the six or seven years +that the boy was with her. Janoo further adds, that he, after a month +or two, ventured to try a waist-band upon the boy, but he often tore +it off in distress or anger. After he had become reconciled to this, +in about two months, he ventured to put on upon him a vest and a pair +of trousers. He had great difficulty in making him keep them on, with +threats and occasional beatings. He would disencumber himself of them +whenever left alone, but put them on again in alarm when discovered; +and to the last often injured or destroyed them by rubbing them +against trees or posts, like a beast, when any part of his body +itched. This habit he could never break him of. + +Rajah Hurdut Sewae, who is now in Lucknow on business, tells me (28th +January, 1851) that the sowar brought the boy to Bondee, and there +kept him for a short time, as long as he remained; but as soon as he +went off, the boy came to him, and he kept him for three months; that +he appeared to him to be twelve years of age; that he ate raw meat as +long as he remained with him, with evident pleasure, whenever it was +offered to him, but would not touch the bread and other dressed food +put before him; that he went on all fours, but would stand and go +awkwardly on two legs when threatened or made to do so; that he +seemed to understand signs, but could not understand or utter a word; +that he seldom attempted to bite any one, nor did he tear the clothes +that he put upon him; that Sanaollah, the Cashmeeree merchant, used +at that time to come to him often with shawls for sale, and must have +taken the boy away with him, but he does not recollect having given +the boy to him. He says that he never himself sent any letter to +Sanaollah with the mother of the boy, but his brother or some other +relation of his may have written one for her. + +It is remarkable that I can discover no well-established instance of +a man who had been nurtured in a wolf's den having been found. There +is, at Lucknow, an old man who was found in the Oude Tarae, when a +lad, by the hut of an old hermit who had died. He is supposed to have +been taken from wolves by this old hermit. The trooper who found him +brought him to the King some forty years ago, and he has been ever +since supported by the King comfortably. He is still called the "wild +man of the woods." He was one day sent to me at my request, and I +talked with him. His features indicate him to be of the Tharoo tribe, +who are found only in that forest. He is very inoffensive, but speaks +little, and that little imperfectly; and he is still impatient of +intercourse with his fellow-men, particularly with such as are +disposed to tease him with questions. I asked him whether he had any +recollection of having been with wolves. He said "the wolf died long +before the hermit;" but he seemed to recollect nothing more, and +there is no mark on his knees or elbows to indicate that he ever went +on all fours. That he was found as a wild boy in the forest there can +be no doubt; but I do not feel at all sure that he ever lived with +wolves. From what I have seen and heard I should doubt whether any +boy who had been many years with wolves, up to the age of eight or +ten, could ever attain the average intellect of man. I have never +heard of a man who had been spared and nurtured by wolves having been +found; and, as many boys have been recovered from wolves after they +had been many years with them, we must conclude that after a time +they either die from living exclusively on animal food, before they +attain the age of manhood, or are destroyed by the wolves themselves, +or other beasts of prey, in the jungles, from whom they are unable to +escape, like the wolves themselves, from want of the same speed. The +wolf or wolves, by whom they have been spared and nurtured, must die +or be destroyed in a few years, and other wolves may kill and eat +them. Tigers generally feed for two or three days upon the bullock +they kill, and remain all the time, when not feeding, concealed in +the vicinity. If they found such a boy feeding upon their prey they +would certainly kill him, and most likely eat him. If such a boy +passed such a dead body he would certainly feed upon it. Tigers often +spring upon and kill dogs and wolves thus found feeding upon their +prey. They could more 'easily kill boys, and would certainly be more +disposed to eat them. If the dead body of such a boy were found +anywhere in the jungles, or on the plains, it would excite little +interest, where dead bodies are so often found exposed, and so soon +eaten by dogs, jackals, vultures, &c., and would scarcely ever lead +to any particular inquiry. + + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Salone district--Rajah Lal Hunmunt Sing of Dharoopoor--Soil of Oude-- +Relative fertility of the _mutteear_ and _doomutteea_--Either may +become _oosur_, or barren, from neglect, and is reclaimed, when it +does so, with difficulty--Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge of an +eleemosynary endowment at Salone--Effects of his curses--Invasion of +British Boundary--Military Force with the Nazim--State and character +of this Force--Rae Bareilly in the Byswara district--Bandha, or +Misletoe--Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor--Law of Primogeniture-- +Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo and Rogonath Sing-- +Bridge and avenue at Rae Bareilly--Eligible place for cantonment and +civil establishments--State of the Artillery--Sobha Sing's regiment-- +Foraging System--Peasantry follow the fortunes of their refractory +Landlords--No provision for the king's soldiers, disabled in action, +or for the families of those who are killed--Our sipahees, a +privileged class, very troublesome in the Byswara and Banoda +districts--Goorbukshgunge--Man destroyed by an Elephant--Danger to +which keepers of such animals are exposed--Bys Rajpoots composed of +two great families, Sybunsies and Nyhassas--Their continual contests +for landed possessions--Futteh Bahader--Rogonath Sing--Mahibollah the +robber and estate of Balla--Notion that Tillockchundee Bys Rajpoots +never suffer from the bite of a snake--Infanticide--Paucity of +comfortable dwelling-houses--The cause--Agricultural capitalists-- +Ornaments and apparel of the females of the Bys clan--Late Nazim Hamid +Allee--His father-in-law Fuzl Allee--First loan from Oude to our +Government--Native gentlemen with independent incomes cannot reside +in the country--Crowd the city, and tend to alienate the Court from +the people. + + + +_December_ 29, 1849.--Ten miles to Rampoor. Midway we passed over the +border of the Sultanpoor district into that of Salone, whose Amil, +Hoseyn Buksh, there met us with his _cortčge_. Rampoor is the +Residence of Rajah Hunmunt Sing, the tallookdar of the two estates of +Dharoopoor and Kalakunkur, which extend down to and for some miles +along the left bank of the river Ganges. There is a fort in each of +these estates, and he formerly resided in that of Dharoopoor, four +miles from our present encampment. That of Kalakunkur is on the bank +of the Ganges. The lands along, on both sides the road, over which we +are come, are scantily cultivated, but well studded with good trees, +where the soil is good for them. A good deal of it is, however, the +poor oosur soil, the rest muteear, of various degrees of fertility. +The territory of Oude, as I have said above, must once have formed +part of the bed of a lake,* which contained a vast fund of soluble +salts. Through this bed, as the waters flowed off, the rivers from +the northern range of hills, which had before fed the lake, cut their +way to join the larger stream of the Ganges; and the smaller streams, +which have their sources in the dense forest of the Tarae, which now +extends along the southern border of that range, have since cut their +way through this bed in the same manner to the larger rivers. The +waters from these rivers percolate through the bed; and, as they rise +to the surface, by the laws of capillary attraction, they carry with +them these salts in solution. As they reach the surface in dry +weather, they give off by evaporation pure water; and the salts, +which they held in solution, remain behind in the upper surface. The +capillary action goes on; and as the pure water is taken off in the +atmosphere in vapour, other water impregnated with more salts comes +up to supply its place; and the salts near the surface either +accumulate or are supplied to the roots of the plants, shrubs, or +trees, which require them. + +[* Caused, possibly, by the Vendeya range once extending E. N. E. up +to the Himmalaya chain, which runs E. S. E. It now extends up only to +the right bank of the Ganges, at Chunar and Mirzapoor.] + +Rain-water,* which contains no such salts, falls after the dry season +is over, and washes out of the upper surface a portion of the salts, +which have thus been brought up from below and accumulated, and +either takes them off in floods or carries them down again to the +beds below. Some of these salts, or their bases, may become +superabundant, and render the lands oosur or unfit for ordinary +tillage. There may be a superabundance of those which are not +required, or cannot be taken up by the plants, actually on the +surface, or there may be a superabundance of the whole, from the +plants and rain-water being insufficient to take away such as require +to be removed. These salts are here, as elsewhere, of great variety; +nitrates of ammonia, which, combining with the inorganic substances-- +magnesia, lime, soda, potash, alumina, and oxide of iron--form double +salts, and become soluble in water, and fit food for plants. Or there +may be a deficiency of vegetable mould (humus) or manure to supply, +with the aid of carbonic acid, air, water, and ammonia, the organic +acids required to adapt the inorganic substances to the use of +plants. + +[* Rain-water contains small quantities of carbonic acid, ammonia, +atmospheric air, and vegetable or animal matter.] + +All are, in due proportion, more or less conducive to the growth and +perfection of the plants, which men and animals require from the +soil: some plants require more of the one, and some more of another; +and some find a superabundance of what they need, where others find a +deficiency, or none at all. The muteear seems to differ from the +doomuteea soil, in containing a greater portion of those elements +which constitute what are called good clay soils. The inorganic +portions of these elements--silicates, carbonates, sulphates, +phosphates, and chlorides of lime, potash, magnesia, alumina, soda, +oxides of iron and manganese--it derives from the detritus of the +granite, gneiss, mica, and chlorite slate, limestone and sandstone +rocks, in which the Himmalaya chain of mountains so much abounds; and +the organic elements--humates, almates, geates, apoerenates, and +crenates--it derives from the mould, formed from the decay of animal +and vegetable matter. It is more hydroscopic, or capable of absorbing +and retaining moisture, and fixing ammonia than the doomuteea. It is +of a darker colour, and forms more into clods to retain moisture. I +may here mention that the Himmalaya chain does not abound in volcanic +rocks, like the chains of Central and Southern India; and that the +soils, which are formed from its detritus, contain, in consequence, +less phosphoric acid, and is less adapted to the growth of that +numerous class of plants which cannot live without phosphates. The +volcanic rocks form a plateaux upon the sandstone, of almost all the +hills of Central and Southern India; and the soil, which is formed +from their detritus, is exceedingly fertile, when well combined, as +it commonly is, with the salts and double salts formed by the union +of the organic acids with the inorganic bases of alkalies, earths, +and oxides which have become soluble, and been brought to the surface +from below by capillary attraction. I may also mention, that the +basaltic plateaux upon the sandstone rocks of Central and Southern +India are often surmounted with a deposit, more or less deep, of +laterite, or indurated iron clay, the detritus of which tends to +promote fertility in the soil. I have never myself seen any other +deposit than this iron clay or _laterite_ above the basaltic +plateaux. I believe that this laterite is never found, in any part of +the Himmalaya chain. I have never seen it there, nor have I ever +heard of any one having seen it there. In Bundelkund and other parts +of Central and Southern India, the basaltic plateaux are sometimes +found deposing immediately upon beds of granite. + +The doomuteea is of a light-brown colour, soon powders into fine +dust, and requires much more outlay in manure and labour than the +muteear. The oosur soil appears to be formed out of both, by a +superabundance of one or other of the salts or their bases, which are +brought to the surface from the beds below, and not carried off or +taken back into these beds. It is known that salts of ammonia are +injurious to plants, unless combined with organic acids, supplied to +the soil by decayed vegetable or animal matter. This matter is +necessary to combine with, and fix the ammonia in the soil, and give +it out to plants as they require it. + +It is possible that nitrates may superabound in the soil from the +oxydizement of the nitrogen of a superfluity of ammonia. The people +say that all land may become _oosur_ from neglect; and when _oosur_ +can never be made to bear crops, after it has been left long fallow, +till it has been flooded with rain-water for two or three seasons, by +means of artificial embankments, and then well watered, manured, and +ploughed. When well tilled in this way, all but the very worst kinds +of _oosur_ are said to bear tolerable crops. In the midst of a plain +of barren oosur land, which has hardly a tree, shrub, or blade of +grass, we find small _oases_, or patches of low land, in which +accumulated rain-water lies for several months every year, covered +with stout grasses of different kinds, a sure indication of ability +to bear good crops, under good tillage. From very bad _oosur_ lands, +common salt or saltpetre, or both, are taken by digging out and +washing the earth, and then removing the water by evaporation. The +clods in the muteear soil not only retain moisture, and give it out +slowly as required by the crops, but they give shelter and coolness +to the young and tender shoots of grain and pulse. Of course trees, +shrubs, and plants, of all kind in Oude, as elsewhere, derive +carbonic acid gas and ammonia from the atmosphere, and decompose +them, for their own use, in the same manner. + +In treating of the advantages of greater facilities for irrigation in +India, I do not recollect ever having seen any mention made of that +of penetrating by wells into the deep deposits below of the soluble +salts, or their bases, and bringing them to the surface in the water, +for the supply of the plants, shrubs, and trees we require. People +talk of digging for valuable metals, and thereby "developing +resources;" but never talk of digging for the more valuable solutions +of soluble salts, to be combined with the organic acids already +existing in the soil, or provided by man in manures--and with the +carbonic acid, ammonia, and water from the atmosphere--to supply him +with a never-ending succession of harvests. The practical +agriculturists of Oude, however, say, that brackish water in +irrigation is only useful to tobacco and shama; and where the salts +which produce it superabound, rain-water tanks and fresh-water rivers +and canals would, no doubt, be much better than wells for irrigation. +All these waters contain carbonic acid gas, atmospheric air, and +solutions of salts, which form food for plants, or become so when +combined with the organic acids, supplied by the decayed animal and +vegetable matter in the soil. + +Soils which contain salts, which readily give off their water of +crystallization and _effloresce_, sooner become barren than those +which contain salts that attract moisture from the air, and +deliquesce, as chlorides of calcium and magnesia, carbonates and +acetates of potassa, alumina, &c. Canals flowing over these deep dry +beds, through which little water from the springs below ever +percolates to the surface, are not only of great advantage for +irrigating the crops on the surface, but for supplying water as they +flow along, to penetrate through these deep dry beds; and, as they +rise to the surface by capillary attraction, carrying along with them +the soluble salts which they pick up on their way. In Oude, as in all +the districts that extend along to the north of the Ganges, and south +of the Himmalaya chain, easterly winds prevail, and bring up moisture +from the sea of the Bay of Bengal. All these districts are, at the +same time, abundantly studded with groves of fine trees and jungle, +that attract this moisture to the earth in rain and dew. Through +Goozerat, Malwa, Berar, and Bundelkund, and all the districts +bordering the Nerbudda river, from its mouth to its sources, westerly +winds prevail, and bring up moisture from the Gulf of Cambay; and +these districts are all well studded with groves, &c., and single +trees, which act in the same manner, in attracting the moisture from +the atmosphere to the earth, in rain and dew. In Rajpootana and Sinde +no prevailing wind, I believe, comes from any sea nearer than the +Atlantic ocean; and there are but few trees to attract to the earth +the little moisture that the atmosphere contains. The rain that falls +over these countries is not, I believe, equal to more than one-third +of what falls over the districts, supplied from the Bay of Bengal, or +to one-fourth of what falls in those supplied from the Gulf of +Cambay. Our own districts of the N. W. Provinces, which intervene +between those north of the Ganges and Rajpootana, have the advantage +of rivers and canals; but their atmosphere is not so well supplied +with moisture from the sea, nor are they so well studded as they +ought to be with trees. The Punjab has still greater advantages from +numerous rivers, flowing from the Himmalaya chain, and is, like +Egypt, in some measure independent of moisture from the atmosphere as +far as tillage is concerned; but both would, no doubt, be benefited +by a greater abundance of trees. They not only tend to convey to and +retain moisture in the soil, and to purify the air for man, by giving +out oxygen and absorbing carbonic acid gas, but they are fertilizing +media, through which the atmosphere conveys to the soil most of the +carbon, and much of the ammonia, without which no soil can be +fertile. It is, I believe, generally admitted that trees derive most +of their carbon from the air through their leaves, and most of their +ammonia from the soil through their roots; and that when the trees, +shrubs, and plants, which form our coal-measures, adorned the surface +of the globe, the atmosphere must have contained a greater portion of +carbonic acid gas than at present. They decompose the gases, use the +carbon, and give back the oxygen to the atmosphere. + +_December_ 30, 1849.--Ten miles to Salone, over a pretty country, +well studded with fine trees and well tilled, except in large patches +of oosur land, which occur on both sides of the road. The soil, +doomuteea, with a few short intervals of muteear. The Rajah of +Pertabghur, and other great landholders of the Sultanpoor division, +who had been for some days travelling with me, and the Nazim and his +officers, took leave yesterday. The Nazim, Aga Allee, is a man of +great experience in the convenances of court and city life, and of +some in revenue management, having long had charge of the estates +comprised in the "Hozoor Tehseel," while he resided at Lucknow. He +has good sense and an excellent temper, and his manners and +deportment are courteous and gentlemanly. The Rajah of Pertabghur is +a very stout and fat man, of average understanding. The rightful heir +to the principality was Seorutun Sing, whom I have mentioned in my +_Rambles and Recollections_, as a gallant young landholder, fighting +for his right to the succession, while I was cantoned at Pertabghur +in 1818. He continued to fight, but in vain, as the revenue +contractors were too strong for him. Gholam Hoseyn, the then Nazim, +kept him down while he lived, and Dursun Sing got him into his power +by fraud, and confined him for three years in gaol. + +He died soon after his release, leaving one son. Rajah Dheer Sing,* +who still lives upon the portion of land which his father inherited. +He has taken up the contest for the right bequeathed to him by his +father; and his uncle, Golab Sing, the younger brother of Seorutun, a +brave, shrewd, and energetic man, has been for some days importuning +me for assistance. The nearest relations of the family told me +yesterday, that they were coerced by the Government authorities into +recognising the adoption of the present Rajah, though it was contrary +to all Hindoo law and usage. Hindoos, they said, never marry into the +same gote or family, and they never ought to adopt one of the +relations of their wives, or a son of a sister, or any descendant in +the female line, while there is one of the male line existing. +Seoruttun Sing was the next heir in the male line; but the Rajah, +having married a young girl in his old age, adopted as his heir to +the principality her nearest relative, the present Rajah, who is of a +different _gote_. The desire to keep the land in the same family has +given rise to singular laws and usages in all nations in the early +stages of civilization, when industry is confined almost exclusively +to agriculture, and land is almost the only property valued. Among +the people of the Himmalaya hills, as in all Sogdiana, it gave rise +to polyandry; and, among the Israelites and Mahommedans, to the +marriage of many brothers in succession to the same woman. + +[* Rajah Deer Sing died in April 1851, leaving a very young son under +the guardianship of his uncle, Golab Sing.] + +The Rajah of Dharoopoor, who resides at Rampoor, our last halting- +place, holds, as above stated, a tract of land along the left bank of +the Ganges, called the Kalakunkur, in which he has lately built a +mud-fort of reputed strength. He is a very sensible and active man of +pleasing manners. He has two grown-up sons, who were introduced to me +by him yesterday. The Government authorities complain of his want of +punctuality in the payment of his revenue; and he complains, with +much more justice, of the uncertainty in the rate of the demand on +the part of Government and its officers or Court favourites, and in +the character of the viceroys sent to rule over them; but, above all, +of the impossibility of getting a hearing at Court when they are +wronged and oppressed by bad viceroys. He went twice himself to +Lucknow, to complain of grievous wrongs suffered by him and his +tenants from an oppressive viceroy; but, though he had some good +friends at Court, and among them Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, he was obliged +to return without finding access to the sovereign or his minister, or +any one in authority over the viceroy. He told me that all large +landholders, who had any regard for their character, or desire to +retain their estates, and protect their tenants, were obliged to arm +and take to their strongholds or jungles as their only resource, when +bad viceroys were sent--that if they could be assured that fair +demands only would be made, and that they would have access to +authority, when they required to defend themselves from false +charges, and to complain of the wrong doings of viceroys and their +agents, none of them would be found in resistance against the +Government, since all were anxious to bequeath to their children a +good name, as well as a good estate. He promised punctual payment of +his revenues to Government, and strict obedience in all things, +provided that the contractor did not enhance his demand upon him, as +he now seemed disposed to do, in the shape of gratuities to himself +and Court favourites. "To be safe in Oude" he said, "it is necessary +to be strong, and prepared always to use your strength in resisting +outrage and oppression, on the part of the King's officers." + +At Salone resides a holy Mahommedan, Shah Puna Ata, who is looked up +to with great reverence by both Mahommedans and Hindoos, for the +sanctity of his character, and that of his ancestors, who sat upon +the same religions _throne_, for throne his simple mattress is +considered to be. From the time that the heir is called to the +_throne_, he never leaves his house, but stays at home to receive +homage, and distribute blessings and food to needy travellers of all +religions. He gets from the King of Oude twelve villages, rent free, +in perpetuity; and they are said to yield him twenty-five thousand +rupees a-year, with which he provides for his family, and for needy +travellers and pilgrims. This eleemosynary endowment was granted, +about sixty years ago, by the then sovereign, Asuf-od Dowlah. The +lands had belonged to a family of Kumpureea Rajpoots, who were ousted +for contumacy or rebellion, I believe. He was plundered of all he +had, to the amount of some twenty thousand rupees, in 1834, during +the reign of Nuseer-on Deen Hyder, by Ehsan Hoseyn, the Nazim of +Byswara and Salone, one of the sons of Sobhan Allee Khan, the then +virtual minister; but some fifteen days after, he attacked the +tallookdar of Bhuderee, and lost his place in consequence. The +popular belief is, that he became insane in consequence of the holy +man's curses, and that his whole family became ruined from the same +cause. + +Bhuderee, which lies a few miles to the south of Salone, was then +held by two gallant Rajpoot brothers, Jugmohun Sing and Bishonath +Sing, the sons of Zalim Sing. In the month of October, A.D. 1832, +Dhokul Sing got the contract of the district, and demanded from +Bhuderee an increase of ten thousand rupees in its revenue. They +refused to pay this increase. At the established rate they had always +paid the Government demand punctually, and been good subjects and +excellent landlords. Dhokul Sing was superseded by Ehsan Hoseyn, in +March 1833; and he insisted upon having the increase of ten thousand. +They refused to pay, and Ehsan Hoseyn besieged and attacked their +fort in September. After defending themselves resolutely for five +days, Bishonath Sing consented to visit Ehsan Hoseyn, in his camp, on +a solemn assurance of personal security; but he no sooner came to his +tent than he was seized and taken to Rae Bareilly, the headquarters, +a prisoner, in the suite of the Nazim. He there remained confined, in +irons, under charge of a wing of a regiment, commanded by Mozim Khan, +till February 1834, when he effected his escape, and went back to +Bhuderee. In March, a large force was collected, with an immense +train of artillery, to aid the Nazim, and he again laid siege to the +fort. Having sent off their families before the siege began, and +seeing, in the course of a few days, that they could not long hold +out against so large a force, the two brothers buried eight out of +their ten guns, left the fort at midnight with the other two, cut +their way through the besiegers, and passed over a plain six miles to +Ramchora, on the left bank of the Ganges, and within the British +territory, followed by the whole of the Nazim's force. + +A brisk cannonade was kept up, on both sides, the whole way, and a +great many lives were lost The two brothers thought they should be +safe at Ramchora, under the protection of the British Government; but +the Nazim's force surrounded the place, and kept up a fire upon it. +The brothers contrived, however, to send over the Ganges the greater +part of their followers, under the protection of their two guns, and +the few men retained to defend and serve them. Jugmohun Sing at last +consented to accept the pledge of personal security tendered by Rajah +Seodeen Sing, the commander-in-chief of the attacking forces; but +while he and his brother were on their way to the camp, with a few +armed attendants, the soldiers of the Nazim, by whom they were +escorted, attempted to seize and disarm them. They resisted and +defended themselves. Others came to their rescue, and the firing +recommenced. Jugmohun Sing, and his brother, Bishonath Sing and all +their remaining followers were killed. The two brothers lost about +one hundred and fifty men, and the Nazim about sixty, in killed. The +heads of the two brothers were taken off, forthwith, and sent to the +King. Three villages in the British territory were plundered by the +Oude troops on this occasion. This violation of our territory the +King of Oude was called upon to punish; and Ehsan Hoseyn was deprived +of his charge, and heavily fined, to pay compensation to our injured +subjects. + +Roshun-od Dowlah, the minister, was entirely in the hands of Sobhan +Allee Khan; and, as long as he retained office, the family suffered +no other punishment. When he, Roshun-od Dowlah, was afterwards +deprived of office, he went to Cawnpore to reside, and Sobhan Allee +and all his family were obliged to follow his fortunes. On his +dismissal from office, Roshun-od Dowlah was put into gaol, and not +released till he paid twenty-two lacs of rupees into the Treasury. He +had given eight lacs, in our Government promissory notes, to his +wife, and three to his son, and he took some lacs with him to +Cawnpore, all made during the five years he held office. Sobhan Allee +Khan, his deputy, was made to pay into the Treasury seven lacs, and +five in gratuities--all made during the same five years. Sobhan Allee +died last year on a pilgrimage to Mecca, with the character of one of +the ablest and least scrupulous of men; and his sons continue to +reside at Cawnpore and Allahabad, with the character of having all +the bad, without any of the good, qualities of their father. The +widow of Jugmohun manages the estate; but she has adopted the nearest +heir to her husband, the present Rajah of Bhuderee, a fine, handsome, +and amiable youth, of sixteen years of age, who is now learning +Persian. He was one of the many chiefs who took leave of me +yesterday, and the most prepossessing of all. His adoptive mother, +however, absorbs the estates of her weaker neighbours, by fraud, +violence, and collusion, like other landholders, and the dispossessed +become leaders of gang robbers as in other parts. + +The Shah receives something from the local authorities, and +contributions from Mahommedan Princes, in remote parts of India, such +as Bhopal, Seronge, &c. Altogether his income is said to amount to +about fifty thousand rupees a-year. He has letters from Governors- +General of India, Lieutenant-Governors of the North-Western Provinces +and their Secretaries; and from Residents at the Court of Lucknow, +all of a complimentary character. He has lately declared his eldest +son to be his heir to the throne, and is said to have already put him +upon it. I received from him the usual letter of compliments and +welcome, with a present of a tame antelope, and some fruit and sugar; +and I wrote him a reply in the usual terms. His name is Shah Puna +Ata, and his character is held in high esteem by all classes of the +people, of whatever creed, caste, or grade. + +The Bhuderee family give their daughters in marriage to the Bugheela +Rajahs of Rewa and the Powar Rajahs of Ocheyra, who are considered to +be a shade higher in caste than they are among the Rajpoots. Not long +ago they gave one hundred thousand rupees, with one daughter, to the +only son of the Rewa Rajah, as the only condition on which he would +take her. Golab Sing, the brother of Seoruttun Sing, of Pertabghur, +by caste a Sombunsee, is said to have given lately fifty thousand +rupees, with another daughter, to the same person. Rajah Hunmunt +Sing, of Dharoopoor, who is by caste a Beseyn Rajpoot, the year +before last went to Rewa, accompanied by some fifty Brahmins, to +propose an union between his daughter and the same son of the Rewa +Rajah. A large sum was demanded, but he pleaded poverty, and at last +got the Rajah to consent to take fifty thousand rupees down, and +seventy-five thousand at the last ceremony of the barat, or fetching +home of the bride. When all had been prepared for this last ceremony, +the Rajah of Rewa pleaded the heat of the weather, and his son would +not come to complete it, and take away his bride. Hunmunt Sing +collected one hundred _resolute Brahmins_, and proceeded with them to +Rewa, where they sat _dhurna_ at the Rajah's door, without tasting +food, and declared that they would all die there unless the marriage +were completed. + +The Rajah did all he could, or could make his people do, to get rid +of them; but at last, afraid that some of the Brahmins would really +die, he consented that his son should go and fetch his bride, if +Hunmunt Sing would pay down twenty-five thousand rupees more, to +defray the cost of the procession, in addition to the seventy-five +thousand. He did so, and his daughter was taken off in due form. He +has another daughter to dispose of in the same way. The Rewa Rajah +has thus taken five or six wives for his son, from families a shade +lower in caste; but the whole that he has got with them will not be +enough to pay one of the Rajpoot families, a shade higher in caste +than he is, in Rajpootana, to take one daughter from him. It costs +him ten or twelve lacs of rupees to induce the Rajah of Oudeepoor, +Joudhpoor, or Jypoor, to take away, as his bride, a daughter of Rewa. +All is a matter of bargain and sale. Those who have money must pay, +in proportion to their means, to marry their daughters into families +a shade higher in caste or dignity, or to get daughters from them +when such families are reduced to the necessity of selling their +daughters to families of a lower grade. + +Among Brahmins it is the same. Take, for example, the Kunojee +Brahmins, among whom there are several shades of caste. The member of +a family a shade higher will not give his son in marriage to a +daughter of a family a shade lower, without receiving a sum in +proportion to its means; nor will he give a daughter in marriage to +such a family till he is so exalted as to be able to disregard the +feelings of his clan, or reduced to such a degree of poverty as shall +seem to his clan sufficient to justify it. This bargain and sale of +sons and daughters prevails, more or less, throughout all Hindoo +society, and is not, even now, altogether unknown among Christian +nations. In Oude, this has led to the stealing of young girls from +our own districts. Some men and women from our districts make a trade +of it. They pretend to be of Rajpoot caste, and inveigle away girls +from their parents, to be united in marriage to Rajpoots in Oude. +They pretend to have brought them with the consent of their parents, +of the same or higher caste, in our territories, and make large sums +by the trade. + +_December_ 31, 1849.--Eight miles to Sotee, over a country well +studded with trees, and generally well cultivated. The soil is, all +the way, doomuteea. The road, the greater part of the way, lies in +the purgunnah of Nyn, held by Jugunnath Sing, a Kumpureea Rajpoot, +and his nephew, and the collateral branches of their family. They +have a belt of jungle, extending for some twelve miles along the +right bank of the Saee river, and on the right side of the road, and +within from two to six miles from it--in some parts nearer, and in +others more remote. Wild hogs, deer, neelgae, and wild cattle abound +in this jungle, and do great injury to the crops in its vicinity. The +peasantry can kill and eat the hogs and deer, but dare not kill or +wound the wild cattle or neelgae. The wild cattle are said to be from +a stock which strayed or were let loose in this jungle some centuries +ago. They are described as fat, while the crops are on the ground, +and well formed--some black, some red, some white, and some mixed-- +and to be as wild and active as the deer of the same jungle. They are +sometimes caught by being driven into the Saee river; but the young +ones are said to refuse all food, and die soon, if not released. +Hindoos soon release them, from the religious dread that they may die +in confinement. The old ones sometimes live, and are considered +valuable. They are said to be finer in form than the tame cattle of +the country; and from July to March, when grass abounds, and the +country around is covered successively with autumn and spring crops, +more fat and sleek. + +The soil is good and strong, and the jungle which covers it very +thick. It is preserved by a family of Kumpureea Rajpoots, whose whole +possessions, in 1814, consisted of nine villages. By degrees they +have driven out or murdered all the other proprietors, and they now +hold no less than one hundred and fifty, for which they pay little or +no revenue to Government. The rents are employed in keeping up large +bands of armed followers and building strongholds, from which they +infest the surrounding country. The family has become divided into +five branches, each branch having a fort or stronghold in the Nyn +jungle, and becoming by degrees subdivided into smaller branches, who +will thrive and become formidable in proportion as the Government +becomes weak. Each branch acts independently in its depredations and +usurpations from weaker neighbours but all unite when attacked or +threatened by the Government. + +Rajah Dursun Sing held the district of Salone from 1827 to 1836, and +during this time he made several successful attacks upon the +Kumpureea Rajpoots of the Nyn jungle; and during his occasional +temporary residence he had a great deal of the jungle around his +force cut down, but he made no permanent arrangement for subduing +them. In 1837, the government of this district was transferred to +Kondon Lal Partak, who established a garrison in the centre of the +jungle, had much of it cut down, and kept the Kumpureea barons +effectually in check. He died in 1838, and Rajahs Dursun Sing and +Buktawar Sing again got the government, and continued the _partaks_ +system for the next five years, up to 1843. They lost the government +for 1844 and 1845, but their successors followed the same system, to +keep the Kumpureeas in order. Bukhtawar Sing got the government again +for 1846 and 1847, and persevered in this system; but in 1848 the +government was made over to Hamid Allee, a weak and inexperienced +man. His deputy, Nourouz Allee, withdrew the garrison, and left the +jungle to the Kumpureeas, who, in return, assigned to him three or +four of their villages, rent free, in perpetuity, which in Oude means +as long as the grantee may have the power or influence to be useful +to the granters, or to retain the grants. Since that time the +Kumpureeas have recovered all the lands they had lost, restored all +the jungle that had been cut down, and they are now more powerful +than ever. They have strengthened their old forts and built some new, +and added greatly to the number of their armed followers, so that the +governor of the district dares not do anything to coerce them into +the payment of the just demands of Government, or to check their +usurpations and outrages.* + +[* This Nourouz Allee was, 1851, the agent of the Kumpureea barons of +this jungle, at the Durbar, where he has made, in the usual way, many +influential friends, in collusion with whom he has seized upon many +estates in the vicinity of the jungle, and had them made over to +these formidable barons.] + +The present Nazim has with him two Nujeeb Regiments, one of nine +hundred and fifty-five, and the other of eight hundred and thirty +men; a squadron of horse and fourteen guns. The two corps are +virtually commanded by fiddlers and eunuchs at Court. Of the men +borne on the muster rolls and paid, not one-half are present; of the +number present, not one-half are fit for the duties of soldiers; and +of those fit for such duties, not one-half would perform them. They +get nominally four rupees a-month, liable to numerous deductions, and +they are obliged to provide their own clothing, arms, accoutrements, +and ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when they are +entitled to powder and ball from the Government officer under whom +they are employed. He purchases powder in the bazaars, or has it sent +to him from Lucknow; and, in either case, it is not more than one- +third of the strength used by our troops. It is made in villages and +supplied to contractors, whose only object is to get the article at +the cheapest possible rate; and that supplied to the most petted +corps is altogether unfit for service. + +The arms with which they are expected to provide themselves are a +matchlock and sword. They are often ten or twelve months in arrears, +and obliged to borrow money for their own subsistence and that of +their families, at twenty-four per cent. interest. If they are +disabled, they have little chance of ever recovering the arrears of +pay due to them; and if they are killed, their families have still +less. Even the arms and accoutrements which they have purchased with +their own money are commonly seized by the officers of Government, +and sold for the benefit of the State. Under all these disadvantages, +the Nazim tells me that he thinks it very doubtful whether any of the +men of the two corps would fight at all on emergency. The cavalry are +still worse off, for they have to subsist their horses, and if any +man's horse should be disabled or killed, he would be at once +dismissed with just as little chance of recovering the arrears of pay +due to him. Of the fourteen guns, two only are in a state fit for +service. Bullocks are provided for six out of fourteen, but they are +hardly able to stand from want of food, much less to draw heavy guns. +I looked at them, and found that they had had no grain for many +years, and very little grass or chaff, since none is allowed by +Government for their use, and little can be got by forage, or +plunder, which is the same thing. One seer and half of grain, or +three pounds a-day for each bullock, is allowed and paid for by +Government, but the bullocks never get any of it. Of the six best +guns, for which he has draft bullocks, the carriage of one went to +pieces on the road yesterday, and that of another went to pieces +this-morning in my camp, in firing the salute, and both guns now lie +useless on the ground. He has one mortar, but only two shells for it; +and he has neither powder nor ball for any of the guns. He was +obliged to purchase in the bazaar the powder required for the salute +for the Resident. + +The Nazim tells me, that he has entertained at his own cost two +thousand Nujeebs or Seobundies, on the same conditions as those on +which the others serve in the two Regiments, on duty under him--that +is, they are to get four rupees a-month each, and furnish themselves +with food, clothing, a matchlock, sword, accoutrements, and +ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when he is to +provide them with powder and ball from the bazaar. The minister, he +tells me, promised to send him another Nujeeb corps--the Futteh Jung-- +from Khyrabad; but he has heard so bad an account of its discipline, +that he might as well be without it. All the great landholders see +the helpless state of the Nazim, and not only withhold from him the +just dues of Government, but seize upon and appropriate with impunity +the estates of the small proprietors in their neighbourhood. + +_January_ 1, 1850.--Fourteen miles to Rae Bareilly, over a plain +with more than usual undulation, and the same doomuteea light soil, +tolerably cultivated, and well studded with trees of the finest kind. +The festoons of the bandha hang gracefully from the branches, with +their light green and yellow leaves, and scarlet flowers, in the dark +green foliage of the mango and mhowa trees in great abundance. I saw +them in no other, but they are sometimes said to be found in the +banyan, peepul, and other trees, with large leaves, though not in the +tamarind, babul, and other trees, with small leaves. I examined those +on the mango and mhowa trees, and they are the same in leaf and +flower, and are said to be the same in whatever tree found. Rae +Bareilly is in the estate of Shunkurpoor, belonging to Rana Benee +Madho, a large landholder. He resides at Shunkurpoor, ten miles from +this, and is strong, and not very scrupulous in the acquisition, by +fraud, violence, and collusion, of the lands of the small proprietors +in the neighbourhood. I asked Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, as +he was riding by my side, this morning, whether he was not a man of +bad character. He said, "No, by no means; he is a man of great +possessions, credit, and influence, and of good repute." "But does he +not rob smaller proprietors of their hereditary lands?" "If," replied +the Rajah, "you estimate men's character in Oude on this principle, +you will find hardly any landholder of any rank with a good one, for +they have all been long doing the same thing--all have been +augmenting their own estates by absorbing those of smaller +proprietors, by what you will call fraud, violence, and collusion, +but they are not thought the worse of for this by the Government or +its officers." Nothing could be more true. Men who augment their +estates in this way, purchase the acquiescence of temporary local +officers, either by gratuities, or promises of aid, in putting down +other powerful and refractory landholders; or they purchase the +patronage of Court favourites, who get their estates transferred to +the "Hozoor Tehseel," and their transgressions overlooked. Those who +augment their resources in this way, employ them in maintaining armed +bands, building forts, and purchasing cannon, to secure themselves in +the possession, and to resist the Government and its officers, who +might otherwise make them pay in some proportion to their +usurpations. + +Benee Madho called upon me after breakfast, and gave me the little of +his history that I desired to hear. He is of the Byans Rajpoot clan, +and his ancestors have been settled in Oude for about twenty-five +generations, as landholders of different grades. The tallook or +estate now belongs to him, and is considered to be a principality, to +descend entire by the law of primogeniture, to the nearest male heir, +unless the lands become divided during his life-time among his sons. +Such a division has already taken place, as will be seen by the +annexed note :* + +[* Abdool-Sing, the tallookdar of Shunkurpoor, had three sons; first, +Doorga Buksh, to whom he gave three shares; second, Chundha Buksh, to +whom he gave two shares; third, Bhowanee Buksh, to whom he gave one +and half share. The three shares of Doorga Buksh descended to his +son, Sheopersaud, who died without issue. Chunda Buksh left two sons, +Ramnaraen and Gor Buksh, Ramnaraen inherited the three shares of +Sheopersaud, as well as the two shares of his father. He had three +sons, Rana Benee Madho, Nirput Sing, and Jogray Sing; Benee Madho +inherited the three shares, and one of the other two was given to +Nirput Sing, and the other to Jogray Sing. Gorbuksh Sing left one +son, Sheopersaud, who gets the one and half share of Bhowanee Buksh, +whose son, Joorawun, died without issue. Benee Madho is now the head +of the family; and he has more than quadrupled his three shares by +absorptions, made in the way above mentioned.] + +The three and half shares held by his brothers and cousins are liable +to subdivision by the Hindoo law of inheritance, or the custom of his +family and clan; but his own share must descend undivided, unless he +divides it during his lifetime, or his heirs divide it during theirs, +and consent to descend in the scale of landholders. He says that, +during the five years that Fakeer Mahommed Khan was Nazim, a quarrel +subsisted between him and the tallookdar of Khujoor Gow, Rugonath +Sing, his neighbour; that Sahib Rae, the deputy of Fakeer Mahommed, +who was himself no man of business, adopted the cause of his enemy, +and persuaded his master to attack and rob him of all he had, turn +him out of his estate, and make it over to Rugonath Sing. He went to +Lucknow for redress, and remained there urging his claims for +fourteen months, when he got an order from the minister, Ameen-od +Dowlah, for the estate being restored to him and transferred to the +Hozoor Tehseel. He recovered his possessions, and the transfer was +made; and he has ever since lived in peace. He might have added that +he has been, at the same time, diligently employed in usurping the +possessions of his weaker neighbours.* + +[* Benee Madho and Rugonath Sing have since quarrelled about the +title of Rana. Benee Madho assumed the title, and Rugonath wished to +do the same, but Benee Madho thought this would derogate from his +dignity. They had some fighting, but Rugonath at last gave in, and +Benee Madho purchased, from the Court a recognition of his exclusive +right to the title, which is a new one in Oude. They had each a force +of five thousand brave men, besides numerous auxiliaries.] + +On our road, two miles from Rae Bareilly, we passed over a bridge on +the Saee river, built by _Reotee Ram_, the deputy of the celebrated +eunuch, Almas Allee Khan, some sixty or seventy years ago. He at the +same time planted an avenue of fine trees from Salone to Rae +Bareilly, twenty miles; and from Rae Bareilly to Dalamow, on the +Ganges, south, a distance of fourteen miles more. Many of the trees +are still standing and very fine; but the greater part have been cut +down during the contests that have taken place between the Government +officers and the landholders, or between the landholders themselves. +The troops in attendance upon local government authorities have, +perhaps, been the greatest enemies to this avenue, for they spare +nothing of value, either in exchange or esteem, that they have the +power to take. The Government and its officers feel no interest in +such things, and the family of the planter has no longer the means to +protect the trees or repair the works. + +Rae Bareilly is the head-quarters of the local authorities in the +Byswara district, and is considered to be one of the most healthy +places in Oude. It is near the bank of the small river Saee, in a +fine, open plain of light soil, and must be dry at all seasons, as +the drainage is good; and there are no jheels or jungles near. It +would be an excellent cantonment for a large force, and position for +large civil establishments. The town is a melancholy ruin, and the +people tell me that whatever landholder in the district quarrels with +the local authorities is sure, as his first enterprise, to sack _Rae +Bareilly_, as there is no danger in doing it. The inhabitants live so +far from each other, and are separated by such heaps of ruins and +deep water-courses, that they can make no resistance. The high walls +and buildings, all of burnt brick, erected in the time of Shahjehan, +are all gone to ruin. The plain, around the town, is open, level, +well cultivated, and beautifully studded with trees. There is a fine +tank of puckah masonry to the north-west of the town, built by the +same Reotee Ram, and repaired by some member of his family, who holds +and keeps in good order the pretty garden around it. The best place +for a cantonment, courts, &c., is the plain which separates the town +from the river Saee to the south-east: they should extend along from +the town to the bridge over the Saee river. The water of this river +is said to be excellent, though not quite equal to that of the +Ganges. There is good water in most of the wells, but in some it is +said to be brackish. The bridge requires repair. + +_January_ 2, 1850.--We halted at Rae Bareilly, and I inspected the +bullocks belonging to the guns of Sobha Sing's regiment and some guns +belonging to the Nazim. The bullocks have been starved, are hardly +able to walk, and quite unfit for any work. Some of the carriages of +the guns are broken down, and those that are still entire are so +rotten that they could not bear a march. This regiment of Sobha +Sing's was as good as any of those commanded by Captains Magness, +Bunbury, and Barlow, while commanded by the late Captain Buckley;* +and the native officers and sipahees trained under him are all still +excellent, but they are not well provided. Like the others, this +regiment was to have had guns permanently attached to it, but the +want of Court influence has prevented this. They now have them only +when sent on service from one or other of the batteries at Lucknow, +and the consequence is that they are good for nothing. Sobha Sing is +at Court, in attendance on the minister; and his adjutant, Bhopaul +Sing, a near relative of the Rajah of Mynpooree, commands: he seems +to be a good soldier, and an honest and respectable man. + + +[* Captain Buckley was the son of Colonel Buckley, of the Honourable +Company's service, a good soldier and faithful servant of the Oude +Government. His mother, widow, and son, were left destitute; but on +my earnest recommendation, the King granted the lad a pension of +fifty rupees a-month.] + +The Nazim has with him this one _Komukee_, or auxiliary regiment, and +half of three regiments of Nujeebs, amounting, according to the pay +abstracts and muster-rolls, to fifteen hundred men. He has one +hundred cavalry and seven guns, of which one only is fit for use, and +for that one he has neither stores nor ammunition. He was obliged to +purchase in the bazaar the powder and cloth required to make up the +cartridges for a salute for the Resident. Of the fifteen hundred +Nujeebs not two-thirds are present, and of these hardly one-half are +efficient: they are paid, armed, clothed, and provided like the corps +of Nujeebs placed under the other local officers. The tallookdars of +the districts have not as yet presented themselves to the Nazim, but +they have sent their agents, and, with few exceptions, shown a +disposition to pay their revenues. The chief landholder in the +district is Rambuksh, of Dondeea Kherah, a town, with a fort, on the +bank of the river Ganges. He holds five of the purgunnahs as +hereditary possessions:--1, Bhugwuntnuggur; 2, Dondeea Kherah; 3, +Mugraen; 4, Punheen; 5, Ghutumpoor. The present Nazim has put all +five under the management of Government officers, as the only safe +way to get the revenues, as Rambuksh is a bad paymaster. Had he not +been so, as well to his _own retainer_ as to the _King's officers_, +the Nazim would not have been able to do this. It is remarked as a +singular fact among Rajpoot landholders that Rambuksh wants courage +himself, and is too niggardly to induce others to fight for him with +spirit. The last Nazim, Hamid Allee, a weak and inexperienced man, +dared not venture upon such a measure to enforce payment of +balances.* + +[* Rambuksh recovered the management of his estate, and had it +transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel: but he failed in the payment of +the expected gratuities; and in April, 1851, he was attacked by a +large force, and driven across the Ganges, into British territory. He +had gone off on the pretence of a visit to some shrine, and his +followers would not fight. The fort was destroyed, and estate +confiscated. He is still, January, 1851, negotiating for the purchase +of both, and will succeed, as he has plenty of money at command. The +King's troops employed committed all manner of atrocities upon the +poor peasantry: many men were murdered, many women threw themselves +down in wells, after they had been dishonoured; and all were +indiscriminately plundered.] + +He married the daughter of Fuzl Allee, the prime minister for fifteen +months, during which time he made a fortune of some thirty or thirty- +five lacs of rupees, twelve of which Hamid Allee's wife got. He was +persuaded by Gholam Allee, his deputy, and others, that he might +aspire to be prime minister at Lucknow if he took a few districts in +farm, to establish his character and influence. In the farm of these +districts he has sunk his own fortune and that of his wife, and is +still held to be a defaulter to the amount of some eighteen lacs, and +is now in gaol. This balance he will wipe off in time in the usual +manner: he will beg and borrow to pay a small sum to the Treasury, +and four times the amount in gratuities to the minister, and other +persons, male and female, of influence at Court. The rest will be +struck off as irrecoverable, and he will be released. He was a man +respected at Delhi, as well on account of his good character as on +that of his wealth; but he is here only pitied as an ambitious fool. + +The wakeel, on the part of the King, with the Resident, has been +uniting his efforts to those of Hoseyn Buksh,* the present Nazim of +Salone, to prevail upon Rajah Hunmunt Sing, the tallookdar of +Dharoopoor, to consent to pay an addition of ten or fifteen thousand +rupees to the present demand of one hundred and sixteen thousand +rupees a-year for his estate. He sturdily refused, under the +assurance of the good offices of Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, who has +hitherto supported him. Among other things urged by him to account +for his inability to pay is the obligation he is under to liquidate, +by annual instalments, a balance due to Bukhtawar Sing; himself, when +he held the contract of the district many years ago. Bukhtawar Sing +acknowledges the receipt of the instalments, and declares that they +are justly due; but these payments are, in reality, nothing more than +gratuities, paid for his continued good offices with the minister and +Dewan. + +[* Hoseyn Buksh was killed in March following, by the followers of a +female landholder, whom he was trying to coerce into payment. He was +killed by a cannon shot through the chest, while engaged in the siege +of Shahmow, held by Golab Kour, the widow of Rajah Dirguj Sing, who +had succeeded to the estate, and would not or could not pay her +revenue. + +A few days before, Hoseyn Buksh attached the crops of another +tallookdar, Seodut Sing, of Dhunawan, who would pay no revenue. A +body of the King's cavalry was sent to guard the crops, but the +tallookdar drove them off, and killed one and wounded another. Hoseyn +Buksh then sent a regiment, the Futtehaesh, a corps of his own +Seobundies, and six guns, to coerce the tallookdar. Two guns were +mounted on one battery, under the Futtehaesh regiment, and four on +another, under the Seobundies. A crowd of armed peasants attacked the +battery with the two guns, drove back the regiment, captured the +guns, and fired upon the soldiers as they fled. They then attacked +the battery with the four guns, and the Seobundies fled, taking their +guns with them for four miles. In their flight they had three men +killed, and twelve wounded. Hoseyn Buksh, on hearing this, sent his +whole force, under his brother, Allee Buksh, to avenge the insult. +Seodut, thinking he could not prudently hold out any longer, +evacuated his fort during the night, and retired, and Hoseyn Buksh +took possession of the fort, and recovered his two guns. His +successor restored both Seodut and the widow, Golab Kour, to their +estates, on their own terms, after trying in vain to arrest them.] + +While Dursun Sing, and his brother, Bukhtawar, held the contract of +Salone, the estate was put under management, and yielded one hundred +and seventy-four thousand rupees a-year, out of which they allowed a +deduction, on account of nankar, or subsistence, of some twenty +thousand. The Rajah and Bukhtawar Sing urge that this was, for the +most part, paid out of the property left by Byree Saul, to whom +Himmut Sing succeeded; and that the estate can now be made to yield +only one hundred and sixteen thousand, from which is to be deducted a +nankar of forty thousand. They offer him a deduction of this forty +thousand, out of a rent-roll rated at one hundred and thirty +thousand; and threaten him with the vengeance of his Majesty if he +refuses. He looks at their military force and smiles. The agents of +all the tallookdars, who are in attendance on the Nazim, do the same. +They know that they are strong, and see that the Government is weak, +and they cease to respect its rights and orders. They see at the same +time that the Government and its officers regard less the rights than +the strength of the landholders; and, from fear, favour the strong +while they oppress and crush the weak.* + +[* Rajah Hunmunt Sing afterwards brought the contractor to consent to +take the same rate as had been paid to his predecessor; but he was +obliged to pay above six thousand rupees in gratuities.] + + +_January_ 3, 1850.--Gorbuksh Gunge, _alias_ Onae, fourteen miles. The +soil of the country over which we came is chiefly a light doomuteea; +but there is a good deal of what they call bhoor, or soil in which +sand superabounds. The greater part belongs to the estate of Benee +Madho, and is admirably cultivated, and covered with a great variety +of crops. The country is better peopled than any other part that we +have seen since we recrossed the Goomtee. We passed through several +villages, the people of which seemed very happy. But their +habitations had the same wretched appearance--naked mud walls, with +invisible mud coverings. The people told me that they could not +venture to use thatched or tiled roofs, for the King's troops, on +duty with the local authorities, always took them away, when they had +any. They were, they said, well secured from all other enemies by +their landlord. Bhopaul Sing, acting commandant of Sobha Sing's +Regiment, riding with me, said,-"Nothing can be more true than what +the people tell you, sir; but the _Koomukee_ Regiments, of which mine +is one, have tents provided for them, which none of the Nujeeb and +other corps have, and in consequence, these corps never take the +choppers of the peasantry for their accommodations. The peasantry, +however, always suffer more or less even from the Koomukee corps, +sir, for they have to forage for straw, wood, fuel, bhoosa, &c., like +the rest, and to take it wherever they can find it. When we have +occasion to attack, or lay siege to a stronghold, all the roofs, +doors, and windows of the people are, of course, taken to form +scaling-ladders, batteries, &c.; and it is lamentable, sir, to see +the desolation created around, after even a very short siege." + +Rajah Hunmunt Sing and Benee Madho were riding with me, and when we +had passed through a large crowd of seemingly happy peasantry in one +village, I asked Benee Madho (whose tenants they were), whether they +would all have to follow his fortunes if he happened to take up arms +against the Government. + +"Assuredly," said he, "they would all be bound in honour to follow +me, or to desert their lands at least." + +"And if they did not, I suppose you would deem it a _point of honour_ +to plunder them?" + +"That he assuredly would," said Rajah Hunmunt Sing; "and make them +the first victims." + +"And if any of them fell fighting on his side, would he think it a +_point of honour_ to-provide for their families?" + +"That we all do," said he; "they are always provided for, and taken +the greatest possible care of." + +"And if any one is killed in fighting for the King?" + +They did not reply to this question, but the adjutant, Bhopaul Sing, +said,--"his family would be left to shift for themselves,--no one +asks a question about them." + +"This," observed Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, "is one of the great sources +of the evil that exists in Oude. How can men be expected to expose +their lives when they know that no care will be taken of their +families if they are killed or disabled?" + +It is the rule to give a disabled man one month's pay and dismiss +him; and to give the family of any one killed in the service two +months' pay. But, though the King is charged for this, it is seldom +that the wounded man, or the family of the killed, get any portion of +it. On the contrary, the arrears of pay due-which are at all times +great--are never paid to the disabled sipahee, or the family of the +sipahee killed. If issued from the Treasury, they are appropriated by +the commandants and their friends at Court; and the arms and +accoutrements, which the deceased has purchased with his own money, +are commonly sold for the benefit of the State or its officers. + +They mentioned, that the family of the person who planted a mango- +tree, or grove, continued to hold it as their exclusive property in +perpetuity; but, that the person who held the mhowa trees, was +commonly expected to pay to the landlord, where there was one, and to +the Government officers, where there was not, a duty amounting to +from four annas to two rupees a-year for each tree, according to its +fruitfulness--that the proprietor often sold the fruit of one tree +for twenty rupees the season. The fruit of one mango-tree has, +indeed, often been sold for a hundred rupees the season, where the +mangoes are of a quality much esteemed, and numerous. The groves and +fine solitary trees, on the lands we have to-day passed through, are +more numerous than usual; and the country being undulating and well +cultivated, the scenery is beautiful; but, as everywhere else, it is +devoid of all architectural beauty in works of ornament or utility-- +not even a comfortable habitation is anywhere to be seen. The great +landholders live at a distance from the road, and in forts or +strongholds. These are generally surrounded by fences of living +bamboos, which are carefully kept up as the best possible defence +against attacks. The forts are all of mud, and when the walls are +exposed to view they look ugly. The houses of the peasants in the +villages are, for the most part, covered with mud, from which the +water is carried off, by tubes of wood or baked clay, about two feet +long. There are parapets around the roof a foot or two high, so that +it cannot be seen, and a village appears to be a mass of dead mud +walls, which have been robbed of their thatched or tiled roofs. Most +of the tubes used for carrying off the water from the roofs, are the +simple branches of the palm-tree, without their leaves. + +Among the peasantry we saw a great many sipahees, from our Native +Infantry Regiments, who have come home on furlough to their families. +From the estate of Rajah Hunmunt Sing, in the Banoda district, there +are one thousand sipahees in our service. From that of Benee Madho, +in the Byswara district, there are still more. They told us that they +and their families were very happy, and they seemed to be so; but +Hunmunt Sing said, they were a privileged class, who gave much +trouble and annoyance, and were often the terror of their non- +privileged neighbours and co-sharers in the land. Benee Madho, as I +have stated above, sometimes makes use of his wealth, power, and +influence, to rob his weaker neighbours of their estates. The lands +on which we are encamped he got two years ago from their proprietor, +Futteh Bahader, by foreclosing a mortgage, in which he and others had +involved him. The gunge or bazaar, close to our tents, was +established by Gorbuksh, the uncle of Futteh Bahader, and became a +thriving emporium under his fostering care; but it has gone to utter +ruin under his nephew, and heir, and the mortgagee. The lands around, +however, could never have been better cultivated than they are; nor +the cultivators better protected or encouraged. It rained slightly +before sunset yesterday, and heavily between three and four this +morning; but not so as to prevent our marching. + +This morning, a male elephant belonging to Benee Madho killed one of +his attendants near to our camp. He had three attendants, the driver +and two subordinates. The driver remained in camp, while the two +attendants took the elephant to a field of sugar-cane, to bring home +a supply of the cane for his fodder for the day. A third subordinate +had gone on to cut the cane and bind it into bundles. One of the two +was on the neck of the elephant, and another walking by the side, +holding one of the elephant's teeth in his left hand all the way to +the field, and he seemed very quiet. The third attendant brought the +bundles, and the second handed them up to the first on the back to be +stowed away. When they had got up about a dozen, the elephant made a +rush at the third attendant, who was bringing the bundles, threw him +to the ground with his foot, knelt down upon him, and crushed him to +death with his front. The second attendant ran off as soon as he saw +the elephant make a rush at the third; and the first fell off under +the bundles of sugar-cane, as soon as the elephant knelt down to +crush the third to death. When the elephant rose from the poor man, +he did not molest, or manifest any wish to molest either of the other +two, but stood still, watching the dead body. The first, seeing this, +ventured to walk up to him, to take him by the ear and ask him what +he meant. At first he seemed surly, and shoved the man off, and he +became alarmed, and retired a few paces; but seeing the elephant show +no further signs of anger, he again walked up, and took him by the +ear familiarly. Had he ran or shown any signs of fear, the elephant +would, he thought, have killed him also, for he had killed three men +in the service of his former proprietor, and was now in his annual +fit of madness, or must. Holding the elephant by the ear, he led him +to the first tree, and placed himself on the opposite side to see +whether the animal had become quite sober. Seeing that he had, he +again approached, and put upon his two forelegs the chain fetters, +which they always have with them, suspended to some part of the body +of elephants in this state. He could not venture to command the +elephant to kneel down in the usual way, that he might get upon his +neck; and, ascending the tree, he let himself down from one of the +branches upon his back, where he sat. He then made the animal walk on +in fetters, towards camp, and on the way, met the mahout, or driver, +to whom the second attendant had reported the accident. The driver +came up, and, after the usual volume of abuse on the elephant, his +mother, father, and sundry female relations, he ordered the attendant +to make him sit down that he might get on his neck. He did so in fear +and trembling, and the driver got on his neck, while the attendant +sat on his back, and the elephant took them to Benee Madho's village, +close to my camp, where he was fastened in chains to a tree, to +remain for some months on reduced allowances, till he should get over +his madness. The body of the poor man was burnt with the usual +ceremonies, and the first attendant told me, that his family would be +provided for by Benee Madho, as a matter of course. + +I asked him how he or any other person could be found to attend a +beast of that kind? Pointing to his stomach, he said--"We poor people +are obliged to risk our lives for this, in all manner of ways; to +attend elephants has been always my profession, and there is no other +open to me; and we make up our minds to do whatever our duties +require from us, and trust to Providence." He told me that when the +elephant shoved him off, he thought that in his anger he might have +forgotten him, and called out as loud as he could,--"What, have you +forgotten a service of six years, and do you intend to kill the man +who has fed you so long?" That the beast seemed to recollect his +voice and services, and became, at once, quiet and docile--"that had +he not so called out, and reminded the animal of his long services, +he thought he should have been killed; that the driver came, armed +with a spear, and showed himself more angry than afraid, as the +safest plan in such cases." + +Dangerous as the calling of the elephant-driver is, that of the +snake-keepers, in the King's service, seems still greater. He has two +or three very expert men of this kind, whose duty it is to bring him +the snakes, when disposed to look at them, and see the effects of +their poison on animals. They handle the most venomous, with +apparently as much carelessness as other men handle fighting-cocks or +quail. When bitten, as they sometimes are, they instantly cut into +the part, and suck out the poison, or get their companions to suck it +out when they can't reach the part with their own mouths. But they +depend chiefly upon their wonderful dexterity in warding off the +stoops or blows of the snakes, as they twist them round their necks +and limbs with seeming carelessness. While they are doing so, the eye +of the spectator can hardily detect the _stoops_ of the one and the +guards of the other. After playing in this way with the most venomous +snakes, they apply them to the animals. Elephants have died from +their bites in a few hours--smaller animals sooner. I have never, +myself, seen the experiments, but any one may see them at the palace. +Elephants and the larger animals are too expensive to be often +experimented on. + +_January_ 4, 1850.--Halted at the village of Onae, alias Gorbuksh +Gunge. It lost the name of Onae, after the proprietor, Gorbuksh, who +had built the Gunge, and made it a great emporium of trade in corn, +cotton cloth, &c.; but is recovering it again, now that the Gunge has +become a ruin, and the family of the builder has been dispossessed of +the lands. I rode out in the morning to look at the neighbouring +village of Doolarae-ka Gurhee, or the fort of Doolarae, and have some +talk with the peasantry, who are Bys Rajpoots, of one of the most +ancient Rajpoot families in Oude. They told me,--"That their tribe +was composed of two great families, Nyhussas and Synbunsies--that the +acknowledged head of the Synbunsies was, at present, Rugonath Sing, +of Kojurgow, and that Hindpaul, tallookdar of Korree Sudowlee, was +the head of the Nyhussas; that Baboo Rambuksh, tallookdar of Dhondeea +Kheera, had the title of Row, and Dirg Bijee Sing, tallookdar of +Morarmow, that of Rajah--that is, he was the acknowledged Rajah of +the clan, and Baboo Rambuksh, the Row, an inferior grade--that these +families had been always fighting with each other, for the possession +of each others lands, from the time their ancestors came into Oude, a +thousand years ago, except when they were united in resistance +against the common enemy, the governor or ruler of the country--that +one family got weak by the subdivision of the lands, among many sons +or brothers, or by extravagance, or misfortune, while another became +powerful, by keeping the lands undivided, and by parsimony and +prudence; and the strong increased their possessions by seizing upon +the lands of the weak, by violence, fraud or collusion with the local +authorities--that the same thing had been going on among them for a +thousand years, with some brief intervals, during which the rulers of +Oude managed, by oppression, to unite them all against themselves, or +by prudence, to keep them all to their respective rights and duties-- +that Doolarae, who gave his name to the village, by building the +fort, was of the Nyhussa family, and left two sons, and only two +villages, Gurhee and Agoree, out of a very large estate, the rest +having been lost in the contests with the other families of the +tribe--that these two had become minutely subdivided among their +descendants: and Bhugwan Das, Synbunsee of Simree, four years ago, +seized upon the Gurhee, in collusion with the local authorities; that +Thakoor Buksh Nyhussa, talookdar of Rahwa seized upon Agoree in the +same way that the local authorities designedly assessed these +villages at a higher rate than they could be made to pay, and then, +for a bribe, transferred them to the powerful tallookdars, on account +of default." + +Gorbuksh Sing, Synbunsee, died some twenty years ago, leaving an +estate, reduced from a greater number to ninety-three villages. His +nephew, Futteh Bahader, a child, was adopted by his widow, who +continued to manage the whole till she died, four years after. The +heir was still a boy; and Rugonath Sing, of Kojurgow, the head of the +Synbunsee family, took advantage of his youth, seized upon the whole +ninety-three villages, and turned him out to beg subsistence among +his relatives. In this he, Rugonath Sing, was, as usual, acting in +collusion with the local authorities of the Government. He continued +to possess the estate for ten years, but to reside in his fort of +Hajeepoor. Koelee Sing, a Guhlote, by caste, and a zumeendar of +Bheeturgow, and its eight dependent villages, which formed part of +the estate of Futteh Bahader, went to Court at Lucknow, and +represented, that Rugonath Sing had no right whatever to the lands he +held, and the Court had better make them over to him and the other +zumeendars, if they did not like to restore them to their rightful +heir. Bheeturgow and its dependent eight villages, were made over to +him; and ten sipahees, from Captain Hyder Hearsey's Regiment, were +sent to establish and support him in possession. Rugonath attacked +them, killed two of the sipahees, and drove out Koelee Sing. He +repaired to Court; and Mahomed Khan was sent out, as Special +Commissioner, with orders to punish Rugonath Sing. He and Captain +Hearsey attacked him in his fort of Hajeepoor, drove him out, and +restored Futteh Bahader, to twenty-four villages; and re-established +Koelee Sing, in Bheeturgow, and the eight villages dependent upon it. +Futteh Bahader was poor, and was obliged to tender the security of +Benee Madho, the wealthy tallookdar of this place, for the punctual +payment of the revenue. The year before last, when a balance of +revenue became due, he, the deputy, in collusion with Gholam Allee, +seized upon all the twenty-four villages. + +Futteh Bahader went to seek redress at Lucknow, but had no money to +pay his way at Court, while Benee Madho had abundance, and used it +freely, to secure the possession of so fine an addition to his +estate. Futteh Bahader, as his last resource, got his uncle, Bustee +Sing, of the 3rd Cavalry, whom he called his father,* to present a +petition for redress to the Resident, in April 1849. Gholam Allee was +ordered to release Futteh Bahader, whom Benee Madho had confined, and +send him to Lucknow. The order was not obeyed, and it was repeated in +December without effect; but his uncle's agent, Gorbuksh, was +diligent at the Residency, and the case was made over for +investigation and decision to the Ameen, Mahomed Hyat. Finding Futteh +Bahader still in confinement, with sundry members of his family, when +I came here yesterday, I ordered him to be made over to the King's +wakeel, in attendance upon me, to be sent to the Court, to prosecute +his claim, and produce proofs of his right. Of his right there can be +no question, and the property of which he was robbed, in taking +possession, and the rents since received, if duly accounted for, +would more than cover any balance due by Futteh Bahader. When he gave +the security of Benee Madho, for the payment of the revenue, he gave, +at the same time, what is called the Jumog of his villages to him; +that is, bound his tenants to pay to him their rents at the rate they +were pledged to pay to him; and the question pending is, simply, what +is fairly due to Benee Madho, over and above what he may have +collected from them. Benee Madho had before, by the usual process of +violence, fraud, and collusion, taken eighteen of the ninety-three +villages, and got one for a servant; and all the rest had, by the +same process, got into the possession of others; and Futteh Bahader +had not an acre left when his uncle interposed his good offices with +the Resident.** The dogs of the village of Doolarae-kee Gurhee +followed us towards camp, and were troublesome to the horses and my +elephant. I asked the principal zumeendar why they were kept. He said +they amused the children of the village, who took them out after the +hares, and by their aid and that of the sticks with which they armed +themselves, they got a good many; that all they got for food was the +last mouthful of every man's dinner, which no man was sordid enough +to grudge them--that when they wished to describe a very sordid man, +they said--"he would not even throw his last mouthful (koura) to a +dog!" + +[* He called Bustee Sing his _father_, as sipahees can seek redress +through the Resident, for wrongs suffered by no others than their +mothers, fathers, their children, and themselves.] + +[** A punchaet was assembled at Lucknow, to decide the suit between +Benee Madho and Futteh Bahader, at the instance of the Resident: and +they awarded to Benee Madho a balance due on account of thirty +thousand rupees, which Futteh Bahader has to pay before he can +recover possession of his estate.] + +_January_ 5, 1851.--Halted at Onae, in consequence of continued rain, +which incommodes us, but delights the landholders and cultivators, +whose crops will greatly benefit by it. The halting of so large a +camp inconveniences them, however, much more than us; for they are +called upon to supply us with wood, grass, and straw, for which they +receive little or no payment; for the Kings people will not let us +pay for these things, and pay too little themselves. Those who attend +us do not plunder along the road; but the followers of the local +authorities, who attend us, through their respective jurisdictions, +do so; and sundry fields of fine carrots and other vegetables +disappear, as under a flight of locusts along the road. The camp- +followers assist them, and as our train extends from the ground we +leave to that to which we are going, for twelve or fourteen miles, it +is impossible, altogether, to prevent such injuries from so +undisciplined a band. The people, however, say, they suffer much less +than they would from one-fourth of the number under a contractor +marching without an European superior, and I give compensation in +flagrant cases. Captain Weston acts as our Provost Marshal. He leaves +the ground an hour or two after I do, and seizes and severely +punishes any one found trespassing. + +In my ride this morning I found that Nyhussa and Synbunsee are two +villages distant about ten miles from our camp, to the south-east-- +that all the Byses, who give the name of Byswara to this large +district, are called Tilokchundees, from Tilokchund, the founder of +the family in Oude. He had two sons, _Hurhur Deo_ and _Prethee +Chund_. Hurhur Deo had two sons, one of whom, Kurun Rae, established +himself in Nyhussa, and the other, Khem Kurun, in Synbunsee. Their +descendants have taken their titles from their respective villages. +Prethee Chund's descendants established themselves in other parts, +and the descendants of both bear the appellation of Tilokchundee +Byses. The Rajahs and Rows are of the same family, and are so called +from their ancestors having, at some time, had the title of Rajah and +Row conferred upon them. + +Rajah Seodursun Sing, of Simrotee, who resides in the village of +Chundapoor upon his estate, four miles east of Bulla, has been with +me for the last five days. He is a strong man, and has been +refractory occasionally; but at present he pays his revenue +punctually, and keeps his estate in good order. He rendered good +service yesterday in the way in which all of his class might, by good +management, be made to aid the government of Oude. A ruffian, by name +Mohiboollah, who had been a trooper in the King of Oude's service, +contrived to get the lease of the estate of Bulla, which is about +twenty miles north-east from our camp; and turning out all the old +landholders and cultivators, he there raised a gang of robbers, to +plunder his neighbours and travellers. He had been only two months in +possession, when he attacked the house of an old invalid subadar- +major of the Honourable Company's service, (fifty-seventh Native +Infantry,) on the 21st of December, 1849, robbed him of all he had, +and confined him and all his family, till he promised, under good +security, to pay, within twenty days, a ransom of one thousand two +hundred rupees more. He had demanded a good deal more, but hearing +that the Resident's camp was approaching, he consented to take this +sum four days ago, and released all his prisoners. The subadar +presented a petition to me, and, after taking the depositions of the +old zumeendars and other witnesses, I requested the king's wakeel, to +send off a company of Soubha Sing's Regiment, to arrest him and his +gang. + +They went off from Rae Bareilly on the night of the 1st instant; but, +finding that the subadar-major and his family had been released the +day before, and that the village was full of armed men, ready to +resist, they returned on the evening of the 2nd. On the 3rd, the +whole regiment, with its artillery, and three hundred auxiliaries, +under Rajah Seodursun Sing, left my camp, at Onae, at midnight, and +before daylight surrounded the village. There were about one hundred +and fifty armed men in it; and, after a little bravado, they all +surrendered, and were brought to me. Mohiboollah had, however, gone +off, on the pretence of collecting his rents, two days before; but +his father and brother were among the prisoners. All who were +recognised as having been engaged in the robbery, were sent off +prisoners to Lucknow, and the rest were disarmed and released. + +Among those detained were some notorious robbers, and the gang would +soon have become very formidable but for the accident of my passing +near. He had got the lease of the estate through the influence of +Akber-od Dowlah, one of the Court favourites, for the sole purpose of +converting it into a den of robbers; and, the better to secure this +object, he had got it transferred from the jurisdiction of the Nazim +to the Hozoor Tehseel, over the manager of which the Court favourite +had paramount influence. He was to share with his client the fruits +of his depredations, and, in return, to secure him impunity for his +crimes. Many of his retainers were among the prisoners brought in to +me, having been present at the distribution of the large booty +acquired from the old subadar, some thirty or forty thousand rupees. +The subadar had resided upon the estate of Seodursun Sing; but +having, seven years ago complained through the Resident of over- +exactions for the small patch of land he held, and got back the grain +which had been attacked for the rent, he was obliged to give it up +and reside in the hamlet he afterwards occupied near Bulla, whose +zumeendars assured him of protection.* He had a large family, and a +great deal of property in money and other valuables concealed under +ground. Mohiboollah first seized and sent off the subadar, and then +had ramrods made red-hot and applied to the bodies of the children +till the females gave him all their ornaments, and pointed out to him +all the hidden treasures: they were then all taken to Bulla and +confined till the subadar had pledged himself to pay the ransom +demanded. + +[* The greater part of this property is understood to have been +confided, in trust, to the old subadar, by some other minion of the +Court, and the chief object of the gang was to get hold of it; as +their patron, Akber-od Dowlah, had become aware that his fellow- +minion had intrusted his wealth to the old subadar, after he had +taken up his residence near Bulla. The estate was made over, in farm, +to Benee Madho, as the best man to cope with Mohiboollah, should he +return and form a new gang.] + +I requested the King to take the estate from this ruffian and restore +it to its old proprietors, whose family had held it for several +centuries, or bestow it in lease to some other strong and deserving +person. + +The Tilokchundee Byses take the daughters of other Rajpoots, who are +a shade lower in caste, in marriage for their sons, but do not give +their daughters in marriage to them in return. They have a singular +notion that no snake ever has destroyed or ever can destroy one of +the family, and seem to take no precautions against its bite. If +bitten by a snake they do not attempt any remedy, nor could Benee +Madho recollect any instance of a Tilokchundee Bysee having died from +a bite. He tells me that some families in every Rajpoot tribe in Oude +destroy their female infants to avoid the cost of marrying them, +though the King prohibited infanticide and suttee in the year 1833. +That infanticide does still prevail among almost all the Rajpoot +tribes in Oude is unquestionable. + +_January_ 6, 1850.--Yesterday evening we moved to Omrowa West, +[Transcriber's note: this appears to be a misspelling for Morowa +West] a distance of twelve miles, over a plain of bad oosur soil, +scantily cultivated near the road. To the left and right of the road, +at a little distance, there are some fine villages, thickly peopled, +and situated in fine and well-cultivated soil. The country is well +wooded, except in the worst parts of the soil, where trees do not +thrive. We saw a great deal of sugar-cane in the distance and a few +pawn-gardens. The population of the villages came to the high road to +see us pass; and among them were a great many native officers and +sipahees of our Regiments, who are at their homes on furlough, +Government having given a very large portion of the native army the +indulgence of furlough during the present cold season. They all +seemed happy; but, to my discomfort, a vast number take advantage of +this furlough and my movements to urge their claims against the +Government, its officers, and subjects. Nothing can be more wretched +than the appearance of the buildings in which the people of all +grades live in these villages--mud walls without any appearance of +coverings, and doors and windows worse than I have seen in any other +part of India. Better would not be safe against the King's troops, +and these would certainly not be safe against a slight storm; a good +shower and a smart breeze would level the whole of the villages with +the ground in a few hours. "But," said the people, "the mud would +remain, and we could soon raise up the houses again without the aid +of masons, carpenters, or blacksmiths." It is enough that they are +used to them. + +Morowa is a large town, well situated and surrounded with groves of +the finest trees in great variety; and, to the surprise of the +officers with me, they saw a respectable house of burnt brick. It +belongs to the most substantial banker and agricultural capitalist in +these parts, _Chundun Lal_. These capitalists and their families are, +generally, more safe than others, as their aid is necessary to the +Government and its officers, and no less so to the landholders, +cultivators, and people of all classes. Their wealth consists in +their credit in different parts of India; and he who has most of it +may have little at his house to tempt the robber, while the +Government officers stand generally too much in daily need of his +services and mediation to molest him. A pledge made by these officers +to landholders and cultivators, or to these officers by such persons, +is seldom considered safe or binding till the respectable banker or +capitalist has ratified it by his mediation, to which all refer with +confidence. + +He understands the characters and means of all, and will not venture +to ratify any pledge till he is assured of both the disposition and +ability of the party to fulfil it. Chundun Lal is one of the most +respectable of this class in Oude. He resides at this place, Morowa, +but has a good landed estate in our territories, and banking +establishments at Cawnpoor and many other of our large stations. He +is a very sensible, well-informed man, but not altogether free from +the ailing of his class--a disposition to abuse the confidence of the +Government officers; and, in collusion with them, to augment his +possessions in land at the cost of his weaker neighbours. + +I am told here that the Tilokchund Byses, when bitten by a snake, do +sometimes condescend to apply a remedy. They have a vessel full of +water suspended above the head of the sufferer, with a small tube at +the bottom, from which water is poured gently on the head as long as +he can bear it. The vent is then stopped till the patient is equal to +bear more; and this is repeated four or five times till the sufferer +recovers. I have not yet heard of any one dying under the operation, +or from the bite of a snake. I find no one that has ever heard of a +member of this family dying of the bite of a snake. One of the Rajahs +of this family, who called on me to-day, declared that no member of +his family had ever been known to die of such a bite, and he could +account for it only "from their being descended from Salbahun, the +rival and conqueror of Bickermajeet, of Ojein." + +This Salbahun* is said to have been a lineal descendant of the _sake- +god!_ He told me that the females of this family could never wear +cotton cloth of any colour but plain white; that when they could not +afford to wear silk or satin they never wore anything but the piece +of white cotton cloth which formed, in one, the waistband, petticoat, +and mantle, or robe (the dhootee and loongree), without hemming or +needlework of any kind whatever. Those who can afford to wear silk or +satin wear the petticoat and robe, or mantle of that material, and of +any colour. On their ankles they can wear nothing but silver, and +above the ankles, nothing but gold; and if not, nothing, not even +silver, except on the feet and ankles. No Hindoo of respectability, +however high or wealthy, can wear anything more valuable than silver +below the waist. The Tilokchundee Byses can never condescend to hold +the plough; and if obliged to serve, they enlist in the army or other +public establishments of the Oude or other States. + +[* Salbahun must have been one of the leaders of the Scythian armies, +who conquered India in the reign of Vickramadittea.] + +The late governor of this district, Hamid Allee Khan, is now, as I +have already stated, in prison, as a great defaulter, at Lucknow. He +was a weak and inexperienced man, and guided entirely by his +deputies, Nourooz Allee and Gholam Allee. Calamities of season and +other causes prevented his collecting one-quarter of the revenue +which he had engaged in his contract to pay. Gholam Allee persuaded +the officers commanding regiments under him to pledge themselves for +the personal security of some of the tallookdars whom he invited in +to discuss the claims of Government, and their ability to meet them. +Four of them came--Hindooput, of Sudowlee, who called on me this +morning; Rugonath Sing, of Khojurgow; Rajah Dirg Bijee Sing, of +Morarmow; and Bhoop Sing, of Pahor. They were all seized and put into +confinement as soon as they appeared, by the officers who had pledged +themselves for their personal safety; and Gholam Allee went off to +Lucknow to boast of his prowess in seizing them. There he was called +upon to pay the balance due, and seeing no disposition to listen to +any excuse on the ground of calamity of season, he determined to +escape across the Ganges. He wrote to Hamid Allee to suggest that he +should do the same, and meet him at Horha, on the bank of the Ganges, +on a certain night. + +Hamid Allee sent his family across the Ganges, and prepared to meet +Gholam Allee at the appointed place; but the commandants of corps, +who suspected his intentions, and had not received from him any pay +for their regiments for many months, seized him, and sent him a +prisoner to Lucknow. Gholam Allee, however, effected his escape +across the Ganges, and is now at Delhi. The story of his having run +away with three lacs of Hamid Allee's money is represented here as a +fiction, as the escape had been concerted between them, and they had +sent across the Ganges all that they could send with that view. This +may or may not be the real state of the case. Hamid Allee, as I have +above stated, married a daughter of Fuzl Allee. Fuzl Allee's aunt, +Fyz-on Nissa, had been a great favourite with the Padshad Begum, the +wife of the King, Ghazee-od Deen, and adoptive mother of his +successor, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, who ascended the throne in 1827. She +had been banished from Oude by Ghazee-od Deen, but on his death she +returned secretly to Lucknow; and, in December of that year, her +nephew, Fuzl Allee, who had been banished with her, returned also, +and on the 31st of that month he was appointed prime minister, in +succession to Aga Meer. Hakeem Mehndee had been invited from +Futtehghur to fill the office, and had come so far as Cawnpoor, when +Fyz-on Nissa carried the day with the Queen Dowager, and he was +ordered back. In November, 1828, the King, at his mother's request, +gave him the sum of 21,85,722 1 11, the residue of the principal of +the pension of Shums-od Dowlah, the King's uncle, who had died. The +whole principal amounted to 33,33,333 5 4, but part had been +appropriated as a fund to provide for some members of the King's +family. + +In February, 1829, Fuzl Allee resigned the office of prime minister, +and was protected by the Government of India, on the recommendation +of the Resident, and saved, from the necessity of refunding to the +State any of the wealth (some thirty-five lacs of rupees) which he +had acquired during his brief period of office. This was all left to +his three daughters and their husbands on his death, which took place +soon after. He was succeeded in office by Hakeem Mehndee. Shums-od +Dowlah's pension of 16,666 10 6 a-month, was paid out of the +interest, at 6 per cent., of the loan of one crore, eight lacs, and +fifty thousand rupees, obtained from the sovereign of Oude (Ghazee-od +Deen Hyder, who succeeded his father on the 11th of July, 1814,) by +Lord Hastings, in October, 1814, for the Nepaul war. All the interest +(six lacs and fifty-one thousand) was, in the same manner, +distributed in stipends to different members of the family, and the +principal has been paid back as the incumbents have died off. Some +few still survive.* + +[* The ground, on the north-west side of Morowa, would be good for a +cantonment, as the soil is sandy, and the plain well drained. Water +must lie during the rains on all the other sides, and the soil has +more clay in it.] + +_January_ 7, 1850.--To Mirree, twelve miles, over a plain of light +doomuteea soil, sufficiently cultivated, and well studded with trees. +We passed Runjeet-ka Poorwa half-way--once a large and populous town, +but now a small one. The fog was, however, too thick to admit of my +seeing it. From this place to Lucknow, thirty miles, Seetlah Buksh, a +deputy of Almas Allee Khan's, planted an avenue of the finest kind of +trees. We had to pass through a mile of it, and the trees are in the +highest perfection, and complete on both sides. I am told that there +are, however, many considerable intervals in which they have been +destroyed. The trees must have been planted about sixty years ago. + +I may here remark that no native gentleman from Lucknow, save such as +hold office in districts, and are surrounded by troops, can with +safety reside in the country. He would be either suspected and +destroyed by the great landholders around him, or suspected and +ruined by the Court. Under a better system of government, a great +many of these native gentlemen, who enjoy hereditary incomes, under +the guarantee of the British Government, would build houses in +distant districts, take lands, and reside on them with their +families, wholly or occasionally, and Oude [would] soon be covered +with handsome gentlemen's seats, at once ornamental and useful. They +would tend to give useful employment to the people, and become bonds +of union between the governing and the governed. Under such an +improved system, our guarantees would be of immense advantage to the +whole country of Oude, in diffusing wealth, protection, education, +intelligence, good feeling, and useful and ornamental, works. At +present, these guarantees are not so. They have concentrated at the +capital all who subsist upon them, and surrounded the Sovereign and +his Court with an overgrown aristocracy, which tends to alienate him +more and more from his people. The people derive no benefit from, and +have no feeling or interest in common with, this city aristocracy, +which tends more and more to hide their Sovereign from their view, +and to render him less and less sensible of his duties and high +responsibilities; and what would be a blessing under a good, becomes +an evil under a bad system, such as that which has prevailed since +those guarantees began. + +In this overgrown city there is a perpetual turmoil of processions, +illuminations, and festivities. The Sovereign spends all that he can +get in them, and has not the slightest wish to perpetuate his name by +the construction of any useful or ornamental work beyond its suburbs. +All the members of his family and of the city aristocracy follow his +example, and spend their means in the same way. Indifferent to the +feelings and opinions of the landed aristocracy and people of the +country, with whom they have no sympathy, they spend all that they +can spare for the public in gratifying the vitiated tastes of the +overgrown metropolis. Hardly any work calculated to benefit or +gratify the people of the country is formed or thought of by the +members of the royal family or aristocracy of Lucknow; and the only +one formed by the Sovereign for many years is, I believe, the +metalled road leading from Lucknow to Cawnpoor, on the Ganges. + +One good these guarantees certainly have effected--they have tended +greatly to inspire the people of the city with respect for the +British Government, by whom the incomes of so large and influential a +portion of the community and their dependents are secured. That +respect extends to its public officers and to Europeans generally; +and in the most crowded streets of Lucknow they are received with +deference, courtesy, and kindness, while in those of Hydrabad, their +lives, I believe, are never safe without an escort from the Resident. + +The people of the country respect the British Government, its +officers, and Europeans generally, from other causes. Though the +Resident has not been able to secure any very substantial or +permanent reform in the administration, still he has often interposed +with effect, in individual cases, to relieve suffering and secure +redress for grievous wrongs. The people of the country see that he +never interposes, except for such purposes, and their only regret is +that he interposes so seldom, and that his efforts, when he does so, +should be so often frustrated or disregarded. In the remotest village +or jungle in Oude, as in the most crowded streets of the capital, an +European gentleman is sure to be treated with affectionate respect; +and the humblest European is as sure to receive protection and +kindness, unless be forfeits all claim to it by his misconduct. + +The more sober-minded Mahommedans of Lucknow and elsewhere are much +scandalized at the habit which has grown up among them, in the cities +of India, of commemorating every event, whether of sadness or of joy, +by brilliant illuminations and splendid processions, to amuse the +idle populations of such cities. It is, they say, a reprehensible +departure from the spirit of their creed, and from the simple tastes +of the early Mahommedans, who laid out their superfluities in the +construction of great and durable works of ornament and utility. +Certainly no event can be more sorrowful among Mahommedans than that +which is commemorated in the mohurrum by illuminations and +processions with the Tazeeas; and yet no illuminations are more +brilliant, and no processions more noisy, costly, and splendid. It is +worthy of remark, that Hindoo princes in Central and Southern India, +even of the Brahmin caste, commemorate this event in the same way; +and in no part of India are these illuminations and processions more +brilliant and costly. Their object is solely to amuse the population +of their capitals, and to gratify the Mahommedan women whom they have +under their protection, and their children, who must all be +Mahommedans. + + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Nawabgunge, midway between Cawnpoor and Lucknow--Oosur soils how +produced--Visit from the prime minister--Rambuksh, of Dhodeeakhera-- +Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor--Agricultural capitalists. Sipahees and +native offices of our army--Their furlough, and petitions-- +Requirements of Oude to secure good government. The King's reserved +treasury--Charity distributed through the _Mojtahid_, or chief +justice--Infanticide--Loan of elephants, horses, and draft bullocks +by Oude to Lord Lake in 1804--Clothing for the troops--The Akbery +regiment--Its clothing, &c.,--Trespasses of a great man's camp in +Oude--Russoolabad and Sufeepoor districts--Buksh Allee, the dome-- +Budreenath, the contractor for Sufeepoor--Meeangunge--Division of the +Oude Territory in 1801, in equal shares between Oude and the British +Governments--Almas Allee Khan--His good government--The passes of +Oude--Thieves by hereditary profession, and village watchmen-- +Rapacity of the King's troops--Total absence of all sympathy between +the governing and governed--Measures necessary to render the Oude +troops efficient and less mischievous to the people--Sheikh Hushmut +Allee, of Sundeela. + +_January_ 8, 1850.--Nawabgunge, eleven miles over a plain, the soil +of which, near the road, is generally very poor oosur. No fruit or +ornamental trees, few shrubs, and very little grass. Here and there, +however, even near the road, may be seen a small patch of land, from +which a crop of rice has been taken this season; and the country is +well cultivated all along, up to within half a mile of the road, on +both tides [sides]. Nawabgunge is situated on the new metalled road, +fifty miles long, between Lucknow and Cawnpoor, and about midway +between the two places.* It was built by the late minister, Nawab +Ameen-od Dowlah, while in office, for the accommodation of +travellers, and is named after him. It is kept up at his expense for +the same purpose now that he has descended to private life. There is +a small house for the accommodation of European gentlemen and ladies, +as well as a double range of buildings, between which the road +passes, for ordinary travellers, and for shopkeepers to supply them. + +[* The term Gunge, signifies a range of buildings at a place of +traffic, for the accommodation of merchants, and all persons engaged +in the purchase and sale of goods and for that of their goods and of +the shopkeepers who supply them.] + +Some people told me, that even the worst of this oosur soil might be +made to produce fair crops under good tillage; while others denied +the possibility, though all were farmers or landholders. All, +however, agreed that any but the _worst_ might be made so by good +tillage--that is, by flooding the land by means of artificial +embankments, for two or three rainy seasons, and then cross- +ploughing, manuring, and irrigating it well. All say that the soil +hereabouts is liable to become oosur, if left fallow and neglected +for a few years. The oosur, certainly, seems to prevail most near the +high roads, where the peasantry have been most exposed to the +rapacity of the King's troops; and this tends to confirm the notion +that tillage is necessary in certain soils to check the tendency of +the carbonates or nitrates, or their alkaline bases, to +superabundance. The abundance of the chloride of sodium in the soil, +from which the superabounding carbonates of soda are formed, seems to +indicate, unequivocally, that the bed from which they are brought to +the surface by capillary attraction must at some time have been +covered by salt water. + +The soil of Scind, which was at one time covered by the sea, seems to +suffer still more generally from the same superabundance of the +carbonates of soda, formed from the _chlorides of sodium_, and +brought to the surface in the same manner. But in Scind the evil is +greater and more general from the smaller quantity of rain that +falls. Egypt would, no doubt, suffer still more from the same cause, +inasmuch as it has still less rain than Scind, but for the annual +overflowing of the Nile. The greater part of the deserts which now +disfigure the face of the globe in hot climates arise chiefly from +the same causes, and they may become covered by tillage and +population as man becomes wiser, more social, and more humane. + +_January_ 9, 1850.--Halted at Nawabgunge. A vast deal of grain of all +sorts has for the last two years passed from Cawnpoor to Lucknow for +sale. The usual current of grain is from the northern and eastern +districts of Oude towards Cawnpoor; but for these two years it has +been from Cawnpoor to these districts. This is owing to two bad +seasons in Oude generally, and much oppression in the northern and +eastern districts, in particular, and the advantage which the +navigation of the Ganges affords to the towns on its banks on such +occasions. The metalled road from Cawnpoor to Lucknow is covered +almost with carts and vehicles of all kinds. Guards have been +established upon it for the protection of travellers, and life and +property are now secure upon it, which they had not been for many +years up to the latter end of 1849. This road has lately been +completed under the superintendence of Lient. G. Sim of the +engineers, and cost above two lacs of rupees. + +The minister came out with a very large cortčge yesterday to see and +talk with me, and is to stay here to-day. I met him this morning on +his way out to shoot in the lake; and it was amusing to see his +enormous train contrasted with my small one. I told him, to the +amusement of all around, that an English gentleman would rather get +no air or shooting at all than seek them in such a crowd. The +minister was last night to have received the Rajahs and other great +landholders, who had come to my camp, but they told me this morning +that they had some of them waited all night in vain for an audience; +that the money demanded by his followers, of various sorts and +grades, for such a privilege was much more than they could pay; that +to see and talk with a prime minister of Oude was one of the most +difficult and expensive of things. Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, +told me that he feared his only alternative now was a very hard one, +either to be utterly ruined by the contractor of Salone, or to take +to his jungles and strongholds and fight against his Sovereign.* + +[* The Rajah was too formidable to be treated lightly, and the Amil +was obliged to give in, and consent to take from him what he had paid +to his predecessor; but to effect this, the Rajah was, afterwards +obliged to go to Lucknow, and pay largely in gratuities.] + + +Rajah Rambuksh, of Dondhea Kheera, is in the same predicament. He +tells me, that a great part of his estate has been taken from him by +Chundun Lal, of Morowa, the banker already mentioned, in collusion +with the Nazim, Kotab-od Deen, who depends so much on him as the only +capitalist in his district; that he is obliged to conciliate him by +acquiescing in the spoliation of others; that he has already taken +much of his lands by fraud and collusion, and wishes to take the +whole in the same way; that this banker now holds lands in the +district yielding above two lacs of rupees a-year, can do what he +pleases, and is every day aggrandizing himself and family by the ruin +of others. There is some truth in what Rambuksh states, though he +exaggerates a little the wrong which he himself suffers; and it is +lamentable that all power and influence in Oude, of whatever kind or +however acquired, should be so sure to be abused, to the prejudice of +both sovereign and people. When these great capitalists become +landholders, as almost all do, they are apt to do much mischief in +the districts where their influence lies, for the Government officers +can do little in the collection of the revenue without their aid; and +as the collection of revenue is the only part of their duty to which +they attach much importance, they are ready to acquiesce in any wrong +that they may commit in order to conciliate them. The Nazim of +Byswara, Kotab-od Deen, is an old and infirm man, and very much +dependent upon Chundun Lal, who, in collusion with him, has certainly +deprived many of their hereditary possessions in the usual way in +order to aggrandize his own family. He has, at the same time, +purchased a great deal of land at auction in the Honourable Company's +districts where he has dealings, keeps the greater part of his +wealth, and is prepared to locate his family when the danger of +retaining any of either in Oude becomes pressing. The risk is always +great; but they bind the local authorities, civil and military, by +solemn oaths and written pledges, for the security of their own +persons and property, and those of their families and clients. + +_January_ 10, 1850.--At Nawabgunge, detained by rain, which fell +heavily yesterday, with much thunder and lightning, and has continued +to fall all night. It is painful and humiliating to pass through this +part of Oude, where the families of so many thousands of our sipahees +reside, particularly at this time when so large a portion of them are +at their homes on furlough. The Punjab war having closed, all the +corps engaged in it have this year been sent off to quiet stations in +our old provinces, and their places supplied by others which have +taken no share in that or any other war of late. As a measure of +economy, and with a view to indulge the native officers and sipahees +of the corps engaged in that war, Government has this season given a +long furlough to all the native army of Bengal. Some three hundred +and fifty native officers and sipahees from each regiment are, or are +to be, absent on leave this season. This saves to Government a very +large sum in the extra allowance which is granted to native officers +and sipahees, during their march from one station to another, and in +the deductions which are made from the pay and allowances of those +who go on furlough. During furlough, subadars receive 52 rupees a- +month instead of 67; jemadars 17, instead of 24; havildars 9, instead +of 14; naicks 7, instead of 12; and sipahees 5-8, instead of 7. + +These native officers and sipahees, with all their gallantry on +service and fidelity to their salt, are the most importunate of +suitors, and certainly among the most untruthful and unscrupulous in +stating the circumstances of their claims, or the grounds of their +complaints. They crowd around me morning and evening when I venture +outside my tent, and keep me employed all day in reading their +petitions. They cannot or will not understand that the Resident is, +or ought to be, only the channel through which their claims are sent +for adjustment through the Court to the Oude tribunals and local +authorities; and that the investigation and decision must, or ought +to, rest with them. They expect that he will at once himself +investigate and decide their claims, or have them investigated and +decided forthwith by the local authorities of the district through +which he is passing; and it is in vain to tell them that the "_law's +delay_" is as often and as justly complained of in our own territory +as in Oude, whatever may be the state of its _uncertainty_. + +The wrongs of which they complain are of course such as all men of +their class in Oude are liable to suffer; but no other men in Oude +are so prone to exaggerate the circumstances attending them, to bring +forward prominently all that is favourable to their own side, and +keep back all that is otherwise, and to conceal the difficulties +which must attend the search after the truth, and those still greater +which must attend the enforcement of an award when made. Their claims +are often upon men who have well-garrisoned forts and large bands of +armed followers, who laugh at the King's officers and troops, and +could not be coerced into obedience without the aid of a large and +well-appointed British force. For the immediate employment of such a +force they will not fail to urge the Resident, though they have, to +the commanding officer of their company and regiment represented the +debtor or offender as a man of no mark, ready to do whatever the +Resident or the Oude authorities may be pleased to order. On one +occasion no less than thirty lives were lost in attempting to enforce +an award in favour of a sipahee of our army. + +I have had several visits from my old friend Sheikh Mahboob Allee, +the subadar-major, who is mentioned in my _Essay on Military +Discipline_. He is now an invalid pensioner in Oude, and in addition +to the lands which his family held before his transfer to the +invalids, he has lately acquired possession of a nice village, which +he claimed in the usual way through the Resident. He told me that he +had possession, but that he found it very difficult to keep +cultivators upon it. + +"And why is this, my old friend?" I asked. "Cultivators are abundant +in Oude, and glad always to till lands on which they are protected +and encouraged by moderate rents and a little occasional aid in seed, +grain, and stock, and you are now in circumstances to afford them +both." + +"True, sir," said the old subadar, "but the great refractory +landholder, my neighbour, has a large force, and he threatens to +bring it down upon me, and my cultivators are afraid that they and +their families will all be cut up some dark night if they stay with +me." + +"But what has your great neighbour to do with your village? Why do +you not make friends with him?" + +"Make friends with him, sir!" replied the subadar; "the thing is +impossible." + +"And why, subadar sahib?" + +"Sir, it was from him that the village was taken by the orders of the +Durbar, through the interposition of the Resident, to be made over to +me, and he vows that he will take it back, whatever number of lives +it may cost him to do so." + +"And how long may he and his family have held it?" + +"Only thirty or thirty-five years, sir." + +"And neither you nor your family have ever held possession of it for +that time?" + +"Never, sir; but we always hoped that the favour of the British +Government would some day get it for us." + +"And in urging your claim to the village, did you ever tell the +Resident that you had been so long out of possession?" + +"No, sir, we said nothing about _time_" + +"You know, subadar sahib, that in all countries a limit is prescribed +in such cases, and at the Residency that limit is six years; and had +the Resident known that your claim was of so old a date he would +never have interposed in your favour, more especially when his doing +so involved the risk of the loss of so many lives, first in obtaining +possession for you, and then keeping you in it." Cases of this kind +are very numerous. + +The estate of Rampoor which we lately passed through belonged to the +grandfather of Rajah Hunmunt Sing. His eldest son, Sungram Sing, died +without issue, and the estate devolved on his second son, Bhow Sing, +the father of Rajah Hunmunt Sing. The third brother separated from +the family stock during the life of his father, and got, as his +share, Sursae, Kuttra Bulleepoor, and other villages. He had five +sons: first, Lokee Sing; second, Dirguj Sing; third, Hul Sing; +fourth, Dill Sing; and fifth, Bul Sing, and the estate was, on his +death, subdivided among them. Kuttra Bulleepoor devolved on Lokee +Sing, the eldest, who died without issue; and the village was +subdivided among his four brothers or their descendants. But Davey +Buksh, the grandson, by adoption of the second brother, Dirguj Sing, +unknown to the others, assigned, in lieu of a debt, the whole village +to a Brahmin named Bhyroo Tewaree, who forthwith got it transferred +to Hozoor Tehseel, through Matadeen, a havildar of the 5th Troop, +7th-Regiment of Cavalry, who, in an application to the Resident, +pretended that the estate was his own. It is now beyond the +jurisdiction of the local authorities, who could ascertain the truth; +and all the rightful co-sharers have been ever since trying in vain +to recover their rights. The Bramin [Brahmin] and the Havildar, with +Sookhal a trooper in the same regiment, now divide the profits +between them, and laugh at the impotent efforts of the old +proprietors to get redress. Gholam Jeelanee, a shopkeeper of Lucknow, +seeing the profits derived by sipahees, from the abuse of this +privilege, purchased a cavalry uniform--jacket, cap, pantaloon, +boots, shoes, and sword--and on the pretence of being an invalid +trooper of ours, got the signature of the brigadier commanding the +troops in Oude to his numerous petitions, which were sent for +adjustment to the Durbar through the Resident. He followed this trade +profitably for fifteen years. At last he got possession of a landed +estate, to which he had no claim of right. Soon after he sent a +petition to say that the dispossessed proprietor had killed four of +his relations and turned him out. This led to a more strict inquiry, +when all came out. In quoting this case to the Resident, in a letter +dated the 16th of June 1836, the King of Oude observes: "If a person +known to thousands in the city of Lucknow is able, for fifteen years, +to carry on such a trade successfully, how much more easy must it be +for people in the country, not known to any in the city, to carry it +on!" + +The Resident communicated to the King of Oude the resolution of the +Honourable the Court of Directors to relieve him from the payment of +the sixteen lacs of rupees a-year for the auxiliary force; and on the +29th of July 1839, he reported to Government the great gratification +which his Majesty had manifested and expressed at this opportune +relief. But his gratification at this communication was hardly so +great as that which he had manifested on the 14th of December 1837, +when told by the Resident that the British Government would not +insist upon giving to the subjects of Oude who might enlist into that +force the privilege of forwarding complaints about their village +affairs and disputes, through their military superiors and the +Resident; and it appeared to the Resident, "that this one act of +liberality and justice on the part of the British Government had done +more to reconcile the King of Oude to the late treaty, in which the +Oude auxiliary force had originated, than all that he had said to him +during the last three months as to the prospective advantages which +that treaty would secure to him and his posterity." The King +observed: "This kindness on the part of the British Government has +relieved my mind from a load of disagreeable thoughts." The prime +minister, Hakeem Mehndee, who was present, replied: "All will now go +on smoothly. When the men have to complain to their own Government, +they will seldom complain without just cause, being aware that a +false story will soon be detected by the native local authorities, +though it could not be so by European officers at a distance from the +villages; and that in all cases of real grievances their claims will +soon be fairly and speedily adjusted. If," added he, "the sipahees of +this force had been so placed that they could have enlisted their +officers on their side in making complaints, while such officers +could know nothing whatever of the circumstances beyond what the +sipahees themselves told them, false and groundless complaints would +have become endless, and the vexations thereby caused to Government +and their neighbours would have become intolerable. These troops," +said he, "will now be real soldiers; but if the privileges enjoyed by +the Honourable Company's sipahees had been conferred upon the seven +regiments composing this force, with the relations and pretended +relations of the sipahees, it would have converted into corrupt +traders in village disputes sixteen or seventeen thousand of the +King's subjects, settled in the heart of the country, privileged to +make false accusations of all kinds, and believed by the people to be +supported in these falsehoods by the British Government." Both the +King and the minister requested the Resident earnestly and repeatedly +to express to the Governor-General their most sincere thanks for +having complied with his Majesty's solicitations on this point.* + +[* See King of Oude's letter to the Governor-General, dated 5th +October, 1837, and Residents letters of the 7th idem and 14th +December, 1837.] + +This privilege which the native officers and sipahees of our native +army enjoy of petitioning for redress of grievances, through the +Resident, has now been extended to all the regular, irregular, and +local corps of the three Presidencies--that is, to all corps paid by +the British Government, and to all native officers and sipahees of +contingent corps employed in and paid by native States, who were +drafted into them from the regular corps of our army up to a certain +time; and the number cannot be less than fifty or sixty thousand. But +European civil and political functionaries, in our own provinces and +other native States, have almost all some men from Oude in their +offices or establishments, whose claims and complaints they send for +adjustment to the Resident; and it is difficult for him to satisfy +them, that he is not bound to take them up in the same manner as he +takes up those of the native officers and sipahees of our native +army; and he is often induced to yield to their importunity, and +thereby to furnish grounds for further applications of the same sort. +This privilege is not recognized or named in any treaty, or other +engagement with the Sovereign of Oude; nor does any one now know its +origin, for it cannot be found in any document recorded in the +Resident's office. + +If the Resident happens to be an impatient, overbearing man, he will +often frighten the Durbar and its Courts, or local officers, into a +hasty decision, by which the rights of others are sacrificed for the +native officers and sipahees; and if he be at the same time an +unscrupulous man, he will sometimes direct that the sipahee shall be +put in possession of what he claims in order to relieve himself from +his importunity, or that of his commanding officer, without taking +the trouble to inform himself of the grounds on which the claim is +founded. Of all such errors there are unhappily too many instances +recorded in the Resident's office. This privilege is in the hands of +the Resident an instrument of _torture_, which it is his duty to +apply every day to the Oude Durbar. He may put on a _screw more_ or +a _screw less_, according to his temper or his views, or the +importunity of officers commanding corps or companies, and native +officers and sipahees in person, which never cease to oppress him +more or less. + +The most numerous class of complaints and the most troublesome is +that against the Government of Oude or its officers and landholders, +for enhanced demands of rents; and whenever these officers or +landholders are made to reduce these demands in favour of the +privileged sipahees, they invariably distribute the burthen in an +increased rate upon their neighbours. + +Officers who have to pass through Oude in their travels or sporting +excursions have of late years generally complained that they receive +less civility from villages in which our invalid or furlough sipahees +are located than from any others; and that if they are anywhere +treated with actual disrespect, such sipahees are generally found to +be either the perpetrators or instigators. This complaint is not, I +fear, altogether unfounded; and may arise from the diminished +attachment felt by the sipahees for their European officers in our +army, and partly from the privilege of urging their claims through +the Resident, enjoyed by native officers and sipahees, now ceasing on +their being transferred to the invalid establishment. + +But the privilege itself is calculated to create feelings of +dissatisfaction with their European officers, among the honest and +hard-working part of our native army. Such men petition only when +they have just cause; and not one in five of them can obtain what +they demand, and believe to be their just right, under an +administration like that of Oude, whatever efforts the Resident may +make to obtain it for them; and where one is satisfied, four become +discontented; while the dishonest and idle portion of their brother +soldiers, who have no real wrongs to complain of, and feign them only +to get leave of absence, throw all the burthen of their duties upon +them. Others again, by fraud and collusion with those whose influence +they require to urge their claims, often obtain more than they have +any right to; and their unmerited success tends to increase the +dissatisfaction felt by the honest, and more scrupulous portion of +the native officers and sipahees who have failed to obtain anything. + +Government will not do away with the privilege without first +ascertaining the views and wishes of the military authorities. They +are not favourable to the abolition, for though the honest and hard- +working sipahees may say that it is of no use to them, the idle and +unscrupulous, who consider it as a lottery in which they may +sometimes draw a prize, or a means of getting leave of absence when +they are not entitled to it, will tell them that the fidelity of the +whole native army depends upon its being maintained and extended. I +am of opinion, after much consideration, and a good deal of +experience in the political working of the system, that the abolition +of the privilege would be of great advantage to the native army; and +it would certainly relieve the European officers from much +importunity and annoyance which they now suffer from its enforcement. +It is not uncommon for a sipahee of a regiment in Bombay to obtain +leave of absence for several times over for _ten months_ at a time, +on the pretence of having a case pending in Oude. When his leave is +about to expire, he presents a petition to the Resident, who obtains +for him from the Court an order for the local authorities to settle +his claim. This order is sent to the officer commanding his regiment. +The man then makes up a piteous story of his having spent the whole +ten months in prosecuting his claim in vain, when, in reality, he has +been enjoying himself at home, and had no claim whatever to settle. +The next year, or the year after, he gets another ten months' leave, +for the same purpose, and when it is about to expire, he presents +himself to the Resident, and declares that the local authorities have +been changed, and the new officers pay no regard to the King's +orders. New orders are then got for the new officers, and sent to his +regiment, and the same game is played over again. + +Native officers and sipahees, in the privilege of presenting +petitions through the Resident, are now restricted to their own +claims and those of their wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and +daughters. They cannot petition through the Resident for the redress +of wrongs suffered, or pretended to have been suffered, by any other +relations. In consequence, it has become a common custom with them to +lend or sell their names to more remote relations, or to persons not +related to them at all. The petition is made out in their own name, +and the real sufferer or pretended sufferer, who is to prosecute the +claim, is named as the mookteear or attorney. A great many bad +characters have in this way deprived men of lands which their +ancestors had held in undisputed right of property for many +generations or centuries; for the Court, to save themselves from the +importunity of the Residency, has often given orders for the claimant +being put in possession of the lands without due inquiry or any +inquiry at all. The sipahees are, in consequence, much dreaded by the +people among whom they reside; for there really is no class of men +from whom it is more difficult to get the truth in any case. They +have no fear of punishment, because all charges against them for +fraud, falsehood, or violation of the rules laid down by Government +have to be submitted either to a court-martial, composed of native +officers, or to the Governor-General. Both involve endless trouble, +and it would, I fear, be impossible to get a conviction before a +court-martial so composed. No Resident will ever submit to a +Governor-General the scores of flagrant cases that every month come +before him; still less will he worry unoffending and suffering people +by causing them to be summoned to give evidence before a military +court. + +In a recent instance (July 1851), a sipahee in a regiment stationed +at Lucknow was charged before a court-martial with three abuses of +the privilege. He required no less than seventy-four witnesses to be +summoned in his defence. The Court had to wait till what could be got +out of the seventy-four appeared, and the man became an object of +sympathy, because he was kept so long in arrest. He named the first +Assistant to the Resident, who has charge of the Sipahee Petition +Department, as a witness; and he was not, in consequence, permitted +to attend the Court on the part of the Resident, who preferred the +charges, though he was never called or examined by the Court on the +part of the defence. The naming him, and the summoning of so many +witnesses were mere _ruses_ on the part of the sipahee to escape. No +person on the part of the Resident was allowed to attend the Court +and see that his witnesses were examined; nor had he any means of +knowing whether they were or not. He had reason to believe that the +most important were not. The sipahee was of course acquitted, as +sipahees charged with such abuses of the privilege always will be. +This man's regiment was at Lucknow, and near the place where the +cause of action arose, his own village, and the Resident's office. +How much more difficult would it be to get a conviction against a +sipahee whose regiment happens to be many hundred miles off! + +The transfer of their lands from the jurisdiction of the local +authorities to that of the Hozoor Tehseel is often the cause of much +suffering to their copartners and neighbours. Their co-sharers in the +land often find much inconvenience from it, and apprehend that, +sooner or later, the influence of the sipahee will enable him to add +their shares to his own. The village so transferred, being removed +from the observation and responsibility of the local authorities, +often becomes a safe refuge for the bad characters of the district, +who thence depredate upon the country around with impunity. Claims to +villages, to which the claimant had really no right whatever, have +been successfully prosecuted by or through sipahees, for the sole +purpose of having them transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel, and made +dens of thieves and highway robbers. The person in charge of the +Hozool Tehseel villages has generally a good deal of influence at +Court, and this he lends to such claimants, for a consideration, +without fear or scruple, as he feels assured that he shall be able to +counteract any representations on the part of the local authorities +of the evils suffered from the holders and occupants of such +villages. He never pretends to be able to watch over or control the +conduct of the holders and occupiers of the villages under his +charge, situated, as they mostly are, in remote districts. The +transfer of such villages can be justified only in districts that are +held in contract, and even in them it might be easy to provide +effectually for the protection of the holders from over-exactions on +the part of the contractors. + +This privilege is attended with infinite difficulty and perplexity to +the Resident and Government; and is at the same time exceedingly +odious to the people and Government of Oude. Officers commanding +regiments and companies have much trouble with such petitions. Able +to hear only one side of any question, they think that the evils +suffered by the sipahees are much greater and more numerous than they +really are, and grant leave to enable them to prosecute their claims +to redress more often than is necessary. Men who want leave, when +they are not otherwise entitled to it, feign wrongs which they never +suffered, or greatly exaggerate such as may really have been +inflicted on them in order to obtain it; or, as I have stated, lend +their names to others and ask leave to prosecute claims with which +they have really nothing whatever to do. The sipahees and native +officers of our army are little better with than they would be +without the privilege; and a great many enlist or remain in the +service solely with the view of better prosecuting their claims, and +resign or desert as soon as they have effected their purpose, or find +that the privilege is no longer necessary. They make a convenience in +this way of our service, and are the most useless soldiers in our +ranks. I am persuaded that we should have from Oude just as many and +as good recruits for our army without as with this privilege. + +The regiments of the Gwalior Contingent get just as good recruits +from Oude as those of the Line, though they do not enjoy the +privilege. I believe that those corps which did not enjoy the +privilege till within the last two years got just as good recruits +from Oude as they now do, since it has been extended to them. Till +1848 the privilege was limited to the native officers and soldiers of +our regular army, and to such as had been drafted from our regular +army into local corps up to a certain date; but in July of that year +the privilege was extended to all corps, regular and irregular, +attached to the Bengal, Madras, and Bombay Presidencies, which are +paid by the British Government. The feelings and opinions of the Oude +Government had not been consulted in the origin of this privilege, +nor were they now consulted in the extension given to it. + + +Officers commanding regiments and companies complain that the +sipahees and native officers never get redress, whatever trouble they +take to obtain it for them; and, I believe, they hardly ever hear a +sipahee or native officer acknowledge that he has had redress. A +sipahee one day came to the first Assistant, Captain Shakespear, +clamouring for justice, and declared that not the slightest notice +had been taken of his petition by the Oude Government or its local +authorities. On being questioned, he admitted that no less than forty +persons had been seized and were in prison on his requisition; but he +would not admit that this was any proof of the slightest notice +having been taken of his complaint. All are worried, and but few +benefited by the privilege, and the advantage of it to the army never +can counterbalance all the disadvantages. Invalid pensioners do not +now enjoy the privilege, but are left to prefer their claims direct +to the King's Courts, like others of the King's subjects, on the +ground that they cannot--like _sipahees still serving_--plead +distance from their homes; but a large proportion of the sipahees +still serving who have, or pretend to have, claims, obtain leave of +absence from their regiments to prosecute them in person. + +The objection once raised by Lord William Bentinck against our +employing troops in support of the Government of Oude against +refractory landholders, is equally valid against our advocacy of the +claims of sipahees to lands. "If," said his Lordship, "British troops +be lent to enforce submission, it seems impossible to avoid becoming +parties to the terms of submission and guarantees of their observance +afterwards on both sides; in which case we should become mixed up in +every detail of the administration." If the sipahee does not pay +punctually the assessment upon the lands which he has obtained +through the Resident, the Oude Government calls upon the Resident to +enforce payment; and if the Oude Government ventures to add a rupee +to the rate demanded for the year, or for any one year, the sipahee, +through the commandant of his corps, and, perhaps, the Commander-in- +Chief and Governor-General, calls upon the Resident to have the rate +reduced, or to explain the grounds upon which it has been made; or if +the sipahee has a dispute with his numerous co-sharers, the Resident +is called upon to settle it. If the King's troops have trespassed, if +the crops have suffered from calamities of season or marauders, or +the village has been robbed, the sipahee refuses to pay, and demands +a remission of the Government demand; and if he does not get it, +appeals in the same manner to the Resident. If a sipahee be arrested +or detained for defalcation, a demand comes for his immediate +release; and if his crops or stock be distrained for balance, or +lands attached, the Resident is called upon to ascertain and explain +the reason why, and obtain redress. All such distraint is represented +as open robbery and pillage. + +It is not at all uncommon for a sipahee to obtain leave of absence +from his regiment three or four times to enable him to prosecute the +same case in person at Lucknow, though he might prosecute it just as +well through an attorney. He often enjoys himself at his home while +his attorney prosecutes his claim, if he really has any, at Lucknow. +The commanding officers of his regiment and company of course believe +all he says regarding the pressing necessity for his presence at +Lucknow; and few of them know that the cases are derided in the +King's Courts, and that the Resident could not possibly decide them +himself if he had five times the establishment he has and full powers +to do so. If the Resident finds that a sipahee has lent his name to +another, and reports his conduct, he makes out a plausible tale, +which his commanding officer believes to be true; the Commander-in- +Chief is referred to; the case is submitted to the Governor-General, +and sometimes to the Court of Directors, and a voluminous +correspondence follows, till the Resident grows weary, and the +sipahee escapes with impunity. In the mean time, troops of witnesses +have been worried to show that the sipahee has no connection whatever +with the estate, or thing claimed in his name, or with the family to +whom his name was lent. Many a man has, in this way, as above stated, +been robbed of an estate which his family had held for many +generations; and many a village which had been occupied by an honest +and industrious peasantry has been turned into a den of robbers. In +flagrant cases of false claims, the Resident may get the attorney, +employed by the sipahee in prosecuting it, punished by the Durbar, +but he can rarely hope to get the sipahee himself punished. + +In a case that occurred shortly before I took charge, a sipahee +complained that a tallookdar had removed him, or his friends, from +their village by over exactions, demanding two thousand eight hundred +rupees a-year instead of eight hundred. An ameen was sent out to the +district to settle the affair. Having some influence at Court, he got +the sipahee put into possession, at the rate of eight hundred, and +obtained from him a pledge to pay to him, the ameen, a large portion +of the _two thousand_ profit! The tallookdar, being a powerful man, +made the contractor reduce his demand upon his estate, of which the +village was a part, in proportion; and the contractor made the +Government give him credit for the whole two thousand eight hundred, +which the estate was well able to pay, in any other hands, and ought +to have paid. The holder continued, I believe, to pay the ameen, who +continued to give him the benefit of his influence at Court. Cases of +this kind are not uncommon. The Resident is expected by commandants +of corps and companies to secure every native officer and sipahee in +the possession of his estate at a fixed rate, in perpetuity; and as +many of their relations and friends as may contrive to have their +claims presented through the Resident in their names. He is expected +to adjust all disputes that may arise between them and their co- +sharers and neighbours; or between them and their landholders and +Government officers; to examine all their complicated accounts of +collections and balances, fair payments, and secret gratuities. + +Sipahees commonly enter the service under false names, and give false +names to their relatives and places of abodes, in order that they may +not be traced if they desert; or that the truth may not be discovered +if they pretend to be of higher caste than they really are, or +otherwise offend. When they find, in the prosecution of their claims +through the Resident, that this is discovered, they find an alias for +each name, whether of person, place, or thing: the troubles and +perplexities which arise from this privilege are endless. + +The Court of Directors, in a despatch dated the 4th March, 1840, +remarking on a report dated the 29th November, 1838, from the +Resident, Colonel Low, relating to abuses arising from the +interference of the Resident in respect to complaints preferred by +subjects of Oude serving in our army, observes, "that these abuses +appear to be even more flagrant than the Court had previously +believed them to be, and no time ought to be lost in applying an +effectual remedy: cases are not wanting in which complaints and +claims, that are utterly groundless, meet with complete success, the +officers of the Oude Government finding it less troublesome to comply +with the unjust demand than to investigate the case in such a manner +as to satisfy the Resident; and the Oude Government, for the purpose +of getting rid of importunity, reduces the assessment on the lands of +these favoured individuals, making up the loss by increased exactions +from their neighbours." The Court orders the immediate abolition of +the privilege in the case of invalided and pensioned sipahees, and +directs that those still serving in our army be no longer allowed to +complain in respect of all their relatives, real or pretended, but +only in cases in which they themselves, their parents, wives, or +children are actually interested. "All unfounded complaints, and all +false allegations made in order to render complaints cognizable, +ought to be, when discovered, _punishable by our own military +authorities, who ought not to be remiss in inflicting such punishment +when justly incurred_." "Under the restrictions which we have +enjoined," continues the Court, "the trial may once more be made +whether this privilege is compatible with good government in Oude, +and with the rightful authority of the King of Oude and his officers. +Should the abuses which have prevailed still continue under the +altered system, the whole subject must be again taken into +consideration, and the Resident is to be required to submit a report +on the operation of the privilege after the expiration of one year." + +How the rule with regard to relationship is evaded has been already +stated, and among the numerous instances of this evasion that have +been discovered every year since this order of the Honourable Court +was passed, the offence has never been punished by any military +authority in one. The Resident has no hope, nor the sipahee any fear, +that such an offence will ever be punished by a court-martial; and +the former feels averse to trespass on the time and attention of the +Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief with such references. He +hardly ever submits them till the necessity is forced upon him by +references made to the Commander-in-Chief, by officers commanding +regiments, in behalf of offenders in whose veracity they are disposed +to place too much confidence. + +In one of the cases quoted by Colonel Low in his letter of the 29th +November, 1838, Reotee Barn, a sipahee, claimed a village, which was +awarded to him by the Court, without due inquiry, to avoid further +importunity. The owner in possession would not give it up. A large +force was sent to enforce the award; lives were lost; the real owner +was seized and thrown into gaol, and there died. Reotee Ram had no +right whatever to the village, and he could not retain possession +among such a sturdy peasantry. His commanding officer again appealed +to the Commander-in-Chief, and the case was referred to the Governor- +General and to the Honourable the Court of Directors, and a +voluminous correspondence took place. It was afterwards fully proved, +that the sipahee, Reotee Ram, had never had the slightest ground of +claim to the village; and had been induced to set up one solely at +the instigation of an interested attorney with whom he was to share +the profits. + +In another case quoted by Colonel Low in that letter, a pay havildar +of the 58th Regiment complained, jointly with his brother Cheyda, +through the Commander-in-Chief, to the Governor-General, in June +1831, stating, that Rajah Prethee Put had murdered two of his +relations, plundered his house, burnt his title-deeds, cut down five +of his mango-groves, seized seventy-three beegahs of land belonging +to him, of hereditary right, turned all his family out of the +village, including the widows of the two murdered men, and still held +in confinement his relative Teekaram, a sipahee of the Bombay army. +On investigation before the Assistant Resident, Captain Shakespear, +the havildar and Cheyda admitted-first, that Teekaram had rejoined +his regiment before they complained; second, that of the two murdered +men, one had been killed fifty-five years before, and the other +twenty years, and that both had fallen in affrays between +landholders, in which many lives had been lost on both sides; third, +that he had never himself held the lands, and that his father had +been forty years before deprived of them by the father of Cheyda, who +had the best claim to them, and had mortgaged them to a Brahmin, from +whom Prethee Put had taken them for defalcation; fourth, that it was +not his own claim he was urging, but that of Cheyda, who was not his +brother, but the great grandson of his grandfather's brother, and +that he had never been in the British service; fifth, that the lands +had been taken from his father by Cheyda's father fourteen years +before he, the havildar, entered the British service twenty-eight +years ago; sixth, that his family had lost nothing in the village, by +Prethee Put, and that the persons deprived of their mango-groves were +only very distantly related to him. + +Fuzl Allee, a notorious knave, having, in collusion with the local +authorities of the district, taken from Hufeez-ollah the village of +Dewa, which had been held by his family in proprietory right for many +generations, and tried to extort from him a written resignation of +all his rights to the lands, Hufeez-ollah made his escape, and went +to Lucknow to seek redress. During his absence his relations tried to +recover possession, and in the contest one of Fuzl Allee's followers +was killed. Fuzl Allee then prevailed upon Ihsan Allee, a pay +havildar in the 9th Regiment of our Cavalry, who was in no way +whatever connected with the parties, and had no claim whatever on the +lands, to present a petition to the Resident, charging Hufeez-ollah +with having committed a gang-robbery upon his house, and murdered one +of his servants. Hufeez-ollah was seized and thrown into prison, and +the case was made over for trial to Zakir Allee. No proof whatever +having been adduced against him for four months, Zakir Allee declared +him innocent, and applied for his release; but before his application +reached the Durbar, another petition was presented to the Resident, +Colonel Richmond, in the name of the pay havildar; and the Durbar +ordered that the case should be made over to the Court of Mahommed +Hyat, and that the prisoner should not be released without a +settlement and the previous sanction of the Durbar, as the affair +related to the English. + +The prisoner proved that he was at Lucknow at the time of the affray, +and that the lands in dispute had belonged to his family for many +generations. No proof whatever was produced against him, but by +frequently changing the attorneys of the pay havildar, pretending +that he required to attend in person but could not get leave of +absence, and other devices, Fuzl Allee contrived to postpone the +final decision till the 27th of February, 1849, when Mahommed Hyat +acquitted the prisoner, and declared that the pay havildar had in +reality no connection whatever either with the parties or with the +lands; that his name had been used by Fuzl Allee for his own evil +purposes; that he had become very uneasy at the thought of keeping an +innocent man so long in prison merely to gratify the malice and evil +designs of his enemy; and prayed the Durbar to call upon the +prosecutor to prove his charges before the Minister or other high +officer within a certain period, or to direct the release of the poor +man. + +On the 16th of January, 1852, the prisoner sent a petition to the +Resident, Colonel Sleeman, to say, that after he had been acquitted +by Mahommed Hyat on the 27th of February, 1849, his enemy, Fuzl +Allee, had contrived to prevail upon the Durbar to have his case made +over to the Court of the Suder-os Sudoor, by whom he had been a third +time acquitted; but that the Durbar dared not order his release, as +the case was one in which British officers were concerned. He +therefore prayed that the Resident would request the King to order +his release, on his giving security for his appearance when required, +as he had been in prison for more than four years. On the 24th of +January, 1852, the Resident requested the King to have the prisoner +immediately released. This was the first time that the case came to +the notice of Colonel Sleeman, though Hufeez-ollah had been four +years in prison, under a fictitious charge from the pay havildar. + +_January_ 11, 1850.--At Nawabgunge, detained by rain, which fell +heavily all last night, to the great delight of the _landed +interest_, and great discomfort of travellers. Nothing but mud around +us--our tents wet through, but standing, and the ground inside of +them dry. Fortunately there has been no strong wind with the heavy +rain, and we console ourselves with the thought that the small +inconvenience which travellers suffer from such rain at this season +is trifling, compared with the advantage which millions of our +fellow-creatures derive from it. This is what I have heard all native +travellers say, however humble or however great--all sympathise with +the landed interests in a country where industry is limited almost +exclusively to the culture of the soil, and the revenue of the +sovereign derived almost exclusively from the land. After such rains +the cold increases--the spirits rise--the breezes freshen--the crops +look strong--the harvest is retarded--the grain gets more sap and +becomes perfect--the cold season is prolonged, as the crops remain +longer green, and continue to condense the moisture of the +surrounding atmosphere. Without such late rain, the crops ripen +prematurely, the grain becomes shrivelled, and defective both in +quantity and quality. While the rain lasts, however, a large camp is +a wretched scene; for few of the men, women, and children, and still +fewer of the animals it contains, can find any shelter at all! + +_January_ 12, 1850.-At Nawabgunge, still detained by rain. The +Minister had ordered out tents for himself and suite on the 8th, but +they had not come up, and I was obliged to lend him one of my best, +and some others as they came up, or they would have been altogether +without shelter. When he left them on the 10th, his attendants cut +and took away almost all the ropes, some of the kanats or outer +walls, and some of the carpets. He knew nothing about it, nor will he +ever learn anything till told by me. His attendants were plundering +in all the surrounding villages while he remained; and my people +tried in vain to prevent them, lest they should themselves be taken +for the plunderers. Of all this the Minister knew nothing. The +attendants on the contractors and other local officers are, if +possible, still worse; and throughout the country the King's officers +all plunder, or acquiesce in the plunder, utterly regardless of the +sufferings of the people and the best interests of their Sovereign. +No precaution whatever is taken to prevent this indiscriminate +plunder by the followers of the local authorities; nor would any one +of them think it worth his while to interpose if he saw the roofs of +the houses of a whole village moving off on the heads of his +followers to his camp; or a fine crop of sugar-cane, wheat, or +vegetables cut down for fodder by them before his face. It is the +fashion of the country, and the Government acquiesces in it. + +Among the people no man feels mortified, or apprehends that he shall +stand the worse in the estimation of the Government or its officers, +for being called and proved to be a robber. It is the trade of every +considerable landholder in the country occasionally, and that of a +great many of them perpetually; the murder of men, women, and +children generally attends their depredations. A few days ago, when +requested by the King to apply to officers commanding stations, and +magistrates of bordering districts, for aid in the arrest of some of +the most atrocious of these rebels and robbers, I told his Majesty, +that out of consideration for the poor people who suffered, I had +made a requisition for that aid for the arrest of three of the worst +of them; but that I could make no further requisition until he did +something to remove the impression now universal over Oude, that +those who protected their peasantry managed their estates well, +obeyed the Government in all things, and paid the revenue punctually, +were sure to be oppressed, and ultimately ruined by the Government +and its officers, while those who did the reverse in all these things +were equally sure to be favoured and courted. + +As an instance, I mentioned Gholam Huzrut, who never paid his +revenues, oppressed his peasantry, murdered his neighbours, and +robbed them of their estates, attacked and plundered the towns around +with his large band of robbers, and kept the country in a perpetual +state of disorder; yet, when seized and sent in a prisoner to Lucknow +by Captain Bunbury, he managed to bribe courtiers, and get orders +sent out to the local authorities to have his son kept in possession +of all his ill-gotten lands, and favoured and protected in all +possible ways. I knew that such orders had been obtained by bribery; +and the Minister told me, that he had ordered nothing more than that +the son should have the little land which had been held of old by the +family, and should be required to give up all that he had usurped. I +showed him a copy of the order issued by his confidential servant, +Abid Allee, to all commanders of troops in the district, which had +been obtained for me for the occasion of the Minister's visit to my +camp; and he seemed much ashamed to see that his subordinates should +so abase the confidence he placed in them. The order was as follows:- + + "_To the Officers commanding the Forces in the District + of Sidhore, Nawabgunge, Dewa, &c._ + +"By Order of the Minister.--The King's chuprassies have been sent to +Para to invite in Bhikaree the son of Gholam Huzrut; and you all are +informed that the said Bhikaree is to be honoured and cherished by +the favour of the King; and if any of you should presume to prevent +his coming in, or molest him in the possession of any of the lands he +holds, you will incur the severe displeasure of his Majesty. You are, +on no account, to molest or annoy him in any way connected with his +affairs. + + (Signed) "ABID ALLEE." + +The thing necessary in Oude is a system and a machinery that shall +inspire all with a feeling-first, of security in their tenure in +office so long as the duties of it are performed ably and honestly; +second, in their tenure in their lands assessed at moderate rates, as +long as the rents and revenues so assessed are fully and punctually +paid, and the duties of the holders towards the Government, their +tenants, and the public, are faithfully discharged; third, in the +safety of life, person, and property on the roads and in the towns, +villages, and hamlets scattered over the country. This good can never +be effected with the present system and machinery, whatever be the +ability and diligence of the King, the Minister, and the Resident; be +they of the highest possible order, the good they can effect must be +small and temporary; there can be, under such a system, no stability +in any rule, no feeling of security in any person or thing! + +A tribunal, formed under the guarantee of the British Government, +might, possibly--first, form a settlement of the land revenue of the +whole country, and effectually enforce from all parties, the +fulfilment of the conditions it imposed; second, decide, finally, +upon all charges against public officers--protect the able and +honest, and punish all those who neglect their duties or abuse their +authority; third, reform the military force in all its branches--give +it the greatest possible efficiency, compatible with the outlay-- +concentrate it at five or six stations, and protect the people of the +country from its rapacity; fourth, raise and form a police, distinct +altogether from this military force, and efficient for all the duties +required from it; fifth, create and maintain judicial courts to which +all classes might look up with confidence and respect. But to effect +all this it would require to transfer at least twenty-five lacs of +rupees a-year from the pockets of official absorbants and Court +favourites to those of efficient public officers; and, finally, to +set aside the present King, Minister, and Commander-in-Chief, and +take all the executive upon itself. + +The expenditure is now about twenty lacs of rupees a-year above the +income, and the excess is paid out of the reserved treasury. This +reserved treasury was first established by Saadut Allee Khan in A.D. +1801, when he had serious thoughts of resigning the government of his +country into the hands of the Honourable Company, and retiring into +private life. Up to this time he used to drink hard, and to indulge +in other pleasures, which tended to unfit him for the cares and +duties of sovereignty; but, in 1801, he made a solemn vow at the +shrine of Huzrut Abbas at Lucknow to cease from all such indulgences, +and devote all his time and attention to his public duties. This vow +he kept, and no Sovereign of Oude has ever conducted the Government +with so much ability as he did for the remaining fourteen years of +his life. On his death, which took place on the 12th of July, 1814, +he left in this reserved treasury the sum of fourteen crores of +rupees, or fourteen millions sterling, with all his establishments +paid up, and his just debts liquidated. When he ascended the musnud +on the 21st January, 1798, he found nothing in the Treasury, and the +public establishments all much in arrears. + +Out of this reserved treasure, the _zukaat_, or two and a-half per +cent., is every year paid to the mojtahid for distribution among the +poor of the Sheea sect at Lucknow. No person of the Sonnee sect is +permitted to partake of this charity. Syuds or lineal descendants of +the Prophet are not permitted to take any part of this charity, +except for the _bonā fide_ payment of debt due. The mojtahid is, at +the same time, the high priest and the highest judicial functionary +in the State. Being a Syud, neither he nor any member of his family +can legally take any part of this charity for themselves, except for +the _bonā fide_ purpose of paying debts; but they get over the +difficulty by borrowing large sums before the money is given out, and +appropriate the greater part of the money to the liquidation of these +debts, though they all hold large sums in our Government securities. +To his friends at Court he sends a large share, with a request that +they will do him the favour to undertake the distribution among the +poor of their neighbourhood. To prevent popular clamour, a small +portion of the money given out is actually distributed among the poor +of the Sheea sect at Lucknow; but that portion is always small. + +Saadut Allee's son and successor, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, spent four +crores out of the reserved treasury over and above the whole income +of the State; and when he died, on the 20th of October, 1827, he left +ten crores of rupees in that treasury. His son and successor, +Nusseer-od Deen Hyder, spent nine crores and thirty lacs; and when he +died, on the 7th of July, 1837, he left only seventy lacs in the +reserved treasury. His successor, Mahommed Allee Shah, died on the +16th of May, 1842, leaving in the reserved treasury thirty-five lacs +of rupees, one hundred and twenty-four thousand gold mohurs, and +twenty-four lacs in our Government securities--total, seventy-eight +lacs and eighty-four thousand rupees. His son and successor, Amjud +Allee Shah, died on the 13th of February, 1847, leaving in the +reserved treasury ninety-two lacs of rupees, one hundred and twenty- +four thousand gold-mohurs, and twenty-four lacs in our Government +securities--total, one crore and thirty-six lacs. His son and +successor, his present Majesty, Wajid Allee Shah, is spending out of +this reserved treasury, over and above the whole income of the +country, above twenty lacs of rupees a-year; and the treasury must +soon become exhausted. His public establishments, and the stipendiary +members of the royal family, are, at the same time, kept greatly in +arrears.* + +[* _November_ 30, 1851.--The gold-mohurs have been all melted down, +and the promissory notes of our Government all, save four lacs, given +away; and of the rupees, I believe, only three lacs remain; so that +the reserved treasury must be entirely exhausted before the end of +1851; while the establishments and stipendiary members of the royal +family are in arrears for from one to three years. Fifty lacs of +rupees would hardly suffice to pay off these arrears. The troops on +detached duty, in the provinces with local officers, are not so much +in arrears as those in and about the capital. They are paid out of +the revenues as they are collected, and their receipts sent in to the +treasury. For some good or pleasing services rendered by him to the +minister this year, in the trial of offenders whom that minister +wished to screen, three lacs of rupees have been paid to the mojtahid +as _zukaat_ for distribution to the poor. This has all been +appropriated by the mojtahid, the minister, and Court favourites. + +The State, like individuals, is bound to pay this _zukaat_ only when +it is free from debts of all kinds. The present King's father was +free from debt, and had his establishments always paid up; and he +always paid this charity punctually. The present King is not bound to +pay it, but the high-priest, minister, and Court favourites are too +deeply interested in its payment to permit its discontinuance; and +the king, like a mere child in their hands, acquiesces in all they +propose. The _zukaat_ has, in consequence, increased as the treasury +has become exhausted.] + +_January_ 13, 1850.--Russoolabad, twelve miles, over a country better +peopled and cultivated than usual, where the soil admits of tillage. +There is a good deal that requires drainage, and still more that is +too poor to be tilled without great labour and outlay in irrigation, +manure, &c. The villages are, however, much nearer to each other than +in any other part of the country that we have passed over; and the +lands, close around every village, are well cultivated. The +landholders and cultivators told me, that the heavy rain we have had +has done a vast deal of good to the crops; and, as it has been +followed by a clear sky and fine westerly wind, they have no fear of +the blight which might have followed had the sky continued cloudy, +and the winds easterly. Certainly nothing could look better than the +crops of all kinds do now, and the people are busily engaged in +ploughing the land for sugar-cane, and for the autumn crops of next +season. + +I had some talk with the head zumeendar of Naraenpoor about midway. +He is of the Ditchit family of Rajpoots, who abound in the district +we have now entered. We passed over the boundary of Byswara, about +three miles from our last encampment, and beyond that district there +are but few Rajpoots of the Bys clan. These Ditchits give their +daughters in marriage to the Bys Rajpoots, but cannot get any of +theirs in return. Gunga Sing, the zumeendar, with whom I was talking, +told me that both the Ditchits and Byses put their infant daughters +to death, and that the practice prevailed more or less in all +families of these and, he believed, all other clans of Rajpoots in +Oude, save the Sengers.* I asked him whether it prevailed in his own +family, and he told me that it did, more or less, as in all others. I +bade him leave me, as I could not hold converse with a person guilty +of such atrocities, and told him that they would be all punished for +them in the next world, if not in this. + +[* The Sengers are almost the only class of Rajpoots in Bundelkund, +and Boghilcund, Rewa, and the Saugor territories, who used to put +their female infants to death; and here, in Oude, they are almost the +only class who do not.] + + +Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, who was on his horse beside my elephant, said, +"They are all punished in this world, and will, no doubt, be punished +still more in the next. Scarcely any of the heads of these landed +aristocracy are the legitimate sons of their predecessors; they are +all adopted, or born of women of inferior grade. The heads of +families who commit or tolerate such atrocities become leprous, +blind, deaf or dumb, or are carried off in early life by some +terrible disease. Hardly any of them attain a good old age, nor can +they boast of an untainted line of ancestors like other men. If they +get sons, they commonly die young. They unite themselves to women of +inferior castes for want of daughters in families of their own ranks, +and there is hardly a family among these proud Rajpoots unstained by +such connections.* Even the reptile _Pausies_ become _Rajpoots_ by +giving their daughters to Powars and other Rajpoot families, when by +robbery and murder they have acquired wealth and landed property. The +sister of Gunga Buksh, of Kasimgunge, was married to the Rajah of +Etondeea, a Powar Rajpoot in Mahona; and the present Rajah--Jode +Sing--is her son. Gunga Buksh is a Pausee, but the family call +themselves Rawats, and are considered to be Rajpoots, since they have +acquired landed possessions by the murder and ruin of the old +proprietors. They all delight in murder and rapine--the curse of God +is upon them, sir, for the murder of their own innocent children!" + + +[* A great number of girls are purchased and stolen from our +territories, brought into Oude, and sold to Rajpoot families, as +wives for their sons, on the assurance, that they are of the same or +higher caste, and that their parents have been induced to part with +them from poverty. A great many of our native officers and sipahees, +who marry while home on furlough, and are pressed for time, get such +wives. Some of their neighbours are always bribed by the traders in +such girls, to pledge themselves for the purity of their blood. If +they ever find out the imposition, they say nothing about it.] + +"When I was sent out to inquire into the case of Brigadier Webber, +who had been attacked and robbed while travelling in his palkee, with +relays of bearers, from Lucknow to Seetapoor, I entered a house to +make some inquiries, and found the mistress weeping. I asked the +cause, and she told me that she had had four children, and lost all-- +that three of them were girls, who had been put to death in infancy, +and the last was a fine boy, who had just died! I told her that this +was a just punishment from God for the iniquities of her family, and +that I would neither wash my hands nor drink water under her roof. I +never do under the roof of any family in which such a cruel practice +prevails. These Rajpoots are all a bad set, sir. When men murder +their own children, how can they scruple to murder other people? The +curse of God is upon them, sir. + +"In the district of Byswara," he continued, "through which we have +just passed, you will find at least fifty thousand men armed to fight +against each other, or their government and its officers: in such a +space, under the Honourable Company's dominion, you would not find +one thousand armed men of the same class. Why is this, but because +you do not allow such crimes to be perpetrated? Why do you go on +acquiring dominion over one country after another with your handful +of European troops and small force of native sipahees, but because +God sees that your rule is just, and that you have an earnest desire +to benefit the people and improve the countries you take?" + +He told me that he had charge of the cattle under Saadut Allee Khan +when Lord Lake took the field at the first siege of Bhurtpoor; that +his master lent his Lordship five hundred elephants, eight thousand +artillery bullocks, and five hundred horses; that two hundred and +fifty of the elephants returned; but whether any of the bullocks and +horses came back or not he could not say. + +The country we came over to-day is well studded with groves and fine +single trees, but the soil is generally of the lighter doomuteea +kind, which requires much labour and outlay in water and manure. The +irrigation is all from wells and pools. In the villages we came +through, we saw but few of the sipahees of our army home on furlough; +they are chiefly from the Byswara and Bunoda districts. We found our +tents pitched upon a high and dry spot, with a tight soil of clay and +sand. After the heavy rain we have had, it looked as if no shower had +fallen upon it for an age. The mud walls of the houses we saw on the +road were naked, as usual. The rapacity of the King's troops is +everywhere, directly or indirectly, the cause of this: and till they +are better provided and disciplined the houses in the towns and +villages can never improve. + +The commandant, Imdad Hoseyn, of the Akberee or Telinga Regiment, on +duty with the Amil of the Poorwa district, in which our camp was last +pitched, followed me a few miles this morning to beg that I would try +to prevail upon the Durbar to serve out clothing for his corps. He +told me that the last clothing it got from the Government was on the +occasion of Lord Hastings' visit to Lucknow, some thirty-three years +ago, in 1817; that many orders had been given since that time for new +clothing, but there was always some one about Court to counteract +them, from malice or selfishness; that his father, Zakir Allee, +commanded the corps when it got the last clothing, and he succeeded +him many years ago. The Telinga Regiments are provided with arms, +accoutrements, and clothing by Government. The sipahees formerly got +five rupees a-month, but for only ten months in the year; they now +get four rupees and three and a-half annas a-month for all the twelve +months. 'He is, he says, obliged to take a great many _sufarashies_, +or men put in by persons of influence at Court, out of favour, or for +the purpose of sharing in their pay; and, under the deductions and +other disadvantages to which they are liable, he could get no good +men to enlist. The corps, in consequence, has a wretched appearance, +and certainly could not be made formidable to an enemy. The "Akbery" +is one of the Telinga corps of infantry, and was intended to be, in +all things, like those of Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and Magness; but +Imdad Hoseyn told me that they had a certain weight at Court, which +secured for their regiments many advantages necessary to make the +corps efficient, while he had none: that they had occasional +intercourse with the Resident, and were all at Court for some months +in the year to make friends, while he was always detached. + +_January_ 14, 1850.--Halted at Russoolabad, for our second set of +tents, which did not come up till night, when it was too late to send +them on to our next ground. We have two sets of sleeping and dining +tents--one to go on and the other to remain during the night--but +only one set of office tents. They are struck in the afternoon, when +the office duties of the day are over, and are ready by the time we +reach our ground the next morning. This is the way in which all +public functionaries march in India. Almost all officers who have +revenue charges march through the districts under their jurisdiction +during the cold season, and so do many political officers who have +control over more than one native principality. I have had charges +that require such moving ever since the year 1822, or for some +twenty-eight years; and with the exception of two intervals of +absence on medical certificate in 1826 and 1836, I have been every +cold season moving in the way I describe. + +No Resident at the Court of Lucknow ever before moved, over the +country as I am doing to inquire into the condition of the people, +the state of the country, and character of the administration; nor +would it be desirable for them to do so unless trained to civil +business, and able and disposed to commune freely with the people of +all classes. The advantages would hardly counterbalance the +disadvantages. When I apologize to the peasantry for the unavoidable +trespasses of my camp, they always reply good-humouredly, "The losses +we suffer from them are small and temporary, while the good we hope +from your visit is great and permanent." Would that I could realize +the hopes to which my visit gives rise. + +_January_ 15, 1850.--To Meeangunge, five miles, over a plain of good +doomuteea soil, well studded with trees; but much of the land lies +waste, and many of the villages and hamlets are unoccupied and in +ruins. We passed the boundary of the Russoolabad district, about two +miles from our last ground, and crossed into that of Meeangunge or +Safeepoor. The Russoolabad district was held in contract for some +years by one of the greatest knaves in Oude, Buksh Allee, a dome by +caste, whose rise to wealth and influence may be described as +illustrative of the manners and customs of the Lucknow Court and +Government. This man and his deputy, Munsab Allee, reduced a good +deal of the land of the district to waste, and depopulated many of +its villages and hamlets by over-exactions and by an utter disregard +of their engagements with the landholders and cultivators; and they +were in league with many atrocious highway robbers, who plundered and +murdered so many travellers along the high road leading from Lucknow +to Cawnpoor, which runs through the district, that it was deemed +unsafe to pass it except in strong bodies. + +When I took charge of my office in January last, they used to seize +every good-looking girl or young woman, passing the roads with +parents and husbands, who were too poor to purchase redress at Court, +and make slaves or concubines of them; and, feeling strong in the +assurance of protection from the fiddlers in the palace, who are of +the same caste--domes--Buksh Allee defied all authority, and kept +those girls and women in his camp and house at Lucknow, while their +parents and husbands, for months and years, in vain besought all who +were likely to have the least influence or authority to interpose for +their release. Some of them came to me soon after I took charge, and, +having collected sufficient proof of these atrocities, and of some +robberies which he had committed or caused to be committed along the +high road, I insisted upon his being deprived of his charges and +punished. He remained for many months concealed in the city, but was +at last seized by some of the Frontier Police, under the guidance of +an excellent officer, Lieutenant Weston, the Superintendent. + +I had prevailed on the King to offer two thousand rupees for his +apprehension, and the two thousand rupees were distributed among the +captors. The girls and young women were released, their parents and +husbands compensated for the sufferings they had endured, and many of +the persons who had been robbed by him and his deputy had the value +of their lost property made good. Great impediments were thrown in +the way of all this by people of influence about Court; but they were +all surmounted by great skill and energy on the part of Lieutenant +Weston and steady perseverance on mine; and Buksh Allee remained in +gaol, treated as a common felon, till all was effected. All had, in +appearance, been done by the King's officers, but in reality by ours, +under his Majesty's sanction, for it was clear that nothing would be +done unless we supervised and guided their proceedings. The district +is now held in contract by a very respectable man, Mahommed Uskaree, +who has taken it for four years. + +The district of Safeepoor, in which we are now encamped, has been +held in contract for five years by Budreenath, a merchant of Lucknow, +who had given security for the former contractor. He could not fulfil +his engagements to Government, and the contract was made over to him +as surety, on condition that he paid the balance. He has held it ever +since, while his younger brother, Kiddernath, has conducted their +mercantile affairs at Lucknow. Budreenath has always considered the +affair as a mercantile speculation, and thought of nothing but the +amount he has to pay to Government and that which he can squeeze out +of the landholders and cultivators. He is a bad manager; the lands +are badly tilled, and the towns, villages, and hamlets are scantily +peopled and most wretched in appearance. + +Near the border, we passed one village, Mahommedpoor, entirely in +ruins. After some search we found a solitary man of the Pausee tribe, +who told us that it had been held for many generations by the family +of Rugonath, a Gouree Rajpoot, who paid for it at an uniform rate of +six hundred rupees a-year. About three years ago the contractor +demanded from him an increased rate, which he could not pay. Being +sorely pressed, he fled to the jungles with the few of his clan that +he could collect, and ordered all the cultivators to follow his +fortunes. They were of a different clan--mostly Bagheelas--and +declined the honour. He urged that, if they followed him for a season +or two, the village would be left untilled, and yield nothing to the +contractor, who would be constrained to restore him to possession at +the rate which his ancestors had paid; that his family had nothing +else to depend upon, and if they did not desert the land and take to +the jungles and plunder with him, he must, of necessity, plunder +them. They had never done so, and would not do so now. He attacked +and plundered the village three times, killed three men, and drove +all the rest to seek shelter and employment in other villages around. +Not a soul but himself, our informant, was left, and the lands lay +waste. Rogonath Sing rented a little land in the village of Gouree, +many miles off, and in another district, still determined to allow no +man but himself to hold the village or restore its tillage and +population. This, said the Pausee, is the usage of the country, and +the only way in which a landholder can honestly or effectually defend +himself against the contractor, who would never regard his rights +unless he saw that he was prepared to defend them in this way, and +determined to involve all under him in his own ruin, depopulate his +estate, and lay waste his lands. + +Meean Almas, after whom this place, Meeangunge, takes his name, was +an eunuch. He had a brother, Rahmut, after whom the town of +Rahmutgunge, which we passed some days ago, took its name. Meean +Almas was the greatest and best man of any note that Oude has +produced. He held for about forty years this and other districts, +yielding to the Oude Government an annual revenue of about eighty +lacs of rupees. During all this time he kept the people secure in +life and property, and as happy as people in such a state of society +can be; and the whole country under his charge was, during his life- +time, a garden. He lived here in a style of great magnificence, and +was often visited by his sovereign, who used occasionally to spend a +month at a time with him at Meeangunge. A great portion of the lands +held by him were among those made over to the British Government, on +the division of the Oude territory, by the treaty of 1801, concluded +between Saadut Allee Khan and the then Governor-General Lord +Wellesley. + +The country was then divided into equal shares, according to the +rent-roll at the time. The half made over to the British Government +has been ever since yielding more revenue to us, while that retained +by the sovereign of Oude has been yielding less and less to him; and +ours now yields, in land-revenue, stamp-duty, and the tax on spirits, +two crore and twelve lacs a-year, while the reserved half now yields +to Oude only about one crore, or one crore and ten lacs. When the +cession took place, each half was estimated at one crore and thirty- +three lacs. Under good management the Oude share might, in a few +years, be made equal to ours, and perhaps better, for the greater +part of the lands in our share have been a good deal impoverished by +over-cropping, while those of the Oude share have been improved by +long fallows. Lands of the same natural quality in Oude, under good +tillage, now pay a much higher rate of rent than they do in our half +of the estate. + +Almas Allee Khan, at the close of his life, was supposed to have +accumulated immense wealth; but when he died he was found to have +nothing, to the great mortification of his sovereign, who seized upon +all. Large sums of money had been lent by him to the European +merchants at Lucknow, as well as to native merchants all over the +country. When he found his end approaching, he called for all their +bonds and destroyed them. Mr. Ousely and Mr. Paul were said to have +at that time owed to him more than three lacs of rupees each. His +immense income he had expended in useful works, liberal hospitality, +and charity. He systematically kept in check the tallookdars, or +great landholders; fostered the smaller, and encouraged and protected +the better classes of cultivators, such as Lodhies, Koormies, and +Kachies, whom he called and considered his children. His reign over +the large extent of country under his jurisdiction is considered to +have been its golden age. Many of the districts which he held were +among those transferred to the British Government by the treaty of +1801; and they were estimated at the revenue which he had paid for +them to the Oude Government. This was much less than any other +servant of the Oude Government would have been made to pay for them; +and this accounts, in some measure, for the now increased rate they +yield to us. Others pledged themselves to pay rates which they never +did or could pay; and the nominal rates in the accounts were always +greater than the real rates. He never pledged himself to pay higher +rates than he could and really did pay. + +Now the tallookdars keep the country in a perpetual state of +disturbance, and render life, property, and industry everywhere +insecure. Whenever they quarrel with each other, or with the local +authorities of the Government, from whatever cause, they take to +indiscriminate plunder and murder over all lands not held by men of +the same class; no road, town, village, or hamlet is secure from +their merciless attacks; robbery and murder become their diversion-- +their sport; and they think no more of taking the lives of men, +women, and children who never offended them, than those of deer or +wild hogs. They not only rob and murder, but seize, confine, and +torture all whom they seize, and suppose to have money or credit, +till they ransom themselves with all they have, or can beg or borrow. +Hardly a day has passed since I left Lucknow in which I have not had +abundant proof of numerous atrocities of this kind committed by +landholders within the district through which I was passing, year by +year, up to the present day. The same system is followed by +landholders of smaller degrees and of this military class--some +holders of single villages or co-sharers in a village. This class +comprises Rajpoots of all denominations, Mussulmans, and Pausies. +Where one co-sharer in a village quarrels with another, or with the +Government authorities, on whatever subject, he declares himself in a +_state of war_, and adopts the same system of indiscriminate plunder +and reckless murder. He first robs the house and murders all he can +of the family of the co-sharer with whom he has quarrelled, or whose +tenement he wishes to seize upon; and then gets together all he can +of the loose characters around, employs them in indiscriminate +plunder, and subsists them upon the booty, without the slightest +apprehension that he shall thereby stand less high in the estimation +of his neighbours, or that of the officers of Government; on the +contrary, he expects, when his _pastime_ is over, to be at least more +feared and courted, and more secure in the possession of increased +lands, held at lower rates. + +All this terrible state of disorder arises from the Government not +keeping faith with its subjects, and not making them keep faith with +each other. I one day asked Rajah Hunmunt Sing how it was that men +guilty of such crimes were tolerated in society, and he answered by +quoting the following Hindee couplet:--"Men reverence the man whose +heart is wicked, as they adore and make offerings to the evil planet, +while they let the good pass unnoticed, or with a simple salute of +courtesy."* + +[* There is another Hindee verse to the same effect. "Man dreads a +crooked thing--the demon Rahoo dares not seize the moon till he sees +her full." They consider the eclipse to be caused by the demon Rahoo +seizing the moon in his mouth.] + +The contractor for this district, Budreenath, came to call in the +afternoon, though he is suffering much from disease. He bears a good +character with the Government, because he contrives to pay its +demand; but a very bad one among the people, from whom he extorts the +means. He does not adhere to his engagements with the landholders and +cultivators, but exacts, when the crops are ripe, a higher rate than +they had engaged to pay at the commencement of tillage; and the +people suffer not only from what he takes over and above what is due, +but from the depredations of those whom such proceedings drive into +rebellion. Against such persons he is too weak to protect them; and +as soon as the rebels show that they can reduce his income by +plundering and murdering the peasantry, and all who have property in +the towns and villages, he re-establishes them on their lands on +their own terms. He had lately, however, by great good luck, seized +two very atrocious characters of this description, who had plundered +and burnt down several villages, and murdered some of their +inhabitants; and as he knew that they would be released on the first +occasion of thanksgiving at Lucknow, having the means to bribe Court +favourites, he begged my permission to make them over to Lieutenant +Weston, superintendent of the Frontier Police, as robbers by +profession. "If they come back, sir, they will murder all who have +aided in their capture, or given evidence against them, and no +village or road will be safe." + +Some shopkeepers in the town complained that the contractor was in +the habit of forcing them to stand sureties for the fulfilment, on +the part of landholders, of any engagements they might make, to pay +him certain sums, or to make over to him certain land produce at the +harvest. This, they said, often involved them in heavy losses, as the +landholders frequently could not, or would not, do either when the +time came, and they were made to pay. This is a frequent practice +throughout Oude. Shopkeepers and merchants who have property are +often compelled by the contractors and other local officers to give +such security for bad or doubtful paymasters with whom they may +happen to have had dealings or intercourse, and by this means robbed +of all they have. All manner of means are resorted to to compel them: +they and their families are seized and confined, and harshly or +disgracefully treated, till they consent to sign the security bonds. +The plea that the bonds had been forced from them would not avail in +any tribunal to which they might appeal: it would be urged against +them that the money was for the State; and this would be considered +as quite sufficient to justify the Government officer who had robbed +them. The brief history which I propose to give of Buksh Allee, the +late contractor for the Russoolabad district, is as follows:-- + +Mokuddera Ouleea, one of the consorts of the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, was the daughter of Mr. George Hopkins Walters, a half-pay +officer of one of the regiments of British Dragoons, who came to +Lucknow as an adventurer. He there united himself (though not in +marriage) to the widow of Mr. Whearty, an English merchant or +shopkeeper of that city, who had recently died, leaving this widow, +who was the daughter of Mr. Culloden, an English merchant of Lucknow, +and one son, now called Ameer Mirza, and one daughter, now called +Shurf-on Nissa. By Mr. Walters this widow had one daughter, who +afterwards became united to the King in marriage (in 1827), under the +title of "Mokuddera Ouleea." Mr. Walters died at Lucknow, and the +widow and two daughters went to reside at Cawnpoor. The daughters +were good-looking, and the mother was disposed to make the most of +their charms, without regard to creed or colour. + +Buksh Allee, a dome by caste, who had been by profession a drummer to +a party of dancing-girls, served them as a coachman and table +attendant. At Cawnpoor he cohabited with Mrs. Walters, and prevailed +upon her to take her children back to Lucknow as the best possible +market for them, as he had friends at Court who would be able to +bring them to the notice of the sovereign. They were shown to the +King as soon as he succeeded his father on the throne in 1827. He was +captivated with the charms of Miss Walters, though they were not +great, demanded her hand from the mother, and was soon after united +to her in marriage according to the Mahommedan law. A suitable +establishment was provided by the King for her mother, father-in-law, +brother, and sister; and as his Majesty considered that the manner in +which Buksh Allee and her mother had hitherto lived together was +unsuitable to the connection which now subsisted between them, he +caused them to be married in due form according to the Mahommedan +law. The mother and her three children now changed their creed for +that of Islamism, and took Mahommedan names. + +By a deed of engagement with the British Government, hearing date the +1st of March 1829, the King contributed to the five per cent loan the +sum of sixty-two lacs and forty thousand rupees, the interest of +which, at five per cent., our Government pledged itself to pay to the +four females.* + +[* Mulika Zumanee, 10,000; Taj Mahal, 6,000; Mokuddera Ouleea, 6,000; +Zeenut-on Nissa, the daughter of Mulika Zumanee, 4,000.] + +These pensions were to descend in perpetuity to their heirs, if they +left any; and if they left none, they were to have the power to +bequeath them by will to whomsoever and for what purposes soever they +chose, the British Government reserving to itself the power to pay to +the heirs the principal from which the pensions arose, instead of +continuing the pensions. + +The King died in July 1837, and Mokuddera Ouleea went to reside near +her mother and Buksh Allee, taking with her great wealth in jewels +and other things, which she had accumulated during the King's +lifetime. Her sister, Ashrof--_alias_ Shurf-on Nissa--resided in the +same house with her mother and Buksh Allee. Mokuddera Ouleea had from +the time she became estranged from her husband, the King, led a very +profligate life, and she continued to do the same in her widowhood. +On the 14th of September 1839, the mother died; and the sister, +Shurf-on Nissa, supplied her place, as the wife or concubine of Buksh +Allee. + +Mokuddera Ouleea became pregnant, and on the 9th of November 1840, +she was taken very ill from some violent attempt to produce abortion. +She continued insensible and speechless till the evening of the 12th +of that month, when she expired. The house which Buksh Allee occupied +at that time is within the Residency compound, and had been purchased +by Mr. John Culloden, the father of Mrs. Walters, from Mr. George +Prendergast on the 22nd of February 1802. Mr. Prendergast purchased +the house from Mr. S. M. Taylor, an English merchant at Lucknow, who +obtained it from the Nawab Assuf-od Dowlah, as a residence. The Nawab +afterwards, on the 5th of January 1797, gave him, through the +Resident, Mr. J. Lumsden, permission to sell it to Mr. Prendergast. +The remains of Mokuddera Ouleea were interred within the compound of +that house, near those of her mother, though the King, Mahommed Allee +Shah, wished to have them buried by the side of those of her husband, +the late King. The house is still occupied by Shurf-on Nissa, who +succeeded to her sister's pension and property, under the sanction of +the British Government, and has built, or completed within the +enclosure, a handsome mosque and mausoleum. + +On the death of Mr. Walters, Mrs. Whearty made application, through +the house of Colvin and Co., for the arrears of pension or half-pay +due to him up to the time of his death, and for some provision for +herself as his widow; but she was told that unless she could produce +the usual certificate, or proof of her marriage with him, she could +get neither. No proof whatever of the marriage was forthcoming, and +the claim was prosecuted no further. Shurf-on Nissa, and her brother +and his son, continued to live with Buksh Allee, who, upon the wealth +and pension left by Mokuddera Ouleea to her sister, kept up splendid +establishments both at Lucknow and Cawnpoor. + +At the latter place he associated on terms of great intimacy with the +European gentlemen, and is said to have received visits from the +Major-General commanding the Division and his lady. With the aid of +his wealth and the influence of his brother domes (the singers and +fiddlers who surround the throne of his present Majesty), Buksh Allee +secured and held for some years the charge of this fertile and +populous district of Russoolabad, through which passes the road from +Lucknow to Cawnpoor, where, as I have already stated, he kept up +bands of myrmidons to rob and murder travellers, and commit all kinds +of atrocities. This road became, in consequence, the most unsafe of +all the roads in Oude, and hardly a day passed in which murders and +robberies were not perpetrated upon it. Proof of his participation in +these atrocities having been collected, Buksh Allee was, in October +1849, seized by order of the Resident, tried before the King's +Courts, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, and ordered to +restore or make good the property which he was proved to have taken, +or caused to be taken, from travellers. His house had become filled +with girls of all ages, whom he had taken from poor parents, as they +passed over this road, and converted into slaves for his seraglio. +They were all restored to their parents, with suitable compensation; +and the Cawnpoor road has become the most safe, as well as the best, +road in Oude. + +On the death of Mokuddera Ouleea, a will was sent to the Resident by +her sister, who declared that it had been under her sister's pillow +for a year, and that she had taken it out on finding her end +approaching, and made it over to her, declaring it to contain her +last wishes. By this document pensions were bequeathed to the persons +mentioned in the note below* out of one-third, and the other two- +thirds were bequeathed to her sister and brother. In submitting this +document to Government, the Resident declared that he believed it to +be a forgery; and in reply he was instructed to ascertain whether the +persons named in the document had any objections to consider Shurf-on +Nissa sole heir to her sister's property and pension. Should they +have none to urge, he was directed to consider her as sole heir, and +the pretended will as of no avail. They all agreed to consider her as +sole heir; and the Resident was directed to make over to her the +property, and pay to her the pension or the principal from which it +arose. The Resident considered the continuance of the pension as the +best arrangement for the present, and of this Government approved. + +[* Buksh Allee, 1,000 rupees per month; Allee Hoseyn, 75; Sooraj +Bhan, 40; Syud Hoseyn, 30; Sheik Hingun, 20; Mirza Allee, 30; Ram +Deen, 12; Meea Sultan, 15; Sudharee, 10; Imam Buksh, 3; Ala Rukhee, +10; Sadoo Begum, 20; Akbar, 15; Mahdee Begum, 30.] + +Shurf-on Nissa has no recognised children, and her brother and his +reputed son are her sole heirs, so that no injury can arise to him +from the omission, on the part of Government and the Resident, of all +mention of his right as co-sharer in the inheritance. Neither brother +nor sister had really any legal right whatever to succeed to this +pension, for Mokuddera Ouleea was an illegitimate child, and had no +legal heirs according to either English or Mahommedan law. This fact +seems to have been concealed from the Resident, for he never +mentioned it to Government. It was the dread that this fact would +cause the whole pension to be sent to the shrines in Turkish Arabia, +that made them forge the will. All readily consented to consider +Shurf-on Nissa the heir, when they found that our Government had no +objection to consider her as such. The King wished to have the money +to lay out on bridges and roads in Oude, and the Resident advocated +this wish; but our Government, ignorant of the fact of the +illegitimacy of the deceased, and with the guaranteed bequest of the +late King before them, could not consent to any such arrangement. + +Government has long been strongly and justly opposed to all such +guarantees, and the Resident was told on the 14th November 1840, +"that the Governor-General in Council could not consent to grant the +absolute and unqualified pledge of protection which the King was +solicitous of obtaining in favour of four other females; and directed +to state to his Majesty that, although in the instances he had cited, +such guarantees had certainly been afforded in former times, yet they +were always given either under the impression of an overruling +necessity, or in consequence of some acknowledged claims, or +previously existing engagements, the force of which could not be +avoided; that their existence had often operated practically in the +most embarrassing manner, while it constituted a standing and +perpetual infringement of the rights of the Government of Oude; and +that his Lordship in Council was, consequently, decidedly opposed to +the continuance of a system so plainly at variance with every just +principle of policy." The objections of the British Government to +such guarantees are stated in letters dated 18th February, 28th +March, 20th May, 3rd October, and 19th December 1839, and 11th May +1848. + +In a despatch from the Honourable the Court of Directors, dated 4th +March 1840, their just disapprobation of such guarantees is +expressed; and reference is made to former strong expressions of +disapprobation. In their despatch of the 28th March 1843, the +Honourable Court again express their disapprobation of such +guarantees; and refer to their letter of the 16th March, in which +they gave positive orders that no such engagement should ever be +concluded without a previous reference to the Court. The argument +that the arrangement did not, in any particular case, add to the +number of guaranteed persons, such persons being already under +guarantee, did not in the opinion of the Court touch the stronger +objection to such a measure, that of the impropriety of our aiding, +especially by the grant of peculiar privileges, the appropriation of +the resources of the State to the advantage of individuals. The Court +expresses a hope that they shall never have occasion to notice any +future violation of their orders as respects such engagements. + +_January_ 16, 1850.--We were to have gone this morning to Ouras, but +were obliged to encamp at Burra, eight miles from Meeangunge, on the +left bank of the Saee river, which had been too much increased by the +late rains to admit of our baggage and tents passing over immediately +on anything but elephants. As we have but few of them, our tents were +pitched on this side of the river, that our things might have the +whole day before them to pass over on carts and camels, as the river +subsided. Ouras is three miles from our camp, and we are to pass +through it and go on to Sundeela to-morrow. There is no bridge, and +boats are not procurable on this small river, which we have to cross +and recross several times. + +The country from Meeangunge is scantily cultivated, but well studded +with trees, and generally fertile under good tillage. The soil is the +light doomuteea, but here and there very sandy and poor, running into +what is called bhoor. The villages and hamlets which we could see are +few and wretched. We have few native officers and sipahees in our +army from the districts we are now in, and I am in consequence less +oppressed with complaints from this class of the Oude subjects. + +We met, near our tents, a party of soldiers belonging to Rajah Ghalib +Jung, a person already mentioned, and at present superintendent of +police, along the Cawnpoor road, escorting a band of thieves, who +robbed Major Scott some ten months ago on his way, by dawk, from +Lucknow, and an European merchant, two months ago, on his way, by +dawk, from Cawnpoor to Lucknow. They had been seized in the Sundeela +districts, and the greater part of the stolen property found in their +houses. They are of the Pausie tribe, and told me that thieving was +their hereditary trade, and that they had long followed it on the +Cawnpoor road with success. The landholder, who kept them upon his +estate and shared in their booty, was also seized, but made over to +the revenue contractor, who released him after a few days' +imprisonment for a gratuity. + +Of these Pausies there are supposed to be about one hundred thousand +families in Oude. They are employed as village watchmen, but, with +few exceptions, are thieves and robbers by hereditary profession. +Many of them adopt poisoning as a trade, and the numbers who did so +were rapidly increasing when Captain Hollings, the superintendent of +the Oude Frontier Police, arrested a great many of them, and +proceeded against them as Thugs by profession, under Act III. of +1848. His measures have been successfully followed up by Captain +Weston, his successor, and this crime has been greatly diminished in +Oude. It prevails still, however, more or less, in all parts of +India. + +These Pausies of Oude generally form the worst part of the gangs of +refractory tallookdars in their indiscriminate plunder. They use the +bow and arrow expertly, and are said to be able to send an arrow +through a man at the distance of one hundred yards. There is no +species of theft or robbery in which they are not experienced and +skilful, and they increase and prosper in proportion as the disorders +in the country grow worse. They serve any refractory landholder, or +enterprising gang-robber, without wages, for the sake of the booty to +be acquired. + +Many of the sipahees of the Mobarick Pultun, on detached duty with +the king's wakeel in attendance upon me, were this morning arrested, +while taking off the choppers from the houses of villages along the +road and around my camp, for fuel and fodder, in what they called the +"_usual way_." The best beams and rafters and the whole of the straw +were fast moving off to my camp; and when seized, the sipahees seemed +much surprised, and asked me what they were to do, as they had not +received any pay for six months, and the Government expected that +they would help themselves to straw and timber wherever they could +most conveniently find it. All were fined; but the hope to put a stop +to this intolerable evil, under the present system, is a vain one. +The evil has the acquiescence and encouragement of the Government and +its functionaries of all kinds and grades throughout the country. It +is distressing to witness every day such melancholy proofs of how +much is done that ought not to be done, and how much that ought to be +done is left undone, in so fine a country. + +A want of sympathy or fellow-feeling between the governing and +governed is common in all parts of India, but in no part that I have +seen is it so marked as in Oude. The officers of the Government +delight in plundering the peasantry, and upon every local Governor +who kills a landholder of any mark, rewards and honours are instantly +bestowed, without the slightest inquiry as to the cause or mode. They +know that no inquiry will be made, and therefore kill them when they +can; no matter how, or for what cause. The great landholders would +kill the local Governors with just as little scruple, did they not +fear that it might make the British Government interpose and aid in +the pursuit after them. + +_January_ 17, 1850.--Sundeela, about thirteen miles from our last +camp, on the bank of the little River Saee, over a plain of good +doomuteea soil, very fertile, and well cultivated in the +neighbourhood of villages. The greater portion of the plain is, +however, uncultivated, though capable of the best tillage, and shows +more than the usual signs of maladministration. In this district +there are only three tallookdars, and they do not rob or resist the +Government at present. They distrust the Government authorities, +however, and never have any personal intercourse with them. The waste +is entirely owing to the bad character of the contractors, and the +license given to the troops and establishments under them. The +district is now held in _amanee_ tenure, and under the management of +Hoseyn Buksh, who entered into his charge only six weeks ago. He is +without any experience in, or knowledge of, his duties; he has three +regiments of Nujeebs on duty under him, and all who are present came +out to meet me. Anything more unlike soldiers it would be difficult +to conceive. They are feared only by the honest and industrious. +Wherever the Amil goes they go with him, and are a terrible scourge +to the country--by far the worst that the country suffers under. + +The first thing necessary to effect a reform is--to form out of these +disorderly and useless bodies a few efficient regiments; do away with +the purveyance system, on which, they are now provided with fuel, +fodder, carriage, &c.; pay them liberally and punctually; supply them +with good clothing, arms, accoutrements, and ammunition; and +concentrate them at five or six points in good cantonments, whence +they can move quickly to any part where their services may be +required. No more than are indispensably required should attend the +local authorities in their circuits. All the rest should remain in +cantonments till called for on emergency; and when so called for, +they should have all the conveyance they require, and the supplies +provided for them--the conveyance at fixed rates, and the supplies at +the market price, in good bazaars. For police duties and revenue +collections there should be a sufficient body of men kept up, and at +the disposal of the revenue and police authorities. The military +establishments should be under the control of a different authority. +But all this would be of no avail unless the corps were under able +commanders, relieved from the fear of Court favourites, and under a +Commander-in-Chief who understood his duty and had influence enough +to secure all that the troops required to render them efficient, and +not a child of seven years of age. + +Several of the villages of Sundeela are held by Syud zumeendars, who +are peaceable and industrious subjects, and were generally better +protected than others under the influence of Chowdhere, Sheik Hushmut +Allee, of Sundeela, an agricultural capitalist and landholder, whom +no local authority could offend with impunity. His proper trade was +to aid landholders of high and low degree, by becoming surety for +their punctual payment of the Government demand, and advancing the +instalments of that demand himself when they had not the means, and +thereby saving them from the visits of the local authorities and +their rapacious and disorderly troops: but in an evil hour he +ventured to extend his protection a little further, and, to save them +from the oppressions of an unscrupulous contractor, he undertook to +manage the district himself, and make good all the Government demand +upon it. He was unable to pay all that he had bound himself to pay. +His brother was first seized by the troops and taken to Lucknow. He +languished under the discipline to which he was there subjected, and +when on the point of death from what his friends call a _broken +heart_, and the Government authorities _cholera-morbus_, he was +released. He died immediately after his return home, and Hushmut +Allee was then seized and taken to Lucknow, where he is now confined. +The people here lament his absence as a great misfortune to the +district, as he was the only one among them who ever had authority +and influence, united with a fellow-feeling for the people, and a +disposition to promote their welfare and happiness.* + +[* Hushmut Allee is still in confinement, but under the troops at +Sundeela, and not at Lucknow. July 20, 1851.] + +END OF VOL. 1. + + + + + + + + + + +A JOURNEY + +THROUGH THE + +KINGDOM OF OUDE + +IN 1849--1850; + + +BY DIRECTION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE, +GOVERNOR-GENERAL. + +WITH PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ANNEXATION +OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA, &c. + +BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B. + +Resident at the Court of Lucknow + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. II. + +LONDON: +RICHARD BENTLEY +Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. +1858. + +CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + +CHAPTER 1. + +Sundeela--The large landholders of the district--Forces with the +Amil--Tallookdars, of the district--Ground suited for cantonments and +civil offices--Places consecrated to worship--Kutteea Huron--Neem +Sarang, traditions regarding--Landholders and peasantry of Sundeela-- +Banger and Sandee Palee, strong against the Government authorities +from their union--_Nankar_ and _Seer_. Nature and character of-- +Jungle--Leaves of the peepul, bur, &c., used as fodder--Want of good +houses and all kinds of public edifices--Infanticide--Sandee +district--Security of tenure in groves--River Gurra--Hafiz Abdulla, +the governor--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Thieves in the Banger +district--Infanticide--How to put down the crime--Palee--Richness of +the foliage, and carpeting of spring-crops--Kunojee Brahmins--Success +of the robber's trade in Oude--Shahabad--Timber taken down the little +river Gurra to the Ganges, from the Tarae forest--Fanaticism of the +Moosulman population of Shahabad; and insolence and impunity with +which they oppress the Hindoos of the town. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Infanticide--Nekomee Rajpoots--Fallows in Oude created by disorders-- +Their cause and effect--Tillage goes on in the midst of sanguinary +conflicts--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Mahomdee district--White +Ants--Traditional decrease in the fertility of the Oude soil--Risks +to which cultivators are exposed--Obligations which these risks +impose upon them--Infanticide--The Amil of Mahomdee's narrow escape-- +An infant disinterred and preserved by the father after having been +buried alive--Insecurity of life and property--Beauty of the surface +of the country, and richness of its foliage--Mahomdee district--State +and recent history of--Relative fertility of British and Oude soil-- +Native notions of our laws and their administration--Of the value of +evidence in our Courts--Infanticide--Boys only saved--Girls destroyed +in Oude--The priests who give absolution for the crime abhorred by +the people of all other classes--Lands in our districts becoming more +and more exhausted from over-cropping--Probable consequences to the +Government and people of India--Political and social error of +considering land private property--Hakeem Mehndee and subsequent +managers of Mahomdee--Frauds on the King in charges for the keep of +animals--Kunojee Brahmins--Unsuccessful attempt to appropriate the +lands of weaker neighbours--Gokurnath, on the border of the Tarae-- +The sakhoo or saul trees of the forest. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe--Dispute between Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his relatives--Cultivation +along the border of the Tarae forest--Subdivision of land among the +Ahbun families--Rapacity of the king's troops, and establishments of +all kinds--Climate near the Tarae--Goitres--Not one-tenth of the +cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the villages peopled-- +Criterion of good tillage--Ratoon crops--Manure available--Khyrabad +district better peopled and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the +soil over-cropped--Blight--Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of +Khymara--Ousted by collusion and bribery--Anrod Sing of Oel, and +Lonee Sing--State of Oude forty years ago compared with its present +state--The Nazim of the Khyrabad district--Trespasses of his +followers--Oel Dhukooa--_Khalsa_ lands absorbed by the Rajpoot +barons--Salarpoor--Sheobuksh Sing of Kuteysura--_Bhulmunsee_, or +property-tax--Beautiful groves of Lahurpoor--Residence of the Nazim-- +Wretched state of the force with the Nazim--Gratuities paid by +officers in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust--Rajah +Arjun Sing's estate of Dhorehra--Hereditary gang-robbers of the Oude +Tarae suppressed--Mutiny of two of the King's regiments at Bhitolee-- +Their rapacity and oppression--Singers and fiddlers who govern the +King--Why the Amils take all their troops with them when they move-- +Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of Oude Local +Infantry--Sipahees not equal to those in Magness's, Barlow's, and +Bunbury's, or in our native regiments of the line--Why--The prince +Momtaz-od Dowlah--Evil effects of shooting monkeys--Doolaree, _alias_ +Mulika Zumanee--Her history, and that of her son and daughter. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder's death--His repudiation of his son, Moona Jan, +leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od Dowlah--Contest for +the succession between these two persons--The Resident supports the +uncle, and the Padshah Begum supports the son--The ministers supposed +to have poisoned the King--Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth +by his successor--Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which Oude +was divided into two equal shares--One transferred to the British +Government, one reserved by Oude--Estimated value of each at the time +of treaty--Present value of each--The sovereign often warned that +unless he governs as he ought, the British Government cannot support +him, but must interpose and take the administration upon itself--All +such warnings have been utterly disregarded--No security to life or +property in any part of Oude--Fifty years of experience has proved, +that we cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its +people--The alternative left appears to be to take the management +upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the sovereign and +royal family of Oude--Probable effects of such a change on the +feelings and interests of the people of Oude. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Baree-Biswa district--Force with the Nazim, Lal Bahader--Town of +Peernuggur--Dacoitee by Lal and Dhokul Partuks--Gangs of robbers +easily formed out of the loose characters which abound in Oude--The +lands tilled in spite of all disorders--Delta between the Chouka and +Ghagra rivers--Seed sown and produce yielded on land--Rent and stock +--Nawab Allee, the holder of the Mahmoodabad estate--Mode of +augmenting his estate--Insecurity of marriage processions--Belt of +jungle, fourteen miles west from the Lucknow cantonments--Gungabuksh +Rawat--His attack on Dewa--The family inveterate robbers--Bhurs, once +a civilized and ruling people in Oude--Extirpated systematically in +the fourteenth century--Depredations of Passees--Infanticide--How +maintained--Want of influential middle class of merchants and +manufacturers--Suttee--Troops with the Amil--Seizure of a marriage +procession by Imambuksh, a gang leader--Perquisites and allowances of +Passee watchmen over corn-fields--Their fidelity to trusts--Ahbun +Sing, of Kyampoor, murders his father--Rajah Singjoo of Soorujpoor-- +Seodeen, another leader of the same tribe--Principal gang-leaders of +the Dureeabad Rodowlee district--Jugurnath Chuprassie--Bhooree Khan-- +How these gangs escape punishment--Twenty-four belts of jungle +preserved by landholders always, or occasionally, refractory in Oude +--Cover eight hundred and eighty-six square miles of good land--How +such atrocious characters find followers, and landholders of high +degree to screen, shelter, and aid them. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Adventures of Maheput Sing of Bhowaneepoor--Advantages of a good road +from Lucknow to Fyzabad--Excellent condition of the artillery +bullocks with the Frontier Police--Get all that Government allows for +them--Bred in the Tarae--Dacoits of Soorujpoor Bareyla--The Amil +connives at all their depredations, and thrives in consequence--The +Amil of the adjoining districts does not, and ruined in consequence-- +His weakness--Seetaram, a capitalist--His account of a singular +_Suttee_--Bukhtawar Sing's notions of _Suttee_, and of the reason why +Rajpoot widows seldom become _Suttees_--Why local authorities carry +about prisoners with them--Condition of prisoners--No taxes on +mangoe-trees--Cow-dung cheaper than wood for fuel--Shrine of "Shaikh +Salar" at Sutrik--Bridge over the small river Rete--Recollection of +the ascent of a balloon at Lucknow--End of the pilgrimage. + + ______________________ + +Private Correspondence subsequent to the Journey through the Kingdom +of Oude, and relating to the Annexation of Oude to British India. + + + +DIARY + +A TOUR THROUGH OUDE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Sundeela--The large landholders of the district--Forces with the +Amil--Tallookdars, of the district--Ground suited for cantonments and +civil offices--Places consecrated to worship--Kutteea Huron--Neem +Sarang, traditions regarding--Landholders and peasantry of Sundeela-- +Banger and Sandee Palee, strong against the Government authorities +from their union--_Nankar_ and _Seer_. Nature and character of-- +Jungle--Leaves of the peepul, bur, &c., used as fodder--Want of good +houses and all kinds of public edifices--Infanticide--Sandee +district--Security of tenure in groves--River Gurra--Hafiz Abdulla, +the governor--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Thieves in the Banger +district--Infanticide--How to put down the crime--Palee--Richness of +the foliage, and carpeting of spring crops--Kunojee Brahmins--Success +of the robber's trade in Oude--Shahabad--Timber taken down the little +river Gurra to the Ganges, from the Tarae forest--Fanaticism of the +Moosulman population of Shahabad; and insolence and impunity with +which they oppress the Hindoos of the town. + + +The baronial proprietors in the Sundeela district are Murdun Sing, of +Dhurawun, with a rent-roll of 38,000; Gunga Buksh, of Atwa, with one +of 25,000; Chundeeka Buksh, of Birwa, with one of 25,000; and Somere +Sing, of Rodamow, with one of 34,000. This is the rent-roll declared +and entered in the accounts; but it is much below the real one. The +Government officers are afraid to measure their lands, or to make any +inquiries on the estates into their value, lest they should turn +robbers and plunder the country, as they are always prepared to do. +They have always a number of armed and brave retainers, ready to +support them in any enterprise, and can always add to their number on +emergency. There is never any want of loose characters ready to fight +for the sake of plunder alone. A tallookdar, however, when opposed to +his government, does not venture to attack another tallookdar or his +tenants. He stands too much in need of his aid, or at least of his +neutrality and forbearance. + +_January_ 18, 1850.--Halted at Sundeela. To the north of the town +there is a large uncultivated plain of _oosur_ land, that would +answer for cantonments; but the water lies, for some time after rain, +in many places. The drainage is defective, but might be made good +towards a rivulet to the north and west. There is another open plain +to the west of the town, between the suburbs and the small village of +Ausoo Serae, where the Trigonometrical Survey has one of its towers. +It is about a mile from east to west, and more from north to south, +and well adapted for the location of troops and civil establishments. +The climate is said to be very good. The town is large and still +populous, but the best families seem to be going to decay, or leaving +the place. Many educated persons from Sundeela in our civil +establishments used to leave their families here; but life and +property have become so very insecure, that they now always take them +with them to the districts in which they are employed, or send them +to others. I observed many good houses of burnt brick and cement, but +they are going fast to decay, and are all surrounded by numerous mud- +houses without coverings, or with coverings of the same material, +which are hidden from view by low parapets. These houses have a +wretched appearance. + +The Amil has twelve guns with him; but the bullocks are all so much +out of condition from want of food that they can scarcely walk; and +the Amil was obliged to hire a few plough-bullocks from the +cultivators, to draw out two guns to my camp to fire the salute. They +get no grain, and there is little or no grass anywhere on the fallow +and waste lands, from the want of rain during June, July, and August. +The Amil told me, that he had no stores or ammunition for the guns; +and that their carriages were all gone, or going, to pieces, and had +received no repairs whatever for the last twelve years. I had in the +evening a visit from Rajah Murdun Sing, of _Dharawun_, a stout and +fat man, who bears a fair character. He is of the Tilokchundee Bys +clan, who cannot intermarry with each other, as they are all of the +sama gote or family. It would, according to their notions, be +incestuous. + +_January_ 19, 1850.--Hutteeah Hurrun, thirteen miles. The plain level +as usual, and of the loose doomuteea soil, fertile in natural powers +everywhere, and well tilled around the villages, which are more +numerous than in any other part that we have passed over. The water +is everywhere near the surface, and wells are made at little cost. A +well is dug at a cost of from five to ten rupees; and in the muteear, +or argillaceous soil, will last for irrigation for forty years. To +line it with burnt bricks without cement will cost from one to two +hundred rupees; and to add cement will cost a hundred more. Such +lining is necessary in light soil, and still more so in sandy or +_bhoor_. They frequently line their wells at little cost with long +thick cables, made of straw and twigs, and twisted round the surface +inside. The fields are everywhere irrigated from wells or pools, and +near villages well manured; and the wheat and other spring crops are +excellent. They have been greatly benefited by the late rains, and in +no case injured. The ground all the way covered with white hoar +frost, and the dews heavy in a cloudless sky. Finer weather I have +never known in any quarter of the world. + +This place is held sacred from a tradition, that Ram, after his +expedition against Cylone, came here to bathe in a small tank near +our present camp, in order to wash away the sin of having killed a +_Brahmin_ in the person of Rawun, the monster king of that island, +who had taken away his wife, Seeta. Till he had done so, he could not +venture to revisit his capital, Ajoodheea. There are many legends +regarding the origin of the sanctity of this and the many other +places around, which pilgrims must visit to complete the _pykurma_, +or holy circuit. The most popular seems to be this. Twenty-eight +thousand sages of great sanctity were deputed, with the god Indur at +their head, on a mission to present an address to Brimha, as he +reposed upon the mountain Kylas, praying that he would vouchsafe to +point out to them the place in Hindoostan most worthy to be +consecrated to religious worship. He took a discus from the top-knot +on his head, and, whirling it in the air, directed it to proceed in +search. After much search it rested at a place near the river +Goomtee, which it deemed to be most fitted for the purification of +one's faith, and which thenceforth took the name of _Neem Sarung_, a +place of devotion. The twenty-eight thousand sages followed, and were +accompanied by Brimha himself, attended by the Deotas, or subordinate +gods. He then summoned to the place no less than _three crores and +half_, or thirty millions and half of _teeruts_, or angels, who +preside each over his special place of religions worship. All settled +down at places within ten miles of the central point, Neem Sarung; +but their departure does not seem to have impaired the sanctity of +the places whence they came. The angels, or spirits, who presided +over them sent out these offshoots to preside at Neemsar and the +consecrated places around it, as trees send off their grafts without +impairing their own powers and virtues. + +Misrik, a few miles from this, and one of the places thus +consecrated, is celebrated as the residence of a very holy sage, +named Dudeej. In a great battle between the Deotas and the Giants, +the Deotas were defeated. They went to implore the aid of the drowsy +god, Brimha, upon his snowy mountain top. He told them to go to +Misrik and arm themselves with the _bones_ of the old sage, Dudeej. +They found Dudeej alive and in excellent health; but they thought it +their duty to explain to him their orders. He told them, that he +should be very proud indeed to have his bones used as arms in so holy +a cause; but he had unfortunately vowed to bathe at all the sacred +shrines in India before he died, and must perform his vow. Grievously +perplexed, the Deotas all went and submitted their case to their +leader, the god Indur. Indur consulted his chaplain, Brisput, who +told him, that there was really no difficulty whatever in the case-- +that the angels of all the holy shrines in India had been established +at and around Neemsar by Brimha himself; and the Deotas had only to +take water from all the sacred places over which they presided, and +pour it over the old sage, to get both him and themselves out of the +dilemma. They did so, and the old sage, expressing himself satisfied, +gave up his life. In what mode it was taken no one can tell me. The +Deotas armed themselves with his bones, attacked the Giants +forthwith, and gained an easy and complete victory. The wisdom of the +orders of drowsy old Brimha, in this case, is as little questioned by +the Hindoos of the present day as that of the orders of drunken old +Jupiter was in the case of Troy, by the ancient Greeks and Romans. +Millions, "wise in their generation," have spent their lives in the +reverence of both. + +There is hardly any sin that the waters of these dirty little ponds +are not supposed to be capable of washing away; and, over and above +this, they are supposed to improve all the good, and reduce to order +all the bad passions and emotions of those who bathe in them, by +propitiating the aid of the deity, and those who have influence over +him. + +A good deal of the land, distant from villages, lies waste, though +capable of good tillage; and from the all pervading cause, the want +of confidence in the Government and its officers, and of any feeling +of security to life, property, and industry. Should this cause be +removed, the whole surface of the country would become the beautiful +garden which the parts well cultivated and peopled now are. It is all +well studded with fine trees--single and in clusters and groves. The +soil is good, the water near the surface, and to be obtained in any +abundance at little outlay, and the peasantry are industrious, brave, +and robust. Nothing is wanted but good and efficient government, +which might be easily secured. I found many Kunojee Brahmins in the +villages along the road, who tilled their own fields without the aid +of ploughmen; and they told me, that when they had no longer the +means to hire ploughmen, they were permitted to hold their own +ploughs--that is, they were not excommunicated for doing so. + +In passing along, with wheat-fields close by on our left, while the +sun is a little above the horizon on the right, we see a _glory_ +round the shadows of our heads as they extend into the fields. All +see these _glories_ around their own heads, but cannot see them +around those of their neighbours. They stretch out from the head and +shoulders, with gradually-diminished splendour, to some short +distance. This beautiful and interesting appearance arises from the +leaves and stalks of the wheat being thickly bespangled with dew. The +observer's head being in the direct rays of the sun, as they pass +over him to that of his shadow in the field, he carries the glory +with him. Those before and behind him see the same glory around the +shadows of their own heads, but cannot see it round that of the head +of any other person before or behind; because he is on one or other +side of the direct rays which pass over them. It is best seen when +the sky is most clear, and the dew most heavy. It is not seen over +bushy crops such as the arahur, nor on the grass plains. + +_January_ 20, 1850.--Beneegunge, eight miles, over a slightly- +undulating plain of light sandy soil, scantily cultivated, but well +studded with fine trees of the best kind. Near villages, where the +land is well watered and manured, the crops are fine and well varied. +All the pools are full from the late rain, and they are numerous and +sufficient to water the whole surface of the country, with a moderate +fall of rain in December or January. If they are not available, the +water is always very near the surface, and wells can be made for +irrigation at a small cost. The many rivers and rivulets which enter +Oude from the Himmalaya chain and Tarae forest, and flow gently +through the country towards the Ganges, without cutting very deeply +into the soil, always keep the water near the surface, and available +in all quarters and in any quantity for purposes of irrigation. Never +was country more favoured, by nature, or more susceptible of +improvement under judicious management. There is really hardly an +acre of land that is not capable of good culture, or that need be +left waste, except for the sites of towns and villages, and ponds for +irrigation, or that would be left waste under good government. The +people understand tillage well, and are industrious and robust, +capable of any exertion under protection and due encouragement. + +The Government has all the revenues to itself, having no public debt +and paying no tribute to any one, while the country receives from the +British Government alone fifty lacs, or half a million a-year; first, +in the incomes of guaranteed pensioners, whose stipends are the +interest of loans received by our Government at different times from +the sovereigns of Oude, as a provision for their relatives and +dependents in perpetuity, and as endowments for their mausoleums and +mosques, and other religious and eleemosynary establishments; second, +in the interest paid for Government securities held by people +residing in Oude; third, in the payment of pensions to the families +of men who have been killed in our service, and to invalid native +officers and sipahees of our army residing there, fourth, in the +savings of others who still serve in our army, while their families +reside in Oude; and those of the native officers of our civil +establishments, whose families remain at their homes in Oude; fifth, +in the interest on a large amount of our Government securities held +by people at Lucknow, who draw the interest not from the Resident's +Treasury, but from the General Treasury in Calcutta, or the +Treasuries of our bordering districts, in order to conceal their +wealth from the King and his officers. Over and above all this our +Government has to send into Oude, to be expended there, the pay of +five regiments of infantry and a company of artillery, which amounts +to some six or seven lacs more. Oude has so many places of +pilgrimage, that it receives more in the purchase of the food and +other necessaries required by the pilgrims, during their transit and +residence, than it sends out with pilgrims who visit shrines and holy +places in other countries. It requires little from other countries +but a few luxuries for the rich--in shawls from Kashmere and the +Punjab, silks, satins, broad-cloth, muslins, guns, watches, &c. from +England. + +A great portion of the salt and saltpetre required is raised within +Oude, and so is all the agricultural produce, except in seasons of +drought; and the arms required for the troops are manufactured in +Oude, with the exception of some few cannon and shells, and the +muskets and bayonets for the few disciplined regiments. The royal +family and some of the Mahommedan gentlemen at Lucknow send money +occasionally to the shrines of Mecca, Medina, Kurbala, and Nujuf +Ashruf, in Turkish Arabia; and some Hindoos send some to Benares and +other places of worship, to be distributed in charity or laid out in +useful works in their name. Some of the large pensions enjoyed by the +relatives and dependents of former sovereigns, under the guarantee of +our Government, go in perpetuity to the shrines in Turkish Arabia, in +default of both _will_ and _heir_. When Ghazee-od Deen succeeded his +father on the musnud in 1814, contrary to his expectation and to his +father's wish, he gave the minister about fifty lacs of rupees to be +expended in charity at those shrines, and in canals, saraees, and +other works of utility. Letters, full of expressions of gratitude and +descriptions of these useful works, were often shown to him; but the +minister, Aga Meer, is said to have kept the whole fifty lacs to +himself, and got all these letters written by his private +secretaries. Some few Hindoo and Mahommedan gentlemen, when they have +lost their places and favour at the Oude Court, go and reside at +Cawnpoor, and some few other places in the British territory for +greater security; but generally it may be said, that in spite of all +disadvantages Mahommedan gentlemen from Oude, in whatever country +they may serve, like to leave their families in Oude, and to return +and spend what they acquire among them. They find better society +there than in our own territories, or society more to their tastes; +better means for educating their sons; more splendid processions, +festivals, and other inviting sights, in which they and their +families can participate without cost; more consideration for rank +and learning, and more attractive places for worship and religious +observances. The little town of Karoree, about ten or twelve miles +from Lucknow, has, I believe, more educated men, filling high and +lucrative offices in our civil establishments, than any other town in +India except Calcutta. They owe the greater security which they there +enjoy, compared with other small towns in Oude, chiefly to the +respect in which they are known to be held by the British Government +and its officers, and to the influence of their friends and relatives +who hold office about the Court of Lucknow. + +_January_ 21, 1849.--Sakin, ten miles north-west. The country well +studded with fine trees, and pretty well cultivated, but the soil is +light from a superabundance of sand; and the crops are chiefly +autumn, except in the immediate vicinity of villages, and cut in +December. The surface on which they stood this season appears to be +waste, except where the stalks of the jowar and bajara, are left +standing for sale and use, as fodder for cattle. These stalks are +called kurbee, and form good fodder for elephants, bullocks, &c., +during the cold, hot, and rainy season. They are said to keep better +when left on the ground, after the heads have been gathered, than +when stacked. The sandy soil, in the vicinity of villages, produces +fine spring crops of all kinds, wheat, gram, sugarcane, arahur, +tobacco, &c., being well manured by drainage from the villages, and +by the dung stored and spread over it; and that more distant would +produce the same, if manured and irrigated in the same way. + +The head men or proprietors of some villages along the road +mentioned, "that the fine state in which we saw them was owing to +their being strong, and able to resist the Government authorities +when disposed, as they generally were, to oppress or rack-rent them; +that the landholders owed their strength to their union, for all were +bound to turn out and afford aid to their neighbour on hearing the +concerted signal of distress; that this league, '_offensive and +defensive_,' extended all over the Baugur district, into which we +entered about midway between this and our last stage; and that we +should see how much better it was peopled and cultivated in +consequence than the district of Mahomdee, to which we were going; +that the strong only could keep anything under the Oude Government; +and as they could not be strong without union, all landholders were +solemnly pledged to aid each other, _to the death_, when oppressed or +attacked by the local officers." They asked Captain Weston, who was +some miles behind me, what was the Resident's object in this tour, +whether the Honourable Company's Government was to be introduced into +Oude? He told them that the object was solely to see the state of the +country and condition of the people, with a view to suggest to the +King's Government any measures that might seem calculated to improve +both; and asked them whether they wished to come under the British +rule? They told him, "that they should like much to have the British +rule introduced, if it could be done without worrying them with its +complicated laws and formal and distant courts of justice, of which +they had heard terrible accounts." + +The Nazim of the Tundeeawun or Baugur district met me on his border, +and told me, "that he was too weak to enforce the King's orders, or +to collect his revenues; that he had with him one efficient company +of Captain Bunbury's corps, with one gun in good repair, and provided +with draft-bullocks, in good condition; and that this was the only +force he could rely upon; while the landholders were strong, and so +leagued together for mutual defence, that, at the sound of a +matchlock, or any other concerted signal, all the men of a dozen +large villages would, in an hour, concentrate upon and defeat the +largest force the King's officers could assemble; that they did so +almost every year, and often frequently within the same year; that he +had nominally eight guns on duty with him, but the carriage of one +had already gone to pieces; and those of the rest had been so long +without repair that they would go to pieces with very little firing, +that the draft-bullocks had not had any grain for many years, and +were hardly able to walk; and he was in consequence obliged to hire +plough-bullocks, to draw the gun required to salute the Resident; but +he had only ten days ago received an order to give them grain +himself, charge for it in his accounts, and hold himself responsible +for their condition; that they had been so starved, that he was +obliged to restrict them to a few ounces a-day at first, or they +would have all died from over-eating." This order has arisen from my +earnest intercession in favour of the artillery draft-bullocks; but +so many are interested in the abuse, that the order will not be long +enforced. Though the grain will, as heretofore, be paid for from the +Treasury, it will, I hear, be given to the bullocks only while I am +out on this tour. + +In the evening some cultivators came to complain that they had been +robbed of all their bhoosa (chaff) by a sipahee from my camp. I +found, on inquiry, that the sipahee belonged to Captain Hearsey's +five companies of Frontier Police; that these companies had sixteen +four-bullock hackeries attached to them for the carriage of their +tents and luggage; and that these hackeries had gone to the village, +and taken all that the complainants had laid up for their own cattle +for the season; that such hackeries formerly received twenty-seven +rupees eight annas a-month each, and their owners were expected to +purchase their own fodder; but that this allowance had for some years +been cut down to fourteen rupees a-month, and they were told _to help +themselves to fodder wherever they could find it_; that all the +hackeries hired by the King and his local officers, for the use of +troops, establishments, &c. had been reduced at the same rate, from +twenty-seven eight annas a-month to fourteen, and their owners +received the same order. All villages near the roads along which the +troops and establishments move are plundered of their bhoosa, and all +those within ten miles of the place, where they may be detained for a +week or fortnight, are plundered in the same way. + +The Telinga corps and Frontier Police are alone provided with tents +and hackeries by Government. The Nujeeb corps are provided with +neither. The Oude Government formerly allowed for each four-bullock +hackery thirty rupees a-month, from which _two rupees and half_ were +deducted for the perquisites of office. The owners of the hackeries +were expected to purchase bhoosa and other fodder for their bullocks +at the market price; but they took what they required without +payment, in _collusion with_ the officers under whom they were +employed, or in _spite_ of them; and the Oude Government in 1845 cut +the allowance down to seventeen rupees and half, out of which _three +rupees and half_ are cut for perquisites, leaving fourteen rupees for +the hackeries: and their owners and drivers have the free privilege +of helping themselves to bhoosa and other fodder wherever they can +find them. Some fifty or sixty of these hackeries were formerly +allowed for each Telinga corps with guns, now only twenty-two are +allowed; and when they move they must, like Nujeeb corps, seize what +more they require. They are allowed to charge nothing for their extra +carriage, and therefore pay nothing. + +_January_ 22, 1849.--Tundeeawun, eight miles west. The country level, +and something between doomuteen and muteear, very good, and in parts +well cultivated, particularly in the vicinity of villages; but a +large portion of the surface is covered with jungle, useful only to +robbers and refractory landholders, who abound in the purgunnah of +Bangur. In this respect it is reputed one of the worst districts in +Oude. Within the last few years the King's troops have been +frequently beaten and driven out with loss, even when commanded by an +European officer. The landholders and armed peasantry of the +different villages unite their _quotas of auxiliaries_, and +concentrate upon them on a concerted signal, when they are in pursuit +of robbers and rebels. Almost every able-bodied man of every village +in Bangur is trained to the use of arms of one kind or another, and +none of the King's troops, save those who are disciplined and +commanded by European officers, will venture to move against a +landholder of this district; and when the local authorities cannot +obtain the aid of such troops, they are obliged to conciliate the +most powerful and unscrupulous by reductions in the assessment of the +lands or additions to their _nankar_. + +To illustrate the spirit and system of union among the chief +landholders of the Bangur district, I may here mention a few facts +within my own knowledge, and of recent date. Bhugwunt Singh, who held +the estate of Etwa Peepureea, had been for some time in rebellion +against his sovereign; and he had committed many murders and +robberies, and lifted many herds of cattle within our bordering +district of Shajehanpoor; and he had given shelter, on his own +estate, to a good many atrocious criminals, from that and others of +our bordering district. He had, too, aided and screened many gangs of +Budhuks, or dacoits by hereditary profession. The Resident, Colonel +Low, in 1841, directed every possible effort to be made for the +arrest of this formidable offender, and Captain Hollings, the second +in command of the 2nd battalion of Oude local infantry, sent +intelligencers to trace him. + +They ascertained that he had, with a few followers, taken up a +position two hundred yards to the north of the village of Ahroree, in +a jungle of palas-trees and brushwood in the Bangur district, about +twenty-eight miles to the south-west of Seetapoor, where that +battalion was cantoned, and about fourteen miles west from Neemkar. +Captain Hollings made his arrangements to surprise this party; and on +the evening of the 3rd of July 1841, he marched from Neemkar at the +head of three companies of that battalion, and a little before +midnight he came within three-quarters of a mile of the rebel's post. +After halting his party for a short time, to enable the officers and +sipahees to throw off all superfluous clothing and utensils, Captain +Hollings moved on to the attack. When the advanced guard reached the +outskirts of the robber's position about midnight, they were first +challenged and then fired upon by the sentries. The subadar in +command of this advance guard fell dead, and a non-commissioned +officer and a sipahee severely wounded. + +The whole party now fired in upon the gang and rushed on. One of the +robbers was shot, and the rest all escaped out on the opposite side +of the jungle. The sipahees believing, since the surprise had been +complete, that the robbers must have left all their wealth behind +them, dispersed, as soon as the firing ceased and the robbers +disappeared, to get every man as much as he could. While thus engaged +they were surrounded by the Gohar, (or body of auxiliaries which +these landholders send to each other's aid on the concerted signal,) +and fired in upon from the front, and both right and left flanks. +Taken by surprise, they collected together in disorder, while the +assailants from the front and sides continued to pour in their fire +upon them; and they were obliged to retire in haste and confusion, +closely followed by the auxiliaries, who gained confidence, and +pressed closer as their number increased by the quotas they received +from the villages the detachment had to pass in their retreat. + +All efforts on the part of Captain Hollings to preserve order in the +ranks were vain. His men returned the fire of their pursuers, but +without aim or effect. At the head of the auxiliaries were Punchum +Sing, of Ahroree, and Mirza Akbar Beg, of Deureea; and they were fast +closing in upon the party, and might have destroyed it, when Girwur +Sing, tomandar, came up with a detachment of the Special Police of +the Thuggee and Dacoitee Department. At this time the three companies +were altogether disorganized and disheartened, as the firing and +pursuit had lasted from midnight to daybreak; but on seeing the +Special Police come up and join with spirit in the defence, they +rallied, and the assailants, thinking the reinforcement more +formidable than it really was, lost confidence and held back. Captain +Hollings mounted the fresh horse of the tomandar, and led his +detachment without further loss or molestation back to Neemkar. His +loss had been one subadar, one havildar, and three sipahees killed; +one subadar, two havildars, one naik, and fourteen sipahees wounded +and missing. Captain Hollings' groom was shot dead, and one of his +palankeen-bearers was wounded. His horse, palankeen, desk, clothes, +and all the superfluous clothing and utensils, which the sipahees had +thrown off preparatory to the attack fell into the hands of the +assailants. Attempts were made to take up and carry off the killed +and wounded; but the detachment was so sorely pressed that they were +obliged to leave both on the ground. The loss would have been much +greater than it was, but for the darkness of the night, which +prevented the assailants from taking good aim; and the detachment +would, in all probability, have been cut to pieces, but for the +timely arrival of the Special Police under Girwur Sing. + +Such attacks are usually made upon robber bands about the first dawn +of day; and this attack at midnight was a great error. Had they not +been assailed by the auxiliaries, they could not, in the darkness, +have secured one of the gang. It was known, that at the first shot +from either the assailing or defending party in that district, all +the villages around concentrate their quotas upon the spot, to fight +to the death against the King's troops, whatever might be their +object; and the detachment ought to have been prepared for such +concentration when the firing began, and returned as quickly as +possible from the place when they saw that by staying they could not +succeed in the object. + +Four months after, in November, Punchum Sing, of Ahroree, himself cut +off the head of the robber, Bhugwunt Sing, with his own hand, and +sent it to the governor, Furreed-od Deen, with an apology for having +_by mistake_ attacked Captain Hollings' detachment. The governor sent +the head to the King, with a report stating that he had, at the peril +of his life, and after immense toil, hunted down and destroyed this +formidable rebel; and his Majesty, as a reward for his valuable +services, conferred upon Furreed-od Deen a title and a first-rate +dress of honour. Soon after, in the same month of July 1841, his +Majesty the King of Oude's second regiment of infantry, under the +command of a very gallant officer, Captain W. D. Bunbury, was +encamped near the village of Belagraon, when information was brought +that certain convicts, who had escaped from the gaol at Bareilly, had +taken refuge in the village of Parakurown, about fifty miles to the +north-west of his camp. Captain Bunbury immediately detached three +companies, with two six-pounders, under his brother, Lieutenant A. C. +Bunbury, to arrest them. After halting for a short time at Gopamow, +to allow his men to take breath. Lieutenant Bunbury pushed on, and +reached the place a little before the dawn of day. He demanded the +surrender of the outlaws from the chief of the village, named Ajrael +Sing, a notoriously bad character, who insolently refused to give +them up. A fight commenced, in which one of the convicts, and some +others, were killed; but at last Lieutenant Bunbury succeeded in +securing Arjael Sing himself, with some few of his followers, and the +outlaws. + +Hearing the firing of the field-pieces, the surrounding villages +concentrated their quotas of auxiliaries upon the place, and attacked +Lieutenant Bunbury's detachment on all sides. He had taken possession +of the village; but finding it untenable against so large and +increasing a body of assailants, he commenced his retreat. He had +scarcely reached the outskirts when he found himself surrounded by +overwhelming numbers of these auxiliaries, through whom he was +obliged to fight his way for a distance of fourteen miles to Pahanee. +The armed peasantry of every village, on the right and left of the +road as they passed, turned out and joined the pursuers in their +attempt to rescue his prisoners. Lieutenant Bunbury's conduct of this +retreat was most gallant and judicious; and his men behaved +admirably. When the assailants appeared likely to overwhelm him, he +abandoned one of his two guns, and hastened on, leaving three men +lying under them apparently wounded, and unable to move. On this they +pressed on, sword in hand, to despatch the wounded men, and seize the +guns. When the assailants were within thirty or forty yards of the +gun, they started up, and poured in upon the dense crowd a discharge +of grape with deadly effect. A party then doubled back from the main +body of the detachment, protected the artillery men in limbering up +the gun, and escorting it to the main body, which again resumed its +march. This experiment was repeated several times with success as +they passed other villages, from which further auxiliaries poured +out, till they approached Pahanee, where they found support. In this +retreat Lieutenant Bunbury lost sixty men out of his three companies, +or about one-third of his number; but he retained all his prisoners. +Ajrael Sing soon after died of the wounds he had received in +defending the convicts in his village; and the rest of the prisoners +were all sent to the Oude Durbar. Lieutenant Bunbury is now in the +Honourable Company's Service, and in the 34th Regiment of Bengal +Native Infantry. + +On the 23rd of January 1849, Captain Hearsey, of the Oude Frontier +Police, sent his subadar-major, Ramzan Khan, with a party of one +hundred and fifty men of that police, to arrest a notorious robber, +Mendae Sing, and other outlaws, from the Shajehanpoor district, who +had found an asylum in the village of Sahurwa, in the Mahomdee +district, whence they carried on their depredations upon our villages +across the border. The party reached Sahurwa the next morning a +little before sunrise. The subadar-major having posted his men so as +to prevent the escape of the outlaws, demanded their surrender from +the village authorities. They were answered by a volley of matchlock- +balls; and finding the village too strong to be taken by his small +detachment without guns, he withdrew to a more sheltered position to +the westward, and detached a havildar with fifty men to take +possession of a large gateway to the south of the village. During +this movement the villagers continued to fire upon them; and the +quotas of auxiliaries from the surrounding villages, roused by the +firing, came rushing on from all quarters. Seeing no chance of being +able either to take the village or to maintain his position against +such numbers, the subadar-major drew off his detachment, and +proceeded for support to Pahanee, a distance of twelve miles. He +reached that place pursued by the auxiliaries, and with the loss of +one havildar and one sipahee killed, and three sipahees very severely +wounded. There are numerous instances of this sort in which the +King's troops have been attacked and beaten back, and their prisoners +rescued by the landholders of Bangur, and the adjoining districts of +Mahomdee and Sandee Palee. They are never punished for doing so, as +the King is too weak, and the aid of the British troops, for the +purpose, has seldom been given. + +It would be of advantage to remove the Regiment of Oude Local +Infantry from Seetapoor to Tundeeawun, where its presence and +services are much more required. The climate is as good, and all that +native soldiers require for food and clothing are cheaper. The +drainage is good; and to the east of the town there is one of the +finest plains for a cantonment that I have ever seen. There are but +few wells, but new ones can be made at a trifling cost; and the Oude +Government would willingly incur the outlay required for these and +for all the public buildings required for the new cantonments, to +secure the advantage of such a change. The cost of the public +buildings would be only 12,000 rupees; and the same sum would have to +be given in compensation for private buildings-total 24,000. The +refractory landholders would soon be reduced to order, and prevented +from any longer making their villages dens of robbers as they now do; +and the jungles around would all soon disappear. These jungles are +not thick, or unhealthy, consisting of the small dhak or palas tree, +with little or no underwood; and the surface they now occupy would +soon be covered with fine spring crops, and studded with happy +village communities, were people encouraged by an assurance of +protection to settle upon it, and apply their capital and labour to +its cultivation. The soil is everywhere of the finest quality, the +drainage is good, and there are no jheels. A few ponds yield the +water required for the irrigation of the spring crops, during their +progress to maturity, from November to March: they are said all to +become dry in the hot season. It is, I think, capable of being made +the finest part of this fine country of Oude. + +It was in contemplation to make the road from Lucknow to Shajehanpoor +and Bareilly pass through this place, Tundeeawun, by which some +thirty miles of distance would be saved, and a good many small rivers +and watercourses avoided. Why this design was given up I know not; +but I believe the only objection was the greater insecurity of this +line from the bad character of the great landholders of the Bangur +and Sandee Palee districts; and the greater number of thieves and +robbers who, in consequence, reside in them. There has been but +little outlay in works of any kind in the whole line through +Seetapore; and when measures have been taken to render this line more +secure, a good road will, I hope, be made through Tundeeawun. It was +once a populous place, but has been falling off for many years, as +the disorders in the district have increased. The Nazim resides here. +The last Nazim, Hoseyn Allee, who was removed to Khyrabad, at the end +of last year, is said to have given an increase of _nankar_ to the +refractory landholders of this district during that year, to the +extent of forty thousand rupees a-year, to induce them to pay the +Government demand, and desist from plunder. By this means he secured +a good reputation at Court, and the charge of a more profitable and +less troublesome district; and left the difficult task of resuming +this lavish increase of the _nankar_ to his successor, Seonath, the +son of Dilla Ram, who held the contract of the district for some +twenty years up to the time of his death, which took place last year. +Seonath is a highly respectable and amiable man; but he is very +delicate in health, and, in consequence, deficient in the vigour and +energy required to manage so turbulent a district. He has, however, a +deputy in Kidder Nath, a relative, who has all the ability, vigour, +and energy required, if well supported and encouraged by the Oude +Durbar. He was deputy under Dilla Ram for many years, and the same +under Hoseyn Allee last year. He is a man of great intelligence and +experience; and one of the best officers of the Oude Government that +I have yet seen. + +There are two kinds of recognised perquisites which landholders enjoy +in Oude and in most other parts of India--the _nankar_ and the _seer_ +land. The _nankar_ is a portion of the recognised rent-roll +acknowledged by the ruler to be due to the landholder for the risk, +cost, and trouble of management, and for his perquisite as hereditary +proprietor of the soil when the management is confided to another. It +may be ten, twenty, or one hundred percent upon the rent-roll of the +estate, which is recognised in the public accounts, as the holder +happens to be an object of fear or of favour, or otherwise; and the +real rent-roll may be more or less than that which is recognised in +the public accounts. The actual rent which the landholder receives +may increase with improvements, and he may conceal the improvement +from the local authorities, or bribe them to conceal it from +Government; or it may diminish from lands falling out of tillage, or +becoming impoverished by over-cropping, or from a diminution of +demand for land produce; and the landholder may be unable to satisfy +the local authorities of the fact, or to prevail upon them to +represent the circumstance to Government. The amount of the _nankar_ +once recognised remains the same till a new rate is recognised by +Government; but when the Government becomes weak, the local +authorities assume the right to recognise new rents, to suit their +own interest, and pretend that they do so to promote that of their +sovereign. + +I may instance the Amil of this district last year. He was weak, +while the landholders were strong. They refused to pay, on the plea +of bad seasons. He could send no money to the Treasury, and was in +danger of losing his place. The man who had to pay a revenue of ten +thousand could not be induced to pay five: he enjoyed an acknowledged +_nankar_ of two thousand upon a recognised rent-roll of twelve +thousand; and, to induce him to pay, he gives him an increase to this +_nankar_ of one thousand, making the _nankar_ three thousand, and +reducing the revenue to nine thousand. Being determined to render the +increase to his _nankar_ permanent, whether the Government consents +or not, the landholder agrees to pay the ten thousand for the present +year. The collector sends the whole or a part of the one thousand as +gratuities to influential men at Court, and enters it in the public +accounts as irrecoverable balance. The present Amil, finding that the +increase to the _nankar_ has not been acknowledged by Government, +demands the full ten thousand rupees for the present year. The +landholder refuses to pay anything, takes to the jungles, and +declares that he will resist till his permanent right to the increase +be acknowledged. + +The Amil has taken the contract at the rate of last year, as the +Government had sanctioned no increase to the _nankar_, and he pleads +in vain for a remission in the rate, which he pledged himself to pay, +or an increase of means to enforce payment among so turbulent and +refractory a body of landholders. As I have before mentioned, the +Oude Government has this season issued an order to all revenue +collectors to refuse to recognise any increase to the _nankar_ that +has been made since the year A.D. 1814, or Fusilee 1222, when Saadut +Allee died, as none has since that year received the sanction of +Government, though the _nankar_ has been more than doubled within +that period in the manner above described by local authorities. The +increase to the _nankar_, and the alienation in rent-free tenure of +lands liable to assessment in 1814 by local authorities and +influential persons at Court, are supposed to amount in all Oude to +forty lacs of rupees a-year. None of them have been formally +recognised by the Court, but a great part of them has been tacitly +acquiesced in by the minister and Dewan for the time being. They +cannot enforce the order for reverting to the _nankar_ of 1814, and +if they attempt to do so the whole country will be in disorder. +Indeed, the minister knows his own weakness too well to think +seriously of ever making such an attempt. The _seer_ lands are those +which the landholders and their families till themselves, or by means +of their servants or hired cultivators. Generally they are not +entered at all in the rent-rolls; and when they are entered, it is at +less rates than are paid for the other lands. The difference between +the no rent, or less rates, and the full rates is part of their +perquisites. These lands are generally shared out among the members +of the family as hereditary possessions. + +_January_ 23, 1850.--Behta, ten miles, over a plain of fine muteear +soil. The greater part of the surface is, however, covered by a low +palas jungle. The jungle remains, because no one will venture to lay +out his capital in rooting up the trees and shrubs, and bringing the +land under culture where the fruits of his industry, and his own life +and those of his family, would be so very insecure, and because the +powerful landholders around require the jungles to run to when in +arms against the Government officers, as they commonly are. The land +under this jungle is as rich in natural powers as that in tillage; +and nothing can be finer than the crops in the cultivated parts, +particularly in those immediately around villages. There are numerous +large trees in the jungles, but the fine peepul and banyan trees are +torn to pieces for the use of the elephants and camels of the +establishments of the local officers, and for the cows, bullocks, and +buffaloes of the peasantry. The cows and buffaloes are said to give +greater quantities of milk when fed on the leaves of these trees than +when fed on anything else available in the dry season; but the milk +is said to be of inferior quality. All the cultivated and peopled +parts are beautifully studded with single trees and groves. + +No respectable dwelling-house is anywhere to be seen, and the most +substantial landholders live in wretched mud-hovels with invisible +covers. I asked the people why, and was told that they were always +too insecure to lay out anything in improving their dwelling-houses; +and, besides, did not like to have such local ties, where they were +so liable to be driven away by the Government officers or by the +landholders in arms against them, and their reckless followers. The +local officers of Government, of the highest grade, occupy houses of +the same wretched description, for none of them can be sure of +occupying them a year, or of ever returning to them again when once +removed from their present offices; and they know that neither their +successors nor any one else will ever purchase or pay rent for them. +No mosques, mausoleums, temples, seraees, colleges, courts of +justice, or prisons to be seen in any of the towns or villages. There +are a few Hindoo shrines at the half-dozen places which popular +legends have rendered places of pilgrimage, and a few small tanks and +bridges made in olden times by public officers, when they were more +secure in their tenure of office than they are now. All the fine +buildings raised by former rulers and their officers at the old +capital of Fyzabad are going fast to ruin. The old city of Ajoodhea +is a ruin, with the exception of a few buildings along the bank of +the river raised by wealthy Hindoos in honour of Ram, who once lived +and reigned there, and is believed by all Hindoos to have been an +incarnation of Vishnoo. + +I have often mentioned that the artillery draft-bullocks receive no +grain, and are everywhere so poor that they can hardly walk, much +less draw heavy guns and tumbrils. The reason is this, the most +influential men at Court obtain the charge of feeding the cattle in +all the different establishments, and charge for a certain quantity +of grain or other food at the market price for each animal. They +contract for the supply of the cattle with some grain-merchant of the +city, who undertakes to distribute it through his own agents. The +contractor for the supply of the artillery draft-bullocks sends an +agent with those in attendance upon every collector of the land +revenue, and he gives them as little as possible. The contractor, +afraid of making an enemy of the influential man at Court, who could +if he chose deprive him of his contract or place, never presumes to +interfere, and the agent gives the poor bullocks no grain at all. The +collector, or officer in charge of the district, is, however, obliged +every month to pay the agent of the contractor the full market price +of the grain supposed to be consumed--that is, one seer and half a- +day by every bullock. The same, or some other influential person at +Court, obtains and transfers in the same way the contract for the +feeding of the elephants, horses, camels, bullocks, and other animals +kept at Lucknow for use or amusement, and none of them are in much +better condition than the draft-bullocks of the artillery in the +remote districts--all are starved, or nearly starved, and objects of +pity. Those who are responsible for their being fed are too strong in +Court favour to apprehend any punishment for not feeding them at all. + +In my ride this morning I asked the people of the villages through +and near which we passed whether infanticide prevailed: they told me +that it prevailed amongst almost all the Rajpoot families of any rank +in Oude; that very poor families of those classes retained their +daughters, because they could get something for them from the +families of lower grade, into which they married them; but that those +who were too well off in the world to condescend to take money for +their daughters from lower grades, and were obliged to incur heavy +costs in marrying them into families of the same or higher grade, +seldom allowed their infant daughters to live. + +"It is strange," I observed, "that men, who have to undergo such +heavy penance for killing a cow, even by accident, should have to +undergo none for the murder of their own children, nor to incur any +odium among the circle of society in which they live--not even among +Brahmins and the ministers of their religion." + +"They do incur odium, and undergo penance," said Rajah Bukhtawur +Sing; "do they not?" said he to some Brahmins standing near. They +smiled, but hesitated to reply. "They know they do," said the Rajah, +"but are afraid to tell the truth, for they and their families live +in villages belonging to these proud Rajpoot landholders, and would +be liable to be turned out of house and home were they to tell what +they know." One of the Brahmins then said, "All this is true, sir; +but after the murder of every infant the family considers itself to +be an object of displeasure to the deity, and after the twelfth day +they send for the family priest (Prohut), and, by suitable +gratuities, obtain absolution. This is necessary, whether the family +be rich or poor; but when the absolution is given, nothing more is +thought or said about the matter. The Gour and other Rajpoots who can +afford to unite their daughters in marriage to the sons of Chouhans, +Byses, and other families of higher grade, though they cannot obtain +theirs in return for their sons, commit less murders of this kind +than others; but all the Rajpoot clans commit more or less of them. +Habit has reconciled them to it; but it appears very shocking to us +Brahmins and all other classes. They commonly bury the infants alive +as soon as possible after their birth. We, sir, are helpless, living +as we do among such turbulent and pitiless landholders, and cannot +presume to admonish or remonstrate: our lives would not be safe for a +moment were we to say anything, or seem to notice such crimes." + +I do not think that any landholder of this class, in the Bangur +district, would feel much compunction for the commission of any crime +that did not involve their expulsion from caste, or degradation in +rank. Great crimes do not involve these penalties: they incur them +only by small peccadillos, or offences deemed venal among other +societies. The Government of Oude, as it is at present constituted, +will never be able to put down effectually the great crimes which now +stain almost every acre of land in its dominions. It is painful to +pass over a country abounding so much in what the evil propensities +of our nature incite men to do, when not duly restrained; and so +little in what the good prompt us to perform and create, when duly +protected and encouraged, under good government. + +_January_ 24, 1850.--Sandee, fourteen miles, over a plain of light +domuteea soil, which becomes very sandy for the last four or five +miles. The crops are scanty upon the more sandy parts, except in the +vicinity of villages; but there is a little jungle, and no undue +portion of fallow for so light a soil. About five miles from our last +ground, we came through the large and populous village of Bawun; +about three miles further, through another of nearly the same size, +Sungeechamow; and about three miles further on, through one still +larger, Admapoor, which is three miles from Sandee. Sandee and +Nawabgunge join each other, and are on the bank of the Gurra river, a +small stream whose waters are said to be very wholesome. We passed +the boundary of the Bangur district, just before we entered the +village of Sungeechamow, which lies in that of Sandee. + +There is a Hindoo shrine on the right of the road between Sandee and +Admapoor, which is said to be considered very sacred, and called +Barmawust. It is a mere grove, with a few priests, on the bank of a +large lake, which extends close up to Sandee on the south. The river +Gurra flows under the town to the north. The place is said to be +healthy, but could hardly be so, were this lake to the west or east, +instead of the south, whence the wind seldom blows. This lake must +give out more or less of malaria, that would be taken over the +village, for the greater portion of the year, by the prevailing +easterly and westerly winds. I do not think the place so eligible for +a cantonment at Tundeeawun, in point either of salubrity, position, +or soil. + +_January_ 25, 1850.--Halted at Sandee. The lake on the south side, +mentioned yesterday, abounds in fish, and is covered with wild fowl; +but the fish we got from it yesterday was not good of its kind. I +observed very fine groves of mango-trees close to Sandee, planted by +merchants and shopkeepers of the place. The oldest are still held by +the descendants of those by whom they were first planted, more than a +century ago; and no tax whatever is imposed upon the trees of any +kind, or upon the lands on which they stand. Many young groves are +growing up around, to replace the old ones as they decay; and the +greatest possible security is felt in the tenure by which they are +held by the planter, or his descendants, though they hold no written +lease, or deed of gift; and have neither written law nor court of +justice to secure it to them. Groves and solitary mango, semul, +tamarind, mhowa and other trees, whose leaves and branches are not +required for the food of elephants and camels, are more secure in +Oude than in our own territories; and the country is, in consequence, +much better provided with them. While they give beauty to the +landscape, they alleviate the effects of droughts to the poorer +classes from the fruit they supply; and droughts are less frequently +and less severely felt in a country so intersected by fine streams, +flowing from the Tarae forest, or down from the perpetual snows of +neighbouring hills, and keeping the water always near the surface. +These trees tend also to render the air healthy, by giving out oxygen +in large quantities during the day, and absorbing carbonic acid gas. +The river Gurra enters the Ganges about twelve miles below Sandee. +Boats take timber on this stream from the Phillibeet district to +Cawnpoor. It passes near the town of Shajehanpoor; and the village of +Palee, twenty miles north-west from Sandee, where we shall have to +recross it. + +_January_ 26, 1850.--Busora, twelve miles north-west from Sandee, +over a plain of light sandy soil, or bhoor, with some intervals of +oosur. The tillage extends over as much of the surface as it ought in +so light a soil; and the district of Sandee Palee generally is said +to be well cultivated. It has been under the charge of Hafiz +Abdoollah, a very honest and worthy man, for seven years up to his +death, which took place in November last. He is said never to have +broken faith with a landholder; but he was too weak in means to keep +the bad portion under control; and too much occupied in reading or +repeating the _Koran_, which he knew all by heart, as his name +imports. His son Ameer Gholam Allee, a lad of only thirteen years of +age, has been appointed his successor. He promises to be like his +father in honesty and love of the holy book.* + +[* He has been since removed, and was in prison as a defaulter, July +1851.] + +About half way we passed the village of Bhanapoor, held by zumeendars +of the _Dhaukurree_ Rajpoot clan, who told me, that they gave their +daughters in marriage to the Rykwars, but more to the Sombunsie +Rajpoots, who abound in the district, and hold the greater part of +the lands; that these Sombunsies have absorbed almost all the lands +of the other classes by degrees, and are now seizing upon theirs; +that the Sombunsies give their daughters in marriage only to the +Rathore and Chouhan Rajpoots, few of whom are to be found on the Oude +side of the Ganges; and, in consequence, that they take such as they +preserve to our districts on the other side of that river, but murder +the greater part rather than condescend to marry them to men of the +other Rajpoot clans whom they deem to be of inferior grade, or go to +the expense of uniting them in marriage to clans of higher or equal +grade in Oude. Some Sombunsies, who came out to pay their respects +from the next village we passed, told us, that they did not give +their daughters even to the Tilokchundee Bys Rajpoots; but in this +they did not tell the truth. + +At the next village, the largest in the parish, Barone, the chief +landholder, Kewul Sing, came out and presented his offering of a fine +fighting-ram. He was armed with his bow, and "quiver full of arrows," +but told me, that he thought a good gun, with pouch and flask, much +better, and he carried the bow and quiver merely because they were +lighter. He was surrounded by almost all the people of the town, and +told me, that the family held in copartnership fifty-two small +villages, immediately around _Barone_--that this village had been +attacked and burnt down by Captain Bunbury and his regiment the year +before last, without any other cause that they could understand save +that he had recommended him not to encamp in the grove close by. The +fact was, that none of the family would pay the Government demand, or +obey the old Amil, Hafiz Abdoollah; and it was necessary to make an +example. On being asked whether his family and clan, the Sombunsies, +preserved or destroyed their daughters, he told me, in the midst of +his village community, that he would not deceive me; that they, one +and all, destroyed their infant daughters; but that one was, +occasionally, allowed to live (_ek-adh_); that the family was under a +taint for twelve days after the murder of an infant, when the family +priest (Prohut) was invited and fed in due form; that he then +declared the absolution complete, and the taint removed. + +The family priest was present, and I asked him what he got on such +occasions? He said, that to remove the taint, or grant absolution +after the murder of a daughter, he got little or no money; he merely +partook of the food prepared for him in due form; but that, on the +birth of a son, he got ten rupees from the parents. All the assembled +villagers bore testimony to the truth of what the patriarch and the +priest told me. They said, that no one would enter a house in which +an infant daughter had been destroyed, or eat or drink with any +member of the family till the Prohut had granted the absolution, +which he did after the expiration of twelve days, as a matter of +course, depending as he did upon the good-will of the landholders, +who were all of the same clan, Sombunsies. Few other Brahmins will +condescend to eat, drink, or associate with these family and village +priests, who take the sins of such murderers upon their own heads. + +The old patriarch rode on with me upon his pony, five miles to my +tents, as if I should not think the worse of him for having murdered +his own daughters, and permitted others to murder theirs. I told him, +that I could hold no converse with men who were guilty of such +crimes; and that the vengeance of God would crush them all, sooner or +latter. For his only excuse he told me, that it was a practice, +derived from a long line of ancestors, wiser and better than they +were; and that it prevailed in almost every Rajpoot family in the +country; that they had, in consequence, become reconciled to it, and +knew not how to do without it. Family pride is the cause of this +terrible evil! + +The estate of Kuteearee, on the left-hand side of the road towards +the Ramgunga and Ganges, is held by Runjeet Sing, of the Kuteear +Rajpoot clan. His estate yields to him about one hundred and twenty +thousand rupees a-year, while he is assessed at only sixteen +thousand. While Hakeem Mehndee was in banishment at Futtehgurh, about +fifteen years ago, he became intimate with Runjeet Sing, of +Kuteearee; and when he afterwards became minister, in 1837, he is +said to have obtained for him the King's seal and signature to a +perpetual lease at this rate, from which is deducted a _nankar_ of +four thousand, leaving an actual demand of only twelve thousand. Were +such grants, in perpetuity, respected in Oude, the ministers and +their minions would soon sell the whole of his Majesty's dominions, +and leave him a beggar. He has not yet been made to pay a higher +rate; not, however, out of regard for the King's pledge, but solely +out of that for Runjeet's fort of Dhunmutpoor, on the bank of the +Ganges, his armed bands, and his seven pieces of cannon. He has been +diligently employing all his surplus rents in improving his defensive +means; and, besides his fort and guns, is said to have a large body +of armed and disciplined men. He has seized upon a great many +villages around, belonging to weaker proprietors: and is every year +adding to his estate in this way. In this the old Amil, Hafiz +Abdoollah, acquiesced, solely because he had not the means nor the +energy to prevent it. He got his estate excluded from the +jurisdiction of the local authorities, and placed in the Huzoor +Tuhseel. + +Like others of his class, who reside on the border, he has a village +in the British territory to reside in, unmolested, when charged by +the Oude authorities with heavy crimes and balances. He had been +attacked and driven across the Ganges, in 1837, for contumacy and +rebellion; deprived of his estate, and obliged to reside at +Futtehgurh, where he first became acquainted with Hakeem Mehndee. The +Oude Government has often remonstrated against the protection which +this contumacious and atrocious landholder receives from our subjects +and authorities.* Crimes in this district are not quite so numerous +as in Bangur; but they are of no less atrocious a character. The +thieves and robbers of Bangur, when taken and taxed with being so, +say, "of course we are robbers--if we were not, how should we have +been permitted to reside in Bangur?" All are obliged to fight and +plunder with the landholders, or to rob for them on distant roads, +and in distant villages. + +[* See the Resident's letter to Government North-Western Provinces, +3rd August, 1837. The King's letter to the Resident, 7th April, 1837. +The same to the same, 19th May, 1837. Depositions and urzies. Runjeet +Sing was attacked by the King's troops and driven across the Ganges +again in June 1851, and died during the contest, which is being +continued by his son. 1851.--W. H. S.] + +My camp has been robbed several times within the time I have been +out, and the property has been traced to villages in the Sundeela and +Bangur districts. In the Sundeela district it can be recovered when +traced with a small force, and the thieves taken; but in the Bangur +district it would require a large military force well commanded, and +a large train of artillery to recover the one or seize the other. + +A respectable landholder of this place, a Sombunsie, tells me, that +the custom of destroying their female infants has prevailed from the +time of the first founder of their race; that a rich man has to give +food to many Brahmins, to get rid of the stain, on the twelfth or +thirteenth day, but that a poor man can get rid of it by presenting a +little food in due form to the village priest; that they cannot give +their daughters in marriage to any Rajpoot families, save the +Rhathores and Chouhans; that the family of their clan who gave a +daughter to any other class of Rajpoots, would be excluded from caste +immediately and for ever; that those who have property have to give +all they have with their daughters to the Chouhans and Rhathores, and +reduce themselves to nothing; and can take nothing from them in +return, as it is a great stain to take "_kuneea dan_," or virgin +price; from any one; that a Sombunsie may, however, when reduced to +great poverty, take the "_kuneea dan_" from the Chouhans and +Rhathores for a virgin daughter without being excommunicated from the +clan, but even he could not give a daughter to any other clan of +Rajpoots without being excluded for ever from caste; that it was a +misfortune no doubt, but it was one that had descended among them +from the remotest antiquity, and could not be got rid of; that +mothers wept and screamed a good deal when their first female +infants were torn from them, but after two or three times giving +birth to female infants, they become quiet and reconciled to the +usage, and said, "do as you like;" that some poor parents of their +clan did certainly give their daughters for large sums to wealthy +people of lower Clans, but lost their caste for ever by so doing; +that it was the dread of sinking, in substance from the loss of +property, and in grade from the loss of caste, that alone led to the +murder of female infants; that the dread prevailed more or less in +every Rajpoot clan, and led to the same thing, but most in the clan +that restricted the giving of daughters in marriage to the smallest +number of clans. + +The infant is destroyed in the room where it is born, and there +buried. The floor is then plastered over with cow-dung, and on the +thirteenth day the village or family priest must cook and eat his +food in that room. He is provided with wood, ghee, barley, rice, and +tillee (sesamum). He boils the rice, barley, and sesamum in a brass +vessel, throws the ghee over them when they are dressed, and eats the +whole. This is considered as a _hom_, or burnt-offering, and by +eating it in that place the priest is supposed to take the whole +_hutteea_ or sin upon himself, and to cleanse the family from it. I +am told that they put the milk of the mudar shrub "asclepias +gigantea," into the mouth of the infant to destroy it, and cover the +mouth with the faeces that first pass from, the infant's bowels. It +soon dies; and after the expiation the parents again occupy the room, +and there receive the visits of their family and friends, and gossip +as usual! + +Rajah Bukhtawar Sing tells me, that he has heard the whole process +frequently described in this way by the midwives who have attended +the birth. These midwives are however generally sent out of the room +with the mother when the infant is found to be a girl. In any law for +the effectual prevention of this crime, it would be necessary to +prescribe a severe punishment for the priest, as an accessary after +the fact. The only objection to this is, I think, that it might +deprive the Court of the advantage of an important witness when +required at the trial of the parents, but when necessary he might be +admitted as King's evidence. All the people here that I talk to on +the subject, say that the crime has been put down in the greater part +of the British territories, and that judicious measures honestly and +firmly carried out would put it down in Oude, and do away with the +scruples which one clan of Rajpoots have to give their daughters in +marriage to another. Unable to murder their daughters, they would be +glad to dispose of them in marriage to all clans of Rajpoots. It +might be put down in Oude, as it was put down by Mr. Willoughby, of +Bombay, in the districts under his charge, by making the abolition +one of the conditions on which all persons of the Rajpoot clans hold +their lands, and strictly enforcing the observance of that condition. +The Government of Oude as now constituted could do nothing whatever +towards putting it down in this or any other way. + +_January_ 27, 1850.--Palee, eight miles north-west. The road half way +from Sandee to Busora, and half way from Busora to Palee, passes over +a very light, sandy soil--bhoor. I have already stated that kutcha +wells, or wells without burnt brick and cement, will not last in this +sandy soil, while it stands more in need of irrigation. The road for +the last half way of this morning's stage passes over a good +doomuteea soil. The whole country is however well cultivated, and +well studded with fine trees; and the approach to Palee is at this +season very picturesque. The groves of mango and other fine trees +amidst which the town stands, on the right bank of the Gurra river, +appear very beautiful as one approaches, particularly now that the +surrounding country is covered by so fine a carpet of rich spring +crops. The sun's rays, falling upon such rich masses of foliage, +produce an infinite variety of form, colour, and tint, on which the +eye delights to repose. We intended to have our camp on the other +side of the river, but no good ground could be found for it, without +injury to the crops, within three miles from Palee, and we must cross +it on our way to Shahabad to-morrow. + +This small river flows along a little to the right of our march this +morning. About half way we passed a very pretty village, held and +cultivated by families of Kunojee Brahmins, who _condescend_ to hold +and drive their own ploughs. Other families of this class pride +themselves upon never condescending to drive their own ploughs, and +consider themselves in consequence a shade higher in caste. Other +Brahmin families have different shades or degrees of caste, like the +Kunojeeas; but I am not aware that any family of any other class of +Brahmins condescend to hold their own ploughs. I told them, that "God +seemed to favour their exertions, and bless them with prosperity, for +I had not seen a neater village or village community." They seemed to +be all well pleased with my compliment. At Palee resides Bulbhuder +Sing, a notorious robber, who was lately seized and sent as a felon +to Lucknow. After six months' confinement he bribed himself out, got +possession of the estate which he now holds, and to which he had no +right whatever, and had it excluded from the jurisdiction of the +local authorities, and transferred to the "Hozoor Tuhseel." He has +been ever since diligently employed in converting it into a den of +robbers, and in the usual way seizing upon other people's lands, +stock, and property of all kinds. + +Hundreds in Oude are doing the same thing in the same way. Scores of +those who suffer from the depredations of this class of offenders, +complain to me every day; but I can neither afford them redress, nor +hold out any hope of it from any of the Oude authorities. It is a +proverb, "that those who are sentenced to six years' imprisonment in +Oude, are released in six months, and those who are sentenced to six +months, are released in six years." Great numbers are released every +year at Lucknow for _thanksgivings_, or _propitiation_. If the King +or any member of his family becomes sick, prisoners are released, +that they may recover; and when they recover, others are released as +a grateful, and, at the same time, profitable acknowledgment, since +the Government relieves itself from the cost of keeping them; and its +servants appropriate the money paid for their ransom. Those who are +in for long periods are, for the most part, great offenders, who are +the most able and most willing to pay high for their release; those +who are in for short ones are commonly the small ones, who are the +least able and least disposed to give anything. The great offenders +again are those who are most disposed, and most able, to revenge +themselves on such persons as have aided the Government in their +arrest or conviction; and they do all they can to murder and rob them +and their families and relatives, as soon as they are set at large, +in order to deter others from doing the same. This would be a great +evil in any country, but is terrible in Oude, where no police is +maintained for the protection of life and property. The cases of +atrocious murders and robberies which come before me every day, and +are acknowledged by the local authorities, and neighbours of the +sufferers, to have taken place, are frightful. Such sufferings, for +which no redress is to be found, would soon desolate any part of +India less favoured by nature. + +In the valley of the Nerbudda, for instance, such sufferings would +render a district desolate for ages. The people, driven off from an +estate, go and settle in another better governed. The grass grows +rankly from the richness of the soil, and the humidity of the air, +and becomes filled with deer and other animals, that are food for +beasts of prey. Tigers, leopards, wolves, wild dogs, &c. follow, to +feed upon them; and they render residence and industry unsafe. +Malaria follows, and destroys what persons the tigers leave. I have +seen extensive tracts of the richest soil and most picturesque +scenery, along the banks of the Nerbudda, which had been rendered +desolate for ages by the misrule of only a few years. It is the same +in the Tarae forest, which separates Oude from Nepaul. But in the +rest of Oude, from the Ganges to this belt of forest, no such effects +follow misrule, however great and prolonged. Here no grass grows too +rankly, few deer fill it, few tigers, leopards, wolves, or wild dogs +come in pursuit of them, and no malaria is feared. If a landholder +takes to rebellion and plunder, he is followed by all his retainers +and clansmen; and their families, and the cultivators of other +classes, feeling no longer secure, go and till lands on other +estates, till they are invited back. The cowherds and shepherds, who +live by the produce of their cattle and sheep, remain and thrive by +the abundance of pasture lands, from which the rich spring and +harvest crops have disappeared. These cattle and sheep graze over +them, and enrich the soil by restoring to it a portion of those +elements of fertility, of which a long succession of harvests had +robbed it. Over and above what they leave on the grounds, over which +they graze, large stores of manure are collected for future use by +the herdsmen, who now exclusively occupy the villages. The landholder +and his followers, in the meantime, subsist and enrich themselves by +the indiscriminate plunder of the surrounding country; and are at +last invited back by a weak and wearied Government, to reoccupy the +lands, improved by this salutary fallow, at a lower rate of rent, or +no rent at all for some years, and a remission of all balances for +past years, on account of _paemalee_, or treading down of crops, +during the disorder that has prevailed. + +The cultivators return to occupy their old lands, so enriched, at +reduced rates of rent; and, in two or three years, these lands become +again carpeted with a beautiful variety of spring and autumn crops. +The crops, in our districts, on the opposite side of the river +Ganges, bear no comparison with those on the Oude side. The lands are +all overcropped and under-stocked with cattle and sheep from the want +of pasture lands. There is little manure, the water is too far below +the surface to admit of sufficient irrigation, without greater outlay +than the farmers and cultivators can afford; the rotation of crops is +insufficient, and no salutary fallow comes to the relief of the soil, +from the labour of men living and working under the efficient +protection of a strong and able Government. The difference in the +crops is manifest to the beholder, and shown in the rate of rents +paid for the lands where the price of land produce is the same in +both; the same river conveying the produce of both to and from the +same markets. + +A Murhutta army, under the Peshwa, Ballajee, invaded the districts, +about the source of the Nerbudda river, about one hundred and seven +years ago, A.D. 1742. They ravaged these districts as they did all +others which they invaded; but they, like the greater part of the +Oude Tarae, remain waste; while the others, like the rest of Oude, +soon recovered and become prosperous from the circumstances above +stated. The soil of some of the districts, about the source of the +Nerbudda, then ravaged, is among the finest in the world; but the +long grass and rich foliage, by which it is covered, are occupied, +like the pampos of South America, almost exclusively by wild cattle, +buffaloes, deer, and tigers. The district of Mundula, which +intervenes between them and the rich and highly-cultivated district +of Jubbulpoor, in the valley of that river, was populous and well +cultivated when we took possession of it in the year 1817; but it has +become almost as waste under our rule by a more gradual but not less +desolating process. Not considering the diminishing markets for land +produce, our assessments of the land revenue were too high, and the +managing officers never thought the necessity of reduction +established, till the villages were partially or wholly deserted. The +farmers and cultivators all emigrated, by degrees, into the +neighbouring districts of Nagpoor and Rewa, where they had more +consideration and lighter assessments, and the markets for land +produce were improving. The lands of Mundula became waste, and +covered with rank grass filled with deer; tigers followed to feed +upon them, and carried off all the poor peasantry, who remained and +attempted to cultivate small patches; malaria followed and completed +the work. + +Like the _tharoos_ of the Oude forest, the Gonds born in this malaria +are the only people who can live in it; and the ravages of tigers and +endemial disease prevent their numbers from increasing. Those who +once emigrate never come back, and population and tillage have been +decreasing ever since we took possession, or for thirty-three years. +The same process has been going on in other parts of the Nerbudda +valley with the same results. In Oude, from the causes above +described, lands of the same denomination and kind often yield double +the rate of rent that they yield in our own conterminous districts, +or districts on the opposite side of the Ganges, and other rivers +that separate our territories from those of Oude. Under a tolerable +Government, Oude would soon become one of the most beautiful +countries in India; but the lands would fall off, in fertility, as +ours do from over-cropping, no doubt. + +_January_ 28, 1850.--Shahabad, ten miles. We crossed, close under +Palee, the little river Gurra, which continued for some miles to flow +along, in its winding course, close by on our left. It is here some +five or six miles to the south-west of the town. The soil we have +come over is chiefly muteear, or the doomuteea, tightened by a +mixture of clay, or argillaceous earth. Rich crops of rice are grown +on this muteea, which retains its moisture so much better than the +looser doomutea soil. + +Half-way we came through a neat village, the lands of which are +subdivided between the members of a large family of Kunojee Brahmins, +who came out to see us pass, and pay their respects. The cultivation +was so fine that I hoped they were of the class who condescended to +hold their own ploughs. I asked them; and they, with seeming pride, +told me that they did not--that they employed servants to hold their +ploughs for them. When I told them that this was their _misfortune_, +they seemed much amused, but were all well-behaved and respectful, +though they must have thought my notion very odd. + +The little Gurra flows from the Oude Tarae forest by the town of +Phillibheet, where boats are built, to be taken down to Cawnpoor, on +the Ganges, for sale. About four hundred, great and small, are +supposed to be taken down the Gurra every year, in the season of the +rains. They take down the timber of the Tarae forest, rice, and other +things; and all are sold, with their cargoes, at Cawnpoor, or other +places on the Ganges. The timbers are floated along on both sides of +the boats. Palee is a good place for a cantonment, or seat of public +civil establishments, and Shahabad is no less so. The approach to +both, from the south-east, is equally beautiful, from the rich crops +which cover the ground up to the houses, and the fine groves and +majestic single trees which surround them. + +Shahabad is a very ancient and large town, occupied chiefly by Pathan +Mussulmans, who are a very turbulent and fanatical set of fellows. +Subsookh Rae, a Hindoo, and the most respectable merchant in the +district, resided here, and for some time consented to officiate, as +the deputy of poor old Hafiz Abdoollah, for the management of the +town, where his influence was great. He had lent a good deal of money +to the heads of some of the Pathan families of the town, but finding +few of them disposed to repay, he was last year obliged to refuse +further loans. They determined to take advantage of the coming +mohurrum festival to revenge the _affront_ as men commonly do who +live among such a fanatical community. The tazeeas are commonly taken +up, and carried in procession, ten days after the new moon is first +seen, at any place where they are made; but in Oude all go by the day +in which the moon is seen from the capital of Lucknow. As soon as she +is seen at Lucknow, the King issues an order throughout his dominions +for the tazeeas to be taken in procession ten days after. The moon +was this year, in November, first seen on the 30th of the month at +Lucknow; but at Shahabad, where the sky is generally clearer, she had +been seen on the 29th. The men to whom Subsookh Rae had refused +farther loans determined to take advantage of this incident to wreak +their vengeance; and when the deputy promulgated the King's order for +the tazeeas to be taken in procession ten days after the 30th, they +instigated all the Mahommedans of the town to insist upon taking them +out ten days after the 29th, and persuaded them that the order had +been fabricated, or altered, by the malice of their Hindoo deputy, +_to insult their religious feelings_. They were taken out +accordingly, and having to pass the house of Subsookh Rae, when their +excitement, or spirit of religious fervour, had reached the highest +pitch, they there put them down, broke open the doors, entered in a +crowd, and plundered it of all the property they could find, +amounting to above seventy thousand rupees. Subsookh Rae was obliged +to get out, with his family, at a back door, and run for his life. He +went to Shajehanpoor, in our territory, and put himself under the +protection of the magistrate. Not content with all this, they built a +small miniature mosque at the door with some loose bricks, so that no +one could go either out or in without the risk of knocking it down, +or so injuring this _mock mosque_ as to rouse, or enable the evil- +minded to rouse, the whole Mahommedan population against the +offender. Poor Subsookh Rae has been utterly ruined, and ever since +seeking in vain for redress. The Government is neither disposed nor +able to afford it, and the poor boy who has now succeeded his learned +father in the contract is helpless. The little mock mosque, of +uncemented bricks, still stands as a monument of the insolence of the +Mahommedan population, and the weakness and apathy of the Oude +Government. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Infanticide--Nekomee Rajpoots--Fallows in Oude created by disorders-- +Their cause and effect--Tillage goes on in the midst of sanguinary +conflicts--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Mahomdee district--White +Ants--Traditional decrease in the fertility of the Oude soil--Risks +to which cultivators are exposed--Obligations which these risks +impose upon them--Infanticide--The Amil of Mahomdee's narrow escape-- +An infant disinterred and preserved by the father after having been +buried alive--Insecurity of life and property--Beauty of the surface +of the country, and richness of its foliage--Mahomdee district--State +and recent history of--Relative fertility of British and Oude soil-- +Native notions of our laws and their administration--Of the value of +evidence in our Courts--Infanticide--Boys only saved--Girls destroyed +in Oude--The priests who give absolution for the crime abhorred by +the people of all other classes--Lands in our districts becoming more +and more exhausted from over-cropping--Probable consequences to the +Government and people of India--Political and social error of +considering land private property--Hakeem Mehndee and subsequent +managers of Mahomdee--Frauds on the King in charges for the keep of +animals--Kunojee Brahmins--Unsuccessful attempt to appropriate the +lands of weaker neighbours--Gokurnath, on the border of the Tarae-- +The sakhoo or saul trees of the forest. + + +Lalta Sing, of the Nikomee Rajpoot tribe, whom I had lately an +opportunity of assisting, for his good services in arresting outlays +[outlaws ?] from our territories, has just been to pay his respects. +Our next encamping ground is to be on his estate of Kurheya and Para. +He tells me that very few families of his tribe now destroy their +female infants; that tradition ascribes the origin of this evil to the +practice of the Mahommedan emperors of Delhi of demanding daughters +in marriage from the Rajpoot princes of the country; that some of +them were too proud to comply with the demand, and too weak to resist +it in any other way than that of putting all their female infants to +death. This is not impossible. He says that he believes the +_Dhankuries_, whom I have described above to be really the only tribe +of Rajpoots among whom no family destroys its infant daughters in +Oude; that all tribes of Rajpoots get money with the daughters they +take from tribes a shade lower in caste, to whom they cannot give +theirs in return; and pay money with the daughters they give in +marriage to tribes a shade higher, who will not give their daughters +to them in return. The native collector of Shahabad, a gentlemanly +Mahommedan, came out two miles to pay his respects on my approach, +and we met on a large space of land, lying waste, while all around +was covered with rich crops. I asked, "Pray why is this land left +waste?" "It is, sir, altogether unproductive." "Why is this? It seems +to me to be just as good as the rest around, which produces such fine +crops." "It is called _khubtee_--slimy, and is said to be altogether +barren." "I assure you, sir," said Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, "that it is +good land, and capable of yielding good crops, under good tillage, or +it would not produce the fine grass you see upon it. You must not ask +men like this about the kinds and qualities of soils for they really +know nothing whatever about them: they are _city gentlemen's sons_, +who get into high places, and pass their lives in them without +learning anything but how to screw money out of such as we are, who +are born upon the soil, and depend upon its produce all our lives for +subsistence. Ask him, sir, whether either he or any of his ancestors +ever knew anything of the difference between one soil and another." + +The collector acknowledged the truth of what the old man said, and +told me that he really knew nothing about the matter, and had merely +repeated what the people told him. This is true with regard to the +greater part of the local revenue officers employed in Oude. "One of +these city gentlemen, sir," said. Bukhtawar Sing, "when sent out as a +revenue collector, in Saadut Allee's time, was asked by his +assistants what they were to do with a crop of sugar-cane which had +been attached for balances, and was becoming too ripe, replied, '_Cut +it down, to be sure, and have it stacked!_' He did not know that +sugar-cane must, as soon as cut, be taken to the mill, or it spoils." +"I have heard of another," said the old Rusaldar Nubbee Buksh, "who, +after he entered upon his charge, asked the people about him to show +him the tree on which grew the fine _istamalee_* rice which they used +at Lucknow." "There is no question, sir," said Bukhtawar Sing, "that +is too absurd, for these cockney gentlemen to ask when they enter +upon such revenue charges as these. They are the aristocracy of towns +and cities, who are learned enough in books and court ceremonies and +intrigues, but utterly ignorant of country life, rural economy, and +agricultural industry." + +[* The _istamalee_ rice is rice of fine quality, which has been kept +for some years before used. To be good, rice must be kept for some +years before used, and that only which has been so kept is called +_istamalee_ or _useable_.] + +For a cantonment or civil station, the ground to the north of +Shahabad, on the left-hand side of the road leading to Mahomdee, +seems the best. It is a level plain, of a stiff soil formed of clay +and sand, and not very productive. + +The country, from Sandee and Shahabad to the rivers Ganges and +Ramgunga, is one rich sheet of spring cultivation; and the estate of +Kuteearee, above described, is among the richest portions of this +sheet. The portions on which the richest crops now stand became waste +during the disorders which followed the expulsion of Runjeet Sing, in +the usual way, in 1837, and derived the usual benefit from the +salutary fallow. A stranger passing through such a sheet of rich +cultivation, without communing with the people, would little suspect +the fearful crimes that are every year committed upon it, from the +weakness and apathy of the Government, and the bad faith and bad +character of its officers and chief landholders. The land is tilled +in spite of all obstacles, because all depend upon its produce for +subsistence; but there is no indication of the beneficial +interference of the Government for the protection of life, property, +and character, and for the encouragement of industry and the display +of its fruits. The land is ploughed, and the seed sown, often by +stealth at night, in the immediate vicinity of a sanguinary contest +between the Government officers and the landholders. It is only when +the latter are defeated, and take to the jungles, or the Honourable +Company's districts, and commence their indiscriminate plunder, that +the cultivator ceases from his labours, and the lands are left waste. + +Runjeet Sing two or three years ago seized upon the village of +Mulatoo, in his vicinity, to which he had no claim whatever, and he +has forcibly retained it. It had long paid Government ten thousand a- +year, but he has consented to pay only one thousand. Lands yielding +above nine thousand he has cut off from its rent-roll, and added to +those of his hereditary villages on the borders. Last year he seized +upon the village of Nudua, with a rent-roll of fourteen hundred +rupees, and he holds it with a party of soldiers and two guns. The +Amil lately sent out a person with a small force to demand the +Government dues; but they were driven back, as he pretends that he +got it in mortgage from Dumber Sing, who had taken a short lease of +that and other khalsa villages, and absconded as a defaulter; and +that he has purchased the lands from the cultivating proprietors, and +is, therefore, bound to pay no revenue whatever for them-to the King. +All defaulters and offenders who take refuge on his estate he +instigates to plunder, and provides with gangs, on condition of +getting the greater part of the booty. He thinks that he is sure of +shelter in the British territory, should he be driven from Oude; he +feels also sure of aid from other large landholders of the same class +in the neighbourhood. + +_January_ 30, 1850.--Kurheya Para, twelve miles, over a plain of +excellent muteear soil, a good deal of which-is covered with jungle. +Para is a short distance from Kurheya, and our camp is midway between +the two villages. The boundary of the Sandee Palee and Mahomdee +districts we crossed about four miles from our present encampment. +This district, of Mahomdee was taken in contract by Hakeem Mehndee, +at three lacs and eleven thousand rupees a-year, in 1804 A.D., and in +a few years he brought it into full tillage, and made it yield above +seven lacs. It has been falling off ever since it was taken from him, +and now yields only between three and four lacs. The jungle is +studded with large peepul-trees, which are all shorn of their small +branches and leaves. The landholders and cultivators told me that +they were taken off by the cowherds who grazed their buffaloes, +bullocks, and cows in these jungles; that they formed their chief +and, in the cold season, their best food, as the leaves of the +peepul-tree were supposed to give warmth to the stomach, and to +increase the quantity of the milk; that the cowherds were required to +pay nothing for the privilege of grazing their cattle in these +jungles, by the person to whom the lands belonged, because they +enriched the soil with their manure, and all held small portions of +land under tillage, for which they paid rent; that they had the free +use of the peepul-trees in the jungles, but were not permitted to +touch those on the cultivated lands and in villages. + +White ants are so numerous in the argillaceous muteear soil, in which +their food abounds, that it is really dangerous to travel on an +elephant, or _swiftly_ on horseback, over a new road cut or enlarged +through any portion of it that has remained long untilled. The two +fore legs of my elephant went down yesterday morning into a deep pit +made by them, but concealed by the new road, which has been made over +it for the occasion of my visit near Shahabad, and it was with some +difficulty that he extricated them. We have had several accidents of +the same kind since we came out. In cutting a new road they cut +through large ant-hills, and leave no trace of the edifices or the +gulf below them, which the little insects have made in gathering +their food and raising their lofty habitation. They are not found in +the bhoor or oosur soils, and in comparatively small numbers in the +doomuteea or lighter soil, but they abound In the muteear soil in +proportion to its richness. Cultivation, where the crops are +irrigated, destroys them, and the only danger is in passing over new +roads cut through jungle, or lands that have remained long untilled, +or along the sides of old pathways, from which these land-marks have +been removed in hastily widening them for wheeled carriages. + +A Brahmin cultivator, whose cart we had been obliged to press into +our own service for this stage, came along with me almost all the +way. He said, "The spring crops of this season, sir, are no doubt +very fine; but in days of yore, before the curse of _Bhurt Jee_ (the +brother of Ram) came upon the landholders and cultivators of Oude, +they were much finer; when he set out from his capital of Ajoodheea +for the conquest of Cylone, he left the administration to his +brother, Bhurt Jee, who made a liberal settlement of the land tax. He +put a ghurra or pitcher, with a round bottom, turned upside down, +into every half acre (beegha) of the cultivated land, and required +the landholder or cultivator to leave upon it, as much of the grain +produced as the rounded bottom would retain, which could not be one +ten-thousandth part of the produce; he lived economically, and +collected at this rate during the many years that his brother was +absent. But when his brother returned and approached the boundary of +his dominions, he met hosts of landholders and cultivators clamouring +against the _rapacity and oppression_ of his brother's +administration. The humanity of Ram's disposition was shocked, sir, +at all this, and he became angry with his brother before he heard +what he had to say. When Bhurt had satisfied his brother that he had +not taken from them the thousandth part of what he had a right to +take, and Ram had, indeed, taken from them himself, he _sighed_ at +the wickedness and ingratitude of the agricultural classes of Oude; +and the baneful effects of this sad _sigh_ has been upon us ever +since, sir, in spite of all we can do to avert them. In order to have +the blessing of God upon our labours, it is necessary for us to +fulfil strictly all the responsibilities under which we hold and till +the land; first, to pay punctually the just demands of Government; +second, all the wages of the labour employed; third, all the +charities to the poor; fourth, all the offerings to our respective +tutelary gods; fifth, a special offering to Mahabeer, alias Hunooman. +These payments and offerings, sir, must all be made before the +cultivator can safely take the surplus produce to his store-room for +sale and consumption." + +Old Bukhtawar Sing, who was riding by my side, said, "A conscientious +farmer or cultivator, sir, when he finds that his field yields a +great deal more than the usual returns, that is when it yields twenty +instead of the usual return of ten, gives the whole in charity, lest +evil overtake him from his unusual good luck and inordinate +exultation." + +I asked the Brahmin cultivator why all these offerings were required +to be made by cultivators in particular? He replied, "There is, sir, +no species of tillage in which the lives of numerous insects are not +sacrificed, and it is to atone for these numerous murders, and the +ingratitude to Bhurt, that cultivators, in particular, are required +to make so many offerings;" and, he added, "much sin, sir, is no +doubt brought upon the land by the murder of so many female infants. +I believe, sir, that all the tribes of Rajpoots murder them; and I do +not think than one in ten is suffered to live. If the family or +village priest did not consent to eat with the parents after the +murder, no such murders could take place, sir; for none, even of +their nearest relatives, will ever eat with them till the Brahmin has +done so." + +The bearers of the tonjohn in which I sat, said, "We do not believe, +sir, that one girl in twenty among the Rajpoots is preserved. Davey +Buksh, the Gonda Rajah, is, we believe, the only one of the Biseyn +Rajpoot tribe who preserves his daughters;* his father did the same, +and his sister, who was married to the Bhudoreea Rajah of Mynpooree, +came to see him lately on the occasion of a pilgrimage to Ajoodheea, +on the death of her husband; of the six Kulhuns families of +Chehdwara, two only preserve their daughters--Surnam Sing of Arta, +and Jeskurn of Kumeear; but whether their sons or successors in the +estates will do the same is uncertain." These bearers are residents +of that district. + +[* There are a great many families of the Biseyn Rajpoots who never +destroy their infant daughters.] + +I may here remark, that oak-trees in the hills of the Himmelah chain +are disfigured in the same manner, and for the same purpose, as the +peepul and banyan trees are here; their small branches and leaves are +torn off to supply fodder for bullocks and other animals. The ilex of +the hills has not, however, in its nakedness the majesty of the +peepul and banyan of the plains, though neither of them can be said +to be "when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most." + +_January_ 31, 1850.--Puchgowa, north-east, twelve miles over a plain +of doomuteea soil, a good deal of which is out of tillage at present. +On the road we came through several neat villages, the best of which +was occupied exclusively by the families of the Kunojeea Brahmin +proprietors, and the few persons of inferior caste who ploughed their +lands for them, as they are a shade too high in caste to admit of +their holding their own ploughs. They are, however, very worthy +people, and seemed very much pleased at being put so much at their +ease in a talk with the great man about their own domestic and rural +economy. They told me, that they did not permit Rajpoots to reside in +or have anything to do with their village. + +"Why?" I asked.--"Because, sir, if they once get a footing among us, +they are, sooner or later, sure to turn us all out." "How?"--"They +get lands by little and little at lease, soon refuse to pay rent, +declare the lands to be their own, collect bad characters for +plunder, join the Rajpoots of their own clan in all the villages +around in their enterprises, take to the jungles on the first +occasion, of a dispute, attack, plunder, and burn the village, murder +us and our families, and soon get the estate for themselves, on their +own terms from the local authorities, who are wearied out by the loss +of revenue arising from their depredations; our safety, sir, depends +upon our keeping entirely aloof from them." + +Under a government so weak, the only men who prosper seem to be these +landholders of the military classes who are strong in their union, +clan feeling, courage, and ferocity. The villages here are numerous +though not large, and by far the greater part are occupied by +Rajpoots of the Nikomee tribe. + +The Amil of the Mahomdee district, Krishun Sahae, had come out so far +as Para to meet me, and have my camp supplied. He had earned a good +reputation as a native collector of long standing in the Shajehanpore +district, under Mr. Buller; but being ambitious to rise more rapidly +than he could hope to do, under our settled government, he came to +Lucknow with a letter of introduction from Mr. Buller to the +Resident, Colonel Richmond, paid his court to the Durbur, got +appointed Amil of the Mahomdee district, under the _amanee_ system, +paid his nazuranas on his investiture, in October last, and entered +upon his charge. A few days ago it pleased the minister to appoint to +his place Aboo Toorab Khan, the nephew and son-in-law of Moonowur-ood +Dowla; and orders were sent out immediately, by a camel-messenger, to +the commandants of the corps on duty, with Krishun Sahae, to seize +and send him, his family, and all his relations and dependents, with +all his property to be found upon them, to Lucknow. The wakeel, whom +he kept at Court for such occasions, heard of the order for the +supercession and arrest, and forthwith sent off a note to his master +by the fastest foot-messenger he could get. The camel-messenger found +that the Amil had left Mahomdee, and gone out two stages to Para, to +meet the Resident. He waited to deliver his message to the +commandants and subordinate civil officers of the district, and see +that they secured all the relatives, dependents, and property of the +Amil that could be found. The foot-messenger, more wise, went on, and +delivered his letter to Krishun Sahae; at Para, on the evening of +Tuesday the 29th. He ordered his elephant very quietly, and mounting, +told the driver to take him to a village on the road to Shajehanpoor. + +On reaching the village about midnight, the driver asked him whither +he was going--"I am flying from my enemies," said Krishun Sahae; "and +we must make all haste, or we shall be overtaken before we reach the +boundary." "But," said the driver, "my house and family are at +Lucknow, and the one will be pulled to the ground and the other put +into gaol if I fly with you." Krishun Sahae drew out a pistol and +threatened to shoot him if he did not drive on as told. They were +near a field of sugar-cane, and the driver hedged away towards it, +without the Amil's perceiving his intention. When they got near the +field the elephant dashed in among the cane to have a feast; and the +driver in his seeming effort to bring him out, fell off and +disappeared under the high cane. The Amil did all he could to get out +his elephant, but the animal felt that he was no longer in danger of +severe treatment from above, and had a very comfortable meal before +him in the fine ripe cane, and would not move. The poor Amil was +obliged to descend, and make all possible haste on foot across the +border, attended by one servant who had accompanied him in his +flight. The driver ran to the village and got the people to join him +in the pursuit of his master, saying that he was making off with a +good deal of the King's money. With an elephant load of the King's +money in prospect, they made all the haste they could; but the poor +Amil got safely over the border into British territory. They found +the elephant dining very comfortably on the sugar-cane. After abusing +the driver and all his female relations for deluding them with the +hope of a rich booty, they permitted him to take the empty elephant +to the new Amil at Mahomdee. News of all this reached my camp last +night. + +I omitted to mention that, at Busora on the 27th, a Rajpoot +landholder of the Sombunsie tribe, came to my camp with a petition +regarding a mortgage, and mentioned that he had a daughter, now two +years of age; that when she was born he was out in his fields, and +the females of the family put her into an earthen pot, buried her in +the floor of the apartment, where the mother lay, and lit a fire over +the grave; that he made all haste home as soon as he heard of the +birth of a daughter, removed the fire and earth from the pot, and +took out his child. She was still living, but two of her fingers +which had not been sufficiently covered were a good deal burnt. He +had all possible care taken of her, and she still lives, and both he +and his wife are very fond of her. Finding that his tale interested +me, he went home for the child; but his village was far off, and he +has not been able to overtake me. He had given no orders to have her +preserved, as his wife was confined sooner than he expected; but the +family took it for granted that she was to be destroyed, and in +running home to preserve her he acted on the impulse of the moment. +The practice of destroying female infants is so general among this +tribe, that a family commonly destroys the daughter as soon as born, +when the father is from home, and has given no special orders about +it, taking it to be his wish as a matter of course. + +Several respectable landholders of the Chouhan, Nikomee, and other +tribe of Rajpoots, were talking to me yesterday evening, and as they +were connected by marriage with Rajpoot families of the same and +higher clans in the British territories, I asked them whether some +plan could not be devised to suppress the evil in Oude, as it had +been suppressed there; for the disorders which prevailed seemed to me +to be only a visitation from above for such an all-pervading sin. +They told me that there would be little difficulty in putting down +this system under an honest and strong Government that would secure +rights, enforce duties, and protect life and property, as in the +British territories. Atrocious and cruel as this crime is in Oude, it +is hardly more so than that which not long ago prevailed in France +and other nations of Europe, of burying their daughters alive in +nunneries in order to gratify the same family pride. + +It is painful to me to walk out of my tent of an evening, for I have +every day large crowds seeking redress for grievous wrongs, for which +I see no hope of redress: men and women, who have had their dearest +relatives murdered, their houses burnt down, their whole property +taken away, their lands seized upon, their crops destroyed by +ruffians residing in the same or neighbouring villages, and actually +in the camp of the Amil, without the slightest fear of being punished +or made to surrender any portion of what they have taken. The +Government authorities are too weak, even to enforce the payment of +the Government demand, and have not the means to seize or punish +offenders of any kind, if they have the inclination. In some +districts they not only acquiesce in the depredations of these gangs +of robbers, but act in collusion with their leaders, in order to get +their aid in punishing defaulters or pretended defaulters, among the +landholders. They murder the landholders, and as many as possible of +their families, and as a reward for their services the local +authorities make over their lands to them at reduced rates. + +The Nazim of Sandee Palee told me on taking leave, that he had only +two wings of Nujeeb Regiments with him, one of which was fit for some +service, and in consequence, spread over the district on detached +duties. The other was with him, but out of the five hundred, for +which he had to issue monthly pay, he should not be able to get ten +men to follow him on any emergency. They are obliged to court and +conciliate the strong and reckless who prey upon the weak and +industrious; and in consequence become despised and detested by the +people. I feel like one moving among a people afflicted with +incurable diseases, who crowd around him in hope, and are sent away +in despair. I try to make the local authorities exert themselves in +behalf of the sufferers; but am told that they have already done +their utmost in vain; that if they seize robbers and murderers and +send them to Lucknow, they are sure to purchase their enlargement and +return to wreak their vengeance on them and on all who have aided +them in their arrest and conviction; that if they attempt to seize +one of the larger landholders, who refuses to pay the Government +demand, seizes upon the lands of his weaker neighbours, and murders +and robs them indiscriminately, he removes across the Ganges, into +one of the Honourable Company's districts, and thence sends his +myrmidons to plunder and lay waste the whole country, till he is +invited back by a weak and helpless Government upon his own terms; +that formerly British troops were employed in support of the local +authorities against offenders of this class; but that of late years +all such aid and support have been withdrawn from the Oude +Government, while the offenders find all they require from the +subjects and police authorities of the bordering British districts. + +The country we passed over to-day, between Para and Puchgowa, is a +plain, beautifully studded with groves and fine solitary trees, in +great perfection. The bandha or mistletoe, upon the mhowa and mango +trees, is in full blossom, and adds much to their beauty; the soil is +good, and the surface everywhere capable of tillage, with little +labour or outlay; for the jungle where it prevails the most is of +grass, and the small palas-trees (butea-frondosa) which may be-easily +uprooted. The whole surface of Oude is, indeed, like a gentleman's +park of the most beautiful description, as far as the surface of the +ground and the foliage go. Five years of good Government would make +it one of the most beautiful parterres in nature. To plant a large +grove, as it ought to be, a Hindoo thinks it necessary to have the +following trees:-- + +The banyan, or burgut; peepul, ficus religiosa; mango; tamarind; +jamun, eugenia jambolana; bele, cratoeva marmelos; pakur, ficus +venosa; mhowa, bassia latifolia; oula, phyllanthus emblica; goolur, +figus glomerata; kytha, feronia elephantum; kuthal, or jack; +moulsaree, mimusops elengi; kuchnar, bauhinea variegata; neem, melia +azadirachta; bere, fizyphus jujuba; horseradish, sahjuna; sheeshum, +dalbergia sisa; toon, adrela toona; and chundun, or sandal. + +Where he can get or afford to plant only a small space, he must +confine himself to the more sacred and generally useful of these +trees; and they are the handsomest in appearance. Nothing can be more +beautiful than one of those groves surrounded by fields teeming with +rich spring crops, as they are at present; and studded here and there +with fine single banyan, peepul, tamarind, mhowa, and cotton trees, +which, in such positions, attain their highest perfection, as if +anxious to display their greatest beauties, where they can be seen to +the most advantage. Each tree has there free space for its roots, +which have the advantage of the water supplied to the fields around +in irrigation, and a free current of air, whose moisture is condensed +upon its leaves and stems by their cooler temperature, while its +carbonic acid and ammonia are absorbed and appropriated to their +exclusive use. Its branches, unincommoded by the proximity of other +trees, spread out freely, and attain their utmost size and beauty. + +I may here mention what are the spring crops which now in a +luxuriance not known for many years, from fine falls of rain in due +season, embellish the surface over which we are passing :-- + +_Spring Crops_.--Wheat; barley; gram; arahur, of two kinds (pulse); +musoor (pulse); alsee (linseed); surson (a species of fine mustard); +moong (pulse); peas, of three kinds; mustard; sugar-cane, of six +kinds; koosum (safflower); opium; and palma christi. + +_February_ 1, 1850.--Mahomdee, eleven miles, over a level plain +of muteear soil of the best quality, well supplied with groves and +single trees of the finest kind; but a good deal of the land is out +of tillage, and covered with the rank grass, called garur, the roots +of which form the fragrant khus, for tatties, in the hot winds; and +dhak (butea frondosa) jungle. Several villages, through and near +which we passed, belong to Brahmin zumeendars, who were driven away +last year by the rapacity of the contractor, Mahomed Hoseyn, a +senseless oppressor, who was this year superseded by a very good +officer and worthy man, who was driven out with disgrace, as +described yesterday, while engaged in inviting back the absconded +cultivators to these deserted villages, and providing them with the +means of bringing their lands again into tillage. Hoseyn Allee had +seized and sold all their plough-bullocks, and other agricultural +stock, between the autumn and spring harvests, together with all the +spring crops, as they became ripe, to make good the increased rate of +revenue demanded; and they were all turned out beggars, to seek +subsistence among their relatives and friends, in our bordering +district of Shajehanpoor. The rank grass and jungle are full of +neelgae and deer of all kinds; and the cowherds, who remain to graze +their cattle on the wide plains, left waste, find it very difficult +to preserve their small fields of corn from their trespass. They are +said to come in herds of hundreds around these fields during the +night, and to be frequently followed by tigers, several of which were +killed last year, by Captain Hearsey, of the Frontier Police. Waste +lands, more distant from the great Tarae forest, are free from +tigers. + +I had a long talk with the Brahmin communities of two of these +villages, who had been lately invited back from the Shajehanpoor +district, by Krishun Sahae, and resettled on their lands. They are a +mild, sensible, and most respectable body, whom a sensible ruler +would do all in his power to protect and encourage; but these are the +class; of landholders and cultivators whom the reckless governors of +districts, under the Oude Government, most grievously oppress. They +told me--"that nothing could be better than the administration of the +Shajehanpoor district by the present collector and magistrate, Mr. +Buller, whom all classes loved and respected; that the whole surface +of the country was under tillage, and the poorest had as much +protection as the highest in the land; that the whole district was, +indeed, a garden." "But the returns, are they equal to those from +your lands in Oude?"--"Nothing like it, sir; they are not half as +good; nor can the cultivator afford to pay half the rate that we pay +when left to till our lands in peace." "And why is this?"--"Because, +sir, ours is sometimes left waste to recover its powers, as you now +see all the land around you, while theirs has no rest" "But do they +not alternate their crops, to relieve the soil?"--"Yes, sir, but this +is not enough: ours receive manure from the herds of cattle and deer +that graze upon it while fallow: and we have greater stores of manure +than they have, to throw over it when we return and resume our +labours. We alternate our crops, at the same time, as much as they +do; and plough and cross-plough our lands more." "And where would you +rather live--there, protected as the people are from all violence, or +here, exposed as you are to all manner of outrage and extortion."-- +"We would rather live here, sir, if we could; and we were glad to +come back." "And why? There the landholders and cultivators are sure +that no man will be permitted to exact a higher rate of rent or +revenue than that which they voluntarily bind themselves to pay +during the period of a long lease; while here you are never sure that +the terms of your lease will be respected for a single season."-- +"That is all true, sir, but we cannot understand the '_aen_ and +_kanoon_' (the rules and regulations), nor should we ever do so; for +we found that our relations, who had been settled there for many +generations, were just as ignorant of them as ourselves. Your Courts +of justice (adawluts) are the things we most dread, sir; and we are +glad to escape from them as soon as we can, in spite of all the evils +we are exposed to on our return to the place of our birth. It is not +the fault of the European gentlemen who preside over them, for they +are anxious to do, and have justice done, to all; but, in spite of +all their efforts, the wrong-doer often escapes, and the sufferer is +as often punished." + +"The truth, sir, is seldom told in these Courts. There they think of +nothing but the number of witnesses, as if all were alike; here, sir, +we look to the quality. When a man suffers wrong, the wrong-doer is +summoned before the elders, or most respectable men of his village or +clan; and if he denies the charge and refuses redress, he is told to +bathe, put his hand upon the peepul-tree, and declare aloud his +innocence. If he refuses, he is commanded to restore what he has +taken, or make suitable reparation for the injury he has done; and if +he refuses to do this, he is punished by the odium of all, and his +life becomes miserable. A man dares not, sir, put his hand upon that +sacred tree and deny the truth--the gods sit in it and know all +things; and the offender dreads their vengeance. In your adawluts, +sir, men do not tell the truth so often as they do among their own +tribes, or village communities--they perjure themselves in all manner +of ways, without shame or dread; and there are so many men about +these Courts, who understand the 'rules and regulations,' and are so +much interested in making truth appear to be falsehood, and falsehood +truth, that no man feels sure that right will prevail in them in any +case. The guilty think they have just as good a chance of escape as +the innocent. Our relations and friends told us, that all this +confusion of right and wrong, which bewildered them, arose from the +multiplicity of the 'rules and regulations,' which threw all the +power into the hands of bad men, and left the European gentlemen +helpless!" + +"But you know that the crime of murdering female infants, which +pervades the whole territory of Oude, and brings the curse of God +upon it, has been suppressed in the British territory, in spite of +these '_aens and kanoons?_'"--"True, sir, it has been put down in +your bordering districts; but the Rajpoot families who reside in them +manage to escape your vigilance, and keep up the evil practice. They +intermarry with Rajpoot families in Oude, and the female infants, +born of the daughters they give in marriage to Oude families, are +destroyed in Oude without fear or concealment; while the daughters +they receive in marriage, from Oude families, are sent over the +border into Oude, when near their confinement, on the pretence of +visiting their relations. If they give birth to boys, they bring them +back with them into your districts; but if they give birth to girls, +they are destroyed in the same manner, and no questions are ever +asked about them." "Do you ever eat or drink with Rajpoot parents who +destroy their female infants?"--"Never, sir! we are Brahmins, but we +can take water in a brass vessel from the hands of a Rajpoot, and we +do so when his family is unstained with this crime; but nothing would +ever tempt us to drink water from the hands of one who permitted his +daughters to be murdered." "Do you ever eat with the village or +family priest who has given absolution to parents who have permitted +their daughters to be murdered, by eating in the room where the +murder has been perpetrated?"--"Never, sir; we abhor him as a +participator in the crime; and nothing would ever induce one of us to +eat or associate with him: he takes all the sin upon his own head by +doing so, and is considered by us as an outcast from the tribe, and +accursed! It is they who keep up this fearful usage. Tigers and +wolves cherish their offspring, and are better than these Rajpoots, +who out of family or clan pride, destroy theirs. As soon as their +wives give birth to sons, they fire off guns, give largely in +charity, make offerings to shrines, and rejoice in all manner of +ways; but when they give birth to poor girls, they bury them alive +without pity, and a dead silence prevails in the house; it is no +wonder, sir, that you say that the curse of God is upon the land in +which such sins prevail!" + +The quality of testimony, no doubt, like that of every other +commodity, deteriorates under a system, which renders the good of no +more value in exchange than the bad. The formality of our Courts +here, as everywhere else, tends to impair, more or less, the quality +of what they receive. The simplicity of Courts, composed of little +village communities and elders, tends, on the contrary, to improve +the quality of the testimony they get; and in India, it is found to +be best in the isolated hamlets of hills and forests, where men may +be made to do almost anything rather than _tell a lie_. A Marhatta +pandit, in the valley of the Nerbudda, once told me, that it was +almost impossible to teach a wild Gond of the hills and jungles the +_occasional_ value of a lie! It is the same with the Tharoos and +Booksas, who are, almost exclusively the cultivators of the Oude +Tarae forest, and with the peasantry of the Himmalaya chain of +mountains, before they have come much in contact with people of the +plains, and become subject to the jurisdiction of our Courts. These +Courts are, everywhere, our _weak point_ in the estimation of our +subjects; and they should be, everywhere, simplified to meet the +wants and wishes of so simple a people. + +That the lands, under the settled Government of the Honourable East +India Company, are becoming more and more deteriorated by +overcropping is certain; and an Indian statesman will naturally +inquire, what will be the probable consequence to the people and the +Government? To the people, the consequence must be, a rise in the +price of land produce, proportioned to the increased cost of +producing and bringing to market what is required for consumption. +The price in the market must always be sufficient to cover the cost +of producing, and bringing what is required from the poorest and most +distant lands to which that market is at any time obliged to have +recourse for supply; and as these lands deteriorate in their powers +of fertility, recourse must be had to lands more distant, or more +cost must be incurred in manure, irrigation, &c., to make these, +already had recourse to, to produce the same quantity, or both. The +price in the market must rise to meet the increased outlay required, +or that outlay will not be made; and the market cannot be supplied. + +As men have to pay more for the Land produce they require, they will +have less to lay out in other things; and as they cannot do without +the land produce, they must be satisfied with less of other things, +till their incomes increase to meet the necessity for increased +outlay. People will get this increase in proportion as their labour, +services, talents, or acquirements are more or less indispensable to +the society; and the price of other things will diminish, as the cost +of producing and bringing them to market diminishes, with +improvements in manufactures, and in the facilities of transport. No +very serious injury to the people of our territories is, therefore, +to be apprehended from the inevitable deterioration in the natural +powers of the soil, under our settled Government, which gives so much +security to life, property, and character, and so much encouragement +to industry. + +The consequence to the Government will be less serious than might at +first appear. Under a system of limited settlements of the land- +revenue, such as prevail over all our dominions, except in Bengal, +the Government is in reality the landlord; and our land-revenue is in +reality land-rent.* We alienate a portion of that rent for limited +periods in favour of those with whom we make such settlements, and +take all the rest ourselves. On an average, perhaps, our Government +takes one-sixth of the gross produce of the land; and the persons, +with whom the settlements are made, take another sixth. The net rent, +which the Government and they divide equally between them, may be +taken, on an average, at one-third of the gross produce of the land. +The cultivator would, I believe, always be glad to take and cultivate +land, on an average, on condition of giving one-third of the gross +produce, or the value of one-third, to be divided between the +Government and its lessee; and the lessee will always consider +himself fortunate if he gets one-half of this third, to cover the +risk and cost of management. + +* I believe our Government committed a great _political_ and _social_ +error, when it declared all the land to be the property of the +lessees: and all questions regarding it to be cognizable by Judicial +Courts. It would have been better for the people, as well as the +Government, had all such questions been left to the Fiscal and +Revenue Courts. There is the same regular series of these Courts, +from the Tuhseeldar to the Revenue Sudder Board, as of the Judicial +Courts, from the Moonsiff to the Judicial Sudder Board; and they are +all composed of the same class of persons, with the same character +and motives to honest exertion. Why force men to run the gauntlet +through both series? It tends to make the Government to be considered +as a rapacious tax-gatherer, instead of a liberal landlord, which it +really is; and to foster the growth of a host of native pettifogging +attorneys, to devour, like white ants, the substance of the +landholders of all classes and grades. + +Where the soil of a particular village in a district deteriorates, an +immediate reduction in the assessment must be given, or the lands +will be deserted. If the Government does not consent to such a +reduction, the lessee must sustain the whole burthen, for he cannot +shift it off upon the cultivators, without driving them from the +lands. The lessee may sustain the whole burthen for one or two years; +but if the officers of Government attempt to make him sustain it +longer, they drive him after his cultivators, and the land is left +waste. I have seen numerous estates of villages and some districts +made waste by such attempts in India. I have seen land in such +estates, which, when unexhausted, yielded, on an average, twelve +returns of the seed, without either manure or irrigation, and paid a +rent of twenty shillings an acre, become so exhausted by overcropping +in a few years as to yield only three or four returns, and unable to +pay four shillings an acre--indeed, unable to pay any rent at all. +The cultivator, by degrees, ceases to sow the more exhausting and +profitable crops, and is at last obliged to have recourse to manure, +or desert his land altogether; but no manure will enable him to get +the same quantity of produce as he got before, while what he gets +sells at the same rate in the market. He can, therefore, no longer +pay the same rate of rent to Government and its lessee. He has got a +less quantity of produce, and it has cost him much more to raise it, +while it continues to sell at the same price in the market. + +But when the lands of a whole country, or a large extent of country, +deteriorate in the same manner, and all cultivators are obliged to do +the same thing, the price of land produce must rise in the markets, +so as to pay the additional costs of supply. All but the poorest and +most distant to which these markets must have recourse for supply, at +any particular time, will pay rent, and pay it at a rate proportioned +to their greater fertility or nearer proximity to the markets. Such +Markets must pay for land produce a price sufficient to cover the +costs of producing and bringing it from the poorest and most distant +lands, to which they are obliged at any particular time to have +recourse for supply. All land produce of the same quality must, at +the same time and place, sell in the market at the same price; and +all that is over and above the cost of producing and bringing it to +market will go to the proprietors of the land, that is, to the +Government and its lessees. The poorest and most distant land, to +which any market may have recourse at any particular time, may pay no +rent, because the price is no more than sufficient to pay the cost of +producing and bringing their supply to that market; but all that is +less poor and distant will pay rent, because the price which their +produce brings in that market will be more than sufficient to pay the +cost of producing and bringing their supply to that market. + +The increase in the price of land produce which must take place, as +the lands become generally exhausted by overcropping, will, probably, +prevent any great falling off in the money rate of rents and +revenues, from the land in our Indian possessions; and with the +improvements in manufactures, and in the facilities of transport, +which must tend to reduce the price of other articles, that money +will purchase more of them in the market; and the establishments +which have to be maintained out of these rents and revenues may not +become more costly. Government and its lessees may have the same +incomes in money, and the greater price, they and their +establishments are obliged to pay for land produce may be compensated +by the lesser price they will have to pay for other things. + +As facilities for irrigation are extended and improved in wells and +canals, new elements of fertility will be supplied to the surface, in +the soluble salts contained in their waters. The well-waters will +bring these salts from great depths, and the canal-waters will +collect them as they flow along, or percolate through, the earth; and +as they rise, by capillary attraction, they will convey them to the +surface, where they are required for tillage. The atmosphere, in +water, ammonia, and carbonic-acid gas will continue to supply plants +with the oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon which they require +from it; and judicious selection and supply of manure will provide +the soil with those elements in which it happens to be deficient. +Peace, security, instruction, and a due encouragement to industry, +will, it may be hoped, secure to the people all that they require +from our Government, and to our Government all that it can fairly +require from the people. + +The soil of Mahomdee is as fine as that of any part of Oude that I +have seen; and the soil of Oude, generally, is equal to the best that +I have seen in any part of India. It is all of the kinds above +described--muteear (argillaceous), doomuteea (light), bhoor (sandy), +and oosur (barren), as far as I have seen. In some parts, the muteear +is more productive than in others, and the same may be said of all +the other denominations of soil. In the poorer parts of the muteear, +the stiff clay, devoid of decayed vegetable and animal matter, seems +to superabound, as the sand does in the lightest or poorer portions +of the soil, called doomuteea, which runs into bhoor. The oosur, or +soil rendered unproductive by a superabundance of substances not +suitable to the growth of plants, seems to be common to both kinds. +In all soils, except the oosur, fine trees grow, and good crops are +produced under good tillage; but in the muteear, the outlay to +produce them is the least. It is an error to suppose that a soil, +even of pure sand, must be absolutely barren. Quartz-sand commonly +contains some of the inorganic substances necessary to plants-- +silica, lime, potash, alumina, oxide of iron, magnesia, &c.--and they +are rendered soluble, and fit for the use of plants by atmospheric +air and water, impregnated with carbonic-acid gas, as all water is +more or less. The only thing required from the hand of man, besides +water, to render them cultivable, is vegetable or animal substances, +to supply them, as they decay or decompose, with organic acids. + +The late Hakeem Mehndee, took the contract of the Mahomdee district, +as already stated, in the year A.D. 1804, when it was in its present +bad state, at 3,11,000 rupees a-year; and he held it till the year +1819, or for sixteen years. He had been employed in the Azimgurh +district, under Boo Allee Hakeem, the contractor; and during the +negotiations for the transfer of that district, with the other +territories to the British Government, which took place in 1801; he +lost his place, and returned to Lucknow, where he paid his court to +the then Dewan, or Chancellor of the Exchequer, who offered him the +contract of the Mahomdee district, at three lacs and eleven thousand +rupees a-year, on condition of his depositing in the Treasury a +security bond for thirty-two thousand rupees. There had been a +liaison between him and a beautiful dancing-girl, named Peeajoo, who +had saved a good deal of money. She advanced the money, and Hakeem +Mehndee deposited the bond, and got the contract. The greater part of +the district was then, as now, a waste; and did not yield more than +enough to cover the Government demand, gratuities to courtiers, and +cost of management. The Hakeem remained to support his influence at +Court, while his brother, Hadee Allee Khan, resided at Mahomdee, and +managed the district. The Hakeem and his fair friend were married, +and lived happily together till her death, which took place before +that of her husband, while she was on a pilgrimage to Mecca. While +she lived, he married no other woman; but on her death he took to +himself another, who survived him; but he had no child by either. His +vast property was left to Monowur-od Dowlah, the only son of his +brother, Hadee Allee Khan, and to his widow and dependents. The +district improved rapidly under the care of the two brothers; and, in +a few years, yielded them about seven lacs of rupees a-year. The +Government demand increased with the rent-roll to the extent of four +lacs of rupees a-year. This left a large income for Hakeem Mehndee +and his family, who had made the district a garden, and gained the +universal respect and affection of the people. + +In the year 1807, Hakeem Mehndee added, to the contract of Mahomdee, +that of the adjoining district of Khyrabad, at five lacs of rupees a- +year, making his contract nine lacs. In 1816, he added the contract +for the Bahraetch district, at seven lacs and seventy-five thousand; +but he resigned this in 1819, after having held it for two years, +with no great credit to himself. In 1819, he lost the contract for +Mahomdee and Khyrabad, from the jealousy of the prime minister, Aga +Meer. In April 1818, the Governor-General the Marquess of Hastings +passed through his district of Khyrabad, on his way to the Tarae +forest, on a sporting excursion, after the Marhatta war. Hakeem +Mehndee attended him during this excursion, and the Governor-General +was so much pleased with his attentions, courteous manners, and +sporting propensities, and treated him with so much consideration and +kindness, that the minister took the alarm, and determined to get rid +of so formidable a rival. He in consequence made the most of the +charge preferred against him, of the murder of Amur Sing; and +demanded an increase of five lacs of rupees a-year, or fourteen lacs +of rupees a-year, instead of nine. This Hakeem Mehndee would not +consent to give; and Shekh Imam Buksh was, in 1819, sent to supersede +him, as a temporary arrangement. + +In 1820, Poorun Dhun, and Govurdhun Dass, merchants of Lucknow, took +the contract of the two districts at twelve lacs of rupees a-year, or +an increase of three lacs; and from that time, under a system of +rack-renting, these districts have been falling off. Mahomdee is now +in a worse state than Khyrabad, because it has had the bad luck to +get a worse set of contractors. Hakeem Mehndee retired with his +family, first to Shajehanpoor, and then to Futtehgurh, on the Ganges, +and resided there, with his family, till June 1830, when he was +invited back by Nusseer-do Deen Hyder, to assume the office of prime +minister. He held the office till August 1832, when he was removed by +the intrigues of the Kumboos, Taj-od Deen Hoseyn, and Sobhan Allee +Khan, who persuaded the King that he was trying to get him removed +from the throne, by reporting to the British Government the murder of +some females, which had, it is said, actually taken place in the +palace. Hakeem Mehndee was invited from his retirement by Mahomed +Allee Shah, and again appointed minister in 1837; but he died three +months after, on the 24th of December, 1837. + +During the thirty years which have elapsed since Hakeem Mehndee lost +the contract of Mahomdee, there have been no less than seventeen +governors, fifteen of whom have been contractors; and the district +has gradually declined from what it was, when he left it, to what it +was when he took it--that is from a rent-roll of seven lacs of rupees +a-year, under which all the people were happy and prosperous, to one +of three, under which all the people are wretched. The manager, +Krishun Sahae, who has been treated as already described, would, in a +few years, have made it what it was when the Hakeem left it, had he +been made to feel secure in his tenure of office, and properly +encouraged and supported. He had, in the three months he had charge, +invited back from our bordering districts hundreds of the best +classes of landholders and cultivators, who had been driven off by +the rapacity of his predecessor, re-established them in their +villages and set them to work in good spirit, to restore the lands +which had lain waste from the time they deserted them; and induced +hundreds to convert to sugar-cane cultivation the lands which they +had destined for humbler crops, in the assurance, of the security +which they were to enjoy under his rule. The one class tells me, they +must suspend all labours upon the waste lands till they can learn the +character of his successor; and the other, that they must content +themselves with the humbler crops till they can see whether the +richer and more costly ones will be safe from his grasp, or that of +the agents, whom he may employ to manage the district for him. No man +is safe for a moment under such a Government, either in his person, +his character, his office, or his possession; and with such a feeling +of insecurity among all classes, it is impossible for a country to +prosper.* + +[* Krishun Sahae has been restored, but does not feel secure in his +tenure of office.] + +I may here mention one among the numerous causes of the decline of +the district. The contract for it was held for a year and half, in +A.D. 1847-48, by Ahmed Allee. Feeling insecure in his tenure of +office, he wanted to make as much as possible out of things as they +were, and resumed Guhooa, a small rent-free village, yielding four +hundred rupees a-year, held by Bahadur Sing, the tallookdar of +Peepareea, who resides at Pursur. He had recourse to the usual mode +of indiscriminate murder and plunder, to reduce Ahmed Allee to terms. +At the same time, he resumed the small village of Kombee, yielding +three hundred rupees a-year, held rent-free by Bhoder Sing, +tallookdar of Magdapoor, who resided in Koombee; and, in consequence, +he united his band of marauders to that of Bahadur Sing; and together +they plundered and burnt to the ground some dozen villages, and laid +waste the purgunnah of Peepareea, which had yielded to Government +twenty-five thousand rupees a-year, and contained the sites of one +hundred and eight villages, of which, however, only twenty-five were +occupied. + +During the greater part of the time that these depredations were +going on, the two rebels resided in our bordering district of +Shajehanpoor, whence they directed the whole. Urgent remonstrances +were addressed to the magistrate of that district, but he required +judicial proof of their participation in the crimes, that were +committed by their followers, upon the innocent and unoffending +peasantry; and no proof that the contractor could furnish being +deemed sufficient, he was obliged to consent to restore the rent-free +villages. The lands they made waste, still remain so, and pay no +revenue to Government. + +Saadut Allee Khan (who died in 1814), when sovereign of Oude, was +fond of this place, and used to reside here for many months every +year. He made a garden, about a mile to the east of the town, upon a +fine open plain of good soil, and planted an avenue of fine trees all +the way. The trees are now in perfection, but the garden has been +neglected; and the bungalow in the centre, in which he resided, is an +entire ruin. He kept a large establishment of men and cattle, for +which sixty thousand rupees a-year were regularly charged in the +accounts of the manager of the district, through his reign and those +of Ghazee-od Deen, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, Mahomed Allee Shah, and +Amjud Allee Shah, and the first year of the reign of his present +Majesty, Wajid Allee Shah; though, with the exception of two bullocks +and two gardeners, the cattle had all disappeared, and the servants +been all discharged some thirty years before. + +In October last, when six guns were required from the great park of +artillery at Lucknow, to be sent out on detached duty with the +Gungoor Regiment, an inspection of the draft-bullocks took place, and +it was found, that the Court favourite who had charge of the park had +made away with no less than one thousand seven hundred and thirty of +them, and only twenty could be found to take the guns. He had been +charging for the food of these one thousand seven hundred and thirty +for a long series of years. On mentioning this fact to a late +minister, he told me of two facts within his own knowledge, +illustrative of these sort of charges. This same Court favourite, in +the reign of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, in 1835, received charge of +sixteen bullocks, of surpassing beauty, which had been presented to +the King, and he was allowed to draw, from the Treasury, a rupee a- +day, for the food of each bullock. + +In the reign of Mahomed Allee Shah, his prudent successor, a muster +of all the bullocks was called for, and Ghalib Jung, to whom the +muster was intrusted, to spite the favourite, called for these +sixteen bullocks. The favourite had disposed of them, though, he +continued to draw the allowance; and, to supply their place, he sent +to the bazaar and seized sixteen of the bullocks which had that day +brought corn to market. They were presented to Ghalib Jung for +muster. He pretended to be very angry, declared that it was +disgraceful to keep such poor creatures on the King's establishment, +and still more so to charge a rupee a-day for the food of each, and +ordered them to be sold forthwith by auction. Soon after they had +been sold, the poor men to whom they belonged came up to claim them, +but could never get either the bullocks or their price, nor could the +favourite ever be persuaded to refund any portion of the money he had +drawn for the sixteen he had sold.* + +[* The favourite, in both these cases, was Anjum-od Dowlah.] + +In the early part of the reign of Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, a fine dog +from the Himmalaya Hills was presented to him, and made over to the +charge of one of the favourites, who drew a rupee a-day for his food. +Soon after his Majesty became ill and very irritable, and one day +complained much of this dog's barking. He was told that the only way +to silence a dog of this description was to give him a seer of +conserve of roses to eat every day, and a bottle of rose-water to +drink. His Majesty ordered them to be given forthwith, and his repose +was never after disturbed by the dog's barking. A rupee a-day +continued to be drawn for these things for the dog for the rest of +the long reign of Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, and through that of his +successor, Nuseer-od Deen, which lasted for ten years, and ended in +1837, though the animal had died soon after the order for these +things was given, or in 1816, and he believed it continued to be +drawn up to the present day. + +The cantonment at Mahomdee stands between this garden of Saadut +Allee's and the town, and this is the best site for any civil or +military establishments that may be required at Mahomdee. The Nazims +usually reside in the fort in the town. + +_February_ 2, 1850.--Halted at Mahomdee. The spring crops around the +town are very fine, and the place is considered to be very healthy. +There is, however, some peculiarity in the soil, opposed to the +growth of the poppy. The cultivators tell me that they have often +tried it; that it is stunted in growth, whatever care be taken of it, +and yields but little juice, and that of bad quality, though it +attains perfection in the Shahabad and other districts around. The +doomuteea soil is here esteemed better than the muteear, though it +requires more labour in the tillage. It is said that _mote_ and +_mash_, two pulses, do not thrive in the muteear soil so well as in +the doomuteea. + +_February_ 3, 1850.--Poknapoor, eight miles. We crossed the Goomtee +about midway, over a bridge of boats that had been prepared for us. +The boats came up the river thus far for timber, and were detained +for the occasion. The stream is here narrow, and said to flow from a +basin (the phoola talao) in the Tarae forest, some fifty miles to the +north, at Madhoo Tanda. There is some tillage on the verge of the +stream on the other side; but from the river to our tents, four +miles, there is none. The country is level and well studded with +groves and fine single trees, bur, peepul, mhowa, mango, &c., but +covered with rank grass. + +Near the river is a belt of the sakhoo and other forest trees, with +underwood, in which tigers lodge and prey upon the deer, which cover +the grass plain, and frequently upon the bullocks, which are grazed +upon it in great numbers. Several bullocks have been killed and eaten +by them within the last few days; and an old fakeer, who has for some +months taken up his lodging on this side the river under a peepul- +tree, in a straw hut just big enough to hold him, told us that he +frequently saw them come down to drink in the stream near his +lodging. We saw a great many deer in passing, but no tigers. The soil +near the river is sandy, and the ground uneven, but still cultivable; +and on this side of the sandy belt it is all level and of the best +kind of doomuteea. Our tents are in a fine grove of mango-trees, in +the midst of a waste, but level and extensive, plain of this soil, +not a rood of which is unfit for the plough or incapable of yielding +crops of the finest quality. It is capable of being made, in two or +three years, a beautiful garden. + +The single trees, which are scattered all over it, have been shorn of +their leaves and small branches by the cowherds for their cattle, but +they would all soon clothe themselves again under protection. The +groves are sufficiently numerous to furnish sites for the villages +and hamlets required. All the large sakhoo-trees have been cut down +and taken away on the ground we have come over, which is too near the +river for them to be permitted to attain full size. Not an acre or a +foot of the land is oosur, or unfit for tillage. Poknapoor is in the +estate of Etowa, which forms part of the pergunnah of Peepareea, to +which Bahadur Sing, the person above described, lays claim. He holds +a few villages round his residence at Pursur; but the pergunnah is +under the management of a Government officer, under the Amil of +Mahomdee. The Rajah, Syud Ashruf Allee Khan, of Mahomdee, claims a +kind of suzerainty over all the district, and over this pergunnah of +Peepareea among the rest. From all the villages tilled and peopled he +is permitted to levy an income for himself at the rate of two rupees +a-village. This the people pay with some reluctance, though they +recognise his right. + +The zumeendars of Poknapoor are Kunojee Brahmins, who tell me that +they can do almost everything in husbandry save holding their own +ploughs: they can drive their own harrows and carts, reap their own +crops, and winnow and tread out their own corn; but if they once +condescend to _hold their own ploughs_ they sink in grade, and have +to pay twice as much as they now pay for wives for their sons from +the same families, and take half of what they now take for their +daughters from the same families, into which they now marry them. +They have, they say, been settled in these pergunnahs, north-east of +the Goomtee River, for fifty-two generations as farmers and +cultivators; and their relatives, who still remain at Aslamabad, a +village one koss south-east of Mahomdee, which was the first abode of +the tribe in Oude, have been settled there for no less than eighty- +four generations. They form village communities, dividing the lands +among the several members, and paying over and above the Government +demand a liberal allowance to the head of the village and of the +family settled in it, to maintain his respectability and to cover the +risk and cost of management, either in kind, in money, or in an extra +share of the land. + +The lands of Poknapoor are all divided into two equal shares, one +held by _Dewan_ and the other by _Ramnath_, who were both among the +people with whom I conversed. Teekaram, who has a share in Dewan's +half, mentioned that about thirteen years ago the Amil, Khwaja +Mahmood, wanted to increase the rate of the Government demand on the +village from the four hundred, which they had long paid, to four +hundred and fifty; that they refused to pay, and Hindoo Sing, the +Rajpoot tallookdar of Rehreea, one koss east of Poknapoor, offered to +take the lease at four hundred and fifty, and got it. They refused to +pay, and he, at the head of his gang of armed followers, attacked, +plundered, and burnt down the village, and killed his, Teekaram's, +brother Girdharee, with his two sons, and inflicted three severe cuts +of a sabre on the right arm of his wife, who is now a widow among +them. Hindoo Sing's object was to make this village a permanent +addition to his estate; but, to his surprise, the Durbar took serious +notice of the outrage, and he fled into the Shajehanpoor district, +where he was seized by the magistrate, Mr. Buller, and made over to +the Oude authorities for trial. He purchased his escape from them in +the usual way; but soon after offered to surrender to the collector, +Aboo Torab Khan, on condition of pardon for all past offences. + +The collector begged the Brahmins to consent to pardon him for the +murders, on condition of getting from Hindoo Sing some fifty beeghas +of land, out of his share in Rehreea. They said they would not +consent to take five times the quantity of the land among such a +turbulent set; but should be glad to get a smaller quantity, rent- +free, in their own village, for the widow of Girdharee. The collector +gave them twenty-five beeghas, or ten acres, in Poknapoor; and this +land Teekaram still holds, and out of the produce supports the poor +widow. A razenamah, or pardon, was given by the family, and Hindoo +Sing has ever since lived in peace upon his estate, The lease of the +village was restored to the Brahmin family, at the reduced rate of +two hundred and fifty, but soon after raised to four hundred, and +again reduced to two hundred and fifty, after the devastation of +Bahadur Sing and Bhoder Sing. + +These industrious and unoffending Brahmins say that since these +Rajpoot landholders came among them, many generations ago, there has +never been any peace in the district, except during the time that +Hakeem Mehndee held the contract, when the whole plain that now lies +waste became a beautiful _chummun_ (parterre); that since his +removal, as before his appointment, all has been confusion; that the +Rajpoot landholders are always quarrelling either among themselves or +with the local Government authorities; and, whatever be the nature or +the cause of quarrel, they always plunder and murder, +indiscriminately, the unoffending communities of the villages around, +in order to reduce these authorities to their terms; that when these +Rajpoot landholders leave them in peace, the contractors seize the +opportunity to increase the Government demand, and bring among them +the King's troops, who plunder them just as much as the rebel +landholders, though they do not often murder them in the same +reckless manner. They told me that the hundreds of their relatives +who had gone off during the disorders and taken lands, or found +employment in our bordering districts, would be glad to return to +their own lands, groves, and trees, in Oude, if they saw the +slightest chance of protection, and the country would soon become +again the beautiful parterre which Hakeem Mehndee left it thirty +years ago, instead of the wilderness in which they were now so +wretched; that they ventured to cultivate small patches here and +there, not far from each other, but were obliged to raise small +platforms, upon high poles, in every field, and sit upon them all +night, calling out to each other, in a loud voice, to keep up their +spirits, and frighten off the deer which swarmed upon the grass +plain, and would destroy the whole of the crops in one night, if left +unprotected; that they were obliged to collect large piles of wood +around each platform, and keep them burning all night, to prevent the +tigers from carrying off the men who sat upon them; that their lives +were wretched amidst this continual dread of man and beast, but the +soil and climate were good, and the trees and groves planted by their +forefathers were still standing and dear to them; and they hoped, now +that the Resident had come among them, to receive, at no distant day, +the protection they required. This alone is required to render this +the most beautiful portion of Oude, and Oude the most beautiful +portion of India. + +_February_ 4, 1850.--Gokurnath, thirteen miles, north-east, over a +level plain of the same fine muteear soil, here and there running +into doomuteea and bhoor, but in no case into oosur. The first two +miles over the grass plain, and the next four through a belt of +forest trees, with rank grass and underwood, abounding in game of all +kinds, and infested by tigers. Bullocks are often taken by them, but +men seldom. The sal (_alias_ sakhoo) trees are here stunted, gnarled, +and ugly, while in the Tarae forest they are straight, lofty, and +beautiful. The reason is, that beyond the forest their leaves are +stripped off and sold for _plates_. They are carried to distant +towns, and stored up for long periods, to form breakfast and dinner +plates, and the people in the country use hardly anything else. +Plates are formed of them by sewing them together, when required; and +they become as pliable as leather, even after being kept for a year +or more, by having a little water sprinkled over them. They are long, +wide, and tough, and well suited to the purpose. All kinds of food +are put upon them, and served up to the family and guests. The cattle +do not eat them, as they do leaves of the peepul, bur, neem, &c. The +sakhoo, when not preserved, is cut down, when young, for beams, +rafters, &c., required in building. In the Tarae forest, the +proprietors of the lands on which they stand preserve them till they +attain maturity, for sale to the people of the plains; and they are +taken down the Ghagra and other rivers that flow through the forest +to the Ganges, and vast numbers are sold in the Calcutta market. The +fine tall sakhoos in the Tarae forest are called "sayer"; the +knotted, stunted, and crooked shakoos, beyond the forest, are called +"khohurs." There are but few teak (or sagwun) trees in this part of +the Tarae forest. The country is everywhere studded with the same +fine groves and single trees, and requires only tillage to become a +garden. From the belt of jungle to our camp at Gokurnath, seven +miles, the road runs over an open grass plain, with here and there a +field of corn. The sites of villages are numerous, but few of them +are occupied at present. All are said to have been in a flourishing +state, and filled by a happy peasantry, when Hakeem Mehndee lost the +government. Since that time these villages and hamlets have +diminished by degrees, in proportion as the rapacity of the +contractors and the turbulence of the Rajpoot landholders have +increased. + +The first village we passed through, after emerging from the belt of +jungle, was Pureylee, which is held and occupied by a large family of +cultivating proprietors of the Koormee caste. Up to the year 1847, it +had for many years been in a good condition, and paid a revenue of +two thousand rupees a-year to Government. In that year Ahmud Allee, +the collector, demanded a thousand more. They could not pay this, and +he sold all their bullocks and other stock to make up the demand; the +lands became waste as usual; and Lonee Sing, of Mitholee, offered the +next contractor one thousand rupees a-year for the lease, and got it. +The village has now been permanently absorbed in his estate, in the +usual way; and, as the Koormees are a peaceful body, they have +quietly acquiesced in the arrangement, and get all the aid they +require from their new landlord. Before this time they had held their +lands, as proprietors, directly under Government. From allodial* +proprietors they are become feudal tenants under a powerful Rajpoot +chief. + +[* By allodial, I mean, lands held in proprietary right, immediately +under the crown, but liable to the land-tax.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe--Dispute between Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his relatives--Cultivation +along the border of the Tarae forest--Subdivision of land among the +Ahbun families--Rapacity of the king's troops, and establishments of +all kinds--Climate near the Tarae--Goitres--Not one-tenth of the +cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the villages peopled-- +Criterion of good tillage--Ratoon crops--Manure available--Khyrabad +district better peopled and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the +soil over-cropped--Blight--Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of +Khymara--Ousted by collusion and bribery--Anrod Sing of Oel, and +Lonee Sing--State of Oude forty years ago compared with its present +state--The Nazim of the Khyrabad district--Trespasses of his +followers--Oel Dhukooa--_Khalsa_ lands absorbed by the Rajpoot +barons--Salarpoor--Sheobuksh Sing of Kuteysura--_Bhulmunsee_, or +property-tax--Beautiful groves of Lahurpoor--Residence of the Nazim-- +Wretched state of the force with the Nazim--Gratuities paid by +officers in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust--Rajah +Arjun Sing's estate of Dhorehra--Hereditary gang-robbers of the Oude +Tarae suppressed--Mutiny of two of the King's regiments at Bhitolee-- +Their rapacity and oppression--Singers and fiddlers who govern the +King--Why the Amils take all their troops with them when they move-- +Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of Oude Local +Infantry--Sipahees not equal to those in Magness's, Barlow's, and +Bunbury's, or in our native regiments of the line--Why--The prince +Momtaz-od Dowlah--Evil effects of shooting monkeys--Doolaree, _alias_ +Mulika Zumanee--Her history, and that of her son and daughter. + + +Lonee Sing, who visited me yesterday afternoon with a respectable +train, has, in this and other ways less creditable, increased his +estate of _Mitholee_ from a rent-roll of forty to one of one hundred +and fifty thousand rupees a-year, out of which he pays fifty thousand +to Government, and he is considered one of its best subjects. He is, +as above stated, of the Ahbun Rajpoot clan, and a shrewd and +energetic man. The estate was divided into six shares. It had formed +one under Rajah Davey Sing, whose only brother, Bhujun Sing, lived +united with him, and took what he chose to give him for his own +subsistence and that of his family. Davey Sing died without issue, +leaving the whole estate to his brother, Bhujun Sing, who had two +sons, Dul Sing and Maun Sing, among whom he divided the estate.* Dul +Sing had six sons, but Maun Sing had none. He, however, adopted +Bhowanee Sing, to whom he left his portion of the estate. Dul Sing's +share became subdivided among his six sons; but Khunjun Sing, the son +of his eldest son, when he became head of the family, got together a +large force, with some guns, and made use of it in the usual way by +seizing upon the lands of his weaker neighbours. He attacked his +nephew, Bhowanee Sing, and took all his lands; and got, on one +pretence or another, the greater part of those of his other +relatives. + +[* _Mitholee_ contains the sites of one thousand four hundred and +eighty-six villages, only one-third of which are now occupied.] + +He died without issue, leaving his possessions and military force to +Lonee Sing, his brother, who continued to pursue the same course. In +1847 he, with one thousand armed men and five guns, attacked his +cousin, Monnoo Sing, of Mohlee, the head of the family of the fourth +son of Dul Sing, killed four and wounded two persons; and, in +collusion with the local governor, seized upon all his estate. +Redress was sought for in vain; and as I was passing near, Monnoo +Sing and his brother Chotee Sing came to me at Mahomdee to complain. +Monnoo Sing remained behind sick at Mahomdee; but Chotee Sing +followed me on. He rode on horseback behind my elephant, and I made +him give me the history of his family as I went along, and told him +to prepare for me a genealogical table, and an account of the mode in +which Lonee Sing had usurped the different estates of the other +members of the family. This he gave to me on the road between +Poknapoor and Gokurnath by one of his belted attendants, who, after +handing it up to me on the elephant, ran along under the nose of +Rajah Bukhtawur Sing's fine chestnut horse without saying a word. + +I asked the Rajah whether he knew Lonee Sing? "Yes," said he; +"everybody knows him: he is one of the ablest, best, and most +substantial men in Oude; and he keeps his estate in excellent order, +and is respected by all people."--"Except his own relations," said +the belted attendant; "these he robs of all they have, and nobody +interposes to protect them, because he has become wealthy, and they +have become poor!" "My good fellow," said the Rajah, "he has only +taken what they knew not how to hold, and with the sanction of the +King's servants."--"Yes," replied the man, "he has got the sanction +of the King's servants, no doubt, and any one who can pay for it may +get that now-a-days to rob others of the King's subjects. Has not +Lonee Sing robbed all his cousins of their estates, and added them to +his own, and thereby got the means of bribing the King's servants to +let him do what he likes?" "What," said the Rajah, with some +asperity, "should you, a mere soldier, know about State affairs? Do +you suppose that all the members of any family can be equal? Must +there not be a head to all families to keep the rest in order? +Nothing goes on well in families or governments where all are equal, +and there is no head to guide; and the head must have the means to +guide the rest."--"True," said the belted attendant, "all can't be +equal in the rule of States; but in questions of private right, +between individuals and subjects, the case is different; and the +ruler should give to every one his due, and prevent the strong from +robbing the weak. I have five fingers in my hand: they serve me, and +I treat them all alike. I do not let one destroy or molest the +other." "I tell you," said the Rajah, with increasing asperity, "that +there must be heads of families as well as heads of States, or all +would be confusion; and Lonee Sing is right in all that he has done. +Don't you see what a state his district is in, now that he has taken +the management of the whole upon himself? I dare say all the waste +that we see around us has arisen from the want of such heads of +families."--"You know," said the man, "that this waste has been +caused by the oppression of the King's officers, and their disorderly +and useless troops, and the strong striving to deprive the weak of +their rights." + +"You know nothing about these matters," said the Rajah, still more +angrily. "The wise and strong are everywhere striving to subdue the +weak and ignorant, in order that they may manage what they hold +better than they can. Don't you see how the British Government are +going on, taking country after country year after year, in order to +manage them better than they were managed under others? and don't you +see how these countries thrive under their strong and just +Government? Do you think that God would permit them to go on as they +do unless he thought that it was for the good of the people who come +under their rule?" Turning to me, the Rajah continued: "When I was +one day riding over the country with Colonel Low, the then Resident, +as I now ride with you, sir, he said, with a sigh, 'In this country +of Oude what darkness prevails! No one seems to respect the right of +another; and every one appears to be grasping at the possessions of +his neighbour, without any fear of God or the King'--'True, sir,' +said I; 'but do you not see that it is the necessary order of things, +and must be ordained by Providence? Is not your Government going on +taking country after country, and benefiting all it takes? And will +not Providence prosper their undertakings as long as they do so? The +moment they come to a stand, all will be confusion. Sovereigns cannot +stand still, sir; the moment _their bellies are full_ (their ambition +ceases), they and the countries they govern retrograde. No sovereign +in India, sir, that has any regard for himself or his country, can +with safety sit down and say that _his belly is full_ (that he has no +further ambition of conquest): he must go on to the last.'"* + +[* The Rajah's reasoning was drawn from the practice in Oude, of +seizing upon the possessions of weaker neighbours, by means of gangs +of robbers. The man who does this, becomes the slave of his gangs, as +the imperial robber, who seizes upon smaller states by means of his +victorious armies, becomes their slave, and, ultimately, their +victim, The history of India is nothing more than the biography of +such men, and the Rajah has read no other.] + +The poor belted attendant of Chotee Sing was confounded with the +logic and eloquence of the old Rajah, and said nothing more; and +Chotee Sing himself kept quietly behind on his horse, with his ears +well wrapped up in warm cloth, as the morning was very cold, and he +was not well. He looked very grave, and evidently thought the Rajah +had outlived his understanding. But the fact is that the Rajah has, +by his influence at Court, taken all the lands held by his two elder +nephews, Rughbur Sing and Ramadeen, and made them over to their +youngest brother, Maun Sing, whom he has adopted, made his heir, and +the head of the family. He has, in consequence, for the present a +strong fellow-feeling with Lonee Sing; and, in all this oration at +least, "his wishes were father to his thoughts." + +The sharpest retort that I remember ever having had myself was given +to me by a sturdy and honest old landholder of the middle class, whom +I had known for a quarter of a century on the bank of the Nerbudda, +in 1843. During the insurrection in the Saugor and Nerbudda +territories, which commenced in 1842, I was sent down by the +Governor-General Lord Ellenborough to ascertain if possible the +causes which had led to it. I conversed freely with the landholders, +and people of all classes in the valley, who had been plundered by +the landed aristocracy of the jungles on the borders, and had one +afternoon some fifty in my tent seated on the carpet. After a good +deal of talk about the depredations of the jungle barons upon the +people of the cultivated plains, and remonstrance at the want of +support on their part to the Government officers, I said to Umrao +Sing, one of the most sturdy and honest among them, "Why did you +withhold from the local officers the information which you must have +had of the movements and positions of the rebels and their followers, +who were laying the country waste? In no part of India have the +farmers and cultivators been more favoured in light assessments and +protection to life and property; but there are some men who never can +be satisfied; give them what you will, they will always be craving +after more."--"True, sir," said Umrao Sing, looking me steadily in +the face, and with the greatest possible gravity, "there are some +people who never can be satisfied, give them what you will. Give them +the whole of Hindoostan, and they will go off to Kabul to take more!" + +There was a pause, during which all looked very grave, for they +thought that the old man had exceeded the bounds of the privilege he +had long enjoyed of expressing his thoughts freely to European +gentlemen; and Umrao Sing continued: "The fact is, sir, that after +you had, by good government, made us all happy and prosperous, and +proud to display the wealth we had acquired on our persons, and in +our houses and villages, you withdrew all your troops from among us, +and left us a prey to the wild barons of the hills and jungles on our +borders, whose families had risen to wealth, distinction, and large +landed possessions under former misrule and disorder, and who are +always longing for the return of such disorders, that they may have +some chance of recovering the consequence and influence which they +have lost under a settled and strong Government: they saw that your +troops had been taken off for distant conquests, and heard of nothing +but defeats and disasters, and readily persuaded themselves that your +rule was at an end; for what could men, born and bred in the jungles, +know of your resources to retrieve such disasters? + +"After the Mahratta war, in 1817, you prohibited the people of your +newly-acquired districts from carrying arms, not dreaming that the +only persons who would obey or regard your order were the peaceful +landholders and peasantry of the plains, who were satisfied with your +Government, and anxious for its duration, but exposed to the envy and +hatred of the Gond and Lodhee chiefs, who occupied the hills and +jungles on their borders. + +"When they came down upon us, you had no means left to protect us; +and having no longer any arms or any experience of the use of them, +after a quarter of a century of peace, we were unable to defend our +villages, our houses, or our families; if we attempted to defend +them, we and our families were killed; if we did not, we were robbed +and threatened with death, if we gave you information to their +prejudice. We saw that they could carry their threats into execution, +for your local officers had not the means to protect us from their +vengeance, and we suffered in silence; but you must not infer from +this that we were tired of your rule, or pleased with their +depredations; all here can testify that we longed for the return of +your strength and their downfal. It is true, however," added he, +"that the new European officers placed over us did not treat us with +the same courtesy and consideration as the old ones, or seem to +entertain the same kindly feeling towards us; and our communion with +them was less free and cordial." + +All approved of my old friend's speech, and declared that he had +given expression to the thoughts and feelings of all present, and of +all the people of the plains, who lived happily under our rule, and +prayed earnestly for its duration. The portion of the estate of +Mitholee, held by Lonee Sing, now contains the sites of six hundred +and four villages, about one-half of which are occupied; four hundred +and eighty-four of these lie in the Mahomdee district, and one +hundred and twenty in that of Khyrabad. The number and names of the +villages are still kept up in the accounts. + +_February_ 5, 1850.--Kurrunpoor Mirtaha, ten miles over a plain of +fine muteear soil, scantily cultivated, but bearing excellent spring +crops where it is so. Not far from our last camp at Gokurnath, we +entered a belt of jungle three miles wide, consisting chiefly of +stunted, knotty, and crooked sakhoo trees, with underwood and rank +chopper grass. This belt of jungle is the same we passed through, as +above described, between Poknapoor and Gokurnath. It runs from the +great forest to the north, a long way down south-east, into the +Khyrabad district. From this belt to our present ground, six miles, +the road passes over a fine plain, nine-tenths of which is covered +with this grass, but studded with mango-groves and fine single trees. +The forest runs along to the north of our road--which lay east--from +one to three miles distant, and looked very like a continued mango- +grove. The level plain of rich soil extends up through the forest to +the foot of the hills, and is all the way capable of the finest +cultivation. Here and there the soil runs into light doomuteea; and +in some few parts even into bhoor, in proportion as the sand abounds; +but generally the soil is the fine muteear, and very fertile. The +whole plain is said to have been in cultivation thirty years ago, +when Hakeem Mehndee held the contract; but the tillage has been +falling off ever since, under the bad or oppressive management of +successive contractors. + +The estate through which we have been passing is called Bharwara, and +contains the sites of nine hundred and eighty-nine villages, about +one-tenth of which are now occupied. The landholders are all of the +Ahbun Rajpoot tribe; but a great part of them have become Musulmans. +They live together, however, though of different creeds, in tolerable +harmony; and eat together on occasions of ceremony, though not from +the same dishes. No member of the tribe ever forfeited his +inheritance by changing his creed. Nor did any one of them, I +believe, ever change his creed, except to retain his inheritance, +liberty, or life, threatened by despotic and unscrupulous rulers. +They dine on the same floor, but there is a line marked off to +separate those of the party who are Hindoos from those who are +Musulmans. The Musulmans have Mahommedan names, and the Hindoos +Hindoo names; but both still go by the common patronymic name of +Ahbuns. The Musulmans marry into Musulman families, and the Hindoos +into Hindoo families of the highest castes, Chouhans, Rathores, +Rykwars, Janwars, &c. Of course all the children are of the same +religion and caste as their parents. They tell me that the conversion +of their ancestors was effected by force, under a prince or chief +called "Kala Pahar." This must have been Mahommed Firmally, _alias_ +Kala Pahar--to whom his uncle Bheilole, King of Delhi, left the +district of Bahraetch as a separate inheritance a short time before +his death, which took place A.D. 1488. This conversion seems to have +had the effect of doing away with the murder of female infants in the +Ahbun families who are still Hindoos; for they could not get the +Musulman portion of the tribe to associate with them if they +continued it. + +The estate of Bharwara is divided into four parts, Hydrabad, +Hurunpoor, Aleegunge, and Sekunderabad. Each division is subdivided +into parts, each held by a separate branch of the family; and the +subdivision of these parts is still going on, as the heads of the +several branches of the family die, and leave more than one son. The +present head of the Ahbun family is Mahommed Hussan Khan, a Musulman, +who resides in his fort in the village of Julalpoor, near the road +over which we passed. The small fort is concealed within, and +protected by a nice bamboo-fence that grows round it. He holds twelve +villages rent free, as _nankar_, and pays revenue for all the rest +that compose his share of the great estate. The heads of families who +hold the other shares enjoy in the same manner one or more villages +rent free, as _nankar_. These are all well cultivated, and contain a +great many cultivators of the best classes, such as Koormees, +Lodhies, and Kachies. + +We passed through one of them, Kamole, and I had a good deal of talk +with the people, who were engaged in pressing out the juice of sugar- +cane. They told me that the juice was excellent, and that the syrup +made from it was carried to the district of Shajehanpoor, in the +British territory, to be made into sugar. Mahommed Hussan Khan came +up, as I was talking with the people, and joined in the conversation. +All seemed to be delighted with the opportunity of entering so freely +into conversation with a British Resident who understood farming, and +seemed to take so much interest in their pursuits. I congratulated +the people on being able to keep so many of their houses well covered +with grass-choppers; but they told me, "that it was with infinite +difficulty they could keep them, or anything else they had, from the +grasp of the local authorities and the troops and camp-followers who +attended them, and desolated the country like a flock of locusts; +that they are not only plundered but taxed by them--first, the +sipahees take their choppers, beams, and rafters off their houses-- +then the people in charge of artillery bullocks and other cattle take +all their stores of bhoosa, straw, &c., and threaten to turn the +cattle loose on their fields, if not paid a gratuity--the people who +have to collect fuel for the camp (bildars) take all their stores of +wood, and doors and windows also, if not paid for their redemption-- +then the people in charge of elephants and camels threaten to denude +of their leaves and small branches all the peepul, burgut, and other +trees most sacred and dear to them, near their homes, unless paid for +their forbearance; and--though last, not least--men, women, and +children are seized, not only to carry the plunder and other burthens +gratis for sipahees and servants of all kinds and grades, and camp- +followers, but to be robbed of their clothes, and made to pay ransoms +to get back, while all the plough-bullocks are put in requisition to +draw the guns which the King's bullocks are unable to draw +themselves. In short, that the approach of King's servants is dreaded +as one of the greatest calamities that can befal them." + +I should here mention, that all the Telinga regiments, fourteen in +number, are allowed tents and hackeries to carry them. The way in +which the bullocks of such carts are provided with fodder has been +already mentioned; but no tents or conveyance of any kind are allowed +for the Nujeeb corps, thirty-two in number. Whenever they move (and +they are almost always moving), they seize whatever conveyance and +shelter they require from the people of the country around. Each +battalion, even in its ordinary incomplete state, requires four +hundred or five hundred porters, besides carts, bullocks, horses, +ponies, &c. Men, women, and children, of all classes, are seized, and +made to carry the baggage, arms, accoutrements, and cages of pet +birds, belonging to the officers and sipahees of these corps. They +are stripped of their clothes, confined, and starved from the time +they are seized; and as it is difficult to catch people to relieve +them along the road, they are commonly taken on two or three stages. +If they run away, they forfeit all their clothes which remain in the +hands of the sipahees; and a great many die along the road of +fatigue, hunger, and exposure to the sun. Numerous cruel instances of +this have been urged by me on the notice of the King, but without any +good effect. The line of march of one of these corps is like the road +to the temple of Juggurnaut! When the corps is about to move, +detachments are sent out to seize conveyance of all kinds; and for +one cart required and taken, fifty are seized, and released for a +donation in proportion to their value, the respectability of the +proprietors, and the necessity for their employment at home at the +time. The sums thus extorted by detachments they share with their +officers, or they would never be again sent on such lucrative +service. + +It appears that in this part of Oude the people have not for many +years suffered so much from the depredations of the refractory +landholders as in other parts; and that the desolate state of the +district arises chiefly from the other three great evils that afflict +Oude--the rack-renting of the contractors; the divisions they create +and foster among landholders; and the depredations of the troops and +camp-followers who attend them. But the estate has become much +subdivided, and the shareholders from this cause, and the oppression +of the contractors, have become poor and weak; and the neighbouring +landholders of the Janwar and other Rajpoot tribes have taken +advantage of their weakness to seize upon a great many of their best +villages. Out of Kurumpoor, within the last nine years, Anorud Sing, +of Oel, a Janwar Rajpoot, in collusion with local authorities, has +taken twelve; and Umrao Sing, of Mahewa, of the same tribe, has taken +eighteen, making twenty villages from the Kurumpoor division. These +landholders reside in the Khyrabad district, which adjoins that of +Mahomdee, near our present camp. + +The people everywhere praise the climate--they appear robust and +energetic, and no sickness prevails, though many of the villages are +very near the forest. The land on which the forest stands contains, +in the ruins of well-built towns and fortresses, unquestionable signs +of having once been well cultivated and thickly peopled: and it would +soon become so again under good government. There is nothing in the +soil to produce sickness; and, I believe, the same soil prevails up +through the forest to the hills. Sickness would, no doubt, prevail +for some years, till the underwood and all the putrid leaves should +be removed. The water that stagnates over them, and percolates +through the soil into the wells, from which the people drink, and the +exhalations which arise from them and taint the air, confined by the +dense mass of forest trees, underwood, and high grass, are, I +believe, the chief cause of the diseases which prevail in this belt +of jungle. + +It is however remarkable, that there are two unhealthy seasons in the +year in this forest--one at the latter end of the rains in August, +September, and October, and the other before the rains begin to fall +in the latter part of April, the whole of May, and part of June. The +diseases in the latter are, I believe, more commonly fatal than they +are in the former; and are considered by the people to arise solely +from the poisonous quality of the water, which is often found in +wells to be covered with a thin crust of petrolium. Diseases of the +same character prevail at the same two seasons in the jungles, above +the sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun rivers, and are ascribed by the +people to the same causes--those which take place after the rains, to +bad air; and those which take place immediately before the rains, +after the cold and dry seasons, to bad water. The same petrolium, or +liquid bitumen, is found floating on the spring waters in the hot +season, when the most fatal diseases break out in the jungles, about +the sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun, as in the Oude Tarae; and, in +both places, the natives appear to me to be right in attributing them +to the water; but whether the poisonous quality of the water be +imparted to it by bitumen from below, or by the putrid leaves of the +forest trees from above, is uncertain; the people drink from the +bituminous spring waters at this season, as well as from stagnant +pools in the beds of small rivers, which have ceased to flow during +part of the Cold, and the whole of the hot, season. These pools +become filled with the leaves of the forest trees which hang over +them. + +The bitumen, in all the jungles to which I refer, arises, I believe, +from the _coal measures_, pressed down by the overlying masses of +sandstone strata, common to both the Himmalaya chain of mountains +over the Tarae forest, and the Vendeya and Sathpoor ranges of hills +at the sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun rivers. It is, however, +possible that the water of these stagnant pools, tainted by the +putrid leaves, may impart its poison through the medium of the air in +exhalations; and I have known European officers, who were never +conscious of having drunk either of the waters above described, take +the fever (owl) in the month of May in the Tarae, and in a few hours +become raving mad. These tainted waters may possibly act in both +ways--directly, and through the medium of the air. + +While on the subject of the causes or sources of disease, I may +mention two which do not appear to me to have been sufficiently +considered and provided against in India. First, when a new +cantonment is formed and occupied in haste, during or after a +campaign, terraces are formed of the new earth dug up on the spot to +elevate the dwellings of officers and soldiers from the ground, which +may possibly become flooded in the rains; and over the piles of fresh +earth officers commonly form wooden floors for their rooms to secure +them from the damp, new earth. Between this earth and the wooden +floor a small space of a foot or two is commonly left. The new earth, +thus thrown up from places that may not have been dug or ploughed for +ages, absorbs rapidly the oxygen from the air above, and gives out +carbonic acid, nitrogen and hydrogen gases, which render the air +above unfit for men to breathe. This noxious air accumulates in the +space below the wooden floor, and, passing through the crevices, is +breathed by the officers and soldiers as they sleep. + +Between the two campaigns against Nepal in 1814 and 1815, the brigade +in which my regiment served formed such a cantonment at Nathpoor, on +the right bank of the river Coosee. The land which these cantonments +occupied had been covered with a fine sward on which cattle grazed +for ages, and was exceedingly rich in decayed vegetable and animal +matter. The place had been long remarked for its salubrity by the +indigo-planters and merchants of all kinds who resided there; and on +the ground which my regiment occupied there was a fine pucka-house, +which the officer commanding the brigade and some of his staff +occupied. In the rains the whole plain, being very flat, was often +covered with water, and thousands of cattle grazed upon it during the +cold and hot seasons. The officers all built small bungalows for +themselves on the plan above described; and the medical officers all +thought that they had, in doing so, taken all possible precautions. +The men were provided with huts, as much as possible on the same +plan. These dwellings were all ready before the rains set in, and +officers and soldiers were in the finest state of health and spirits. + +In the middle and latter part of the rains, officers and men began to +suffer from a violent fever, which soon rendered the European +officers and soldiers delirious, and prostrated the native officers +and sipahees; so that three hundred of my own regiment, consisting of +about seven hundred, were obliged to be sent to their homes on sick +leave. The greater number of those who remained continued to suffer, +and a great many died. Of about ten European officers present with my +regiment, seven had the fever, and five died of it, almost all in a +state of delirium. I was myself one of the two who survived, and I +was for many days delirious. + +Of the medical officers of the brigade, the only one, I believe, who +escaped the fever was Adam Napier, who, with his wife and children, +occupied apartments in the brigadier's large pucka-house. Not a +person who resided in that house was attacked by the fever. There was +another pucka-house a little way from the cantonments, close to the +bank of the river, occupied by an indigo-planter, a Mr. Ross. No one +in that house suffered. The fever was confined to those who occupied +the houses and huts which I have described. All the brigade suffered +much, but my regiment, then the first battalion of the 12th Regiment, +and now the 12th Regiment, suffered most; and it was stationed on the +soil which had remained longest unturned and untilled on what had +been considered a park round the pucka-house, in which the brigadier +resided. I believe that I am right in attributing this sickness +exclusively to the circumstances which I have mentioned; and I am +afraid that, during the thirty-five years that have since elapsed, +similar circumstances have continued to produce similar results. I am +myself persuaded, that had the sward remained unbroken, and the +houses and huts been raised upon it, over wooden platforms placed +upon it, to secure officers and men from the damp ground, there would +have been little or no sickness in that brigade. + +The second of the two causes or sources of disease, to which I refer, +is the insufficient room which is allowed for the accommodation of +our European troops in India. Within the room assigned for the non- +commissioned officers and soldiers, they soon exhaust the atmosphere +around of its oxygen or vital air, while they expire or exhale +carbonic acid, nitrogen and hydrogen gases, which render it +altogether unfit to sustain animal life; and death or disease must +soon overtake those who inhale or inspire it. + +I may illustrate this by a fact within my own observation. In 1817, a +flank battalion of six hundred European soldiers was formed at +Allahabad, where I then was with my regiment to escort the Governor- +General the Marquess of Hastings. With these six hundred soldiers +there were thirty-two European officers. The soldiers and non- +commissioned officers were put into the barracks in the fort, where +they had not sufficient room. The commissioned officers resided in +bungalows in the cantonments, or in tents on the open plain. The men +were effectually prevented from exposing themselves to the sun, and +from indulging in any kind of intemperance, and every possible care +was taken of them. The commissioned officers lived as they liked, +denied themselves no indulgence, and were driving about all day, and +every day, in sun and rain, to visit each other and their friends. A +fever, similar to that above described, broke out among the soldiers +and non-commissioned officers in the fort, and great numbers died. Of +the six hundred, only sixteen escaped the fever. When too late, they +were removed from the fort into tents on the plain. From that day the +deaths diminished, and the sick began to recover. Of the thirty-two +commissioned officers, only one, I think, was ever sick at all, and +his sickness was of a kind altogether different; and, it is +impossible to resist the conclusion, that the non-commissioned +officers and soldiers got their disease from want of sufficient room, +and, consequently, of sufficient pure air to breathe. Subsequent +experience has, I believe, tended to confirm the conclusion; and, I +may safely say, that more European soldiers have died from a +disregard of it, than from all the wars that we have had within the +thirty-three years that have since elapsed. The cause is still in +operation, and continues to produce the same fatal results, and will +continue to do so till we change the system of accommodating our +European troops in India. + +The buildings in which they are lodged should all have thatched or +tiled roofs, through which the hot and impure air, which has been +already breathed, may pass, and be replaced within by the pure air of +the atmosphere around, instead of roofs of pucka-masonry which +confine this air to be breathed over again by the people within; and +double or quadruple the space now allowed to each man should be +given. At the cost now incurred in providing them with this +insufficient room, under roofs of pucka-masonry, they could be +provided with four times the space, under roofs of thatch and tiles, +which would be so much more safe and suitable. + +The state of the Bharwara district may be illustrated by that of one +of its four divisions or mahals, Alleegunge. In the last year of +Hakeem Mehudee's role (1818), this division was assessed at one +hundred and thirty-eight thousand rupees, with the full consent of +the people, who were all thriving and happy. The assessment was, +indeed, made by the heads of the principal Ahbun families of the +district, with Mahommed Hussan Khan as chief assessor. One hundred +and thirty-two thousand were collected, and six thousand were +remitted in consequence of a partial failure of the crops. Last year, +by force and violence, the landholders of this division were made to +agree to an assessment upon the lands in tillage of ten thousand and +five hundred rupees, of which not six thousand can be collected. The +other three divisions are in the same state. Not one-tenth of the +land is in tillage, nor are one-tenth of the villages peopled. The +soil is really the finest that I have seen in India; and I have seen +no part of India in which so small a portion of the surface is unfit +for tillage. The moisture rises to the surface just as it is +required; and a tolerable crop is got by a poor man who cannot afford +to keep a plough, and merely burns down the grass and digs the +surface with his spade, or pickaxe, before he sows the seed. +Generally, however, the tillage, in the portion cultivated, is very +good. The surface is ploughed and cross-ploughed from six to twenty, +or even thirty, times in the season; and the harrow and roller are +often applied till every clod is pulverized to dust. + +The test of first-rate preparation for the seed is that a ghurra, or +earthen pitcher, full of water, let fall upon the field from a man's +head, shall not break. The clods in the muteear soil are so +pulverised only in the fields that are to be irrigated, or to the +surface of which moisture rises from below as the weather becomes +warm. The people say that it does so rise when required in land even +a good way from the forest, and that the clods are, in consequence, +not necessary to retain it. This is the only part of India in which I +have known the people take ratoon, or second crops of sugar-cane from +the same roots; and the farmers and cultivators tell me that the +second crop is almost as good as the first. The fields in tillage are +well supplied with manure, which is very abundant where so large a +portion of the surface is waste; and affords such fine pasture. They +are also well watered, for the water is near the surface, and in the +tight muteear soil a kutcha well, or well without masonry, will stand +good for twenty seasons. To make pucka-wells, or wells lined with +burnt bricks and cement, would be costly. Each well of this kind +costs about one hundred rupees. The kutcha-wells, which are lined +with nothing, or with thick ropes of twigs and straw, cost only from +five to ten rupees. The people tell me that oppression and poverty +have made them less fastidious than they were formerly; that formerly +it was considered disgraceful to plough with buffaloes, or to use +them in carts, but they are now in common use for both purposes; that +vast numbers of the Kunojee Brahmins and others, who could not +formerly drive their own ploughs, drive them now; and that all will +in time condescend to do so, as the penalties of higher payments with +and for daughters in marriage cease to be exacted from men whose +necessities have become so pressing. + +_March_ 6, 1850. **--Halted at Kurunpoor, where the gentlemen of my +camp shot some floricans, hares, partridges, and a porcupine along +the bank of the small river Ole, which flows along from north-west to +south-east within three miles of Kurunpoor. + +[** Transcriber's Note: The diary date jumps from the previous entry +of _February_ 5, 1850, at Kurrunpoor. This is a mistake in the date, +as at the start of Chapter V the diary jumps back to _February_ 14, +1850.] + +_March_ 7, 1850.--Teekur, twelve miles. The road, for three miles, +lay through grass jungle to the border of the Khyrabad district, +whence the plain is covered with cultivation, well studded with +trees, clusters of bamboos, and well peopled with villages, all +indicating better management. A great many fields are reduced to the +fine dust above described to receive the sugar-cane, which is planted +in February. The soil is muteear, but has in many parts become +impaired by over-cropping. The people told me that the crops were not +so rich as they ought to be, from the want of manure, which is much +felt here, where there is so little pasture for cattle. The wheat has +almost everywhere received an orange tint from the geerwa, or blight, +which covers the leaves, but, happily, has not as yet settled upon +the stalks to feed on the sap. This blight, the cultivators say, +arises from the late and heavy rain they have had, and the easterly +wind that prevailed for a few days. The geerwa is a red fungus, +which, when it adheres to the stems, thrusts its roots through the +pores of the epidermis and robs the grain of the sap as it ascends. +When easterly winds and sultry weather prevail, the pores of the +epidermis appear to be more opened and exposed to the inroads of +these fungi than at other times. If the wind continue westerly for a +fortnight more, little injury may be sustained; but should easterly +winds and sultry weather prevail, the greater part may be lost. "We +cultivators and landholders," said Bukhtawur Sing, "are always in +dread of something, and can never feel quite easy: if little rain +falls, we complain of the want of more; if a good deal comes down, we +are in dread of this blight, and never dare to congratulate ourselves +on the prospect of good returns." To the justice and wisdom of this +observation all assented.* + +[* Westerly winds and cold weather prevailed and the blight did +little apparent injury to the crops; but the wheat crops, generally, +over Oude and the adjoining districts, was shrivelled and deficient +in substance. It had "run to stalk" from the excess of rain.] + +The landholders of this purgunnah are chiefly Janwar Rajpoots. +Kymara, a fine village, through which we passed, about five miles +from Kurunpoor, is the residence of the present head of this family, +Rajah Ajeet Sing. He has a small fort close by, in which he is now +preparing to defend himself against the King's forces. The poor old +man came out with all his village community to meet and talk with me, +in the hope that I might interpose to protect him. He is weak in mind +and body, has no son, and, having lately lost his only brother and +declared heir to the estate, his cousins and more distant relations +are scrambling for the inheritance. The usual means of violence, +collusion, and intrigue have been had recourse to. The estate is in +the Huzoor Tuhseel, and not under the jurisdiction of the contractor +of Khyrabad. The old man seemed care-worn and very wretched, and told +me that the contractor, whom I should meet at Teekur, had only +yesterday received orders from Court to use all his means to oust him +from possession, and make over the estate to his cousin, Jodha Sing, +who had lately left him in consequence of a dispute, after having, +since the death of his brother, aided him in the management of the +estate; that he had always paid his revenues to the King punctually, +and last year he owed a balance of only one hundred and sixty rupees, +when _Anrod Sing_, his distant relative, wanted him to declare his +younger brother, Dirj Bijee Sing, his heir to the estate, in lieu of +Jodha Sing. + +This he refused to do, and Anrod Sing came, with a force of two +thousand armed men, supported by a detachment from Captain Barlow's +regiment, and laid siege to his fort, on the pretence that he was +required to give security for the more punctual payment of the +revenue. To defend himself, he was obliged to call in the aid of his +clan and neighbours, and expend all that he had or could borrow, and, +at last, constrained to accept Anrod Sing's security, for no +merchants would lend money to a poor man in a state of siege. Anrod +Sing had now gone off to Lucknow, and bribed the person in charge of +the Huzoor Tuhseel, Gholam Ruza Khan, one of the most corrupt men in +the corrupt Court of Lucknow, to get an order issued by the Minister +to have him turned out, and the estate made over to Jhoda Sing, from +whom he would soon get it on pretence of accumulated balances, and +make it over, in perpetuity, to his brother, Dirj Bijee Sing. In this +attempt, the old man said, a good many lives must be lost and crops +destroyed, for his friends would not let him fall without a +struggle.* + +[* The old man has been attacked and turned out with the loss of some +lives, in spite of the Resident's remonstrance, and the estate has +been made over to Jodha Sing, on the security for the payment of the +revenue of Anrod Sing. Jodha Sing is, naturally, of weak intellect; +and Anrod Sing will soon have him turned out as an incompetent +defaulter, and get the estate for himself, or for his younger +brother. Luckily _Anrod Sing_ and _Lonee Sing_, of Mitholee, are at +daggers-drawn about some villages, which Anrod Sing has seized, and +to which Lonee Sing thinks he has a better right. Their dread of each +other will be useful to the Government and the people.] + +As soon as we left the poor old man, Bukhtawur Sing said, "This, sir, +is the way in which Government officers manage to control and subdue +these sturdy Rajpoot landholders. While they remain united, as in the +Bangur district, they can do nothing with them, and let them keep +their estates on their own terms; but the moment a quarrel takes +place between them they take advantage of it: they adopt the cause of +the strongest, and support him in his aggressions upon the other +members of his family or clan till all become weak by division and +disorder, and submit. Forty or fifty years ago, sir, when I used to +move about the country on circuit with Saadut Allee Khan, the then +sovereign, as I now move with you, there were many Rajpoot +landholders in Oude stronger than any that defy the Government now; +but they dared not then hold their heads so high as they do now. The +local officers employed by him were men of ability, experience, and +character, totally unlike those now employed. Each had a wing of one +of the Honourable Company's regiments and some good guns with him, +and was ready and able to enforce his master's orders and the payment +of his just demands; but, since his death, the local officers have +been falling off in character and strength, while the Rajpoot +landholders have risen in pride and power. The aid of the British +troops has, by degrees, been altogether withdrawn, and the +landholders of this class despise the Oude Government, and many of +them resist its troops whenever they attempt to enforce the payment +of even its most moderate demands. The revenues of the State fall off +as the armed bands of these landholders increase, and families who, +in his time, kept up only fifty armed men, have now five hundred, or +even a thousand or two thousand, and spend what they owe to +Government in maintaining them. To pay such bands they withhold the +just demands of the State, rob their weaker neighbours of their +possessions, and plunder travellers on the highway, and men of +substance, wherever they can find them. + +"When Saadut Allee made over one-half of his dominions to the British +Government in 1801, he was bound to reduce his military force and +rely altogether upon the support of your Government. He did so; but +the force he retained, though small, was good; and while that support +was afforded things went on well--he was a wise man, and made the +most of the means he had. Since that time, sir, the Oude force has +been increased four-fold, as your aid has been withdrawn; but the +whole is not equal to the fourth part which served under Saadut +Allee. You see how insignificant it everywhere is, and how much it is +despised even by the third-class Rajpoot landholders. You see, also, +how they everywhere prey upon the people, and are dreaded and +detested by them: the only estates free from their inroads are those +under the 'Huzoor Tuhseel,' into which the Amils and their disorderly +hosts dare not enter. If the landholders could be made to feel that +they would not be permitted to seize other men's possessions, nor +other men to seize theirs, as long as they obeyed the Government and +paid its just dues, they would disband these armed followers, and the +King might soon reduce his. He will never make them worth anything; +there are too many worthless, but influential persons about the +Court, interested in keeping up all kinds of abuses, to permit this. +These abuses are the chief source of their incomes: they rob the +officers and sipahees, and even the draft-bullocks; and you +everywhere see how the poor animals are starved by them." + +Within a mile of the camp I met the Nazim, Hoseyn Allee Khan, who +told me that Rajah Goorbuksh Sing, of Ramnuggur Dhumeree, had +fulfilled all the engagements entered into before me at Byramghat, on +the Ghagra, on the 6th of December, and was no longer opposed to the +Government; and that the only large landholder in his district who +remained so at present was Seobuksh Sing, of Kateysura, a strong +fort, mounted with seven guns, near the road over which I am to pass +the day after tomorrow, between Oel and Lahurpoor. As he came up on +his little elephant along the road, I saw half-a-dozen of his men, +mounted on camels, trotting along through a fine field of wheat, now +in ear, with as much unconcern as if they had been upon a fine sward +to which they could do no harm. I saw one of my people in advance +make a sign to them, on which they made for the road as fast as they +could. I asked the Nazim how he could permit such trespass. He told +me, "That he did not see them, and unless his eye was always upon +them he could not prevent their doing mischief, for they were the +King's servants, who never seemed happy unless they were trespassing +upon some of his Majesty's subjects." Nothing, certainly, seems to +delight them so much as the trespasses of all kinds which they do +commit upon them. + +_March_ 8, 1850.--Oel, five miles, over a plain of the same fine +muteear soil, beautifully cultivated and studded with trees, +intermixed with numerous clusters of the graceful bamboo. A great- +grandson of the monster Nadir Shah, of Persia, Ruza Kolee Khan, who +commands a battalion in the King of Oude's service, rode by me, and I +asked him whether he ever saw such a cultivated country in Persia. +"Never," said he: "Persia is a hilly country, and there is no tillage +like this in any part of it. I left Persia, with my father, twenty- +two years ago, when I was twenty-two years of age, and I have still a +very distinct recollection of what it was then. There is no country +in the world, sir," said the Nazim, "like Hindoostan, when it enjoys +the blessings of a good government. The purgunnah of Kheree, in which +we now are, is all held by the heads of three families of Janwar +Rajpoots: Rajah Ajub Sing, of Kymara; Anrod Sing, of Oel; and Umrao +Sing, of Mahewa. There are only sixty-six villages of Khalsa, or +Crown lands left, yielding twenty-one thousand rupees a-year. The +rest have been all absorbed by the heads of these Rajpoot families. + + + Villages. Jumma. + Kymara . . . 82 . . 13,486 0 0 + Oel . . . . 170 . . 54,790 0 0 + Mahewa . . . 70 . . 20,835 0 0 + ___ _____________ + 322 . . 89,111 0 0 + Khalsa . . . 66 . . 21,881 0 0 + ___ _______________ + + 388 . . 1,10,992 0 0 + ___ _______________ + +"These heads of families have each a fort, surrounded by a strong +fence of bamboos, and mounted with good guns; and the King cannot get +so large a revenue from them as he did thirty years ago, in the time +of Hakeem Mehndee, though their lands are as well tilled now as they +were then, and yield more rent to their holders. They spend it all in +keeping up large armed bands to resist the Government; but they +certainly take care of their cultivators and tenants of all kinds, +and no man dares molest them. + +"But," said Bukhtawur Sing, "this beautiful scene would all be +changed were they encouraged or permitted to contend with each other +for the possession of the lands. I yesterday saw a great number of +the merchants of Kymara following the Resident's camp; and, on asking +them why, they told me that the order from Court obtained by Gholam +Ruza for you (the Nazim) to assist the Oel chief, Anrod Sing, in +despoiling Rajah Ajub Sing of his estate, had driven out all who had +no fields of corn or other local ties to detain them, and had +anything to lose by remaining. The chief and his retainers were +repairing their fort, and preparing to fight for their possessions to +the last; and if you take your disorderly force against them +according to orders, the crops now in the ground will be all +destroyed, and the numerous fields now prepared to receive sugar-cane +and the autumn seed will be left waste: they will make reprisals upon +Oel; others of their clan will join in the strife; and this district +will be what that of Bharwara, which we have just left, now is. The +merchants are in the right, sir, to make off: no property in such a +scene is ever safe. There is no property, sir, like that in the +Honourable Company's paper: it is the only property that we can enjoy +in peace. You feel no anxiety about it. It doubles itself in fifteen +or sixteen years; and you go on from generation to generation +enjoying your five per cent., and neither fearing nor annoying +anybody." + +The two villages of Oel and Dhukwa adjoin each other, and form a +large town; but the dwelling-houses have a wretched appearance, +consisting of naked mud walls, with but a few more grass-choppers +than are usually found upon them in Oude towns. There is a good- +looking temple, dedicated to Mahadeo, in the centre of the town, and +the houses are close upon the ditch of the fort, which has its +bamboo-fence inside its ditch and outer mud walls. I have written to +the Durbar to recommend that the order for the attack upon Rajah Ajub +Sing be countermanded, and more pacific measures adopted for the +settlement of the claims of the Exchequer and Anrod Sing upon poor +old Ajub Sing. + +The Kanoongoes of this place tell me that the dispute has arisen from +a desire, on the part of the old man's wife, to set aside the just +claim of Jodha Sing, the old man's nephew, to the inheritance, in +favour of a lad whom she has adopted and brought up, by name Teeka +Sing, in whose name the estate is now managed by a servant; that +Jodha Sing is the rightful heir, and managed the estate well for his +uncle, after the death of his brother, till lately, when his aunt +persuaded his uncle to break with him, which he did with reluctance; +that Jodha Sing now lives in retirement at his village of Barkerwa; +that Anrod Sing's design upon the inheritance for his younger +brother, Dirj Bijee Sing, is unjust; and that he is, in consequence, +obliged to prosecute it on the pretence of recovering money due, and +supporting the claim of Jodha Sing, and in collusion with the +officers of Government; that Gholam Ruza, who has charge of the +Huzoor Tuhseel, is ready to adopt the cause of any one who will pay +him; and that Anrod Sing is now at Lucknow paying his court to him, +and getting these iniquitous orders issued. + +Oel was transferred to the Huzoor Tuhseel in 1834, Kymara in 1836, +and Mahewa in 1839. These Rajpoot landholders do not often seize upon +the lands of a relative at once, but get them by degrees by fraud and +collusion with Government officers, so that they may share the odium +with them. They instigate these officers to demand more than the +lands can pay; offer the enhanced rate, and get the lands at once; or +get a mortgage, run up the account, and foreclose by their aid. They +no sooner get the estate than they reduce the Government demand, by +collusion or violence, to less than what the former proprietor had +paid. + +_March_ 9, 1850.--Lahurpoor, twelve miles, over a plain of doomuteea +soil, well studded with groves and single trees, but not so fully +cultivated the last half way as the first. For the first halfway the +road lies through the estate of Anrod Sing, of Oel; but for the last +it runs through that of Seobuksh Sing, a Gour Rajpoot, who has a fort +near the town of Kuteysura, five miles from Lahurpoor, and seven from +Oel. It is of mud, and has a ditch all round, and a bamboo-fence +inside the outer walls. It is of great extent, but not formidable +against well-provided troops. The greater part of the houses in the +town are in ruins, and Seobuksh has the reputation of being a +reckless and improvident landholder. He is said not only to take from +his tenants higher rates of rent than he ought, but to extort from +them very often a _property tax_, highly and capriciously rated. This +is what the people call the _bhalmansae_, of which they have a very +great abhorrence. "You are a _bhala manus_" (a gentleman, or man of +substance), he says to his tenant, "and must have property worth at +least a thousand rupees. I want money sadly, and must have one-fifth: +give me two hundred rupees." This is what the people call +"_bhalmansae_," or rating a man according to his substance; and to +say that a landlord or governor does this, is to say that he is a +reckless oppressor, who has no regard to obligations or to +consequences. + +There are manifest signs of the present landholder, Seobuksh Sing, +being of this character; but others, not less manifest, of his +grandfather having been a better man, in the fine groves which +surround Lahurpoor, and the villages between this place and +Kuteysura, all of which are included in his estate. These groves +were, for the most part, planted during the life of his grandfather +by men of substance, who were left free to-dispose of their property +as they thought best. + +All the native gentlemen who rode with me remarked on the beauty of +the approach to Lahurpoor, in which a rich carpet of spring crops +covers the surface up to the groves, and extends along under the +trees which have been recently planted. There are many young groves +about the place, planted by men who have acquired property by trade, +and by the savings out of the salaries and perquisites of office at +Lahurpoor, which is the residence of the Nazim, or local governor, +during several months in the year; and the landlord, Seobuksh, cannot +venture to exact his _property-tax_ from them. The air and water are +much praised, and the general good health of the troops, civil +establishments, and residents of all classes, show that the climate +must be good. The position, too, is well chosen with reference to the +districts, and the character of the people under the control of the +governor of the Khyrabad district. + +The estate of Seobuksh is very extensive. The soil is all good and +the plain level, so that every part of it is capable of tillage. +Rutun Sing, the father of Seobuksh, is said to have been a greater +rack-renter, rebel, and robber than his son is, and together they +have injured the estate a good deal, and reduced it from a rent-roll +of one hundred thousand to one of forty. Its rent-roll is now +estimated in the public accounts at 54,640, out of which is deducted +a _nankar_ of 17,587, leaving a Government demand of only 37,053. +This he can't pay; and he has shut himself up sullenly in his mud +fort, where the Nazim dares not attack him. He is levying +contributions from the surrounding villages, but has not yet +plundered or burnt down any. He was lately in prison, for two years; +but released on the security of Rajah Lonee Sing, of Mitholee, whose +wife is his wife's sister. He, however, says that he was pledged to +produce him when required, not before the _present Nazim_, but his +_predecessor_; and that he is no longer bound by this pledge. This +reasoning would, of course, have no weight with the Government +authorities, nor would it be had recourse to were Lonee Sing less +strong. Each has a strong fort and a band of steady men. The Nazim +has not the means to attack Seobuksh, and dares not attack Lonee +Sing, as his estate of Pyla is in the "Huzoor Tuhseel," and under the +protection of Court favourites, who are well paid by him. + +Lonee Sing's estate of Mitholee is in the Mahomdee district, and +under the jurisdiction of the Amil; and it is only the portion, +consisting of one hundred and four recently-acquired villages, which +he holds in the Pyla estate, in the Khyrabad district, that has been +made over to the Huzoor Tuhseel.* He offered an increased rate for +these villages to the then Amil, Bhowood Dowlah, in the year A.D. +1840. It was accepted, and he attacked, plundered, and murdered a +good many of the old proprietors, and established such a dread among +them, that he now manages them with little difficulty. Basdeo held +fourteen of these villages under mortgage, and sixteen more under +lease. He had his brother, maternal uncle, and a servant killed by +Lonee Sing, and is now reduced to beggary. Lonee Sing took the lease +in March, 1840, and commenced this attack in May. + +[* Anrod Sing holds twenty-eight villages in the Pyla estate, +acquired in the same way as those held by Lonee Sing.] + +The Nazim had with him, of infantry, 1. Futteh Aesh Nujeebs. 2. +Wuzeree, ditto. 3. Zuffur, Mobaruk Telinga. 4. Futteh Jung ditto; +Ruza Kolee Khan. 5. Captain Barlow's ditto. Eleven guns. But, being +unable to get any duty from the three regiments first named, he +offered to dispense with the two first, on condition that the command +of the third should be placed at his disposal for his son or nephew. + +This request was complied with; and, on paying a fee of five thousand +rupees, he got the dress of investiture, and offered it to Lieutenant +Orr, a very gallant officer, the second in command of Captain +Barlow's corps, as the only way to render the corps so efficient as +he required it to be. The Durbar took away the two regiments; but, as +soon as they heard that Lieutenant Orr was to command the third, they +appointed Fidda Hoseyn, brother of the ruffian Mahommed Hoseyn, who +had held the district of Mahomdee, and done so much mischief to it. +Fidda Hoseyn, of course, paid a high sum for the command to be +exacted from his subordinates, or the people of the district in which +it might be employed; and the regiment has remained worse than +useless. Of the eleven guns, five are useless on the ground, and +without bullocks. The bullocks for the other six are present, but too +weak to draw anything. They had had no grain for many years; but +within the last month they have had one-half seer each per day out of +the one seer and half paid for by Government. There is no ammunition, +stores, or anything else for the guns, and the best of the carriages +are liable to fall to pieces with the first discharge. They are not +allowed to repair them, but must send them in to get them changed for +others when useless. The Durbar knows that if they allow the local +officers to charge for the repair of guns, heavy charges will be +made, and no gun ever repaired; and the local officers know that if +they send in a gun to be repaired at Lucknow, they will get in +exchange one _painted_ to look well, but so flimsily done up that it +will go to pieces the first or second time it is fired. + +Captain Barlow's corps is a good one, and the men are finer than any +that I have seen in our own infantry regiments, though they get only +five rupees a-month each, while ours get seven. They prefer this rate +under European officers in the Oude service, to the seven rupees a- +month which sipahees get in ours, though they have no pension +establishment or extra allowance while marching. They feel sure that +their European commandants will secure them their pay sooner or +later; they escape many of the harassing duties to which our sipahees +are liable; they have leave to visit their homes one month in twelve; +they never have to march out of Oude to distant stations, situated in +bad climates; they get fuel and fodder, and often food, for nothing; +their baggage is always carried for them at the public cost. But to +secure them their pay, arms, accoutrements, clothing, &c., the +commandant must be always about the Court himself, or have an +_ambassador_ of some influence there at great cost. Captain Barlow +is almost all his time at Court, as much from choice as expediency, +drawing all his allowances and emoluments of all kinds, while his +second in command performs his regimental duties for him. The other +officers like this, because they know that the corps could not +possibly be kept in the state it is without it. Captain Barlow has +lately obtained three thousand rupees for the repair of his six gun- +carriages, tumbrils, &c., that is, five hundred for each. They had +not been repaired for ten years; hardly any of the others have been +repaired for the last twenty or thirty years. + +The Nazim of this district of Khyrabad has taken the farm of it for +one year at nine lacs of rupees, that is one lac and a half less than +the rate at which it was taken by his predecessor last year. He tells +me, that he was obliged, to enter into engagements to pay in +gratuities fifty thousand to the minister, of which he has as yet +paid only five thousand; twenty-five thousand to the Dewan, +Balkishun, and seven thousand to Gholam Ruza, who has charge of the +Huzoor Tuhseel--that he was obliged to engage to pay four hundred +rupees a-month, in salaries, to men named by the Dewan, who do no +duty, and never show their faces to him; and similar sums to the +creatures of the minister and others--that he was obliged to pay +gratuities to a vast number of understrappers at Court--that he was +not made aware of the amount of these gratuities, &c., till he had +received his dress of investiture, and had merely promised to pay +what his predecessor had paid--that when about to set out, the +memorandum of what his predecessor had paid was put into his hand, +and it was then too late to remonstrate or draw back. There may be +some exaggeration in the rate of the gratuities demanded; but that he +has to pay them to the persons named I have no doubt whatever, +because; all men in charge of districts have to pay them to those +persons, whether they hold the districts in contract, or in trust. + +The Zuffer Mobaruk regiment, with its commandant, Fidda Hoseyn, is +now across the Ghagra in charge of Dhorehra, an estate in the forest +belonging to Rajah Arjun Sing, who has absconded in consequence of +having been ruined by the rapacity of a native collector last year; +and they are diligently employed in plundering all the people who +remain. The estate paid 2,75,000 a-year till these outrages began; +and it cannot now pay fifty thousand. Arjun Sing and Seobuksh Sing, +of Kuteysura, are the only refractory landholders in the Khyrabad +district at present. + +_March_ 10, 1850.--Halted at Lahurpoor. There is good ground for +large civil and military establishments to the south of the town, +about a mile out, on the left of the road leading to Khyrabad. It is +a fine open plain of light soil. New pucka-wells would be required; +and some low ground, near the south and north, would also require to +be drained, as water lies in it during the rains. There is excellent +ground nearer the town on the same side, but the mango-groves are +thick and numerous, and would impede the circulation of air. The +owners would, moreover be soon robbed of them were a cantonment, or +civil station, established among or very near to them. The town and +site of any cantonment, or civil station, should be taken from the +Kuteysura estate, and due compensation made to the holder, Seobuksh. +The town is a poor one; and the people are keeping their houses +uncovered, and removing their property under the apprehension that +Seobuksh will attack and plunder the place. All the merchants and +respectable landholders, over the districts bordering on the Tarae +forest, through which we have passed, declare, that all the colonies +of Budukh dacoits, who had, for many generations, up to 1842, been +located in this forest, have entirely disappeared. Not a family of +them can now be found anywhere in Oude. Six or eight hundred of their +brave and active men used to sally forth every year, and carry their +depredations into Bengal, Bebar and all the districts of the north- +west provinces. Their suppression has been a great benefit conferred +upon the people of India by the British Government. + +_March_ 11, 1850.--Kusreyla, ten miles, over a plain of excellent +muteear soil scantily cultivated, but studded with fine trees, single +and in groves. Kusreyla is among the three hundred villages which +have been lately taken in mortgage from the proprietors, and in lease +from Government, by Monowur-od Dowlah, the nephew and heir of the +late Hakeem Mehndee. He is inviting and locating in these villages +many cultivators of the best classes; and they will all soon be in a +fine state of tillage. No soil can be finer, and no acre of it is +incapable of bearing fine crops. The old proprietors and lessees, to +whom he had lent money on mortgage, have persuaded him to foreclose, +that they may come under so substantial and kind a landholder. They +prefer holding the sub-lease under such a man, to holding the lease +directly under Government, subject to the jurisdiction of the Nazim. +Monowur-od Dowlah pays forty thousand rupees a-year for the whole to +Government, and has had the whole transferred to the Huzoor Tuhseel. + +The Nazim of Khyrabad rode by my side during this morning's march, +and at my request he described the mutiny which took place in two of +the regiments that attended him in the siege of Bhitolee, just before +I crossed the Ghagra at Byramghat. These were the Futteh Aesh, and +the Wuzeeree. Their commandants are Allee Hoseyn, a creature of one +of the singers, Kootab Allee; and Mahommed Akhbur, a creature of the +minister's. They were earnestly urged by the minister and Nazim to +join their regiments for the short time they would be on this +important service, but in vain; nothing could induce them to quit the +Court. All the corps mentioned above, as attending the Nazim, were +present, and the siege had begun when, on the 17th of November, some +shopkeepers in camp, having been robbed during the night by some +thieves, shut up their shops, and prepared to leave the camp in a +body. The siege could not go on if the traders all left the place; +and he sent a messenger to call the principal men that he might talk +to them. They refused to move, and the messenger, finding that they +were ready to set out, seized one of them by the waist-hand, and when +he resisted, struck him on the head with a stick, and said he would +make him go to his master. The man called out to some sipahees of the +Wuzeeree regiment, who were near, to rescue him. They did so: the +messenger struggled to hold his grasp, but was dragged off and +beaten. He returned the blows; the sipahees drew their swords: he +seized one of the swords and ran off towards his master's tent, +waiving it over his head, to defend himself, followed by some of the +sipahees. The others ran back to the grove in which their regiment +and the Futteh Aesh were bivouaced; both regiments seized their arms +and ran towards the Nazim's tents; and when they got within two +hundred yards, commenced firing upon them. + +The Nazim had with him only a few of his own armed servants. They +seized their arms, and begged permission to return the fire, but were +restrained till the regiment came near, and two tomandars, or +officers, who stood by the Nazim, were shot down, one dead; and the +other disabled. His men could be restrained no longer, and they shot +down two of the foremost of the assailants. The Nazim then sent off +to Lieutenant Orr, who was exercising his corps with blank cartridge +on the parade; and, supposing that one of these regiments was doing +the same thing near the Nazim's tents, he paid no attention to them. +He and his brother, the Adjutant, ran forward, and entreated the two +regiments to cease firing; and the Nazim sent out Syud Seoraj-od Deen +(the commandant of the Bhurmar regiment, stationed in the adjoining +district of Ramnugger Dhumeree, who had just come to him on a visit), +with the Koran in his hand, to do the same. The remonstrances of both +were in vain. They continued to fire upon the Nazim, and Lieutenant +Orr went off to bring up his regiment, which stood ready to move on +the parade. Alarmed at this, the two regiments ran off to their +grove, and the firing ceased. + +During all this time, the other two regiments, the Zuffer Mobaruk and +Futteh Jung, stood looking on as indifferent spectators; and +afterwards took great credit to themselves for not joining in this +attempt to blow up the viceroy, who was obliged, the next day, to go +to their camp and apologize humbly for his men having presumed to +return their fire, which he declared that they had done without his +orders! On his doing this, they consented to forego their claim to +have the unhappy messenger sent to their camp to be _executed_; and +to remain with him during the siege. As to taking any part in the +siege and assault on the fort, that was altogether out of their line. +Ruza Kolee Khan, the commandant of the Futteh Jung, was at Lucknow +during this mutiny, but he joined a few days after. Lieutenant Orr +gave me the same narrative of the affair at the dinner-table last +night; and said, that he and his brother had a very narrow escape-- +that his regiment would have destroyed all the mutineers had they +been present; and he left them on the parade lest he might not be +able to restrain them in such a scene. Even this mutiny of the two +regiments could not tempt their commandants to leave Court, where +they are still enjoying the favour of their patrons, the minister and +the singers, and a large share of the pay and perquisites of their +officers and sipahees, though the regiments have been sent off to the +two disturbed districts of Sundela and Salone. + +They dare not face the most contemptible enemy, but they spare not +the weak and inoffensive of any class, age, or sex. A respectable +landholder, in presenting a petition, complaining of the outrages +committed upon his village and peasantry, said a few days ago--"The +oppression of these revenue collectors, and their disorderly troops, +is intolerable, sir--they plunder all who cannot resist them, but +cannot lift their arms, or draw their breath freely in the presence +of armed robbers and rebels--it is a proverb, sir, that _insects_ +prey upon soft _wood_; and these men prey only upon the peaceful and +industrious, who are unable to defend themselves." The Nazim tells +me, that the lamentations of the poor people, plundered and +maltreated, were incessant and distressing during the whole time +these two corps were with him; and that he could exercise no control +whatever over them, protected as they were, in all their iniquities, +by the Court favour their two commandants enjoyed at Lucknow.* + +[* Kootab Allee was one of the singers who were soon after banished +from Oude in disgrace. But all the influence they exercised over the +King has been concentrated in the hands of the two singers who +remained, Mosahib Allee and Anees-od Dowla. All are despicable +_domes_; but the two, who now govern the King, are much worse +characters than any of those who were banished.] + +I asked Bukhtawur Sing, before the Nazim overtook us this morning, +why it was, that these governors always took so many troops with them +when they moved from place to place, merely to settle accounts and +inspect the crops. "Some of them," said he, "take all the troops they +can muster, to show that they are great men; but, for the most part, +they are afraid to move without them. They, and the greater part of +the landholders, consider each other as natural and irreconcilable +enemies; and a good many of those, who hold the largest estates, are +at all times in open resistance against the Government. They have +their Vakeels with the contractors when they are not so, and spies +when they are. They know all his movements, and would waylay and +carry him off if not surrounded with a strong body of soldiers, for +he is always moving over the country, with every part of which they +are well acquainted. Besides, under the present system of allowing +them to forage or plunder for themselves, it is ruinous to any place +to leave them in it for even a few days--no man, within several +miles, would preserve shelter for his family, or food for his cattle, +during the hot and rainy months--he is obliged to take them about +with him to distribute, as equally as he can, the terrible burthen of +maintaining them. Now that the sugar-cane is ripe, not one cane would +be preserved in any field within five miles of any place where the +Nazim kept his troops for ten days." + +_March_ 12, 1850.--Seetapoor, nine miles over a plain of muteear +soil, the greater part of which is light, and yields but scanty crops +without manure, which is very scarce. Immediately about the station +and villages, where manure is available, the crops are good. The wind +continues westerly, the sky is clear, and the blight does not seem to +increase. + +The 2nd Regiment of Oude Local Infantry is stationed at Seetapoor, +but it has no guns or cavalry of any kind. Formerly there was a corps +of the Honourable Company's Native Infantry here, with two guns and a +detail of artillery. The sipahees of this corps, and of the 1st Oude +Local Infantry, at Sultanpoor, are somewhat inferior in appearance to +those of our own native infantry regiments, and still more so to the +Oude corps under Captains Barlow, Magness, and Bunbury. They receive +five rupees eight annas a-month pay, and batta, or extra allowance, +when marching; and the same pay as our own sipahees of the line +(seven rupees a-month) when serving with them. But the commandants +cannot get recruits equal to those that enlist in our regiments of +the line, or those that enlist in the corps of the officers above +named. They have not the rest and the licence of the one, while they +have the same drill and discipline, without the same rate of pay as +the other. They have now the privilege of petitioning through the +Resident like our sipahees of the line, and that of the pension +establishment, while Barlow's, Bunbury's, and Magness's corps have +neither. They have none but internal duties--they are hardly ever +sent out to aid the King's local authorities, and do not escort +treasure even for their own pay. It is sent to them by drafts from +Lucknow on the local collectors of the district in which they are +cantoned; and the money required for the Resident's Treasury--a great +portion of which passes through the Seetapoor cantonments--is +escorted by our infantry regiments of the line, stationed at Lucknow, +merely because a General Order exists that no irregular corps shall +be employed on such duties while any regular corps near has a relief +of guards present. The corps of regular infantry at Shajehanpoor +escorts the treasure six marches to Seetapoor, where it is relieved +by a detachment from one of the regular corps at Lucknow, six marches +distant. + +The native officers and sipahees of these two corps have leave of +absence to visit their families just as often and for just as long +periods as those of the corps under the three above-named officers-- +that is, for one month out of twelve. The native officers and +sipahees of these three corps are not, however, so much drilled or +restrained as those of the two Oude local corps, in which no man +dares to help himself occasionally to the roofs of houses and the +produce of fields or gardens; nor to take presents from local +authorities, as they are hardly ever sent out to assist them. The +native officers and sipahees of the very best of the King of Oude's +corps do all this more or less; and they become, in consequence, more +attached to their officers and the service. Moreover, the commandants +of the two corps of Oude local infantry never become _mediators_ +between large landholders and local governors as those of the King of +Oude's corps so often do; nor are any landed estates ever assigned to +them for the liquidation of their arrears of pay, and confided to +their management. So highly do the native officers of these three +Oude _Komukee_ corps appreciate all the privileges and perquisites +they enjoy, when out on duty under district officers, that they +consider short periods of guard duty in the city, where they have +none of them, as serious punishments. + +The drainage about Seetapoor is into the small river Surain, which +flows along on the west boundary, and is excellent; and the lands in +and about the station are at all times dry. The soil, too, is good; +and the place, on the whole, is well adapted for the cantonment of a +much larger force. + +_March_ 13, 1850.--Khyrabad, east nine miles, over a plain of +doomuteea soil with much oosur. A little outlay and labour seem, +however, to make this oosur produce good crops. On entering the town +on the west side, we passed over a good stone bridge over this little +stream, the Surain; and to the east of the town is another over the +still smaller stream of the Gond. Khyrabad is not so well drained as +Seetapoor, nor would it be so well adapted for a large cantonment. It +is considered to be less healthy. There is an avenue of good trees +all the way from Seetapoor to Khyrabad, a distance of six miles, +planted by Hakeem Mehndee. Our camp being to the eastern extremity of +the town, renders the distance nine miles. + +Yesterday at Seetapoor I had a visit from Monowur-od Dowla, late +prime minister, and Moomtaz-od Dowla, grandson to the late King, +Mahommed Allee Shah, on their way out to the Tarae forest to join +Kindoo Rao, the brother of the Byza Bae, of Gwalior, in pursuit of +tigers. This morning on the road, old Bukhtawur Sing, after a sigh, +said: "I presented a nazur to the prince, Moomtaz-od Dowla, sir; he +is the grandson of a King, and the victim of the folly and crime of +shooting a monkey! His father, Asgur Allee Khan, was the eldest son +of Mahommed Allee Shah, and elder brother of Amjud Allee Shah, the +father of the present King. He was fond of his gun, and one day a +monkey, of the red and short-tailed kind, came and sat upon one of +his out-offices. He sent for his gun, and shot it dead with a ball. +The very next day, sir, he had a severe attack of fever, which +carried him off in three days. During this time he frequently called +out in terror, 'Save me from that monkey! save me from that monkey!' +--pointing to the part of the room in which he _saw him_. The monkey +killed Asgur Allee Khan, sir; and no man ever escapes death or misery +who wilfully kills one. Moomtaz-od Dowla might, sir, have been now +King of Oude had his father not shot that monkey." + +"But I thought," said I, "it was the _hanoomaun_, or long-tailed +monkey, that was held sacred by the Hindoos?"--"Sir," said Bukhtawur +Sing, "both are alike sacred.* Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, the predecessor +of Mahommed Allee Shah, went one day shooting in the dilkhoosha park. +Several of the long-tailed monkeys came and sat upon a mango-tree +near him. He could not resist the temptation, and shot several of +them, one after another, with ball. He returned to the palace; but +had not been home more than three hours, when he and his favourite +wife, the Kooduseea Begum,** had a fierce quarrel, in which both +became insane; she was so enraged that she took poison forthwith, +and, in her agony, actually spit up her liver, which had been torn to +pieces by the force of the poison! The King could not stand the +horrible sight, and ran off and hid himself in the race-stand, near +which you fell and broke your thigh-bone in April last; there he +remained shut up till she died. He had had warning, sir, for a few +months after his accession to the throne; I attended him and his +minister, Aga Meer, on a visit to the garden, called padshah baag, on +the opposite side of the river: he had a gun with him, and, seeing a +monkey on a tree, he ordered the prime minister to try his hand at +it. I told Aga Meer that evil would certainly befall him or his house +if he shot the animal, and begged his Majesty not to assist upon the +minister's doing it. Both laughed at what they thought my folly; the +minister shot the monkey; and in a few days he was out of office and +in a prison. One way or other, sir, a man who wilfully destroys a +monkey is sure to be punished." + +[* That Asgur Allee Khan, the eldest son of the King, Mahommed Allee +Shah, did shoot the monkey, got a fever a few days after, and died of +it, are facts well known at Lucknow. That he often mentioned the +monkey during his delirium, is generally believed; and that his death +was the consequence of his shooting that animal is the opinion of all +the Hindoo, and a great part of the Musulman, population. His death, +while his father lived, deprived his son, Moomtaz-od Dowla, of the +throne.] + +[** The Kooduseea Begum had been introduced into the palace as +waiting-woman to Mulika Zumanee, whom she soon superseded in the +King's affections, which she retained till her death. She was married +to the King on the 17th December, 1831, and died on the 21st of +August 1834.] + +At Khyrabad there is a handsome set of buildings, consisting of a +mausoleum over his father, a mosque, an _imambara_, and a _kudum +rusool_, or shrine with the print of the prophet's foot, erected by +Mucka Durzee, a tailor in the service of the King, who made a large +fortune out of his master's favours, and who still lives, and +provides for their repair and suitable endowment. These buildings +are, like all others of the same kind, infested by a host of +professional religious mendicants of both sexes and all ages, who +make the air resound with their clamours for alms. Not only are such +buildings so infested, but all the towns around them. I could not +help observing to the native gentlemen who attended me, "that when +men planted groves and avenues, and built reservoirs, bridges, +caravansaries, and wells, they did not give rise to any such sources +of annoyance to travellers; that they enjoyed the water, shade, and +accommodation, without cost or vexation, and went on their way +blessing the donor." "That," said an old Rusaldar, "is certainly +taking a new and just view of the case; but still it is a surprising +thing to see a man in this humble sphere of life raising and +maintaining so splendid a pile of buildings."* + +[* Mucka the tailor, to whom these buildings belong, is the person +mentioned in the account of the death of the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, and the confinement of Ghalib Jung.] + +The town of Khyrabad has still a good many inhabitants; but the +number is fast decreasing. It was the residence of the families of a +good many public officers in our service and that of Oude; and the +local authorities of the district used to reside here. They do so no +longer; and the families of public officers have almost all gone to +reside at other places. Life and property have become exceedingly +insecure, and attacks by gang-robbers so frequent that no man thinks +his house and family safe for a single night. Government officers are +entirely occupied in the collection of revenue, and they disregard +altogether the sufferings and risks to which the people of towns are +exposed. The ground around the place is low, and the climate is +inferior to that of Seetapoor. Salt and saltpetre are 'made from the +soil immediately round the town. + +I have mentioned that Moomtaz-od Dowla might now have been King of +Oude had his father not died before his father. The Mohammedan law +excludes for ever the children of any person who dies before the +person to whom he or she is the next heir from all right in the +inheritance. Under the operation of this law, the sons of the eldest +son of the reigning King are excluded from the succession if he dies +before his father, and the crown devolves on the second son, or on +the brother of the King, if he leaves no other son. The sons of all +the sons who die, while their father lives, are _mahjoob-ol-irs_, +that is, excluded from inheritance. In the same manner, if the next +brother of the King dies before him, his sons are excluded from the +succession, which devolves on the third brother, and so on through +all the brothers. For instance, on the death, without any recognised +issue, of Nuseer-od Been Hyder, son of Ghazee-od Deen, he was +succeeded on the throne by Mahommed Allee Shah, the third brother of +Ghazee-od Deen, though four sons of the second brother, Shums-od +Dowla, still lived. On the death of Mahommed Allee Shah, he was +succeeded by his second son, Amjud Allee Shah, though Moomtaz-od +Dowla, the son of his eldest son, Asgur Allee Khan, still lived. +Shums-od Dowla died before his elder brother, Ghazee-od Deen; and +Asgur Allee Khan before his father, Mahommed Allee Shah: and the sons +of both became, in consequence, _mahjoob-ol-irs_, excluded from +succession. The same rule guides the succession among the Delhi +sovereigns. This exclusion extends to all kinds of property, as well +as to sovereignty. + +Moomtaz-od Dowla is married to Zeenut-on Nissa, the daughter of +Mulika Zumanee, one of the consorts of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, late +King of Oude; and he has, I fear, more cause to regret his union with +her than his exclusion from the throne. Zeenut-on Nissa enjoys a +pension of ten thousand rupees a-month, in her own right, under the +guarantee of the British Government. I may here, as an episode not +devoid of interest, give a brief account of her mother, who, for some +years, during the reign of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, presided over the +palace at Lucknow. Before I do so I may mention that the King, +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, had been married to a grand-daughter of the +Emperor of Delhi, a very beautiful young woman, of exemplary +character, who still survives, and retains the respect of the royal +family and people of Lucknow. Finding the Court too profligate for +her, she retired into private life soon after the marriage, and has +remained there ever since upon a small stipend from the King. + +Mulika Zumanee, queen of the age, was a daughter of a Hindoo of the +Koormee caste, who borrowed from his neighbour, Futteh Morad, the sum +of sixty rupees, to purchase cloth. He soon after died, leaving a +widow, and a daughter named Dolaree, then five years of age. They +were both seized and confined for the debt by Futteh Morad; but, on +the mother's consenting to leave her daughter in bondage for the +debt, she was released. Futteh Morad's sister, Kuramut-on Nissa, +adopted Dolaree, who was a prepossessing child, and brought her up as +her daughter; but finding, as she grew up, that she was too intimate +with Roostum, the son by a former husband of her brother's second +wife, she insisted on their being married, and they were so. Futteh +Morad soon after died, and his first wife turned the second, with her +first son, Roostum, and his wife, Dolaree, and the two sons which she +had borne to Futteh Morad--Futteh Allee Khan and Warus Allee Khān-- +out of her house. They went to Futteh Morad's aunt, Bebee Mulatee, a +learned woman, who resided as governess in the house of Nawab +Mohubbet Khan, at Roostumnugger, near Lucknow, and taught his +daughters to read the Koran. Finding Dolaree to be not the most +faithful of wives to Roostum, she would not admit them into the +Nawab's house, but she assisted them with food and raiment; and +Roostum entered the service--as a groom--of a trooper in the King's +cavalry, called Abas Kolee Beg. Dolaree had given birth to a boy, who +was named Mahommed Allee; and she now gave birth to a daughter; but +she had cohabited with a blacksmith and an elephant-driver in the +neighbourhood, and it became a much "vexed question" whether the son +and daughter resembled most Roostum, the blacksmith, or the elephant- +driver; all, however, were agreed upon the point of Dolaree's +backslidings. Mahommed Allee, _alias_ Kywan Ja, was three years of +age, and the daughter, _Zeenut-on Nissa_, one year and half, when +some belted attendants from the palace came to Roostumnugger in +search of a wet-nurse for the young prince, Moona Jan, who had been +born the night before; and Bebee Mulatee, whose reputation for +learning had readied the royal family, sent off Dolaree as one of the +candidates for employment. Her appearance pleased the queen, the +Padshah Begum, the quality of her milk was pronounced by the royal +physicians to be first rate, and she was chosen, as wet-nurse for the +new-born prince. + +Moona Jan's father (then heir-apparent to the throne of Oude) no +sooner saw Dolaree than, to the astonishment of the Queen and her +Court, he fell desperately in love with her, though she seemed very +plain and very vulgar to all other eyes; and he could neither repose +himself, nor permit anybody else in the palace to repose, till he +obtained the King's and Queen's consent to his making her his wife, +which he did in 1826. She soon acquired an entire ascendancy over his +weak mind, and, anxious to surround herself in her exalted station by +people on whom she could entirely rely, she invited the learned Bebee +Mulatee and her daughter, Jumeel-on Nissa, and her son, Kasim Beg, to +the palace, and placed them in high and confidential posts. She +invited at the same time Futteh Allee and Warus Allee, the sons of +Futteh Morad by his second wife; and persuaded the King that they +were all people of high lineage, who had been reduced, by unmerited +misfortunes, to accept employments so humble. All were raised to the +rank of Nawabs, and placed in situations of high trust and +emoluments. Kuramut-on Nissa, too, the sister of Futteh Morad, was +invited; but when Dolaree's husband--the humble Roostum--ventured to +approach the Court, he was seized and imprisoned in a fort in the +Bangur district till the death of Nuseer-od Deen, when he was +released. He came to Lucknow, but died soon after. + +Soon after the death of Ghazee-od Deen had placed the heir-apparent, +her husband, on the throne, 20th of October, 1827, she fortified +herself still further by high alliances: and her son, Mahommed Allee, +was affianced to the daughter of Rokun-od Dowla, brother of the late +King; and her daughter, Zeenut-on Nissa, to Moomtaz-od Dowla, the +prince of whom I am writing. These two marriages were celebrated at a +cost of about thirty lacs of rupees; Dolaree was declared the first +consort of the King, under the title of "Mulika Zamanee," queen of +the age, and received an estate in land yielding six lacs of rupees +a-year for pin-money. Not satisfied with this, she prevailed upon the +King to declare her son, Mahommed Allee, _alias_ Kywan Ja, to be his +_own and eldest son_, and heir-apparent to the throne; and to demand +his recognition as such from the British Government, through its +representative, the Resident. His Majesty, with great solemnity, +assured the Resident, on many occasions during November and December, +1827, _that Kywan Ja was his eldest son_; and told him that had he +not been so, his uncle would never have consented to bestow his +daughter upon him in marriage, nor should he himself have consented +to expend twenty lacs of rupees in the ceremonies. The Resident told +him that the universal impression at Lucknow was, that the boy was +three years of age when his mother was first introduced to his +Majesty. But this had no effect; and, to remove all further doubts +and discussions on the subject, he wrote a letter himself to the +Governor-General, earnestly protesting that Kywan Ja was his _eldest +son and heir-apparent to the throne_; and as such he was sent from +Lucknow to Cawnpoor to meet and escort over Lord Combermere in +December, 1827. + +On the birth of Moonna Jan, the then King, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, +declared to the Resident that the boy was not his grandson, and that +his son, Nuseer-od Deen, pretended that he was his son merely to +please his imperious mother, the Padshah Begum, and to annoy his +father, with whom they were both on bad terms. Ghazee-od Deen had, +however, before his death declared that he believed Moonna Jan to be +his grandson.* In February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, +first through the minister, and then in person, assured the Resident +that neither of the boys was his son, and requested that he would +report the same to his Government, and assure the Governor-General +"that both reports, as to these boys being sons of his, were false, +and arose from the same cause, _bribery_ and _ambition_, that Mulika +Zumanee had paid many lacs of rupees to influential people about him +to persuade him to call her son his, and declare him heir-apparent to +the throne; and that Fazl Allee and Sookcheyn had done the same to +induce others to persuade him to acknowledge Moonna Jan to be his +son. But, said his Majesty, I know positively that he is not my son, +and my father knew the same." + +[* I believe that Ghazee-od Deen's first repudiation of Moonna Jan +arose entirely from a desire to revenge himself upon his termagant +wife, whose furious temper left him no peace. She was, from his +birth, very fond of the boy; and to question his legitimacy was to +wound her in her tenderest point. This was the "raw" which her +husband established, and which his son and successor afterwards +worked upon.] + +The wary minister then, to clench the matter, remarked that his +Majesty had mentioned to him that he had ceased to cohabit with +Moonna Jan's mother for twenty-four months before the boy was born; +and the King assured the Resident that this was quite true. Hakeem +Mehndee was as anxious as Aga Meer had been to keep the King +estranged from his imperious mother, and the only sure way was to +make him persist in repudiating the boy or postponing his claim to +the succession. + +Mulika Zumanee's influence over the king had, however, been eclipsed, +first, by Miss Walters, Mokuddera Ouleea, whose history has already +been given; secondly, by the beautiful Taj Mahal; and, thirdly, by +the Kuduseea Begum. She entered the palace as a waiting-woman to +Mulika Zumanee, and, on the 17th of December, 1831, the King married +her; and from that day till her death, on the 21st of August, 1834, +she reigned supreme in the palace and in the King's affections. + +On the King's paying a visit of ceremony to Mulika Zumanee one +evening, he asked for water, and it was brought to him in a gold cup, +on a silver tray, by the Kuduseea Begum, then one of the women in +waiting. Her face was partially unveiled; and the King, after +drinking, threw the last few drops from the cup over her veil in +play. In return, she threw the few drops that had been spilled on the +salver upon the King's robe, or vest. He pretended to be angry, and +asked her, with a frown, how she could dare to besprinkle her +sovereign; she replied--"When children play together there is no +distinction between the prince and the peasant." The King was charmed +with her half-veiled beauty and spirit, and he paid a second visit +the next day, and again asked for water. He did the same as the first +day, and she returned the compliment in the same way. He came a third +time and asked for water, but Mulika Zumanee had become alarmed, and +it was presented by another and less dangerous person. A few days +after, however, the Queen was constrained to allow her fair attendant +to attend the King, and receive from him formal proposals of +marriage, which she accepted. + +She was handsome and generous; but there was no discrimination in her +bounty, and she is said to have received from the King nearly two +millions of money out of the reserved treasury for pin-money alone. +Of this she saved forty-four lacs of rupees. The King never touched +this money, and it formed, in a separate apartment, the greater part +of the seventy lacs found in his reserved treasury on his death, out +of the ten krores or ten millions sterling, which he found there when +he ascended the throne in 1827. + +She is said to have been the only one of his wives who ever had any +real affection for the King. She was haughty and imperious in her +temper; and the only female, who had any influence over her, was a +Mogulanee, who taught her to read and write. She assisted her +mistress very diligently in spending her pin-money, and made the +fortunes of sundry of her relations. Altercations between the +Kuduseea Begum and the King were not uncommon; but, on the 21st of +August, 1834, the King became unusually excited, and told her that he +had raised her from bondage to the throne, and could as easily cast +her back into the same vile condition. Her proud spirit could not +brook this, and she instantly swallowed arsenic. The King relented, +and every remedy was tried, but in vain. The King watched over her +agonies till she was about to expire, when he fled in a frantic state +and took refuge in the apartments of the race-stand, about three +miles from the palace, till the funeral ceremonies were over. It is +said, that in her anxiety to give birth to an heir to the throne, she +got the husband, from whom she had been divorced, smuggled into her +apartments in the palace in a female dress more than once; and that +this was reported to the King, and became the real cause of the +dispute. + +The Mogulanee attendant, who had accumulated twenty lacs of rupees, +was seized and commanded to disgorge. She offered five lacs to Court +favourites on condition that they saw her safely over the river +Ganges into British territory. The most grave of them were +commissioned to wait upon his Majesty, and entreat him most earnestly +to banish her forthwith from his territories, as she was known, in +the first place, to be one of the most _potent sorceresses_ in India; +and, in the next, to have been exceedingly attached to her late +mistress: that they had strong grounds to believe that it was her +intention to send his Majesty's spirit after hers, that they might be +united in the next world us they had been in this. The King got +angry, and said, that he had no dread of sorceresses, and would make +the old lady disgorge her twenty lacs. That very night, however, in +his sleep, he saw the Kuduseea Begum enter his room, approach his +bed, look upon him with a countenance still more kind and bright than +in life, and then return slowly with her face still towards him, and +beckoning him with her hand to follow! As soon as he awoke he became +greatly agitated and alarmed, and ordered the old sorceress to be +sent forthwith across the Ganges to Cawnpoor. She paid her five lacs, +and took off about fifteen; but what became of her afterwards I have +not heard. + +One of the first cases that I had to decide, after taking charge of +my office, was that of a claim to five Government notes of twenty +thousand rupees each, left by Sultan Mahal, one of the late King, +Amjud Allee Shah's, widows. The claimants were the reigning King, and +the mother, brother, and sister of the deceased widow. She was the +daughter of a greengrocer, and, in February 1846, at the age of +sixteen, she went to the palace with vegetables. The King saw and +fell in love with her; and she forthwith became one of his wives, +under the name of "Sultan Mahal." In November, 1846, the King +invested eighteen lacs and thirty thousand rupees in Government notes +as a provision for his wives and other female relations. The notes +were to be made out in their names respectively; and the interest was +to be paid to them and their heirs. Of this sum, Sultan Mahal was to +have one hundred thousand; and, on the 21st of November, she drew the +interest, in anticipation, up to the 30th of December of that year. +The five notes for twenty thousand each, in her name, were received +in the Resident's Treasury on the 20th of April, 1847. On the 28th of +August, she sent an application for the Notes to the Resident, but +died the next day. The King, her husband, had died on the 18th +February, 1847. + +Nine days after, on the 6th of September, the new King, Wajid Allee +Shah, sent an application to have these five notes transferred to one +of his own wives; urging, that, as his father and the Sultan Mahal +had both died, he alone ought to be considered as the heir. It was +decided, that the mother, sister, and brother were the rightful heirs +to the Sultan Mahal; and the amount was distributed among them +according to Mahommedan law. The question was, however, submitted to +Government at his Majesty's request; and the decision of the Resident +was upheld on the ground that the notes were in the lady's name, and +she had actually drawn interest on them; and, as she died intestate, +they became the property of her heirs. + +By a deed of engagement with the British Government, dated the 1st of +March, 1820, the King contributed to the five per cent loan the sum +of sixty-two lacs and forty thousand rupees, the interest of which, +at five per cent, our Government pledged itself to pay, in +perpetuity, to four females of the King's family. To Mulika Zumanee, +ten thousand a-month; to her daughter, Zeenut-on Nissa, four +thousand; to Mokuddera Ouleea (Miss Walters), six thousand; and to +Taj Mahal, six thousand: total, twenty-six thousand rupees a-month. +On the death of Mulika Zamanee, which took place on the 22nd +December, 1843, her daughter succeeded to her pension of six thousand +a-month. + +The other portion of her pension--four thousand rupees a-month--went +to her grandson, Wuzeer Mirza, the son of Kywan Ja, who had died on +the 16th of May, 1838, before his mother.* Of this four thousand a- +month, one thousand are given to Zeenut-on Nissa for the boy's +subsistence and education, and three thousand a-month are invested in +Government securities, to be paid to him when he comes of age. But, +besides the six thousand rupees a-month which she inherits from her +mother, Zeenut-on Nissa enjoys the pension of four thousand rupees a- +month, which was assigned to her by the King in the same deed; so +that she now draws eleven thousand rupees a-month, independent of her +husband's income.** By this deed the stipends are to descend to the +heirs of the pensioners, if they have any; and if they have none, +they can bequeath their pensions to whom they please. Should they +have no heirs, and leave no will, the stipends are to go to the +moojtahids and moojawurs, or presiding priests of the shrine of +kurbala, in Turkish Arabia, for distribution among the needy +pilgrims. + +[* Wuzeer Mirza is not the son of Rokun-od Dowla's daughter. Kywan +Ja's marriage with that lady was never consummated.] + +[** She takes after her mother, and makes her worthy husband very +miserable. She is ill-tempered, haughty, and profligate.] + +An European lady, who visited the zunana of the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, on the anniversary of his coronation, on the 18th of October, +1828, writes thus to a female friend:--"But the present King's wives +were superbly dressed, and looked like creatures of the Arabian +Tales. Indeed, one (Taj Mahal) was so beautiful, that I could think +of nothing but Lalla Rookh in her bridal attire. I never saw any one +so lovely, either black or white. Her features were perfect, and such +eyes and eye-lashes I never, beheld before. She is the favourite +Queen at present, and has only been married a month or two, her age, +about fourteen; and such a little creature, with the smallest hands +and feet, and the most timid, modest look imaginable. You would have +been charmed with her, she was so graceful and fawn-like. Her dress +was of gold and scarlet brocade, and her hair was literally strewed +with pearls, which hung down upon her neck in long single strings, +terminating in large pearls, which mixed with and hung as low as her +hair, which was curled on each side her head in long ringlets, like +Charles the Second's beauties. On her forehead she wore a small gold +circlet, from which depended and hung, half way down, large pearls +interspersed with emeralds. Above this was a paradise plume, from +which strings of pearls were carried over the head, as we turn our +hair. Her earrings were immense gold rings, with pearls and emeralds +suspended all round in large strings, the pearls increasing in size. +She had a nose ring also with large round pearls and emeralds; and +her necklaces, &c., were too numerous to be described. She wore long +sleeves, open at the elbow; and her dress was a full petticoat with a +tight body attached, and open only at the throat. She had several +persons to bear her train when she walked; and her women stood behind +her couch to arrange her head-dress, when, in moving, her pearls got +entangled in the immense robe of scarlet and gold she had thrown +around her. This beautiful creature is the envy of all the other +wives, and the favourite at present of both the King and his mother, +both of whom have given her titles--See _Mrs. Park's Wandering_, vol. +i., page 87. Taj Mahal still lives and enjoys a pension of six +thousand rupees a-month, under the guarantee of the British +Government. She became very profligate after the King's death; and +after she had given birth to one child, it was deemed necessary to +place a guard over her to prevent her dishonouring the memory of the +King, her husband, any further by giving birth to more." + +Of Miss Walters, alias Mokuddera Ouleea, the same lady writes:--"The +other newly-made Queen is nearly European, but not a whit fairer than +Taj Mahal. She is, in my opinion, plain; but she is considered by the +native ladies very handsome, and she was the King's favourite before +he saw Taj Mahal. She was more splendidly dressed than even Taj +Mahal. Her head-dress was a coronet of diamonds, with a fine crescent +and plume of the same. She is the daughter of a European merchant, +and is accomplished for an inhabitant of a zunana, as she writes and +speaks Persian fluently, as well as Hindoostanee; and it is said that +she is teaching the King English, though when we spoke to her in +English, she said she had forgotten it, and could not reply. She was, +I fancy, afraid of the Queen Dowager, as she evidently understood us; +and when asked if she liked being in the zunana, she shook her head +and looked quite melancholy. Jealousy of the new favourite, however, +appeared to be the cause of her discontent, as, though they sat on +the same couch, they never addressed each other." + +Of Mulika Zumanee, the same lady says:--"The mother of the King's +children, Mulika Zumanee, did not visit us at the Queen Dowager's; +but we went to see her at her own palace. She is, after all, the +person of the most political consequence, being the mother of the +heir-apparent; and she has great power over her royal husband, whose +ears she boxes occasionally." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder's death--His repudiation of his son, Moonna Jan, +leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od Dowlah--Contest for +the succession between these two persons--The Resident supports the +uncle; and the Padshah Begum supports the son--The ministers supposed +to have poisoned the King--Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth +by his successor--Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which Oude +was divided into two equal shares--One transferred to the British +Government, one reserved by Oude--Estimated value of each at the time +of treaty--Present value of each--The sovereign often warned that +unless he governs as he ought, the British Government cannot support +him, but must interpose and take the administration upon itself--All +such warnings have been utterly disregarded--No security to life or +property in any part of Oude--Fifty years of experience has proved, +that we cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its +people--The alternative left appears to be to take the management +upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the sovereign and +royal family of Oude--Probable effects of such a change on the +feelings and interests of the people of Oude. + + +When in February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, assured the +Resident that Moonna Jan was not his son. Lord William Bentinck was +Governor-General of India. A more thoroughly honest man never, I +believe, presided over the government of any country. The question of +right to succession was long maturely and most anxiously considered, +after these repeated and formal repudiations on the part of the King, +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder; and Government would willingly have deferred a +final decision on so important a question longer, but it was deemed +unsafe any longer from the debauched habits of the King, the chance +of his sudden death, and the risk of a tumult in such a city, to +leave the representative of the paramount power unprepared to +proclaim its will in favour of the rightful heir, the moment that a +demise took place. Under these considerations, instructions were sent +to the Resident, on the 15th of December, 1833, in case of the King's +death without a son, or pregnant consort, to declare the eldest +surviving brother of the late King, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, heir to the +throne, and have him placed upon it. According to the law already +noticed (which applies as well to sovereignty as to property) the +sons of Shums-od Dowlah, the second son of Saadut Allee Khan, who had +died shortly before his eldest and reigning brother, Ghazee-od Deen, +were excluded from all claims to the succession, and the right +devolved upon the third son of Saadut Allee, Nuseer-od Dowlah. +Ghazee-od Deen had only one son, the reigning sovereign, Nuseer-od +Deen Hyder. + +This prince had impaired his constitution by drinking and other +vicious indulgences, in which he had been encouraged in early life by +his designing or inconsiderate adoptive mother, the Padshah Begum; +but for some time before his death, he used frequently to declare to +his most intimate companions that he felt sure he should die of +poison, and that at no distant period. He for some time before his +death had a small well in the palace, over which he kept his own lock +and key; and he kept the same over the jar, in which he drew the +water from it for his own drinking. The keys were suspended by a gold +chain around his neck. The persons who gave him his drink, except +when taking it out of English sealed bottles, were two sisters, +Dhuneea and Dulwee. The latter and youngest is now the wife of Wasee +Allee Khan. The eldest, Dhuneea, still resides at Lucknow. The +general impression at Lucknow and over all Oude was, that the British +Government would, take upon itself the management of the country on +the death, without issue, of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder; and the King +himself latterly seemed rather pleased than otherwise at the thought +that he should be the last of the Oude kings. He had repudiated his +own son, and was unwilling that any other member of the family should +fill his place. The minister and the other public officers and Court +favourites, who had made large fortunes, wished it, as it was +understood by some, that by such a measure they would be secured from +all scrutiny into their accounts, and enabled to keep securely all +that they had accumulated. + +About half-past eleven, on the night of the 7th July, 1837, the +Durbar Wakeel, Gholam Yaheea,* came to the Resident and reported that +the King had been taken suddenly ill, and appeared to be either dead +or in a dying state, from the symptoms described to him by his +Majesty's attendants. The Resident, Colonel Low, ordered his two +Assistants, Captains Paton and Shakespear, the Head Moonshee and Head +Clerk, to be in attendance, and wrote to request the Brigadier, +commanding the troops in Oude, to hold one thousand men in readiness +to march to the Residency at a moment's notice. The Residency is +situated in the city near the Furra Buksh Palace, in which the King +resided. The Resident intended that five companies of this force +should be sent in advance of the main body and guns, for the purpose +of placing, sentries over the palace gates, treasuries, and other +places containing valuables within the walls. But this intention was +not unfortunately made known to the Brigadier. Captain Magness, who +commanded a corps of infantry with six guns, and a squadron of horse, +had been ordered by the minister at half-past eight o'clock, to +proceed with them to a place near the southern entrance of the +palace, and there to wait for further instructions, and he did so. +This was three hours before the minister made any report to the +Resident of the King's illness, and Captain Magness was told by the +people in attendance that the King was either dead or dying. + +[* Gholam Yaheea Khan was the maternal uncle of Shurf-od Dowlah, who +was, afterwards, some time minister under Mahommed Allee Shah.] + +Having given these orders, the Resident proceeded to the palace, +attended by Captain Paton, the first Assistant, and Dr. Stevenson, +the Residency Surgeon. They found the King lying dead upon his bed, +but his body was still warm, and Dr. Stevenson opened a vein in one +arm. Blood flowed freely from it, but no other sign of life could be +discovered. His features were placid and betrayed no sign of his +having suffered any pain; and the servants in attendance declared +that the only sign of suffering they had heard or seen was a slight +shriek, to which the King gave utterance before he expired; that +after that shriek he neither moved, spoke, nor showed any sign +whatever of life. His Majesty had been unwell for three weeks, but no +one had any apprehension of danger from his symptoms. He had called +for some sherbet a short time before his death, and it was given to +him by Dhuneea, the eldest of the two sisters. + +The Resident took with him a guard of sipahees from his escort, and +Captain Paton distributed them as double sentries at the inner doors +of the palace, and outside the chief buildings and store-rooms, with +orders to allow no one but the ministers and treasurers to pass. +Captain Madness had placed one sentry before at each of these places, +and he now added a second, making a party of four sipahees at each +post. Captain Paton at the same time, in conjunction with the +officers of the Court, placed seals on all the jewels and other +valuables belonging to the King and his establishments; and as the +night was very dark, placed torch-bearers at all places where they +appeared to be required. + +Having made these arrangements the Resident returned with Dr. +Stevenson to the Residency, leaving Captain Paton at the palace; and +wrote to the Brigadier to request that he would send off the five +companies in advance to the palace direct, and bring down all his +disposable troops, including artillery, to the city. The distance +from the palace to the cantonments, round by the old stone bridge, +was about four miles and half. The iron bridge, which shortens the +distance by a mile and half, had not then been thrown over the +Goomtee river, which flows between them. The Resident then had drawn +up, for the consent of the new king, a Persian paper, declaring that +he was prepared to sign any new treaty for the better government of +the country that the British Government might think proper to propose +to him. + +It was now one o'clock in the morning of the 8th of July, and Captain +Shakespear, attended by the Meer Moonshee, Iltufat Hoseyn, and the +Durbar Wakeel, proceeded to the house of the new sovereign, Nuseer-od +Dowlah, who then resided where the present King now resides, a +distance of about a mile from the Residency. The visit was altogether +unexpected; and, as the new sovereign had been for some time ill, +some delay took place in arranging for the reception of the mission. +After explaining the object of his visit. Captain Shakespear +presented the paper, which the King perused with great attention, and +then signed without hesitation. Captain Shakespear returned with it +to the Resident, who repaired again to the palace, and sent Captain +Paton, the first Assistant, to the Residency, to proceed thence with +Captain Shakespear and the Durbar Wakeel, to the house of the new +sovereign, and escort him to the palace, where he would be in +readiness to receive him. He arrived about three o'clock in the +morning, and being infirm from age, and exceedingly reduced from +recent illness, he was, after a short conversation with the Resident, +left in a small adjoining room, to repose for a few hours preparatory +to his being placed on the throne and crowned in due form. His eldest +surviving son, afterwards Amjud Allee Shah, his sons, the present +King, Wajid Allee Shah, and Mirza Jawad Khan, the King's foster +brother, Hummeed-od Dowlah, and his confidential servant, Rufeek-od +Dowla, were left in the room with him; and the Resident and his +Assistants sat in the verandah facing the river Goomtee, which flows +under the walls, conversing on the ceremonies to be observed at the +approaching coronation, and the persons to be invited to assist at +it, when they were suddenly interrupted by the intelligence that the +Padshah Begum, the adoptive mother of the late King, with a large +armed force, and the young pretender, Moonna Jan, were coming on to +seize upon the throne, and might soon be expected at the principal +entrance to the palace to the north-west. + +When the Resident was about to proceed to the palace, the first time +about midnight, he was assured by the minister, Roshun-od Dowla, that +every possible precaution had been taken by him to prevent the +Padshah Begum from attempting any such enterprise, or from leaving +her residence with the young pretender; that he had placed strong +bodies of troops in every street or road by which she could come. +But, to make more sure, and prevent her leaving her residence at the +Almas gardens, five miles from the palace, the Resident sent off one +of his chobdars, Khoda Buksh, with two troopers and a verbal message, +enjoining her to remain quietly at her palace. These men found her +with her equipage in the midst of a large mass of armed followers, +ready to set out for the palace. They delivered their message from +the Resident, but were sent back with her Wakeel, Mirza Allee, to +request that she might be permitted to look upon the dead body of the +late King, since she had not been permitted to see him for so long a +period before his death. But they reached the Resident with this +message, only ten minutes before the Begum's troops were thundering +for admittance at the gate. The Resident gave the chobdar a note for +the officer in command of the five companies, supposed to be in +advance on their way down from cantonments; but before he could get +with this note five hundred yards from the palace, he met the Begum +and her disorderly band filling the road and pressing on as fast as +they could. Unable to proceed, he returned to the palace with all +haste, and gave the Resident the first notice of their near approach. +Captain Magness had placed two of his six guns at each of the three +entrances to the south and west, but was now ordered to collect all, +and proceed to the north-western entrance, towards which the Begum +was advancing. Before he could get to that entrance she had passed +in, and he returned to the south-western entrance for further orders. + +On passing the mausoleum of Asuf-od Dowlah, where the Kotwal or head +police officer of the city resided, she summoned him, with all his +available police, to attend his sovereign to the throne of his +ancestors. He promised obedience, but, with all his police, stood +aloof, thinking that her side might not be the safe one to take in +such an emergency. A little further on she passed Hussun Bagh, the +residence of the chief consort of the late King and niece of the +emperor of Delhi, and summoned and brought her on, to give some +countenance to her audacious enterprise. The Resident admonished the +minister for his negligence and falsehood in the assurance he had +given him; and directed Rajah Bukhtawur Sing, with his squadron of +one hundred and fifty horse, and Mozuffer-od Dowlah, the father of +Ajum-od Dowlah, and Khadim Hoseyn, the son-in-law of Sobhan Allee +Khan, the deputy minister, with all the armed men they could muster, +to arrest the progress of the pretender; but nothing whatever was +done, and the excited mass came on, and augmented as it came in noise +and numbers. All whom the Resident sent to check them, out of fear or +favour, avoided collision, and sought safety either in their homes or +among the pretender's bands. + +Captain Paton, as soon as he heard the pretender's' men approach, +rushed to the gate to the north-west, towards which the throng was +approaching rapidly. He had only four belted attendants with him, and +the gate was guarded only by a small party of useless sipahees, under +the control of three or four black slaves. By the time he had roused +the sleepy guard and closed the gates, the pretender's armed mass +came up, and with foul abuse, imprecations, and with threats of +instant death to all who opposed them, demanded admittance. Captain +Paton told them, that the Resident had been directed by the British +Government to place Nuseer-od Dowlah, the uncle of the late King, on +the throne as the rightful heir; that he was now in the palace, and +all who opposed him would be treated as rebels; that the gates were +all closed by order of the Resident, and all who attempted to force +them would be put to death. All was in vain. They told him with fury +that the Padshah Begum, and the son of the late King, and rightful +heir to the throne, were among them, and must be instantly admitted. +Captain Paton despatched a messenger to the Resident to say, that he +could hold the gate no longer without troops: but before he could get +a reply, the insurgents brought up an elephant to force in the gate +with his head. The first failed in the attempt, and drew back with a +frightful roar. A second, urged on by a furious driver, broke in the +gate, one-half fell with a crash to the ground, and the elephant +plunged in after it. Captain Paton was standing with his back against +this half, and must have been killed; but Mukun, one of his +chuprassies, seeing the gate giving way, caught him by the arm and +dragged him behind the other half. The other three chuprassies ran +off in a fright and hid themselves. Two of them were Surubdawun Sing +and Juggurnath, two brothers, who will be mentioned elsewhere in this +diary.* + +[* See Juggurnath chuprassie in Chapter V., Vol. II.] + +The furious and confused mass rushed in through the half-opened gate, +and beat Captain Paton to the ground with their bludgeons, the hilts +of their swords, and the butt-ends of their muskets. Mukun, +chuprassie, his only remaining attendant, was beaten down at the same +time and severely bruised, but he soon got up, covered with blood, +made his way out through the crowd, and ran to meet the five +companies of the 35th Regiment, then not far distant, under Colonel +Monteath. As soon as he heard from Mukun the state in which he had +left his master, he sent on a party of thirty sipahees under Captain +Cowley, with orders to make all possible haste to the rescue. They +arrived in time to save his life from the fury of the assailants, but +found him insensible from his wounds. + +In a few minutes every court-yard within the palace walls was filled +with the armed and disorderly mass. The Resident, Captain Shakespear, +and their few attendants, tried to stop them by every impediment they +could throw in their way, but in vain. The assailants rushed past or +over them, brandishing their swords and firelocks, with loud +shoutings and flaming torches, and soon filled all the apartments of +the palace, save those occupied by the ladies and their female +attendants, and the dead body of the late King. The Resident and his +Assistant, and the Meer Moonshee, were soon separated from the new +sovereign and his small party, who lay for some time concealed in the +small room in which he had been left to repose, while they were +confined to the northern verandah overlooking the river, and the long +room leading into it. The armed and furious throng filled all the +other rooms of the palace, the court-yard, eighty yards long, leading +to the baraduree (or summer-house) and all the four great halls of +that building, in one of which the throne stood. + +The Resident felt that he was helpless in his present position, and +unable to do anything whatever to prevent the temporary triumph of +the insurgents, and the consequent tumult, pillage, and loss of life +that must follow; and that it would be better to try any change than +to remain in that helpless state. He thought that he might, if he +could once reach the Begum, be able to persuade her of the +impossibility of her ultimately succeeding in her attempt to keep the +pretender on the throne; and if not, that it would be of advantage to +get so much nearer to the place where the British troops most soon +arrive, and be drawn up in a garden to the south of the baraduree, +and to gain time for their arrival by a personal and open conference +with the Begum, during which he thought her followers would not be +likely to proceed to violence against his person, and those of his +attendants. He therefore persuaded one of the rebel sentries placed +over him to apprize the Begum that he wished to speak to her. She +sent to him Mirza Allee, one of her Wakeels; and with him Captain +Shakespear, and the Meer Moonshee, he forced his way through the +dense crowd, and got safely into the baraduree. + +They found all the four halls, small apartments, and verandahs, +leading into them, filled with armed men in a state of great +excitement, and in the act of placing the pretender, Moonna Jan, on +the throne. The Begum sat in a covered palankeen at the foot of the +throne; and as the Resident entered, the band struck up "_God save +the King_," answered by a salute of blunderbusses within, and a +double royal salute from the guns in the "_jullooknana_," or northern +court-yard of the palace through which the Begun had passed in. Other +guns, which had been collected in the confusion to salute somebody +(though those who commanded and served them knew not whom), continued +the salute through the streets without. A party of dancing-girls, +belonging to the late King, or brought up by the Begum, began to +dance and sing as loud as they could at the end of the long hall in +front of the throne, at the same time that the crowd within and +without shouted their congratulations at the top of their voices, and +every man who had a sword, spear, musket, or matchlock, flourished it +in the air amidst a thousand torches. A scene more strange and wild +it would be difficult to conceive. + +In the midst of all this the Resident and his Assistants remained +cool under all kinds of foul abuse and threats from a multitude so +excited, that they seemed more like demons than human beings, and +resolved to force them to commit some act or make use of some +expression that might seem to justify their murder. They fired +muskets close to their ears, pointed others loaded and cocked close +to their breasts and faces, flourished swords close to their noses, +called them all kinds of opprobrious names, but all in vain. The +Resident, in the midst of all this confusion, pointed out to the +Begum the impossibility of her ultimately succeeding in her attempt +to secure the throne for the pretender, since he was acting under the +orders of his Government, who had declared the right to be another's; +and if he and all his Assistants were killed, his Government would +soon send others to carry out their orders. "I am," she said, "in my +right place, and so is the young King, my grandson, and so are you. +Why do you talk to me or to anybody else of leaving the throne and +the baraduree?" But some of her furious followers, afraid that she +might yield, seized him by his neckcloth, dragged him towards the +throne, on which the boy sat, and commanded him to present his +offerings of congratulation on the threat of instant death. They had, +they said, placed him on the throne of his ancestors by order of the +Begum, and would maintain him there. Had he or either of his +Assistants lost their temper or presence of mind, and attempted to +resent any of the affronts offered to them, they must have been all +instantly put to death, and a general massacre of all their supposed +adherents, and the pillage of the palace and city, would have +followed. + +The Begum's Wakeel, Mirza Allee, seeing the life of the Resident and +those of his Assistants and attendants in such imminent peril, since +he so resolutely refused to give any sign whatever of recognition to +the pretender, and aware of the consequences that would inevitably +follow their murder, seized him by the arm, and in a loud voice +shouted out that it was the Begum's order that he should conduct him +out into the garden to the south. He pushed on with him through the +crowd, followed by all his small party, and with great difficulty and +danger they at last reached the garden, where Colonel Monteath had +just brought in and drawn up his five companies in a line facing the +baraduree. Finding the entrance to the north-west occupied by the +Begum's party. Colonel Monteath marched along the street to the west +of the palace, and entered the baraduree garden by the south-west +gate. As the Resident went out. Colonel Roberts, who commanded a +brigade in the Oude service, went in, and presented to the pretender +his offering of gold mohurs, and then went off and hid himself, to +wait the result of the contest. Captain Magness drew up his men and +guns on the left of Colonel Monteath's, and was told to prepare for +action. He told the Resident that he did not feel quite sure of his +men in such a crisis, and the line of British sipahees was made to +cover his rear, to secure them. The King and minister had commanded +him to act precisely as directed by the Resident, and he himself knew +this to be his only safe course, but the hearts of his men were with +Moonna Jan and the Begum. + +The Begum, as soon as the Resident left her, deeming all safe, went +over to the female apartments, where her adopted son, the late king, +lay dead; and after gazing for a minute upon his corpse, returned to +the foot of the throne, on which the pretender had now been seated +for more than three hours. It was manifest that nothing but force +could now remove the boy and his supporters, but the Begum tried to +gain more time in the hope of support from a popular insurrection +from without, which might take off the British troops from the +garden; and she sent evasive messages to the Resident by her wakeels, +urging him to come once more to her, since it was impossible for her +to make her way to him without danger of collision between the troops +of the two States. He refused to put himself again in her power, and +commanded her to come down with the boy to him and surrender; and +promised that if she did so, and directed all her armed followers to +quit the palace and city of Lucknow, all that had passed should be +forgiven, and the large pension of fifteen thousand rupees a-month, +promised by the late King, secured to her for life. All was in vain, +and the Begum was gaining her object. Robberies of State property in +the eastern and more retired parts of the palace-buildings had +commenced. Gold, jewels, shawls, &c., to a large amount were being +carried off. Much of such property lay about in places not guarded by +Captain Paton in the morning, or known to the minister, or other +respectable servants of the State, all holding out temptation to +pillage. Acts of plunder and ill-treatment to unoffending and +respectable persons in the city were every moment reported, and six +or eight houses had been already pillaged, and attempts had been made +on others by small parties, who were every moment increasing in +numbers and ferocity. + +Several parties of the King's troops had openly deserted their posts +and joined the pretender's followers in the baraduree, and dense +masses of armed men were crowding in upon the British troops, whose +officer became anxious, and urged the Resident to action, lest they +should no longer have room to use their arms. At one time these armed +crowds got within two yards of the British front; and on Colonel +Monteath's telling them to retire a few paces and leave him a clear +front, they did so in a sullen and insolent manner, and one of them +actually attempted to seize one of the sipahees by his whiskers, and +an affray was with difficulty prevented. + +Mostufa Khan, Kundaharee, who had command of a regiment of a thousand +horse in the late King's service, was with many others commanded by +the Begum to attend the young King on the throne; and he did so some +time after Brigadier Johnstone reached the garden, in front of the +baraduree, though he knew that Nuseer-od Dowlah had been declared the +rightful heir to the throne, and was actually in the palace. He said +that "he was the servant of the throne; that the young King was +actually seated upon it, and that he would support him there, happen +what might." He presented his offerings of gold to the young King, +and was forthwith appointed to supersede all the other wakeels in the +Begum's negotiations with the Resident. He merely repeated what the +other wakeels had said, urging the Resident to go up to the Begum, +since she could not come down to him. The Resident repeated to him +what he had told the Begum herself, and taking out his watch, told +him that unless his orders were obeyed in less than one-quarter of an +hour, the guns should open upon the throne-room; that when once they +opened, neither she nor her followers could expect favour, or even +mercy; and unless he, Mostapha Khan, separated himself from her +party, he should be hung as a traitor if taken alive. + +Owing to the height of some houses and walls about the left part of +the position of the British troops, the guns could not be +conveniently brought to bear upon the south-western corner of the +baraduree and throne-room, and two of the guns had to be taken round +by a road one-third of a mile, to be placed in a better position. On +seeing this the crowd shouted out, "The cravens are already running +away!" and became more insolent and furious than ever. + +The minister and Durbar Wakeel had been swept away by the crowd, who +rushed into the palace, and separated from the Resident and his +party, and as they passed through the balcony overlooking the river, +the wakeel threw off his turban, and leaped over from a height of +about twenty feet. The ground was soft, but he sprained both his +ankles. He was taken up by some boatmen, who had put-to near the +bank, and concealed in their boat till the affair was over. The new +sovereign remained still unnoticed, and apparently unknown, having +long led a secluded life; but his son, grandsons, and the rest of his +attendants were at last discovered, very roughly treated by the +insurgents, and would, it is said, have been put to death, had not +Rajah Bukhtawur Sing and some others, who thought it safe to be on +friendly terms with the ruffians, persuaded them that they would be +useful hostages in case of a reverse. The minister had had all his +clothes, save his trousers, torn from him, and his arms and legs +pinioned preparatory to execution, and the princes had been treated +with little more ceremony. All had given themselves up for lost. + +The Begum remained firm to her purpose, her hopes from without +increasing with the increasing noise, tumult, and reports of pillage +in the city. The quarter of an hour had passed, and the Resident, +turning to the Brigadier, told him, that the work was now in his +hands, just an hour and twenty minutes after he had brought his +troops into the garden. The guns from the British, and Captain +Magness' parks opened at the same instant upon the throne-room and +the other halls of the baraduree with grape; and after six or seven +rounds, a party of the 35th Regiment, under Major Marshall, was +ordered to storm the halls. With muskets loaded and bayonets fixed +they rushed first through a narrow covered passage; then up a steep +flight of steps, and then into the throne-room, firing upon the +affrighted crowd as they advanced, and following them up with the +bayonet as they rushed out over the two flights of steps on the north +side, and through the courtyard which separates the baraduree from +the palace. Other parties of sipahees ascended at the same time over +ladders collected at the suggestion of Doctor Stevenson, and placed +on the southern front of the baraduree; and the halls were soon +cleared of the insurgents, who left from forty to fifty men killed +and wounded on the floors of the four halls.* In this assault Mostufa +Khan, Kundaharee, was killed. Moonna Jan was found concealed in a +small recess under the throne, and the Begum in a small adjoining +room, to which she had been carried as soon as the guns opened. They +were taken into custody, and sent to the Residency, with Imam Buksh, +a bihishtee, or water-carrier, a notorious villain, who had been her +chief instigator in all this affair, and appointed Commander-in-Chief +to the young King. Many who had been wounded got out of the halls, +and some even reached their homes, but the killed and wounded are +supposed to have amounted altogether to about one hundred and twenty. +The Begum and the boy were accommodated in the Residency, and their +_Commander-in-Chief_ was made over to the King's Courts for trial. He +is still in prison at Lucknow. No one was killed on our side, but +three or four of our sipahees were wounded in the assault. + +[* As they entered the hall at the end opposite the throne, they saw +their own figures reflected in the large mirror, which stands behind +the throne; and, taking them to be their enemy preparing to charge, +they poured their first volley into the mirror, by which many lives +were saved at the expense of the glass.] + +The Delhi princess, the chief consort of the deceased King, a modest, +beautiful, and amiable young woman, who had been forced to join the +Begum, in order to give some countenance to the daring enterprise, +was, as soon as the guns opened, carried by her two female attendants +in her litter to a small side-room, facing the palace at the east end +of the throne-room. One of these females had her arm shattered by +grape shot, but the other tied some clothes together, and let the +princess and her wounded attendant down from a height of about +twenty-four feet into a court-yard, whence they were conveyed to her +palace by some of her attendants, and all three escaped. The sipahees +occupied both of the flights of steps in the northern face of the +baraduree. She was afraid, to trust herself to them, and saw no other +way of escape than that described. + +It was nine o'clock before the palace could be cleared of the +insurgents; and the Resident was very anxious that the new Sovereign +should be crowned, as soon and as publicly as possible, in order to +restore tranquillity to the city, which had become greatly disturbed +from the number of loose and desperate characters that always abound +in it, and are at all times ready to make the most of any tumult that +may arise from whatever cause. The new Sovereign had become greatly +agitated and alarmed at the danger to which he and his family had +been so long exposed, and at the fearful scene which they witnessed +at the close; and the Resident exerted himself to soothe and prepare +him for the long and tedious ceremonies of the coronation, while the +killed and wounded were being removed and the throne-room and the +other halls of the baraduree cleaned out and properly arranged and +furnished. When all was ready the Resident conducted him from the +palace through the court-yard to the baraduree, accompanied by the +brigadier and all the principal officers of the British force and the +Court, seated him on the throne, placed the crown on his head, under +a royal salute, repeated from every battery in the city, and +proclaimed him King of Oude, in presence of all the aristocracy and +principal persons of Lucknow, who had flocked to the place on hearing +that the danger had passed away. + +From the time that the Resident discovered that the King was dead, +till the arrival of the five companies under Colonel Monteath, the +whole of the British force in this vast city, containing a population +of nearly a million persons, amounted to only two companies and a +half of sipahees under native officers. One of the companies guarded +the Resident's Treasury, one constituted the honorary guard of the +Resident, and the half company guarded the gaol. A part of the +honorary guard, with as many sipahees as could be safely spared from +the Treasury and gaol, were taken by Captain Paton to the palace, and +distributed as already mentioned. They all stood nobly to their posts +during the long and trying scene, and no attempt was made to +concentrate them for the purpose of arresting the tumultuous advance +of the Begum's forces. Collectively they would have been too few for +the purpose, and it was deemed unsafe to remove them from their +respective charges at such a time. The Resident relied upon the +minister's repeated assurances that he had taken all necessary +precautions to prevent her approach; upon the two companies, called +the Khas companies, under the command of Mujd-od Dowlah; and the +squadron of one hundred and fifty horse, under Rajah Bukhtawur Sing, +whom he had himself ordered to guard the passage by which they +entered. Of all these men not one was employed for the purpose. They +and their Commanders all stood aloof, and left the British soldiers +to their fate. + +The minister was a fool, under the tutelage of his deputy, Sobhan +Allee Khan, a great knave, who disappeared as soon as he heard that +the Begum was approaching with his son-in-law, Khadim Hoseyn. +Mozuffer Allee Khan, a person in high office and confidence under the +late King, did the same. The minister and the Durbar Wakeel were the +only officers of the State of Oude who stood by the new King and the +British Resident. The minister afterwards declared that a strong +detachment of troops had been placed outside the gate through which +the Begum ultimately forced her way, as well as at the other passages +leading to the palace and baraduree; and Captain Shakespear, on his +way to the new Sovereign, ascertained that guards had actually been +posted outside all the other gates leading to the palace and +baraduree. From this, the supineness and seeming apathy of many of +the palace guards and servants, and the perversion of the orders sent +by him before and during the tumult, the minister concluded that +there must have been many about him interested in promoting the +enterprise of the Begum; and that the approach to the gate through +which she forced her way must have been purposely left unguarded. +There is now little doubt, that from the time that it became known, +that the contest was between Moonna Jan and Nuseer-od Dowlah, a +person but little known except as a prudent and parsimonious old man, +a large portion not only of the civil and military establishments, +but of the population of the city, felt anxious for the success of +the Begum's enterprise; for both had, under the harsh treatment of +the last two sovereigns, become objects of sympathy. + +A good many of the members of the royal family, who were brought up +from childhood with the deceased King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, and near +his person to the last, declare that Moonna Jan was his son; but that +the King was ashamed and afraid to acknowledge him after he had so +frequently and so formally declared to the British Government that he +was not his son, and that he had ceased to cohabit with the boy's +mother for two years before his birth. But all such persons admit +that Moonna Jan was a boy of ungovernable temper, and the worst +possible dispositions; and that he must soon have forfeited the crown +by his cruelty, bigotry, and injustice, had he been placed upon it by +the British Government. I saw him in January 1838, at Chunar, and a +more unpromising boy I have rarely seen. + +The ministry dreaded being called to account for their malversations +as much from the Begum, on account of their successful efforts to +keep the King alienated from her and his son, as from Nuseer-od +Dowlah, on account of his parsimony, prudence, and great experience +in business during the reign of his able father, Saadut Allee Khan. +But they would have a better chance of escape from the Begum and the +boy than from the vigilant old man, who afterwards made them all +disgorge their ill-gotten wealth; and, in consequence, they made no +effort to obstruct her enterprise. The military and civil +establishments were all in favour of the boy, who would probably be +as regardless of their number and discipline as his father had been, +while the old man would assuredly reduce the one, and endeavour, by +rigorous measures, to improve the other. Hardly any one at Lucknow at +present doubts that the minister and his associates caused the King +to be poisoned, and employed Duljeet and the two sisters; Dhunneea +and Dulwee, for the purpose, in expectation that the British +Government would take upon itself the Oude administration, as the +only possible means of improving it. + +The respectable and peaceable portion of the city, though their +sympathies were with the boy, had too much in property, and the +honour of their families, at stake to aid in any movement in his +favour, since it would involve a tumult, and for a time, at least, +insure the supremacy of the mob. Their security and that of their +families depended upon the success of the British troops; and they +were all prepared to acquiesce in any cause which the British +Government might adopt for the sake of order. They would rather that +it should adopt that of the Begum and the boy than that of Nuseer-od +Dowlah; but in either case were resolved to remain neuter, and let +the representative of the British Government take his own course. + +It is a fact not unworthy of remark, that more than three millions +sterling, or three crores of rupees, in our Government securities, +are held by persons who reside and spend the interest arising from +them in the city of Lucknow; and that the fall in their value in +exchange during the times that we have been engaged in our most +serious wars has been less in Lucknow than in Calcutta, the capital +of British India; so much greater assurance do the people feel of our +resources being always equal to our exigencies. At such times the +merchants of Lucknow commission their agents in Calcutta to purchase +up Government securities at the rate to which they fall in Calcutta, +for sale at Lucknow, where they seldom fall at all. About three +crores and half of rupees, or three millions and half sterling, have +been at different times contributed to our loans by the sovereigns of +Oude as a provision for the different members of their respective +families and dependents; and the interest is now paid to them and +their descendants, at the rates which prevailed at the time of the +several loans (four, five, and six per cent.) to the amount of +fourteen lacs thirty-five thousand and four hundred and ten rupees a- +year. + +The Begum's haughty and violent temper, and inveterate disposition to +meddle in public affairs, were the real cause of her continual +disquietude and ultimate disgrace and ruin. The minister of the day +dreaded the ascendancy of so imperious and furious a character, +should she ever become reconciled to the King. During the whole reign +of Ghazee-od Deen, her husband, from the 12th of July 1814, to the +20th of October 1827, her own frequent ebullitions, which often +disfigured the King's robes and vests, and left even the hair on his +head and chin unsafe, and Aga Meer's sagacious suggestions, satisfied +him that his own personal safety and peace of mind, and the welfare +of the State, depended upon his keeping as much as possible aloof +from her. He was fond of his son, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, but during +his minority he always took the part of his adoptive mother, the +Padshah Begum; and, in consequence, remained almost as much as she +was alienated from the King, his father. His natural mother died soon +after his birth; and people suspected that the Padshah Begum had her +put to death that she might have no rival in his affections; and she +had an entire ascendancy over him, acquired by every species of +enervating indulgences; and he remained all his life utterly without +character, ignorant of the rudiments of public affairs, and +altogether incapable of taking any useful part in them. + +She retained this ascendancy over him for some time after he became +King, first from habit and affection, and latterly from the fears +with which she continued to inspire him, that she could, by her +disclosures, whenever she pleased, prevail upon the British +Government to set him aside in favour of some other member of the +royal family, as the Buhoo Begum of Fyzabad had set aside Wuzeer +Allee. She made him dismiss his father's minister, Aga Meer, with +disgrace, and confer the seals on Fuzl Allee, the nephew of her +favourite waiting-woman, Fyzon Nissa; but when the shrewd and +sagacious Hakeem Mehndee became minister three years after, he soon +persuaded the young King, that all fears of his adoptive mother's +disclosures or wishes were idle, and that nothing which she could do +or say would induce the British Government to disturb his possession +of the sovereignty of Oude. He is said to have been the first person +who ventured to hint to him the murder of his natural mother by the +Padshah Begum; and he was, or pretended to be, violently shocked and +grieved. He then built a splendid tomb or cenotaph for her; and +endowed it with the means for maintaining pious men to read the Koran +in it, and attendants of all kinds to keep it in a condition suitable +for the mother of a King. He shuddered, or pretended to shudder, at +the mention of the name of the Padshah Begum, as the most atrocious +of murderesses. The minister of the day always made it a point to +bring the reigning favourite of the seraglio over to his views, by +giving her a due share of the profits and patronage of his office; +and it was for this reason, that the high-born chief consort, whose +influence over the King could not be so purchased, was soon made to +retire from the palace, and, ever after, to live separated from her +husband. + +The Padshah Begum had only one child, a daughter, who was united in +marriage to Mehndee Allee Khan, by whom she had three children, +Mohsen-od Dowlah, who was married to the daughter of Nuseer-od +Dowlah, the new King; and two daughters who were married to Mirza +Abool Kasim, and Mirza Aboo Torab. They lost their mother while yet +children, and the Padshah Begum brought them up and became much +attached to them. They had all from childhood been brought up with +Nuseer-od Deen, and were all much attached to him and to each other. +The ministers, fearing that this attachment might possibly lead to a +reconciliation between the King and his adoptive mother, and to their +ruin, left him and her no peace till, to save them, she forbade them +her house, and sent the girls to their husbands, and the boy to his +father-in-law, Nuseer-od Dowlah, whose succession to the throne of +Oude has been here described. All objects of mutual interest and +affection were in this manner carefully excluded from attendance on +either, till they showed themselves to be entirely subservient to the +minister of the day.* + +[* The mother always declared, and her two daughters and son all +declare, Moonna Jan to have been the son of Nuseer-od Deen, and +exactly like him in person, voice, and temper. But he was indulged by +the Padshah Begum in each habits of atrocious cruelties to other +children, that he soon became detested by all around him but herself +and the boy's natural mother, Afzul-mahal.] + +Thus alienated from her son, all her affections were transferred to +her grandson, Moonna Jan, and there is too much reason to believe, +that in both cases she purposely did her best to prevent their ever +becoming men of business, in order that she might have the guidance +of public affairs in her own hands when they should be called to the +throne. + +The Resident accommodated the Begum, the boy, and her two female +attendants in apartments at the Residency, and had a guard placed +over them. The new King told him, "that the Begum was the most wicked +and unscrupulous woman he had ever known, and that he could expect no +peace at Lucknow while she remained." He promised to consult his +Government as to her disposal, and on returning to the Residency he +increased that guard to two companies of Native Infantry, and all +remained quiet when he made his report to Government on the 9th. But +towards the close of that day, the city became again agitated. +Reports prevailed, that Government was to be consulted as to whether +they preferred the rights of Moonna Jan to the throne or those of +Nuseer-od Dowlah; that the Begum's adherents were ready at her call +to fall upon the Resident and his party, and put them all to death, +or to attack the apartments in which she was confined, rescue her and +the boy from prison, and place him again on the throne. The Court +favourites of the late King, and all the public military and civil +establishments in the city, dreaded the rigid economy and strict +supervision of the new King, who had conducted the duties of the +ministry for some time, under his able and vigilant father, Saadut +Allee Khan; and all that numerous class who benefit by the lavish +expenditure of a thoughtless and profligate Court were equally +anxious to have the Government in the hands of an extravagant woman +and thoughtless boy, and ready to join and incur some risk in +supporting their cause. + +Under all these circumstances the Resident determined to send the +Begum and her boy out of Oude as soon as possible. At midnight on the +11th, a detachment of three companies of Infantry, under Major Lane +of the 2nd Regiment, marched from Cawnpore and arrived at Newulgunge, +midway to Lucknow, a distance of twenty-two miles, in the morning of +the 12th, with one troop of cavalry. Another troop proceeded to Onow, +the first stage from Cawnpore, and a third to Rahmutgunge, the second +stage, to relieve the first on their return. At each of these stages, +relays of sixty palankeen-bearers and six torch-bearers were placed +by the Post-Master at Cawnpore. As the bridge over the Ganges at +Cawnpore had been washed away by the flood, a company of Native +Infantry was placed on the Oude side of that river, to hold boats in +readiness, and assist in escorting over the party when they came. +About the same time, at midnight, the Begum, her boy, and two of her +female attendants were placed in palankeens and sent off from the +Residency under the escort of a regiment of Infantry, and a detail of +artillery, attended by the Second Assistant, Captain Shakespear. + +They marched without resting through one of the hottest days of the +year, and the party reached Cawnpore in safety about half-past nine +o'clock in the evening of the 12th, and were securely lodged in +apartments prepared for them at the custom-house. So well had things +been arranged between the Resident and Brigadier commanding the +troops in Oude, and the Major-General commanding the Division at +Cawnpore, that very few persons at Lucknow knew that the Begum and +her party had left the Residency when she passed the Ganges at +Cawnpore. The three companies under Major Lane, who had marched +twenty-two miles in the morning, kept pace with the palankeens all +the way back, making a march of forty-four miles, between midnight of +the 11th, and half-past nine in the evening of the 12th, in so hot a +day. + +The Begum and Moonna Jan were sent off with their attendants to the +fort of Chunar, where they were lodged as state prisoners. As it +became safe, the restrictions to which they were at first subjected +became by degrees relaxed, and they were permitted to enjoy all the +freedom and comforts compatible with their safe keeping. Both died at +Chunar, Moonna Jan some time before the Begum. He left three sons by +two slave-girls at Chunar, and they still reside there, supported by +a small stipend of three hundred rupees a-month from the Oude +Government, under the protection of the commandant of the garrison, +and the guardianship of Afzul mahal, the mother of the late Moonna +Jan. + +All these circumstances, as they occurred, were reported by the +Resident to the Government of India, who took time to deliberate, and +did not reply till the 19th of July 1837, when they signified their +approval of all that the Resident had done, with the exception of the +written declaration to which he had obtained the consent and +signature of the new King. They did not think that it would be +considered dignified or becoming the paramount power, to exact such a +declaration, binding himself to absolute submission, from the +sovereign of a country so much under their control, on ascending a +throne to which he was called as of right; and were of opinion that +his character as a prudent man of business, well trained to public +affairs, during the time he acted as minister under his father, +rendered such a declaration unnecessary. It was therefore annulled; +and the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, addressed a letter to his +Majesty expressing, in kind terms, his congratulations on his +accession to the throne, and his hopes of a better administration of +the Government of Oude under his auspicious guidance. This letter, +despatched by express, the Resident received on the 25th of July. + +The Resident concluded, on good grounds, that the Government deemed a +new and more stringent treaty indispensable for the better government +of the country, and that advantage should be taken of the occasion to +prepare the new King for it. Government desired, that the +negotiations for a new treaty should be based "upon reason and right, +and not upon demand and submission." Had the declaration been allowed +to stand good, there would have been _right_ as well as _reason_ in +the treaty of 1837, which was soon after concluded. + +The Resident intimated the receipt of these letters to the King, and +on the 28th, he waited on his Majesty, to present the Governor- +General's letter. He found him sitting up in his bed in a small +apartment in the baraduree, in his dishabille, having spent a +restless night from rheumatic pains; but he was cheerful and in good +spirits, and requested the Resident to present his respectful +compliments to the Governor-General, and grateful thanks for his +consideration and congratulations. All his relations, the chief +officers of the Government, and other persons of distinction about +the Court, were assembled to hear the letters read, and make their +offerings on this recognition of his authority by the paramount +power. "The King assured the Resident, that the arrival of this +recognition, and its public announcement, would greatly strengthen +his hands in the exercise of public duties, for during the last few +days bad reports had been industriously circulated by evil-disposed +persons to the effect, that the delay in the recognition of his +succession to the throne by the paramount power in India, had arisen +from discussions between the members of the Government in Calcutta, +as to the amount of money to be taken on the occasion from the new +King, as the price of his sudden elevation; and that no letter was to +be presented by the Resident until the money was paid, or security +given for its punctual payment; that the Governor-General himself +wanted _two crores_ of rupees, but some members of the Government +would be satisfied with _a crore and half_ each, and others even with +_one crore_ each, provided that these sums were paid forthwith." In +relating this story, which the Resident had heard from many others +within the last few days, the King observed, "that he was too well +acquainted with the character for honour and justice of the +Honourable Company's Government, to give the slightest credit to such +scandal, the more especially since no demand of the kind had been +made on the accession of either of the last two Kings, who were known +to be rich, while he was equally well known to be poor; but that +nothing but the arrival of this despatch confirming him on the +throne, could convince many, even well-disposed persons, of the utter +groundlessness of such wicked rumours; that many poor but respectable +persons, who had been weak enough to believe such rumours, would feel +much relieved when they heard the salutes which were now being fired, +for they had apprehended, that they might be severe sufferers by +being compelled to contribute their own property, in order to enable +him to make up the _peshkush_, or tribute, required by the British +Government, since the late King had squandered the ten crores, which +he found in the treasury on the death of his father." + +It is certain, that a great portion of the population of Lucknow +expected that some such demand would be made by the British +Government from the new sovereign, since his right to the throne +could be disputed, not only by Moonna Jan, the supposed son of the +late King, but by the undoubted sons of Shums-od Dowlah, the elder +brother of the present King, whose rights were barred only by that +peculiar feature of the Mahommedan law elsewhere adverted to in this +Diary. Every day of delay, in promulgating the final orders of the +Supreme Government, tended to add to this number; and by the time +that these final orders came, by far the greater portion of the city +were of the same opinion. The fears of the people tended to add to +their numbers, and give strength to the opinion, for all knew, that +there was but little left in the reserved treasury, that the expenses +greatly exceeded the annual revenue, and that the troops and +establishments were all greatly in arrear; and all believed that a +general contribution would have to be levied to meet the demand when +it came.* + +[* Nuseer-od Dowlah reigned under the title of Mahommed Allee Shah, +from the 8th of July, 1837, to the 16th of May, 1842. Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, his predecessor, had reigned from the 20th of October, 1827, +to the 7th of July, 1837. He, Nuseer-od Deen, found in the treasury, +when he ascended the throne, ten crores of rupees, or ten millions +sterling. He left in the treasury, when he died, only seventy lacs of +rupees, including the fifty-three lacs left by the Koduseea Begum. +Mahommed Allee Shah left in the treasury thirty-five lacs of rupees, +one hundred and twenty-four thousand gold mohurs, and twenty-four +lacs in our Government securities. Amjud Allee Shah reigned from the +16th of May, 1842, to the 13th of February, 1847; and left in the +treasury ninety-two lacs of rupees, one hundred and twenty-four +thousand gold mohurs, and the twenty-four lacs in our Government +securities. His son, Wajid Allee Shah, has reigned from the 13th of +February, 1847.] + +The assertion, on the part of the late King, that he had ceased to +cohabit with Afzul mahal, the mother of Moonna Jan, for two years, or +even for six months before his birth, is now known to have been +utterly false, and known at the time to be so by his mother, the +Padshah Begum; with whom they both lived. Afzul-mahal, though of +humble birth and pretensions, maintained a fair reputation among +those who knew her best in a profligate palace, and has continued to +maintain the same up to the present day in adversity. In prison and +up to the hour of her death, which took place some time after that of +Moonna Jan himself, the old Begum declared that she had seen the boy +born, and had never lost sight of him; and that the story of his not +being the son of Nuseer-od Deen, was got up to prevent her ever +becoming reconciled to the King through the means of his son; and her +extraordinary affection for him never diminished while he lived. When +she retired from the palace of Nuseer-od Deen to her new residence of +Almas Bagh, she kept fast hold of the boy, and would never let him +out of her sight till they entered the prison at Chunar, when they +were obliged to occupy separate apartments. Up to his death she +watched over him with the tenderest care; and always declared to the +European officers placed over her, that the boy's father and mother +always resided with her up to the time of his birth. The boy was +remarkably like Nuseer-od Deen in form and features, as well as in +temper and disposition. + +Afzul-mahal was a person of great good sense and prudence, and in all +things trusted by the old Begum, who before her death executed a +formal will, leaving to her the charge of Moonna Jan's three +children, and all the establishments; and since the death of the old +lady she has executed the trust conscientiously, and with great +economy; and with much difficulty managed to maintain all in +respectability upon the small stipend of three hundred rupees a- +month, allowed for their support by the King of Oude. In this, she +has been very much impeded and annoyed by the two slave-girls, the +mothers of Moonna Jan's children, who have been always striving to +get this stipend into their own hands, that they may share it with +their paramours. At the death of the old lady most of her female +companions and attendants refused to return to Lucknow, and remained +at Chunar with Afzul-mahal and the children; and all have to be +subsisted out of this small stipend. The slave-girls urge, that they +might have had separate pensions, had they obeyed the orders to +return to Lucknow on the death of the Begum, and that they ought not +now to share in the stipend of the children. Five or six of the +females were ladies of rank, and one of them, who died lately, was a +widow of Saadut Allee Khan. + +This pension may be discontinued when the boys become of age, or +appropriated by them and their mothers for their own exclusive use, +and the Government of Oude should be required to assign pensions for +life to Afzul mahal, and the other females who are now supported from +it. + +The salary of the prime minister, during the five years that Roshun- +od Dowlah held the office, was twenty-five thousand rupees a-month, +or three lacs a-year, and over and above this, he had five per cent. +upon the actual revenue, which made above six lacs a-year. His son, +as Commander-in-Chief, drew five thousand rupees a-month, though he +did no duty--his first wife drew five thousand rupees a-month, and +his second wife drew three thousand rupees a-month, total eighty- +eight thousand rupees a-month, or ten lacs and fifty-six thousand +rupees a-year. These were the avowed allowances which the family +received from the public treasury. The perquisites of office gave +them some five lacs of rupees a-year more, making full fifteen lacs +a-year. + +Roshun-od Dowlah held office for only three months, under the new +sovereign, Mahommed Allee Shah. He was then superseded by Hakeem +Mahndee, thrown into prison, and made to pay twenty lacs to the +treasury, and two lacs in gratuities to Court favourites. After +paying these sums, he was permitted to go and reside at Cawnpore; but +his houses in the city, valued at three lacs, were afterwards +confiscated by the present King, on the ground of unpaid balances. He +took into keeping Dulwee, the younger of the two sisters; but she was +afterwards seduced away from him by one of his creatures, a +consummate knave, Wasee Allee, whose wife she now is. Dhunneea, the +eldest sister, is still residing at Lucknow. Roshun-od Dowlah's first +wife took off with her more than three lacs of rupees in our +Government securities, and his son, the Commander-in-Chief, took off +eight lacs of rupees in the same securities. Roshun-od Dowlah carried +off a large sum himself. She and his son afterwards left him, and now +reside in comfort upon the interest of these securities at Futtehgur, +while he lives at Cawnpore in poor circumstances. + +Sobhan Allee, his deputy, was made to pay to the treasury seven lacs +of rupees, and in gratuities to court favourites five lacs more. +Roshun-od Dowlah was one of the principal members of the old +aristocracy of Lucknow, and connected remotely with the royal family; +and he got off more easily in consequence, compared with his means, +than his deputy, who had no such advantages, and was known to have +been the minister's guide in all things, though he would never +consent to hold any ostensible and responsible office. + +Duljeet, a creature of Roshun-od Dowlah's, and prime favourite of the +late King, carried off, while the King lay dead, money and jewels to +the value of one lac of rupees, and concealed them in a vault at +Constantia. His associates, not satisfied with what he gave them, +betrayed him. The money and jewels were discovered and brought back, +and he was made to pay another lac of rupees to the treasury as a +fine. Dhunneea, the eldest of the two sisters, was made to disgorge +two lacs of rupees. Many other favourites of the late King were fined +in the same way. + +The King had, in the case of Ghalib Jung, already described in this +Diary, declared his resolution of looking more closely into his +accounts in future, and punishing all transgressors in the same way; +and Roshun-od Dowlah often expressed to the Resident his +apprehensions that his turn to suffer must soon come. Sobhan Allee +Khan had much stronger grounds to fear, since he had made himself +utterly detested by the people generally, and had neither friends nor +connexions in the royal family or aristocracy of Lucknow. Under the +strong and general impression that the British Government was +determined to interpose, and take upon itself the administration of +the country, and that the King himself wished the independent +sovereignty of Oude to terminate with his reign, they most earnestly +desired his early death as their only chance of escape. The British +Government would not, they knew, make them refund any of their ill- +gotten wealth without full judicial proof of their peculations, and +this proof they knew could never be obtained. Indeed they were +satisfied that our Government, aware of the difficulty of finding +such proof, and occupied in forming and working a new system, would +not trouble themselves to seek for it; and that they should all be +left to reside where they chose, and enjoy freely the fruits of their +malversation. + +The Resident had kept the instructions of the 15th of December, 1832, +from the supreme Government, a profound secret, lest they might lead +to intrigue and disturbance, and, above all, to the poisoning of many +innocent persons who might be considered to have a claim of right to +the throne; and all were surprised and confounded when it was +announced that the paramount power had already decided in favour of +Nuseer-od Dowlah, whose claims had never been thought of by the +people, or apprehended by the ministers. The instant they heard this +decision, they dreaded the scrutiny of the sagacious and parsimonious +old man, and the enmity of the favourites by whom he had been +surrounded in private life. These men, whom they had, in their pride +and power, despised and insulted, would now have their revenge; and +they wished for the success of the old woman and the boy, from whom +they might have a better chance of escape, till they could get their +wealth and their families out of the country. + +I may here mention a similar repudiation of a supposed eldest son by +the late King. Mostafa Allee was brought up in the palace as his +eldest son, and on all occasions treated as such. Mahommed Allee +Shah, the late King's father, was always very fond of him, but +shortly before his death he became angry with him for some outrages +committed in the palace, and put him under restraint. The young man +requested the late King, his supposed father, to mediate with his +grandfather for his release. He refused to do so, and the young man +drew his sword, and threatened to kill him. He was kept under more +strict restraint till the grandfather died, and his father ascended +the throne, on the 16th of May, 1842. The King then requested the +Resident to assure the Governor-General that Mostafa Allee was not +his son--that he was a year and a-half old when his mother entered +the palace. The Resident reported accordingly on the 26th of that +month. The Governor-General required the statement to be made under +the King's own sign and seal, and it was transmitted on the 6th of +June, 1842. The present King was then declared heir-apparent to the +throne, and Mostafa Allee has ever since been in strict confinement +under him. The general impression, however, is that he was the eldest +son of the late King, and repudiated solely on account of his violent +temper and turbulent conduct. That he was treated as such during the +life of Mahommed Allee Shah, and that the late King dared not +repudiate him while his father lived, is certain. + +By the treaty of 1801 we bound ourselves to defend the territories of +the sovereign of Oude from all foreign and domestic enemies; and to +defray the cost of maintaining the troops required for this purpose, +and paying some pensions at Furruckabad and Benares, the sovereign of +Oude ceded to our Government the under-mentioned districts, then +yielding the revenues specified opposite their respective names.* + + +* Districts ceded by Oude to the British Government by the treaty of +1801. + +Etawa, Korah, Kurra - - - - - 55,48,577 11 9 +Rehur and others - - - - - 5,33,374 0 6 +Furruckabad - - - - - - 4,50,001 0 6 +Khyreegurh, and Kunchunpore - - - 2,10,001 0 0 +Azimgurh, Mounal, and Benjun - - - 6,95,624 7 6 +Goruckpore - - - 5,09,853 8 0 +Botwul - - - - 40,001 0 0 5,49,854 8 0 +Allahabad and others- - - - - 9,34,963 1 3 +Bareilly, Moradabad, Bijnore, Budown, + Pilibheet, and Shahjehanpore - - 43,13,457 11 3 +Nawabgunge, Rehlee, &c. - - - - 1,19,242 12 0 +Mohowl and others, with exception of + Jaulluk Arwu - - - - - 1,68,378 4 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,35,23,474 8 3 + + + Deduct + + +Nawabgunge - - - 1,19,242 12 0 +Khyreegurh - - - 2,10,001 0 0 3,29,243 12 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,31,94,230 12 3 + + + + + + + + + + Add + +Handeea or Kewae - - - - - 1,52,905 0 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,33,47,135 12 3 + + + +Present Revenues of the Territories we hold from Oude under the +treaty of 1801, according to the Revised Statistical Return of the +Districts of the North-West Provinces for 1846-47, prepared in 1848, +A.D. + +_____________________________________________________________________ + |Land Revenue | Abkaree |Stamp for | Total for + ______ | 1846-47. | for | 1846-47. | 1846-47. + | | 1846-47. | | +__________________ _|_____________|__________|__________|____________ + | | | | +Rohilcund .. .. .. | 64,44,341 | 2,47,854 | 2,04,576 | 68,96,771 +Allahabad, including| | | | + Handeea _alias_ | 21,29,551 | 1,41,409 | 61,802 | 23,32,762 + Kewae | | | | +Furruckabad .. .. | 13,57,544 | 88,061 | 49,698 | 14,95,303 +Mynpooree .. .. .. | 12,33,901 | 24,822 | 20,484 | 12,79,207 +Etawa .. .. .. .. | 12,80,596 | 19,647 | 10,355 | 13,10,598 +Goruckpore.. .. .. | 20,80,296 | 2,10,045 | 96,549 | 23,86,890 +Azimgurh, including | | | | + Mahoul .. .. .. | 14,89,887 | 81,257 | 53,925 | 16,25,069 +Cawnpore .. .. .. | 21,51,155 | 1,26,155 | 57,406 | 23,34,700 +Futtehpore.. .. .. | 14,25,431 | 60,370 | 21,063 | 15,06,864 + |_____________|__________|__________|____________ + Total .. .. |1,95,92,686 | 9,99,620 | 5,75,858 | 2,11,68,164 +____________________|_____________|__________|__________|____________ + +** The lands are the same with the exception of Khyreegurh, +Nawabgunge ceded since, and Handeea received; but the names are +altered. + + +Khyreegurh and Kunchunpore were re-ceded to the Oude sovereign in the +treaty of the 11th of May, 1816, with the Turae lands, taken from +Nepaul, between Khyreegurh and Goruckpore, in liquidation of the loan +of one crore of rupees. In the same treaty, Handeea (_alias_ Kewae) +was ceded by Oude to the British Government, in lieu of Nawabgunge, +which was made over to the Oude sovereign by the British Government. +Handeea, or Kewae, now in the Allahabad district, yielded land +revenue, for 1846-47, rupees one lac, fifty-two thousand, and nine +hundred and five. + +The British Government retained the power to station the British +troops in such parts of the Oude territories as might appear to it +most expedient; and the Oude sovereign bound himself to dismiss all +his troops, save four battalions of infantry, one battalion of +Nujeebs and Mewaties, two thousand horsemen, and three hundred +golundages, or artillerymen, with such numbers of armed peons as +might be deemed necessary for the purpose of collecting the revenue, +and a few horsemen and nujeebs to attend the persons of the amils. It +is declared that the territories ceded, being in lieu of all former +subsidies and of all expenses on account of the Honourable Company's +defensive establishments with his Excellency the sovereign of Oude, +no demand whatever shall be made upon his territory on account of +expenses which the Honourable Company may incur by assembling forces +to repel the attack, or menaced attack, of a foreign enemy; on +account of the detachment attached to his person; on account of +troops which may be occasionally furnished for suppressing rebellions +or disorders in his territories; on account of any future charge of +military stations; or on account of failures in the resources of the +ceded districts, arising from unfavourable seasons, the calamities of +war, or any other cause whatever. + +The Honourable Company guarantees to him and to his heirs and +successors, the possession of the territories which remain to him +after the above cessions, together with the exercise of his and their +authority within the said dominions; and the sovereign of Oude +engages to establish, in his reserved dominions, such a system of +administration, to be carried into effect by his own officers, as +shall be conducive to the prosperity of his subjects, and calculated +to secure the lives and property of the inhabitants; and to advise +with, and act in conformity to the counsel of, the officers of the +British Government. + +In the time of Asuf-od Dowlah, who died on the 21st September, 1797, +the military force of Oude amounted to eighty thousand men of all +arms, and in the direct pay of Government. Saadut Allee Khan, his +brother and successor, on the conclusion of the above treaty, and the +transfer of half his territory, reduced the number to thirty +thousand. + +Relying entirely upon the efficiency of British troops to defend him +against external and internal enemies, and to suppress rebellion and +disorder, he laboured assiduously to reduce his expenditure within +the income arising from the reserved half of his dominions. He +resumed almost all the rent-free lands which had been granted with a +lavish hand by his predecessor, and paid off and discharged all +superfluous civil and military establishments, and, by his prudence +and economy, he so reduced his expenditure within the income, that on +his death on the 12th of July, 1814, he left fourteen millions +sterling, or fourteen crores of rupees, in a treasury which he found +empty when he entered upon the government in 1797. In this sum were +included the confiscations of the estates of some favourites of his +predecessors, Asuf-od Dowlah and Wuzeer Allee, who had grown rich +upon bribery and frauds of all kinds. He never confiscated the +estates of any good and faithful servants, who left lawful heirs to +their property. + +He had been freely aided by British troops, according to the +stipulations of the treaty of 1801; but the British Government had +been made sensible, on several occasions, of the difficulty of +fulfilling its engagements with the sovereign with a due regard to +the rights and interests of his subjects. Saadnt Allee Khan was a man +of great general ability, had mixed much in the society of British +officers in different parts of India, had been well trained to habits +of business, understood thoroughly the character, institutions, and +requirements of his people, and, above all, was a sound judge of the +relative merits and capacities of the men from whom he had to select +his officers, and a vigilant supervisor of their actions. This +discernment and discrimination of character, and vigilant +supervision, served him through life; and the men who served him ably +and honestly always felt confident in his protection and support. He +had a thorough knowledge of the rights and duties of his officers and +subjects, and a strong will to secure the one and enforce the other. +To do so he knew that he must, with a strong hand, keep down the +large landed aristocracy, who were then, as they are now, very prone +to grasp at the possessions of their weaker neighbours, either by +force or in collusion with local authorities. In attempting this with +the aid of British troops, some acts of oppression were, no doubt, +committed; and, as the sympathies of British officers were more with +the landed aristocracy, while his were more with the humbler classes +of landholders and cultivators who required to be protected from +them, frequent misunderstandings arose, acts of just severity were +made to appear to be acts of wanton oppression, and such as were +really oppressive were exaggerated into unheard-of atrocities. + +Our relations with the state of Oude, from the treaty of 1801 to the +death of Saadut Allee, were conducted by able men; but they had a +very difficult task to perform in conducting them to the satisfaction +of both parties to that treaty; and when the Government devolved upon +less able and well-disposed sovereigns, ministers, and public +officers, our Government and its representative became less and less +willing to comply with their requisitions for the aid of British +troops in the collection of the revenue, and the suppression of +rebellion and disorder. Our Government demanded, that the British +Resident should be fully informed of the cause which led to the +resistance complained of to legitimate authority; and be fully +satisfied of the justice and necessity of such aid before he afforded +it; and the sovereigns of Oude admitted the justice of this demand on +the part of the paramount power. But the Resident could never hear +fully and fairly both sides of the question, and the officers +commanding the troops were seldom disposed to do so; and neither was +competent to pass a sound judgment upon the justice and necessity of +complying with the requisitions made for the aid of the British +troops. + +But when, under an imbecile and debauched sovereign, like Ghazee-od +Deen, and an unscrupulous minister, creatures and favourites began to +share so largely in the revenues of the country, this sort of +scrutiny on the part of the Resident and officers commanding troops, +employed in aid of the King's officers, became exceedingly +distasteful; and the minister gradually increased the military force +of Oude at his disposal, that he might do without it. During the last +few years of Ghazee-od Deen's reign, the Oude forces of all arms +amounted to about sixty thousand men. During the first few years of +his successor's, Nuseer-od Deen's, reign, these forces were augmented +by the ministers for the sake of the profit and patronage they gave +them; and in the year 1837, the forces of all arms, paid from the +treasury, amounted to more than sixty thousand men. A memorandum +given to the British Resident by the minister on the 8th of April +1837, showed the men of all descriptions, belonging to the Oude army, +to amount to sixty-seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-six. The +artillery, cavalry, and infantry, composing what they call the +regular army, amounted to twenty thousand, all badly paid, clothed, +armed, accoutred, and disciplined; and for the most part placed under +idle, incompetent, and corrupt commanders. The rest were nujeebs +employed in the provinces under local officers of the revenue and +police, and obliged to provide their own clothes, arms, +accoutrements, and ammunition. They were altogether without +discipline. + +Government, on the 26th November, 1824, informs the Resident, "that +our troops are to be actively and energetically employed in the Oude +territory in cases of real internal commotion and disorder." And +again on the 22nd of July, 1825; Government condemns the Resident for +his disregard of the orders of the 26th of November, 1824, regarding +the employment of British troops in Oude, and states, "that it is +sincerely disposed to maintain the rights of the King of Oude to the +fullest extent, as guaranteed to him by the treaty with his father, +on the 20th of November, 1801; but observes, that upon the maturest +consideration of articles 3rd, 5th, and 6th of that treaty, and of +Lord Wellesley's memorandum in 1802, of the final results of +discussions between him and Saadut Allee, whilst Government admits +that, according to article the 3rd of the treaty, we were bound to +defend his Majesty's present territories 'against all foreign and +domestic enemies,' and that, in pursuance of the 4th article, the +Company's troops are to be employed, without expense to his Majesty, +not only 'to repel the attack, or menaced attack, of a foreign +enemy,' but also for suppressing rebellion and disorder in his +Majesty's territories; and that, in a strict adherence to the 6th +article, the King of Oude is entitled to exercise complete sovereign +authority within his own dominions, by a system of administration +conducive to the prosperity of his subjects, to be carried into +effect by his own officers, with the advice and counsel of the +officers of the British Government (in conformity to which his +Majesty is expressly engaged to act); yet the Governor-General in +council considered it to be indispensable and inherent in the nature +of our obligations, under the treaty referred to, that whenever the +King of Oude requires the aid of British troops, to quell any +disturbance, or to enforce any demand for revenue or otherwise, the +British Government is clearly entitled, as well as morally obliged, +to satisfy itself by whatever means it may deem necessary, that the +aid of its troops is required in support of right and justice, and +not to effectuate injustice and extortion. + +"This principle, which has often been declared and acted upon daring +successive Governments, must still be firmly asserted, and resolutely +adhered to; and the Resident must consider it to be a positive and +indispensable obligation of his public duty, to refuse the aid of +British troops until he shall have satisfied himself, on good and +sufficient grounds (to be reported in each case as soon as +practicable, and when the exigency of the case may admit of it, +before the troops are actually employed), that they are not to be +employed but in support of just and legitimate demands." + +On the 13th of July, 1827, Government, in reply to the Resident's +letter of the 30th May idem, expresses "its surprise that, under the +circumstances therein stated, he should have suffered so long a +period to elapse without adopting the most active and decided +measures against a subject of Oude, whose conduct is that of a public +robber and rebel against the authority of his Government; and whom +the King has plainly stated that he is unable to reduce to subjection +without the aid of British troops." + +On the 20th of January, 1831, the Governor-General, Lord William +Bentinck, held a conference with the King of Oude, and told his +Majesty, in presence of his minister, that the state of things in +Oude, and maladministration in all departments, were such as to +warrant and require the authoritative interference of the British +Government for their correction; that he declined to make himself a +party to the nomination of the minister, or to have it understood +that the measure was a joint resolution of the two governments, so +that both should be responsible for its success in effecting +reformation; that the act was his Majesty's own, and the +responsibility must be his; that his Lordship hoped that a better +system would be established by his minister's agency, but if he +failed, and the same abuses and misrule continued, the King must be +prepared to abide the consequences; that the Governor-General +intended to make a strong representation to the authorities in +England on the state of misrule prevailing, and to solicit their +sanction to the adoption of specific measures, even to the length of +assuming the direct administration of the country, if the evils were +not corrected in the interim. + +In the letter from Government dated the 25th of August, 1831, +referring to this advice, the Resident is told that by treaty we are +bound to give the aid of troops to quell internal resistance, as well +as to keep off external enemies, but by the same treaty the Oude +Government is bound to establish a good system of administration, and +to conform to our advice in this respect; that, finding it impossible +to procure the establishment of such an improved system, and seeing +that our troops were liable to be made the instruments of violence, +and vindictive and party proceedings, it was determined to withhold +the aid of troops except after investigation into the cause which +might lead to the application for them; that, by recent orders from +the Court of Directors, the Government would be authorised in +withholding them altogether, in the hope that the necessities of the +Oude Government might compel a reform such as we might deem +satisfactory; that matters had not, however, been brought to such an +issue, for the Oude Government having been deprived of the services +of British troops to execute its purposes, has entertained a body +stated at sixty thousand men, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, +whereof forty-five thousand are stationed in the interior for the +special purpose of reducing refractory zumeendars without British +aid. Government urges the necessity of reducing this number, and +states that if British troops be employed to enforce submission, it +seems impossible to avoid becoming parties to the terms of +submission, and guarantees of their observance afterwards on both +sides, in which case we should become mixed up in every detail of the +administration; it is therefore required that each case shall be +investigated and submitted for the specific orders of the Governor- +General. + +On the 15th of August, 1832, the Governor-General addressed a letter +to his Majesty, the King of Oude, in the last sentence of which he +says, "I do not use this strong language of remonstrance without +manifest necessity. On former occasions the language of expostulation +has been frequently used towards you with reference to the abuses of +your Government, and as yet nothing serious has befallen you. I +beseech you, however, not to suffer yourself to be deceived into a +false security. I might adduce sufficient proof that such security +would be fallacious, but I am unwilling to wound your Majesty's +feelings, while the sincere friendship which I entertain for you +prevents my withholding from you that advice which I deem essential +to the preservation of your own dignity, and the prosperity of your +kingdom." + +The Resident is told that the allusion in the concluding sentence of +his Lordship's letter refers to Mysore; that the King had probably +heard of our actual assumption of the government of that country, and +the Resident must avail himself of this topic to impress upon-his +mind the consequences which a similar state of things may entail upon +himself. + +On the 11th of September, 1837, a subsidiary-treaty was concluded +with the new sovereign, Mahommed Allee Shah, on the ground that +though a larger force was kept up by the King of Oude than was +authorised by the treaty of 1801, still it was found inadequate to +the duties that devolved upon it, and it was therefore expedient to +relax the restrictions as to the amount of military force to be +maintained by the King of Oude, on condition that an adequate portion +of the increased forces should be placed under British discipline and +control. It was stipulated accordingly that the King might employ +such a military establishment as he might deem necessary for the +government of his dominion: that it should consist of not less than +two regiments of cavalry, five of infantry, and two companies of +artillery; that the Government of Oude should fix the sum of sixteen +lacs of rupees a-year for the expenses of the force, including their +pay, arms, equipments, public buildings, &c.; that the expenditure on +account of this force of all descriptions should never exceed sixteen +lacs; that the organization of this force should not commence till +eighteen months after the 1st of September, 1837; that the King +should take into his service an efficient number of British officers +for the due discipline and efficiency of this force; that this force +should be fixed at such stations in Oude as might seem to both +Governments, from time to time, to be best, and employed on all +occasions on which its services might be deemed necessary by the King +of Oude, with the concurrence of the Resident, but not in the +ordinary collections of the revenue; that the King should exert +himself, in concert with the Resident, to remedy the existing defects +in his administration; and should he neglect to attend to the advice +and counsel of the British Government, or its representative, and +should gross and systematic oppression, anarchy, and misrule, at any +time hereafter prevail within the Oude territories, such as seriously +to endanger the public tranquillity, the British Government would +have the right to appoint its own officers to the management of all +portions of the Oude territory in which such misrule might have +occurred for so long a period as it might deem necessary, the surplus +receipts in such case, after defraying all charges, to be paid into +the King's treasury, and a true and faithful account rendered to his +Majesty of the receipts and expenditure of the territories so +assumed; that should the Governor-General of India in Council be +compelled to resort to the exercise of this authority, he would +endeavour, as far as possible, to maintain (with such improvements as +they might admit of) the native institutions and forms of +administration within the assumed territories, so as to facilitate +the restoration of those territories to the sovereign of Oude when +the proper period of such restoration should arrive. + +This treaty was ratified by the Governor-General in Council on the +18th of September, 1837, but the Honourable the Court of Directors, +with that anxious regard for strict justice which, after long and +varied experience, I have always found to characterise their views +and orders, disapproved of that part of the above treaty which +imposed on the Oude state the expense of the auxiliary force; and on +the 8th of July, 1839, the King was informed, amidst great +rejoicings, that he was relieved from this burthen of sixteen lacs of +rupees a-year, which the British Government took upon itself. Only +part of this auxiliary force had been raised when these orders came, +and only two regiments of infantry out of that part were retained, +one stationed at Soltanpore, and the other at Seetapore. + +Up to 1835, the British forces in Oude amounted to two companies of +artillery, with fourteen guns, and six regiments of infantry. Early +in that year (1835), four guns, with a proportion of artillerymen, +and one regiment of Native Infantry, were withdrawn, leaving the +British force in Oude one company and a-half of artillery, with ten +guns, and five regiments of Native Infantry. In 1837, when two +infantry regiments of the auxiliary force had been raised, four guns +more, with a detail of artillery, and two regiments more of Native +Infantry were withdrawn from the two stations of Soltanpore and +Seetapore, leaving the force paid by the British Government one +company of artillery, with six guns, stationed at Lucknow, three +regiments of Native Infantry at Lucknow, one regiment of the Oude +auxiliary force stationed at Soltanpore, and the other at Seetapore. +There had been artillery and guns at Pertabgur, Soltanpore, Secrora +and Seetapore, and a regiment of regular cavalry at Pertabgur. In +1815 this regiment of cavalry was withdrawn for the Nepaul war, and +subsequently it was retained for the Mahratta war. It was sent back +to Pertabgur in 1820, but finally withdrawn in 1821. The British +Government now maintains no cavalry in any part of the King of Oude's +dominions, and no artillery or guns at any place but Lucknow.* + +[* There is a small detachment of thirty sowars from an irregular +corps attached to the Resident.] + +In fairness there should be guns at Seetapore and Soltanpore, and a +corps of regular or irregular cavalry at Lucknow, or some other more +convenient station. The stations of Secrora and Pertabgur were done +away with by general orders 28th January, 1835, when one regiment of +Native Infantry was withdrawn altogether from Oude, and one added to +the two theretofore stationed at Lucknow. In consequence of these +arrangements, the British force in Oude is much less than it was when +the treaty of the 11th of September, 1837, was made, and assuredly +less than it should be with a due regard to our engagements and the +Oude requirements. Our Government instead of taking upon itself the +additional burthen of sixteen lacs of rupees a-year to render the +Oude Government more efficient, has relieved itself of a good deal of +that which it bore before the new treaty was entered into, and this +is certainly not what the Court of Directors contemplated, or the +Oude Government expected. + +Our exigencies became great with the Affghan war, and have continued +to be so from those wars which grew out of it with Gwalior, Scinde, +and the Punjab; but they have all now passed away, and those of our +humble ally should be no longer forgotten or disregarded. Though we +seldom give him the use of troops in support of the authority of his +local officers, still the prestige of having them at hand, in support +of a just cause, is unquestionably of great advantage to him and to +his people, and this advantage we cannot withhold from him with a due +regard to the obligations of solemn treaties. + +But in considering the rights which the sovereign of Oude has +acquired by solemn treaties to our support, we must not forget those +which the five millions of people subject to his rule have acquired +by the same treaties to the protection of our Government, and it is a +grave question, that must soon be solved, whether we can any longer +support the present sovereign and system of government in Oude, +without subjecting ourselves to the reproach of shamefully neglecting +the duties we owe to these millions. + +The present King ascended the throne on the death of his father, on +the 13th of February, 1847. In a letter dated the 24th of July of +that year, the Resident is told "that it will be his Majesty's duty +to establish such an administration, to be carried out by his own +officers, as shall insure the prosperity of the people; that any +neglect of this essential principle will be an infringement of +treaty; and that the Governor-General must, in the performance of his +duty, require the King to fulfil his obligations to his subjects-- +that his Majesty must understand that, as a sovereign, he has duties +to perform to, as well as claims to exact from, the people committed +to his care." + +In the month of November in that year, the Governor-General. Lord +Hardinge, visited Lucknow; and in a conference held with the King, he +caused a memorandum which he had drawn up for the occasion to be read +and carefully explained to his Majesty. It stated, "that in all our +engagements the utmost care had always been taken, not only to uphold +the authority of native rulers, but also to secure the just rights of +the people subject to their rule; that the same principle is +maintained in the treaty of 1801 with Oude, in the sixth paragraph of +which the engagement is entered into 'for the establishment of such a +system of government as shall be conducive to the prosperity of the +King's subjects, and calculated to secure to them their lives and +properties;' that in the memorandum of 1802, signed by the Governor- +General, the King engages to establish judicial tribunals for the +free and pure administration of justice to all his subjects; and that +it is recorded in the sovereign's own hand in that document, 'let the +Company's officers assist in enforcing obedience to these tribunals;' +that it is, therefore, evident that in all these stipulations the +same principle prevailed--namely, that while we engage to maintain +the prince in the full exercise of his powers, we also provide for +the protection of his people. + +"That, in the more recent treaty of 1837, it is stated that the +solemn and paramount obligation provided by treaty for the prosperity +of his Majesty's subjects, and the security of the lives and property +of the inhabitants, has been notoriously neglected by several +successive rulers in Oude, thereby exposing the British Government to +the reproach of having imperfectly fulfilled its obligations towards +the Oude people; that his Lordship alludes to the treaty of 1837, as +confirming the original treaty of 1801, and not only giving the +British Government the right to interfere, but declaring it to be the +intention of the Government to interfere, if necessary, for the +purpose of securing good government in Oude; that the King can, +therefore, have no doubt that the Governor-General is not only +justified, but bound by his duty, to take care that the stipulations +provided by treaty shall be fairly and substantially carried into +effect; that if the Governor-General permits the continuation of any +flagrant system of mismanagement which by treaty he is empowered to +correct, he becomes the participator in abuses which it is his duty +to redress; and in this case no ruler of Oude can expect the +Governor-General to incur a responsibility so repugnant to the +principles of the British Government, and so odious to the feelings +of the British people. + +"That, in the discussion of this important subject, advice and +remonstrance have been frequently tried, and have failed; that the +Governor-General hopes that the King will exercise a sounder judgment +than those who have preceded him, and that he will not be compelled +to exchange friendly advice for imperative and absolute interference; +that when the Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, had a +conference with the former King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, on this +subject, on the 20th of January, 1831, he deemed it right frankly to +inform him that if the warning which he then gave was disregarded by +his Majesty, it was his intention to submit to the home authorities +his advice that the British Government should assume the direct +management of the Oude dominions; that the Honourable the Court of +Directors coincided in his Lordship's views and, in order that no +doubt may remain on the King's mind as to the sentiments of the home +authorities on this point, he, Lord Hardinge, here inserts an extract +from the despatch of that Court, for his information; that it is as +follows:-- 'We have, after the most serious consideration, come to +the determination of granting to you the discretionary power which +you have requested, from us for placing the Oude territories under +the direct management of officers of the British Government; and you +are hereby empowered, if no real and satisfactory improvement shall +have taken place in the administration of that country, and if your +Government shall still adhere to the opinion expressed in the minute +of the Governor-General, to carry the proposed measure into effect, +at such period and in such manner as shall appear to you most +desirable;' that this resolution was communicated to the Resident and +to the King, and advantage was taken of it to press upon his Majesty +the necessity of an immediate reform of his administration; that the +above extract will enable the King to form a clear judgment of the +position in which the sovereigns of Oude are placed by treaty; that +the Governor-General is required, when gross and systematic abuses +prevail, to apply such a remedy as the exigency of the case may +appear to require--that he has no option in the performance of that +duty. + +"That by wisely taking timely measures for the reformation of abuses, +as one of the first acts of his reign, his Majesty will, with honour +to his own character, rescue his people from their present miserable +condition; but if he procrastinates he will incur the risk of forcing +the British Government to interfere, by assuming the government of +Oude; that the former course would redound to his Majesty's credit +and dignity, while the latter would give the British Government +concern in the case of a prince whom, as our ally, we sincerely +desire to honour and uphold; that for these reasons, and on account +of the King's inexperience, the Governor-General is not disposed to +act immediately on the power vested in him by the Honourable Court's +despatch above quoted, still less is he disposed to hold him +responsible for the misrule of his predecessors, nor does he expect +that so inveterate a system of misgovernment can suddenly be +eradicated; that the resolution, and the preliminary measures 'to +effect this purpose,' can and ought at once to be adopted by the +King; that if his Majesty cordially enters into the plan suggested by +the Governor-General for the improvement of his administration, he +may have the satisfaction, within the period specified of two years, +of checking and eradicating the worst abuses, and, at the same time, +of maintaining his own sovereignty and the native institutions of his +kingdom unimpaired; but if he does not, if he takes a vacillating +course, and fail by refusing to act on the Governor-General's advice, +he is aware of the other alternative and of the consequences. It +must, then, be manifest to the whole world that, whatever may happen, +the King has received a friendly and timely warning." + +On the 24th of December in that year, 1847, Government, in reply to +the Resident's letter of the 30th November, states that it does not +consider the King's reply in any respect satisfactory; that the +Resident is to remind his Majesty that under paragraph the 23rd of +the memorandum read out to him by the Governor-General's direction, +the Resident has been required to submit periodical reports of the +state of his dominions, and that his Majesty must be fully aware of +the responsibility he incurs if he neglects, during the interval +allowed him, to introduce the requisite reforms in his +administration. + +More than two years have elapsed since this caution was given, and +the King has done nothing to improve his administration, abstained +from no personal indulgence, given no attention whatever to public +affairs. He had before that time tried to imitate his father, attend +a little to public affairs, and see occasionally the members of the +royal family and aristocracy, at least of the city, and heads of +departments; but the effort was painful, and soon ceased altogether +to be made. He had from boyhood mixed in no other society than that +in which he now mixes exclusively, and he will never submit to the +restraints of any other. The King has utterly disregarded alike the +Governor-General's advice and admonitions, the duties and +responsibilities of his high office, and the sufferings of the many +millions subject to his rule. His time and attention are devoted +entirely to the pursuit of personal gratifications; he associates +with none but such as those who contribute to such gratifications-- +women, singers, and eunuchs; and he never, I believe, reads or hears +read any petition from his suffering subjects, any report from his +local officers civil or military, or presidents of his fiscal and +judicial courts, or functionaries of any hind. He seems to take no +interest whatever in public affairs, and to care nothing whatever +about them. + +The King had natural capacity equal to that of any of those who have +preceded him in the sovereignty of Oude since the death of Saadut +Allee in 1814, but he is the only one who has systematically declined +to devote any of that capacity, or any of his time, to the conduct of +public affairs; to see and occasionally commune with the heads of +departments, the members of the royal family, and native gentlemen of +the capital; to read or have read to him the reports of his local +functionaries, and petitions or redress of wrongs from his suffering +subjects.* + +[*This systematic disregard of his high duties and responsibilities +still continues to be manifested by the King of Oude; and is +observed, with feelings of indignation and abhorrence, by his well- +disposed subjects of all classes and grades, who are thereby left to +the mercy of men without any feeling of security in their tenure of +office, any scruples of conscience, or feelings of humanity, or of +honour. So inveterate is the system of misgovernment--so deeply are +all those, now employed in the administration, interested in +maintaining its worst abuses--and so fruitless is it to expect the +King to remove them, or employ better men, or to be ever able to +inspire any men, whom he may appoint, with a disposition to serve him +more honestly, and to respect the rights of others, or consider the +reputation and permanent interests of their own master, that the +impression has become strong and general, that our Government can no +longer support the present Government of Oude, without seriously +neglecting its duty towards the people.--1851, W. H. S.] + +In the reports of the Resident on the state of affairs in Oude, and +the replies of Government, much importance has been always attached +to the change from the contract, or _ijara_ system, to that of the +_amanee_, or trust management system; and since the time of Lord +Hardinge's visit many more districts have been put under the latter +system; but this has not tended, in the smallest degree, to the +benefit of the people of these districts. The same abuses prevail +under the one system as under the other. The troops employed in the +districts under the one are the same as those employed in the +districts under the other, and they prey just as much upon the +people. There is the same system of rack-rent in the one as in the +other, and the same uncertainty in the rate of the Government demand. +The manager under the _amanut_ system demands the same secret +gratuities and _nuzuranas_ for himself and his patrons at Court from +the landholders, as the contractor; and if they refuse to pay them +they are besieged, attacked, and cut up, and their estates desolated +in the same manner. The _amanut_ manager knows that his tenure of +office depends as much upon the amount which he pays to his +sovereign, and to his patrons at Court, as that of the contractor, +and he exacts and extorts as much as he can in the same manner. +Unless he pays his patrons the same he knows that he shall soon be +removed, or driven to resign by the want of means to enforce the +payment of the revenues justly due. + +The objections which are urged against the employment of British +troops in support of the authority of revenue contractors, are +equally applicable to their employment in support of that of amanee +managers. Their employment is just as liable to abuse under the one +as under the other. It is not a whit easier to ascertain whether a +demand for balance of revenue from, or a charge of contumacy against, +a landholder is just or unjust in the one than in the other. In +neither is the demand set forth in public documents understood by +either party to be the real demand. Both parties are equally +interested in preventing a portion of the _real_ demand from +appearing in the public accounts; and the quarrel is almost always +about the rate of this concealed portion--the collector trying to +augment, and the landlord trying to reduce it. + +In a letter to the Resident, dated the 29th of March, 1823, +Government observes: "As some palliation of the mischief of our +forces being constantly employed in what might be too often termed +the cause of injustice and extortion, the Government in 1811 +distinctly declared our right of previously investigating, and of +arbitrating the demands which its troops might be called upon to +support as also its resolution to exercise that right on all future +occasions. The execution of the important duty in question seems to +be almost invariably delegated by the Resident to the officers +commanding at the different stations, who, after receiving general +powers to attend to the requisitions of the amils, become the sole +judges of the individual cases, in which aid is to be afforded or +withheld; and the discretion again unavoidably descends from them, in +many instances, to the officers commanding parties detached from the +main body. It is obvious that an inquiry of this description can +afford but a partial check to, and a feeble security against, +injustice and oppression where specific engagements rarely exist, and +where the point at issue is frequently the demand for augmenting +rates of revenue, founded on alleged assets sufficient to meet that +increase. + +"Neither is the aid thus afforded at all effectual for the purposes +of the Government of Oude, whether present or future, as is clear +from the annual repetition of the same scenes of resistance and +compulsion. As fast as disorders are suppressed in one quarter they +spring up in another. Forts that are this year dismantled are +restored again the next; the compulsion exercised upon particular +individuals in one season has no effect in producing more regularity +on their parts, or on that of others in the ensuing season, until the +same process has been again gone through; whilst the contempt and +odium attaching to a system of collecting the revenues, by the +habitual intervention of the troops of another State, infallibly tend +to aggravate the evil, by destroying all remains of confidence in his +Majesty, or respect for his authority." + +The aid of British troops in the collection of the revenues of Oude +has long ceased to be afforded; but when they have been afforded for +the suppression of leaders of atrocious bands of robbers, who preyed +upon the people, and seized upon the lands of their weaker +neighbours, and they have been driven from their forts and +strongholds, the privilege of building them up again, or re-occupying +and garrisoning them with the same bands of robbers, to be employed +in the same way, is purchased from the local authorities, or the +patrons of these leaders at Court, during the same or the succeeding +season. The same things continue to be done every season where no +British troops are employed. Such privileges are purchased with as +much facility as those for the supply of essence or spices in the +palace; unless the Resident should interpose authoritatively to +prevent it, which he very rarely does. Indeed it is seldom that a +Resident knows or cares anything about the matter. + +I may say generally, that in Oude the larger landholders do not pay +more than one-third of their net rents to the Government, while some +of them do not pay one-fifth or one-tenth. In the half of the +territory made over to us in 1801, the great landholders who still +retain their estates pay to our Government at least two-thirds of +their net rents. In Oude these great landholders have, at present, +about two hundred and fifty mud forts, mounting about five hundred +guns, and containing on an average four hundred armed men, or a total +of one hundred thousand, trained and maintained to fight against +other, or against the Government authorities; and to pillage the +peaceful and industrious around whenever so employed. In the half of +the territory ceded to us in 1801, this class of armed retainers has +disappeared altogether. Hence from the Oude half we have some fifty +thousand native officers and sipahees in our native army, while from +our half we have not perhaps five thousand. + +One thing is clear, that we cannot restore to the Oude Government the +territory we acquired from it by the treaty of 1801, and the people +who occupy it; and that we cannot withdraw our support from that +Government altogether without doing so. It is no less clear that all +our efforts to make the Government of Oude, under the support which +we are bound by that treaty to give it, fulfil the duties to its +people to which it was pledged by that treaty, have failed during the +fifty years that have elapsed since it was made. + +The only alternative left, appears to be for the paramount power to +take upon itself the administration, and give to the sovereign, the +royal family, and its stipendiary dependents, all the surplus +revenues in pensions, opening as much as possible all employments in +the civil administration to the educated classes of Oude. The +military and police establishments would consist almost exclusively +of Oude men. Under such a system more of these classes would be +employed than at present, for few of the officers employed in the +administration are of these classes--the greater part of them are +adventurers from all parts of India, without character or education. +The number of such officers would be multiplied fourfold, and the +means of paying them would be taken from the favourites and parasites +of the Court who now do nothing but mischief. + +Such a change would be popular among the members of the royal family +itself, who now get their pensions after long intervals--often after +two and even three years, and with shameful reductions in behalf of +those favourites and parasites whom they detest and despise, but whom +the minister, for his own personal purposes, is obliged to conciliate +by such perquisites. It would be popular among the educated classes, +as opening to them offices now filled by knaves and vagabonds from +all parts of India, It would be no less so to the well-disposed +portion of the agricultural classes, who would be sure of protection +to life, property, and character, without the expensive trains of +armed followers which they now keep up. But to secure this, we should +require to provide them with a more simple system of civil judicature +than that which we have at work in our old territories. + +The change would be popular, with few exceptions, among all the +mercantile and manufacturing classes. It would give vast employment +to all the labouring classes throughout the country, in the +construction of good roads, bridges, wells, tanks, temples, suraes, +military and civil buildings, and other public works; but above all, +in that of private dwellings, and other edifices for use and +ornament, in which all men would be proud to lay out their wealth to +perpetuate their names, when secured in the possession by an honest +and efficient Government; but more especially those who would be no +longer able to employ their means in maintaining armed bands, to +resist the local authorities and disturb the peace of the country. On +the whole, I think that at least nine-tenths of the people of Oude +would hail the change as a great blessing; always providing, that our +system of administration should be rendered as simple as possible to +meet the wants and wishes of a simple people. + +Though the Resident has never been able to secure any substantial and +permanent improvement in the administration, he often interposes +successfully in individual cases, to relieve suffering, and secure +redress for wrongs; and the people see that he interferes in no +others. Their only regret is, that he does not interpose more often, +and that his efforts, when he does, should be so often thwarted or +disregarded. The British character is, in consequence, respected in +the remotest village and jungle in Oude; and there is, I believe, no +part of India where an European officer is received, among the people +of all classes, with more kindness and courtesy than in Oude. There +is, certainly, no city or town in any other native State in India +where he is treated in the crowded streets with more respect. This +must of course be accounted for in great measure from the greater +part of the members of the royal family, and the relatives and +dependents of the several persons who have held the highest offices +of the State since 1814, either receiving their incomes from the +British Government in treaty pensions, or in interest on our +Government securities, or being guaranteed in those which they +receive from the Oude Government by ours. A great many of the +families of the middle classes depend entirely upon the interest +which they receive from us on our Government securities. There is, +indeed, hardly a respectable family in Lucknow that is not more or +less dependent upon our Government for protection, and proud to have +it considered that they are so. The works and institutions which +would soon be created out of revenues, now absorbed by worthless +Court favourites, would soon embellish the face of the country, +improve the character, condition, and habits of the people, stimulate +their industry in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce; and render +our connection with the Oude Government honourable to our name in the +estimation of all India. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Baree-Biswa district--Force with the Nazim, Lal Bahader--Town of +Peernuggur--Dacoitee by Lal and Dhokul Partuks--Gangs of robbers +easily formed out of the loose characters which abound in Oude--The +lands tilled in spite of all disorders--Delta between the Chouka and +Ghagra rivers--Seed sown and produce yielded on land--Rent and stock +--Nawab Allee, the holder of the Mahmoodabad estate--Mode of +augmenting his estate--Insecurity of marriage processions--Belt of +jungle, fourteen miles west from the Lucknow cantonments--Gungabuksh +Rawat--His attack on Dewa--The family inveterate robbers--Bhurs, once +a civilized and ruling people in Oude--Extirpated systematically in +the fourteenth century--Depredations of Passees--Infanticide--How +maintained--Want of influential middle class of merchants and +manufacturers--Suttee--Troops with the Amil--Seizure of a marriage +procession by Imambuksh, a gang leader--Perquisites and allowances of +Passee watchmen over corn-fields--Their fidelity to trusts--Ahbun +Sing, of Kyampoor, murders his father--Rajah Singjoo of Soorujpoor-- +Seodeen, another leader of the same tribe--Principal gang-leaders of +the Dureeabad Rodowlee district--Jugurnath Chuprassie--Bhooree Khan-- +How these gangs escape punishment--Twenty-four belts of jungle +preserved by landholders always, or occasionally, refractory in Oude +--Cover eight hundred and eighty-six square miles of good land--How +such atrocious characters find followers, and landholders of high +degree to screen, shelter, and aid them. + + +_February_ 14, 1850.--Peernuggur, ten miles south-east, over a plain +of the same soil, but with more than the usual proportion of oosur. +Trees and groves as usual, but not quite so fine or numerous. The +Nazim of Khyrabad took leave of me on his boundary as we crossed it +about midway, and entered the district of "Baree Biswa," which is +held in farm by Lal Bahader,* a Hindoo, who there met us. This fiscal +officer has under him the "Jafiree," and "Tagfore" Regiments of +nujeebs, and eight pieces of cannon. The commandants of both corps +are in attendance at Court, and one of them, Imdad Hoseyn, never +leaves it. The other does condescend sometimes to come out to look at +his regiment when _not on service_. The draft-bullocks for the guns +have, the Nazim tells me, had a little grain within the last month, +but still not more than a quarter of the amount for which the King is +charged. Peernuggur is now a place of little note upon the banks of +the little river Sae, which here flows under a bridge built by Asuf- +od Dowlah some sixty years ago. + +[* This man was in prison at Lucknow as a defaulter, but made his +escape in October, 1851, by drugging the sentry placed over him, and +got safe into British territory.] + +Gang-robberies are here as frequent as in Khyrabad, and the +respectable inhabitants are going off in the same manner. One which +took place in July last year is characteristic of the state of +society in Oude, and may be mentioned here. Twelve sipahees of the +59th Regiment Native Infantry, then stationed at Bareilly, lodged +here for the night, in a surae, on their way home on furlough. Dal +Partuk, a Brahmin by caste, and a man of strength and resolution, +resided here and cultivated a small patch of land. He had two pair of +bullocks, which used to be continually trespassing upon other men's +fields and gardens, and embroiling him with the people, till one +night they disappeared. Dal Partuk called upon his neighbours, who +had suffered from their trespasses, to restore them or pay the value, +and threatened to rob, plunder, and burn down the town if they did +not. + +A great number of pausees reside in and around the town, and he knew +that he could collect a gang of them for any enterprise of this sort +at the shortest notice. The people were not disposed to pay the value +of his lost bullocks, and they could not be found. While he was +meditating his revenge, his relation, Dhokul Partuk, was by a +trifling accident driven to take the field as a robber. An oil- +vender, a female, from a neighbouring village, had presumed to come +to Peernuggur, and offer oil for sale. The oil-venders of the town, +dreading the consequences of such competition, went forthwith to the +little garrison and prayed for _protection_. One of the sipahees went +off to the silversmith to whom the oil-vender had sold twopence-worth +of oil, and, finding the oil-vender still with him, proceeded at once +to seize both, and take them off to the garrison as criminals. Dhokul +Partuk, who lived close by, and had his sword by his side, went up +and remonstrated with the sipahee, who, taking him to be another +silversmith, struck him across the face with his stick. Dhokul drew +his sword, and made a cut at the sipahee, which would have severed +his head from his body had he not fallen backwards. As it was, he got +a severe cut in the chest, and ran off to his companions. Dhokul went +out of the town with his drawn sword, and no one dared to pursue him. +At night he returned, took off his family to a distant village, +became a leader of a band of pausee bowmen, and invited his kinsman, +Dal Partuk, to follow his example. + +Together, they made an attack at night upon the town, and burnt down +one quarter of the houses. Dal Partuk offered to come to terms and +live in the town again, if the people would pay the value of his lost +bullocks, and give him a small income of five rupees a-month. This +they refused to do, and the plunder and burning went on. At last they +made this attack upon the party in the surae, which happened to be so +full that several of the sipahees and others were cooking outside the +walls. None of the travellers had arms to defend themselves, and +those inside closed the doors as soon as they heard the alarm. The +pausees, with their bows and arrows, killed two of the sipahees who +were outside, and while the gang was trying to force open the doors +of the surae, the people of the town, headed by a party of eight +pausee bowmen of their own, attacked and drove them back. These +bowmen followed the gang for some distance, and killed several of +them with their arrows. The sipahees who escaped proceeded in all +haste to the Resident, and the Frontier Police has since succeeded in +arresting several of the gang; but the two leaders have hitherto been +screened by Goorbuksh Sing and other great landholders in their +interest. The eight pausees who exerted themselves so successfully in +defence of the town and surae were expecting an attack from the +pausees of a neighbouring village, and ready for action when the +alarm was given. + +These parties of pausee bowmen have each under their charge a certain +number of villages, whose crops and other property they are pledged +to defend for the payment of a certain sum, or a certain portion of +land rent-free. In one of these, under the Peernuggur party, three +bullocks had been stolen by the pausees of a neighbouring town. They +were traced to them, and, as they would neither restore them nor pay +their value, the Peernuggur party attacked them one night in their +sleep, and killed the leader and four of his followers, to deter +others of the tribe from trespassing on property under their charge. +They expect, they told us, to be attacked in return some night, and +are obliged to be always prepared, but have not the slightest +apprehension of ever being called to account for such things by the +officers of Government. Nor would Dal and Dhokul Partuk have any such +apprehension, had not the Resident taken up the question of the +murder of the Honourable Company's sipahees as an international one. +After plundering and burning down a dozen villages, and murdering a +score or two of people, they would have come back and reoccupied +their houses in the town without any fear of being molested or +_questioned_ by Government officers. Nor would the people of the town +object to their residing among them again, provided they pledged +themselves to abstain in future from molesting them. Goorbuksh Sing, +only a few days ago, offered the contractor, Hoseyn Allee, the sum of +five thousand, rupees if he would satisfy the Resident that Dal +Partuk had nothing whatever to do with the Peernuggur dacoitee, and +thereby induce him to discontinue the pursuit.* + +[* Dhokul Partuk and Dal Partuk were at last secured. Dhokul died in +the king's gaol, but Dal Partuk is still in prison under trial.] + +The people of towns and villages, having no protection whatever from +the Government, are obliged to keep up, at their own cost, this +police of pausee bowmen, who are bound only to protect those who pay +them. As their families increase beyond the means derived from this, +their only legitimate employment, their members thieve in the +neighbouring or distant villages, rob on the highroads, or join the +gangs of those who are robbers by profession, or take the trade in +consequence of disputes and misunderstandings with Government +authorities or their neighbours. In Oude--and indeed in all other +parts of India, under a Government so weak and indifferent to the +sufferings of its subjects--all men who consider arms to be their +proper profession think themselves justified in using them to extort +the means of subsistence from those who have property when they have +none, and can no longer find what they consider to be suitable +employment. All Rajpoots are of this class, and the greater part of +the landholders in Oude are Rajpoots. But a great part of the +Mahommedan rural population are of the same class, and no small +portion of the Brahmin inhabitants, like the two Partuks above named, +consider arms to be their proper profession; and all find the ready +means of forming gangs of robbers out of these pausee bowmen and the +many loose characters to whom the disorders of the country give rise. + +A great many of the officers and sipahees of the King's nujeeb and +other regiments are every month discharged for mutiny, +insubordination, abuse of authority, or neglect of duty, or merely to +make room for men more subservient to Court favourites, or because +they cannot or will not pay the demanded gratuity to a new and +useless commandant appointed by Court favour. The plunder of villages +has been the daily occupation of these men during the whole period of +their service, and they become the worst of this class of loose +characters, ready to join any band of freebooters. Such bands are +always sure to find a patron among the landholders ready to receive +and protect them, for a due share of their booty, against any force +that the King's officers may send after them; and, if they prefer it +as less costly, they can always find a manager of a district ready to +do the same, on condition that they abstain from plundering within +his jurisdiction. The greater part of the land is, however, +cultivated, and well cultivated under all this confusion and +consequent insecurity. Tillage is the one thing needful to all, and +the persons from whom trespasses on the crops are most apprehended +are the reckless and disorderly trains of Government officials. + +_February_ 16, 1850.--Biswa, eighteen miles east, over a plain of +excellent soil, partly doomut, but chiefly mutteear, well studded +with trees and groves, scantily cultivated for the half of the way, +but fully and beautifully for the second half. The wheat beginning to +change colour as it approaches maturity, and waving in the gentle +morning breeze; intervening fields covered with mixed crops of peas, +gram, ulsee, teora, surson, mustard, all in flower, and glittering +like so many rich parterres; patches here and there of the dark-green +_arahur_ and yellow sugar-cane rising in bold relief; mango-groves, +majestic single trees, and clusters of the graceful bamboo studding +the whole surface, and closing the distant horizon in one seemingly- +continued line of fence--the eye never tires of such a scene, but +would like now and then to rest upon some architectural work of +ornament or utility to aid the imagination in peopling it. + +The road for the last six miles passes through the estate of Nawab +Allee, a Mahommedan landholder, who is a strong man and a good +manager and paymaster. His rent-roll is about four hundred thousand +rupees a-year, and he pays Government about one hundred and fifty +thousand. His hereditary possession was a small one, and his estate +has grown to the present size in the usual way. He has lent money in +mortgage and foreclosed; he has given security for revenue due to +Government by other landholders, who have failed to pay, and had +their estates made over to him; he has given security for the +appearance, when called for, of others, and, on their failing to +appear (perchance at his own instigation), had their lands made over +to him by the Government authorities, on condition of making good the +Government demand upon them; he has offered a higher rate of revenue +for lands than present holders could make them yield, and, after +getting possession, brought the demand down to a low rate in +collusion with Government officers. Some three-fourths of the +magnificent estate which he now holds he has obtained in these and +other ways by fraud, violence, or collusion within the last few +years. He is too powerful and wealthy to admit of any one's getting +his lands out of his hands after they have once passed into them, no +matter how. + +The Chowka river flows from the forest towards the Ghagra, about ten +miles to the east from Biswa, and I am told that the richest sheet of +cultivation in Oude is within the delta formed by these two rivers.* +At the apex of this delta stands the fort of Bhitolee, which I have +often mentioned as belonging to Rajah Goorbuksh Sing, and being under +siege by the contractor of the Khyrabad district when we passed the +Ghagra in December. Biswa is a large town, well situated on a good +soil and open plain, and its vicinity would be well suited for a +cantonment or seat for civil establishments. Much of the cloth called +sullum used to be made here for export to Europe, but the demand has +ceased, and with it the manufacture. + +[* This delta contains the following noble estates; 1, Dhorehra; 2, +Eesanuggur; 3, Chehlary; 4, Rampore; 5, Bhitolee; 6, Mullahpore; 7, +Seonta; 8, Nigaseen; and 9, Bhera Jugdeopore. The Turae forest forms +the base of this delta, and the estates of Dhorehra, Eesanuggur, and +Bhera Jugdeopore lie along its border. They have been much injured by +the King's troops within the last three years. Bhitolee is at the +apex.] + +_February_ 17 _and_ 18, 1850.--Detained at Biswa by rain. + +_February_ 19, 1850.--Yesterday evening came to Kaharpore, ten miles, +over a plain of the same fine soil, mutteear of the best quality, +running here and there into doomutteea and even bhoor. Cultivation +good, and the plain covered with rich spring crops, except where the +ground is being prepared to receive the autumn seed in June next. It +is considered good husbandry to-plough, cross-plough, and prepare the +lands thus early. The spring crops are considered to be more +promising than they have been at any other season for the last twenty +years. The farmers and cultivators calculate upon an average return +of ten and twelve fold, and say that, in other parts of Oude where +the lands are richer, there will be one of fifteen or twenty of +wheat, gram, &c. The pucka-beega, two thousand seven hundred and +fifty-six square yards, requires one maund of seed of forty seers, of +eighty rupees of the King's and Company's coinage the seer.* The +country, as usual, studded with trees, single, and in clusters and +groves, intermingled with bamboos, which are, however, for the most +part, of the smaller or hill kind. + +[* The pucka-beega in Oude is about the same as that which prevails +over our North-Western Provinces, two thousand seven hundred and +fifty-six and a quarter square yards, or something more than one-half +of our English statute acre, which is four thousand eight hundred and +forty square yards. This pucka-beega takes of seed-wheat one maund, +or eighty pounds; and yields on an average, under good tillage, eight +returns of the seed, or eight maunds, or six hundred and forty +pounds, which, at one rupee the maund, yields eight rupees, or +sixteen shillings. The stock required in Oude in irrigated lands is +about twenty rupees the pucka-beega. The rent on an average two +rupees. In England an acre, on an average, requires two and three- +quarter bushels of seed wheat, or one hundred and seventy-six pounds, +or two maunds and sixteen seers, and yields twenty-four bushels, or +one thousand five hundred and thirty-six pounds. This at forty +shillings the quarter (512 lbs.) would yield six pounds sterling. The +stock required in England is estimated at ten pounds Sterling per +acre, or ten times the annual rent. It is difficult to estimate the +rate of rent on land in England, since the reputed owner is said to +be "only the ninth and last recipient of rent."] + +On reaching camp, I met, for the first time, the great landholder, +Nawab Allee, of Mahmoodabad. In appearance, he is a quiet gentlemanly +man, of middle age and stature. He keeps his lands in the finest +possible state of tillage, however objectionable the means by which +he acquires them. His family have held the estates of Mahmoodabad and +Belehree for many generations as zumeendars, or proprietors; but they +have augmented them greatly, absorbing into them the estates of their +weaker neighbours.* + +[* Akram Allee and Muzhur Allee inherited the estate in two +divisions. Akram Allee got Mahmoodabad, and had two sons, Surufraz +Allee, who died without issue, before his father; and Mosahib Allee, +who succeeded to the estate, but died without issue. Muzhur Allee got +the estate of Belehree, and had two sons, Abud Allee, and Nawab +Allee. Abud Allee succeeded to the estate of Belehree, and Nawab +Allee to that of Mahmoodabad by adoption.] + +Akram Allee held Mahmoodabad, and was succeeded in the possession by +his son, Mosahib Allee, who died about forty years ago, leaving the +estate to his widow, who held it for twenty-eight years up to A.D. +1838, when she died. She had, the year before, adopted her nephew, +Nawab Allee, and he succeeded to the estate. The Belehree estate is +held by his elder brother, Abud Allee, who is augmenting it in the +same way, but not at the same rate. I may mention a few recent cases, +as illustrative of the manner in which such things are done in Oude. + +Mithun Sing, of an ancient Rajpoot family, held the estate of Semree, +which had been held by his ancestors for many centuries. It consisted +of twelve fine villages, paid to Government 4000 rupees a year, and +yielded him a rent roll of 20,000. Nawab Allee coveted very much this +estate, which bordered on his own. Three years ago, he instigated the +Nazim to demand an increase of 5000 rupees a-year from the estate; +and at the same time invited Mithun Sing to his house, and persuaded +him to resist the demand, to the last. He took to the jungles, and in +the contest between him and the Nazim all the crops of the season +were destroyed, and all the cultivators driven from the lands. When +the season of tillage returned in June, and Mithun Sing had been +reduced to the last stage of poverty, Nawab Allee consented to become +the mediator, got a lease from the Chuckladar for Mithun Sing at 4500 +rupees a-year, and stood surety for the punctual payment of the +demand. Poor Mithun Sing could pay nothing, and Nawab Allee got +possession of the estate in liquidation of the balance due to him; +and assigned to Mithun Sing five hundred pucka-beegas of land for his +subsistence. He still resides on the estate, and supports his family +by the tillage of these few beegas. + +Amdhun Chowdheree held a share in the estate of Biswa, consisting of +sixty-five villages; paying to Government 12,000 rupees a-year, and +yielding a rent-roll of 65,000. His elder brother's widow resided on +the estate, supported by Amdhun, who managed its affairs for the +family. Nawab Allee got up a quarrel between her and her brother-in- +law; and she assumed the right to authorize Nawab Allee to seize upon +the whole estate. Amdhun appealed to his clan, but Nawab Allee, in +collusion with the Nazim, was too strong for him, and got possession +by taking a strong force, and driving out all who presumed to resist +him. The estate had been held by the family for many centuries. + +Mohun Sing held the estate of Mundhuna, which had been in his family +for many generations. He was, by the usual process, five years ago, +constrained to accept the security of Nawab Allee for the punctual +payment of the revenue; and his estate was absorbed in the usual way, +the year after. He is now, like a boa-constrictor, swallowing up +Chowdheree Pertab Sing, who holds a large share in the hereditary +estate of Biswa, which has been in the possession of the family for a +great many generations. This share consisted of thirty-six villages, +and paid a revenue to Government of fourteen thousand. Last year, +Nawab Allee instigated the Nazim to demand ten thousand more. The +Nazim, to prevent all disputes, assigned the twenty-four thousand to +Mirza Hoseyn Beg, the commandant of a troop of cavalry, employed +under him, in liquidation of their arrears of pay. The commandant +gave him a receipt for the amount, which the Nazim sent to the +treasury, and got credit for the amount in his accounts. But poor +Pertab Sing could not pay, and was imprisoned by the cavalry, who +kept possession of his person, and took upon them the collection of +his rents. Nawab Allee came in and paid what was due; and gave +security for the punctual payment of the revenue for the ensuing +year. The estate was made over to him; and he put on score after +score of _dustuk_ bearers, who soon reduced Pertab Sing to utter +beggary. Ten thousand rupees were due to Nawab Allee, and he had +nothing left to sell; and under such circumstances no man else would +lend him anything. + +The dustuk bearers are servants of the creditor, who are sent to +attend the debtor, extort from him their wages and subsistence, and +see that he does not move, eat, or drink till he pays them. During +this time the creditor saves all the wages of these attendants; and +they commonly exact double wages from the debtor, so that he is soon +reduced to terms. In this stage we found the poor Chowdheree on +reaching Biswa. I had him released, and so admonished Nawab Allee, +that he has some little chance of saving his estate. + +Bisram Sing held the estate of Kooa Danda, which had been in the +possession of his family of Ahbun Rajpoots for many centuries. It +consisted of thirty-five villages, paid a revenue of six thousand +rupees a-year, and yielded a rent-roll of eighteen thousand and five +hundred. Nawab Allee coveted it as being on his border, and in good +order. As soon as his friend; Allee Buksh, was appointed Nazim of the +district, he prevailed upon him to report to the Durbar that Bisram +Sing was a refractory subject, and plunderer; and to request +permission to put him down by force of arms. This was in 1844, while +Bisram Sing was living quietly on his estate. On receiving the order, +which came as a matter of course, the Nazim united his force with +that of Nawab Allee, and attacked the house of Bisram Sing, which had +only twenty-two men to defend it against two thousand. Six of the +twenty-two were killed, eight wounded, and eight only escaped; and +Nawab Allee took possession of the estate. + +Bisram Sing was at Lucknow at the time, trying to rebut the false +charges of the Nazim; but his influence was unhappily too strong for +him, and he got no redress. Soon after Nirput Sing, a sipahee in the +9th Regiment Native Infantry, presented a petition to the Resident, +stating that he was the brother of Bisram Sing, and equally +interested in the estate; and a special officer, Busharut Allee, was +ordered by the Durbar to investigate and decide the case. He decided +in favour of Nirput, the sipahee, and Bisram Sing. Another special +officer was sent out to restore Bisram to possession. Nawab Allee +then pleaded the non-existence of any relationship between Nirput and +Bisram; and a third special officer has been sent out to ascertain +this fact. + +Belehree, held by Abud Allee, consists of forty villages, pays a +revenue of twelve thousand rupees a-year, and yields a rent-roll of +forty thousand. Abud Allee holds also the estate of Pyntee, in the +same district, consisting of eighty villages, paying a revenue of +thirty-five thousand, and yielding a rent-roll of one hundred and +forty thousand. It had been held by his relative Kazim Allee, who was +succeeded in the possession by Nizam Allee, the husband of his only +daughter. Nizam Allee was in A.D. 1841 killed by a servant, who was +cut down and killed in return by his attendants. Nizam Allee's widow +held till 1843, when she made over the estate to Abud Allee, by whom +she is supported. + +Nawab Allee has always money at command to purchase influence at +Court when required; and he has also a brave and well-armed force, +with which to aid the governor of the district, when he makes it +worth his while to do so, in crushing a refractory landholder. These +are the sources of his power, and he is not at all scrupulous in the +use of it--it is not the fashion to be so in Oude. + +_February_ 20th, 1850.--Came on sixteen miles to Futtehpore, in the +estate of Nawab Allee, passing Mahmoodabad half way. Near that place +we passed through a grove of mango and other trees called the "Lak +Peree," or the grove of a hundred thousand trees planted by his +ancestors forty years ago. The soil is the same, the country level, +studded with the same rich foliage, and covered with the same fine +crops. As we were passing through his estate, and were to encamp in +it again to-day, Nawab Allee attended me on horseback; and I +endeavoured to impress upon him and the Nazim the necessity of +respecting the rights of others, and more particularly those of the +old Chowdheree Pertab Sing. "Why is it," I asked, "that this +beautiful scene is not embellished by any architectural beauties? +Sheikh Sadee, the poet, so deservedly beloved by you all, old and +young, Hindoos and Mahommedans, says, 'The man who leaves behind him +in any place, a bridge, a well, a church, or a caravansera, never +dies.' Here not even a respectable dwelling-house is to be seen, much +less a bridge, a church, or a caravansera." "Here, sir," said old +Bukhtawur, "men must always be ready for a run to the jungles. Unless +they are so, they can preserve nothing from the grasp of the +contractors of the present day, who have no respect for property or +person--for their own character, or for that of their sovereign. The +moment that a man runs to save himself, family, and property, they +rob and pull down his house, and those of all connected with him. +When a man has nothing but mud walls, with invisible mud covers, they +give him no anxiety; he knows that he can build them up again in a +few days, or even a few hours, when he comes back from the jungles; +and he cares little about what is done to them during his absence. +Had he an expensive house of burnt brick and mortar, he could never +feel quite free. He might be tempted to defend it, and lose some +valuable lives; or he might be obliged to submit to unjust terms. +Were he to lay out his money in expensive mosques, temples, and +tombs, they would restrain him in the same way; and he is content to +live without them, and have his loins always girded for fight or +flight." + +"True," said Nawab Allee, "very true; we can plant groves and make +wells, but we cannot venture to erect costly buildings of any kind. +You saw the Nazim of Khyrabad, only a few days ago, bringing all his +troops down upon Rampore, because the landlord, Goman Sing, would not +consent to the increase he demanded of ten thousand, upon seventeen +thousand rupees a-year, which he had hitherto paid. Goman Sing took +to the jungles; and in ten days his fine crops would all have been +destroyed, and his houses levelled with the ground, had you not +interposed, and admonished both. The one at last consented to take, +and the other to pay an increase of five thousand. Only three years +ago, Goman Sing's father was killed by the Nazim in a similar +struggle; and landholders must always be prepared for them." + +_February_ 21st, 1850.--Bureearpore, ten miles south-east, over a +plain of the same fine soil, well cultivated, and carpeted with the +same fine crops and rich foliage. Midway we entered the district of +Ramnuggur Dhumeree, held by Rajah Gorbuksh Sing under the security of +Seoraj-od Deen, the person who attempted in vain to arrest the charge +of the two regiments upon the Khyrabad Nazim by holding up the +_sacred Koran_ over his head. He met me on his boundary, and Nawab +Allee and the Nazim of Baree Biswa took their leave. Nawab Allee's +brother, Abud Allee, came to pay his respects to me yesterday +evening. He is a respectable person in appearance, and a man of good +sense. The landscape was, I think, on the whole richer than any other +that I have seen in Oude; but I am told that it is still richer at a +distance from the road, where the poppy is grown in abundance, and +opium of the best quality made.* + +[* Opium sells in Oude at from three to eight rupees the seer, +according to its quality. In our neighbouring districts it sells at +fourteen rupees the seer, in the shops licensed by Government. +Government, in our districts, get opium from the cultivators and +manufacturers at three rupees and half the seer. The temptation to +smuggle is great, but the risk is great also, for the police in our +districts is vigilant in this matter.] + +Still lamenting the want of all architectural ornament to the scene, +and signs of manufacturing and commercial industry, to show that +people had property, and were able to display and enjoy it, and +gradations of rank, I asked whether people invested their wealth in +the loans of our Government. "Sir," said Bukhtawur Sing, "the people +who reside in the country know nothing about your Government paper; +it is only the people of the capital that hold it or understand its +value. The landholders and peasantry would never be able to keep it +in safety, or understand when and how to draw the interest." + +"Do they spend more in marriage and other ceremonies than the people +of other parts of India, or do they make greater displays on such +occasions?" + +"Quite the reverse, sir," said Seoraj-od Deen; "they dare not make +any display at all. Only the other day, Gunga Buksh, the refractory +landholder of Kasimgunge, attacked a marriage-procession in the +village of ------, carried off the bridegroom, and imprisoned him till +he paid the large random demanded from him. In February last year +Imam Buksh Behraleen, of Oseyree, having quarrelled with the Amil, +attacked and carried off a whole marriage party to the jungles. They +gave up all the property they had, and offered to sign bonds for +more, to be paid by their friends for their ransom; but he told them +that money would not do; that their families were people of +influence, and must make the King's officers restore him to his +estate upon his own terms, or he would keep them till they all died. +They exerted themselves, and Imam Buksh got back his estate upon his +own terms; but he still continues to rob and plunder. These crimes +are to them diversions from which there is no making them desist." + +"There are a dozen gang leaders of this class at present in the belt +of jungle which extends westward from our right up to within fourteen +miles of the Lucknow cantonments; and the plunder of villages, murder +of travellers, and carrying off of brides and bridegrooms from +marriage processions, are things of every-day occurrence. There are +also in these parts a number of pansee bowmen, who not only join in +the enterprises of such gangs as in other districts, but form gangs +of their own, under leaders of their own caste, to rob travellers and +plunder villages. + +"Gunga Buksh of Kasimgunge has his fort in this belt of jungle, and +he and his friends and relations take good care that no man cuts any +of it down, or cultivates the land. With the gangs which he and his +relatives keep up in this jungle, he has driven out the greater part +of the Syud proprietors of the surrounding villages, and taken +possession of their lands. After driving out the King's troops from +the town of Dewa, and exacting ransoms from many of the inhabitants, +whom he seized and carried off in several attacks, he, in October +last, brought down upon it all the ruffians he could collect, killed +no less than twenty-nine persons--chiefly Syuds and land proprietors +--and took possession of the town and estate. The chief proprietor, +Bakur Allee, was killed among the rest; and Gunga Buksh burnt his +body, and suspended his head to a post in his own village of Luseya. +He dug down his house and those of all his relations who had been +killed with him, and now holds quiet possession of his estate." + +This was all true. The Resident, on the application of Haffiz-od +Deen, a native judicial officer of Moradabad district--one of the +family which had lost so many members in this atrocious attack--urged +strongly on the Durbar the necessity of punishing Gunga Buksh and his +gang. The Ghunghor Regiment of Infantry, with a squadron of cavalry, +and six guns, was sent out in October 1849, for the purpose, under a +native officer. On the force moving out, the friends of Gunga Buksh +at Court caused the commandant to be sent for on some pretext or +other; and he has been detained at the capital ever since. The force +has, in consequence, remained idle, and Gunga Buksh has been left +quietly to enjoy the, fruits of his enterprise. The Amil having no +troops to support his authority, or even to defend his person in such +a position, has also remained at Court. No revenue has been +collected, and the people are left altogether exposed to the +depredations of these merciless robbers. The belt of jungle is nine +miles long and four miles wide; and the west end of it is within only +fourteen miles of the Lucknow cantonments, where we have three +regiments of infantry, and a company of artillery. + +_February_ 22nd, 1850.--A brief history of the rise of this family +may tend to illustrate the state of things in Oude. Khumma Rawut, of +the pansee tribe, the great-grandfather of this Gunga Buksh, served +Kazee Mahommed, the great-grandfather of this Bakur Allee, as a +village watchman, for many years up to his death. He had some +influence over his master, and making the most of this and of the +clan feeling which subsisted among the pansees of the district, he +was able to command the services of a formidable gang when the old +Kazee died. He left a young family, and Khumma got possession of five +or six villages out of the estate which the old Kazee left to his +sons. The sons were too weak: to resist the pansees, and when Khumma +died he left them to his five sons:-- 1. Kundee Sing; 2. Bukhta Sing; +3. Alum Sing; 4. Lalsahae; 5. Misree Sing. As the family increased in +numbers it has gone on adding to its possessions in the same manner, +by attacking and plundering villages, murdering or driving off the +old proprietors of the lands, and taking possession of them for +themselves. Each branch of the family, as it separates from the +parent stock, builds for itself a fort in one or other of the +villages which belong to its share of the acquired lands. In this +fort the head of each branch of the family resides with his armed +followers, and sallies forth to plunder the country and acquire new +possessions. In small enterprises each branch acts by itself; in +larger ones two or more branches unite, and divide the lands and +booty they acquire by amicable arrangement. + +They seize all the respectable persons whom they find in the villages +which they attack and plunder, keep them in prison, and inflict all +manner of tortures upon them, till they have paid, or pledged +themselves to pay, all that they have or can borrow from their +friends, as their ransom. If they refuse to pay, or to pledge +themselves to pay the sum demanded, they murder them. If they pay +part, and pledge themselves to pay the rest within a certain time, +they are released; and if they fail to fulfil their engagements, they +and their families are murdered in a second attack. After the last +attack above described upon Dewa, Gunga Buksh seized seven fine +villages belonging to the family of Bakur Allee Khan, which they had +held for many generations. He, Gunga Buksh, now holds no less than +twenty-seven villages, all seized in the same manner, after the +plunder and murder of their old proprietors. The whole of this +family, descendants of Khumma Rawut, hold no less than two hundred +villages and hamlets, all taken in the same manner from the old +proprietors, with the acquiescence or connivance of the local +authorities, who were either too weak or too corrupt to punish them, +and restore the villages to their proper owners.* + +[* Kundee Sing had two sons, 1. Cheytun Sing; 2. Ajeet Sing. Cheytun +Sing had two sons, 1. Sophul Sing; 2. Thakurpurshad. Sophul Sing had +two sons, 1. Keerut Sing; 2. Jote Sing. Ajeet Sing had two sons, 1. +Bhugwunt Sing; 2. Rutun Sing. Thakur Purshad, Bhugwunt Sing, and +Rutun Sing, reside in a fort which they have built in Bhetae, four +miles from Dewa, in the north-west border of the belt of jungle. They +hold forty villages, besides hamlets, which they have taken from the +old proprietors of the Dewa and Korsee estates. Thakur Purshad has +another fort called Buldeogur, near that of Atursae, two coss south +of Dewa; and Bhugwunt Sing has the small fort of Munmutpore, close to +Bhetae. Bukta Sing had only one son, Bisram Sing, who had only one +son, Gunga Buksh, who built the fort of Kasimgunge, on the north- +eastern border of the same belt of jungle, two miles south of Dewa, +and on the death of his father, he went to reside in it with his +family and gang. He holds twenty-seven fine villages, with hamlets. +Twenty of these he seized upon from six to twelve years ago; and the +other seven he got after the attack upon Dewa, in October last. He +has also a fort called Atursae, two coss south from Dewa; a mile west +from Buldeogur. Alum Sing's descendants have remained peaceable +cultivators of the soil in Dewa, and are, consequently, of too little +note for a place in the genealogical table of the family. + +Lalsahae had three sons, 1. Dheer Sing; 2. Bustee Sing; 3. Gokul +Sing, all dead. Dheer Sing had two sons, Omed Sing and Jowahir Sing. +Omed Sing had three sons, Dirgpaul Sing, Maheput Sing, and Gungadhur, +who was murdered by Thakur Pershad, his cousin. Jowahir Sing had one +son, Priteepaul Sing. Bustee Sing had two sons, Girwur Sing and +Soulee Sing. Girwur Sing had two sons, Dhokul Sing and Shunker Sing. +This branch of the family hold the forts of Ramgura and Paharpore, on +the border of the jungle six miles south-west from Dewa, and twelve +villages besides hamlets taken in the same manner from the old +proprietors. Gokul Sing had two sons, Dulloo Sing and Soophul Sing. +Dulloo Sing has one son. They reside with the families of Dheer Sing +and Bustee Sing. + +Misree Sing, the fifth son of Khumma, had three sons, 1. Boneead +Sing; 2. Dureeao Sing; 3. name forgotten--all three are dead. Bonead +Sing had two sons, 1. Anoop Sing; 2. Goorbuksh Sing. Dureeao Sing had +two sons, 1. Anokee Sing; 2. name forgotten. The third son of Misree +Sing had three sons, 1. Mulung Sing; 2. Anunt Sing; 3. name +forgotten--all three still live. + +This branch of the family resides in Satarpore, one mile west from +Kasimgunge, in this belt of Jungle, and two miles from Dewa, in a +fortified house built by them. They have got a small fort, called +Pouree, near this place. They form part of Gunga Buksh's gang, and +share with him in the booty acquired.] + +To record all the atrocities committed by the different members of +this family in the process of absorbing the estates of their +neighbours, and the property of men of substance in the countries +around, would be a tedious and unprofitable task; and I shall content +myself with mentioning a few that are most prominent in the +recollection of the people of the district. About ten years ago, +Gunga Buksh and his gang attacked the house of Lalla Shunker Lal, a +respectable merchant of Dewa, plundered it, killed the tutor of his +three sons, and carried them and their father off to his fort, where +he tortured them till they paid him a ransom of nine thousand rupees. +On their release they left Dewa, and have ever since resided in +Lucknow. Two years after they attacked the village of Saleempore, two +miles east from Dewa, killed Nyam Allee, the zumeendar, and seized +upon his estate. About six years ago Munnoo, the son of Gunga Buksh, +with a gang of near two thousand men, attacked the King's force in +the town of Dewa, killed four sipahees, two artillery-men, and two +troopers, and plundered the place. About six months ago this gang +attacked the house of Ewuz Mahommed, in Dewa, plundered it, levelled +it with the ground, and took off all the timbers to their fort of +Kasimgunge. Soon after he made the attack in which he killed twenty- +nine persons in Dewa, as above described. + +Thakur Purshad, about fourteen years ago, attacked the village of +Molookpore, two miles east from Dewa, plundered it, took possession +of the land, seized and carried off the proprietor, Sheikh Khoda +Buksh, and put him to death in his fort of Bhetae. Three years after +he attacked the house of Gholam Mostafa, in Dewa, killed him, and +seized upon all the lands he held. Three years ago he attacked the +house of Janoo, a shopkeeper, plundered it, and confined and tortured +him till he paid a ransom of two hundred and fifty rupees. Three +months after he seized and carried off to his fort Roopun, another +shopkeeper, and confined and tortured him till he paid a ransom of +three hundred rupees. Last year he seized and took off Jhow Dhobee +from Dewa, and extorted forty rupees from him. Six months ago he +attacked a marriage-procession in Dewa, plundered it, took off the +bridegroom, Omed Allee, and confined and tortured him till he paid +eleven hundred and fifteen rupees. These men all levy black mail from +the country around; and it is those only who cannot or will not pay +it, or whose lands they intend to appropriate, that they attack. They +created the jungle above described, of nine miles long by four wide, +for their own evil purposes, and preserve it with so much vigilance, +that no man dares to cut a stick, graze a bullock, or browse a camel +in it without their special sanction; indeed, they are so much +dreaded, that no man or woman beyond their own family or followers +dares enter the jungle. + +Omed Sing, fifteen years ago, invited to his house the four +proprietors of the village of Owree, Gholam Kadir, Allee Buksh, +Durvesh Allee, and Moiz-od Deen, residents of Dewa, and put them to +death because they could not, by torture, be made to transfer their +lands to him. He then seized their village, and built the fort of +Rumgura Paharpore upon it. Omed Sing, Jowahir Sing, Dhokul Sing, and +Soophul Sing all reside in this fort with the son of Dulloo Sing. +This family of pansees, or, as they call themselves, Rawuts, form at +present one of the most formidable gangs of robbers in Oude, and one +of the most difficult to put down from their union and inveterate +habit of plunder. They can always, at short notice and little cost, +collect bands of hundreds of the same tribe and habit to join them in +plunder and resistance to lawful authority. + +On the 25th of February, 1838, Rajah Dursun Sing, then in charge of +the district, wrote to the Durbar to say, "that Gunga Buksh of Dewa +was the worst robber in the district, would pay no revenue, and +instigated others to withhold theirs; that numerous complaints had +been made against him to the Durbar by the people, and that he had +been urged by Government to do his best to punish him; that he had +long tried all he could to do so, but had not sufficient troops; that +his evil deeds increased, however, so much, that he at last +determined to run all risks, and on the 27th of that month, on +Friday, he left Amaneegunge, and marched forty-eight miles without +resting; and on Saturday, before daybreak, reached the fort of +Kasimgunge, and invested it on all sides; that he found the fort +large and strong, and surrounded with dense jungle; that he had only +three guns with him, but, as the enemy were taken by surprise, he +took all their outworks one after another; that the besieged got a +crowd of their adherents to attack his force in the rear on Saturday +night, that they might get off in the confusion, but his troops were +ready to intercept them at all points; and, in attempting to cut his +way through, Gunga Baksh was seized with all his followers, but the +women and children were permitted to go their way; that a good many +of the enemy had been killed, and he, Dursun Sing, had had one +golundaz and five sipahees killed and ten persons wounded." + +The King sent Dursun Sing a dress of honour with the title of Rajah +on the 3rd of March, 1838, and ordered him to have the fort levelled +with the ground. Dursun Sing, in reply, states that he had men +employed in pulling down the fort; and, in reply to an order to send +in a list of the property taken from the besieged, he states, on the +12th of March, 1838, that none whatever had been secured. Gunga Buksh +soon bribed his way out of prison at Lucknow, returned to Kasimgunge, +rebuilt his fort, and made it stronger than ever; and continued to +plunder the country, and increase his landed possessions by the +murder of the old proprietors. He became enlisted into the tribe of +Rajpoots, and his sister was married to the Powar Rajah of _Etonda_, +seven coss north from Lucknow. Jode Sing, the present Rajah of that +place, is her son; and he is associated with Gunga Buksh in his +depredations. _Sahuj Ram_, of Pokhura, of the Ametheea tribe of +Rajpoots, in the Hydergurh purgunna, on the right bank of the Goomtee +river, married a daughter of Gunga Buksh's, and has a strong fort, +called Raunee, thirty miles east from Lucknow. He is said to have +been present at the murder of the twenty-nine persons at Dewa in +October last, and to have had with him four hundred armed men and two +guns. He and all his followers are notorious and inveterate robbers, +like Gunga Buksh himself. The descendants of Khumma, the village +watchman, have already built ten forts upon the lands which they have +seized, and there are no less than seventy of these forts or +strongholds within a circuit of ninety miles round Bhetae and +Khasimgunge, the centre being not more than eighteen miles from the +Lucknow cantonments. + +The Minister having informed the Resident that, without some aid from +British troops, it was impossible for him to put down or punish these +atrocious murderers and robbers, who had so many mud-forts well +garrisoned by their gangs, he, on the 26th of March, 1850, ordered a +wing of the 2nd Battalion of Oude Local Infantry under Captain +Boileau to join the force, consisting of, 1. A wing of the 2nd Oude +Local Infantry; 2. Captain Barlow's regiment, with two nine-pounders +and one eight-inch howitzer; 3. Nawab Allee's auxiliaries, two +thousand men and three small guns; 4. Sufshikum Khan, the Amil of the +district, with one thousand men and five guns; 5. Seoraj-od Deen, the +Amil of Ramnuggur, with one hundred and fifty men and two guns; 6. +Ghalib Jung, with one thousand foot soldiers, forty camel jinjals +(tumbooraks), seven guns, and one hundred troopers, in an attack upon +Kasimgunge. The different parts of this force had been so disposed as +to concentrate upon and invest the fort at daybreak on the morning of +that day. The surprise was complete. + +Shells were thrown into the fort from Captain Barlow's guns, but +Captain Boileau did not consider the force sufficient to take the +fort and secure, the garrison, and wrote to request a reinforcement. +The distance from Kasimgunge to the cantonments was twenty miles. A +wing of the 10th Regiment Native Infantry, with two guns, was sent +off under Captain Wilson; but the garrison had evacuated the fort and +fled on the night of the 26th, and the wing was ordered to proceed +direct to the fort of Bhetae, four miles nearer to the cantonments, +which was to be invested by the same force on the morning of the +28th. + +Captain Wilson had with him Lieutenant Elderton, as adjutant of the +wing, and Ensigns Trenchard and Wish, with a native officer in charge +of the two guns. They reached Bhetae at 7 A.M., were joined by the +Bhetae force at 8 A.M., and the two forts of Bhetae and Munmutpore +were forthwith invested. Munmutpore stood about three hundred yards +to the west of Bhetae; and both forts were held by Thakur Purshad and +Bhugwunt Sing, members of the same family of pansee robbers, and +their gangs. Captain Wilson was the chief in command; and he, with +his own and Captain Boileau's wing, took up his position on the north +side of Bhetae, and placed Captain Barlow on the west side of +Munmutpore. There was a deep dry ditch all round outside the outer +wall, and a thick fence of bamboos inside. Between this fence and the +citadel in both forts was a still deeper ditch. Between the fence of +bamboos and the inner ditch was a small intricate passage, +intersected by huts and trenches. + +The wall of the citadel was about twenty feet high, and the upper +part formed a parapet eight feet high, filled with loopholes for +matchlocks. Between Bhetae and Munmutpore, midway, was a large +bastion filled with matchlock-men, to keep open the communication and +prevent an enemy from taking up any position between the two forts. +The investing force was distributed all round, with orders to attack +the nearest and weakest points as soon as Captain Wilson should +commence his upon the main point, the northern face. + +On the afternoon of the 29th, about half-past three, a small party of +the garrison came out of the gate on the northern face, and appeared +disposed to attack Captain Wilson's two nine-pounders, and a third +gun, which had all three been advanced on to within a short distance +of the gate. During this time Captain Barlow was throwing shells into +both forts from his position to the west of Munmutpore. The subahdar- +major had command of the advanced party in charge of Captain Wilson's +three guns. He charged and drove back into the fort the small party +which threatened his guns, and Captain Wilson hastily assembled all +his and Captain Boileau's force, and followed to support the +subahdar-major. Finding his officers and men all excited and anxious +to push on into the fort, Captain Wilson unfortunately yielded to the +impulse, and entered the outer gate with one of his two nine- +pounders, in the hope of taking the place by a _coup-de-main_. + +The garrison all retired into the citadel as he entered, and kept up +a distressing fire upon the assailants as they went along the narrow +passage between the bamboo fence and the ditch in search of a way +into the citadel. Several rounds were fired from the gun, in the hope +of making a breach in the wall, but the balls penetrated and lodged +midway in the wall, without bringing down any part of it; and +musketry was altogether useless against a thick parapet with +loopholes, so slender on the outside and so wide within. The huts, +which might have sheltered officers and men, were set fire to by +accident, and tended to increase the confusion. The entrance to the +citadel was over a narrow mud causeway, which the garrison had not +had time to remove; but it was hidden from the assailants by a +projection which they could not attain, and the men began to fall +fast before the fire from the loopholes of the parapet. + +On hearing the firing on Captain Wilson's side, the officers +commanding the troops on the other three sides, commenced their +attack on the nearest and seemingly weakest points, as before +directed. Captain Barlow lost some men in an unsuccessful attempt to +enter the fort of Munmutpore on the west side; but the auxiliary +force of Nawab Allee effected an entrance on the east side of that +fort. They were, however, arrested by the second ditch within, in the +same manner as Captain Wilson's force had been, and a good many men +were shot down in the same manner, in attempting to get over it. The +force under Sufshikum Khan, on the east side of Bhetae, effected an +entrance, but was arrested by the second ditch in the same manner, +and lost many men. The enemy in Bhetae had eleven men killed and +nineteen wounded, a good many of them from the shells thrown in by +Captain Barlow. The loss of the enemy in Munmutpore was never +ascertained. + +After Captain Wilson had been engaged within the wall about three- +quarters of an hour, and the ammunition of the gun had become +exhausted. Lieutenant Elderton, who had behaved with great gallantry +during the whole scene, and was standing in advance with Captain +Boileau, received a shot in the neck, and fell dead by his side. +Having lost so many men and officers in fruitless efforts to +penetrate into the citadel, and seeing no prospect of carrying the +place by remaining longer under the fire from the parapet, Captains +Wilson and Boileau drew off their parties; but the bullocks which +drew the gun had been all killed or wounded, and they were obliged to +leave it behind with the bodies of the killed. The men attempted to +draw off the gun; but so many were shot down from above that it was +deemed prudent to abandon it. About midnight both garrisons vacated +the forts, and retired unmolested through the jungle to the eastward, +where Ghalib Jung's troops had been posted. There is good ground to +believe that he connived at their escape, and purposely held back +from the attack as a traitor in connivance with some influential +persons in the Durbar. + +The 10th Native Infantry had one European officer, Lieutenant +Elderton, ten sipahees, and one calashee, killed; five native +officers and twenty-two privates, wounded. + +The 2nd Oude Local Infantry, six sipahees, and one calashee, killed; +and seven native officers and thirteen privates, wounded. + +The artillery had one native officer and nine privates wounded. + +This reverse arose from the commandant's yielding to the impetuosity +of his officers and sipahees, and attempting to take by a rush a +strong fort whose defences he had never examined and knew nothing +whatever about, as he had never before seen any place of the kind, or +had one described to him. He and all his men had courage in +abundance, but they wanted prudence. + +Gunga Buksh and his son, Runjeet Sing, were afterwards taken, +convicted before the highest tribunal in Oude, of the murder of the +twenty-seven persons in Dewa, in October, 1849, and executed on the +18th of September, 1850. Thakur Purshad and his cousin, Bhugwunt +Sing, remained at large, and at the head of their gang of robbers +continued to plunder the country, and levy blackmail from landholders +and village communities till the 1st of February 1851, though pressed +by a force of one thousand infantry, fifty troopers, and some ten +guns. On the morning of that day, Captain Hearsey, commanding a +detachment of the Oude Frontier Police, who had been ordered to co- +operate with this force in putting down this gang, took advantage of +a dense fog, fell upon them, and with the loss of one non- +commissioned officer killed, and three non-commissioned officers and +three sipahees wounded, killed one of the chief leaders, Bhugwunt +Sing, and twenty-two of their followers, wounded many more, and took +eight prisoners, among them the son of the leader Bhugwunt Sing. The +other two leaders, Thakur Purshad and Keerut Sing, were bathing at +the time in the river Goomtee, and escaped by swimming across. + +Rajah Bukhtawur Sing declares, that the taking of daughters from +families of this caste by Rajpoots is one of the punishments +inflicted upon them for the murder of their own. They will not +condescend to give daughters in marriage to such persons; and they +take daughters from them merely to get their money, and assistance on +emergency in resisting the Government, and murdering and plundering +its subjects. + +This part of Oude, comprising the districts of Dureeabad Rudowlee, +Ramnuggur Dhumeree, Dewa Jahangeerabad, Jugdispoor, and Hydergur, has +more mud forts than any other, though they abound in all parts; and +the greater part of them are garrisoned in the same way by gangs of +robbers. It is worth remarking, that the children in the villages +hereabout play at fortification as a favourite amusement, each +striving to excel the others in the ingenuity of his defences. They +all seem to feel that they must some day have to take a part in +defending such places against the King's troops; and their parents +seem to encourage the feeling. The real mud forts are concealed from +sight in beautiful clusters of bamboos or other evergreen jungle, so +that the passer-by can see nothing of them. Some of them are +exceedingly strong, against troops unprovided with mortars and +shells. The garrison is easily shelled out by a small force, or +starved out by a large one; but one should never attempt to breach +them with round shot, or take them by an escalade or a rush. + +It is still more worthy of remark, that these great landholders, who +have recently acquired their possessions by the plunder and murder of +their weaker neighbours, and who continue their system of pillage, in +order to acquire the means to maintain their gangs, and add to these +possessions, are those who are most favoured at Court, and most +conciliated by the local rulers; because they are more able and more +willing than others to pay for the favours of the one, and set at +defiance the authority of the other. They often get their estates +transferred from the jurisdiction of the local governors to that of +the person in charge of the Hozoor Tuhseel at Lucknow. Almost all the +estates of this family of Rawuts have been so transferred. + +Local governors cannot help seeing or hearing of the atrocities they +commit, and feeling some _sympathy_ with the sufferers; or at least +some apprehension, that they may lose revenue by their murder, and +the absorption of their estate; but the officer in charge of the +Hozoor Tuhseel sees or hears little of what they do, and cares +nothing about the sufferers as long as their despoilers pay him +liberally. If the local governor reports their atrocities to +Government, this person represents it as arising solely from enmity; +and describes the sufferers as lawless characters, whom it is +meritorious to punish. If the Court attempts to punish or coerce such +characters, he gives them information, and does all he can to +frustrate the attempt. If they are taken and imprisoned, he soon gets +them released; and if their forts and strongholds have been taken and +pulled down, he sells them the privilege of rebuilding or repairing +them. It is exceedingly difficult at all times, and often altogether +impossible, to get one of these robber landholders punished, or +effectually put down, so many and so formidable are the obstacles +thrown in the way by the Court favourite, who has charge of the +Hozoor Tuhseel, and their other friends at the capital. Those who +suffer from their crimes have seldom any chance of redress. Having +lost their all, they are no longer in a condition to pay for it; and +without payment nothing can be got from the Court of Lucknow. + +_February_ 23, 1850.--Badoosura, ten miles south-east over a plain +covered with rich crops and fine foliage; soil muteear generally, but +in some parts doomut; tillage excellent. Passed over some more sites +of Bhur towns. The Oude territory abounds with these sites, but +nothing seems to be known of the history of the people to whom they +belonged. They seem to have been systematically extirpated by the +Mahommedan conquerors in the early part of the fourteenth century. +All their towns seem to have been built of burnt brick, while none of +the towns of the present day are so. There are numerous wells still +in use, which were formed by them of the finest burnt brick and +cement; and the people tell me that others of the same kind are +frequently discovered in ploughing over fields. I have heard of no +arms, coins, or utensils peculiar to them having been discovered, +though copper sunuds, or deeds of grant from the Rajahs of Kunoje, to +other people in Oude, six hundred years ago, have been found. The +Bhurs must have formed town and village communities in this country +at a very remote period, and have been a civilized people, though +they have not left a name, date, or legend inscribed upon any +monument. Brick ruins of forts, houses, and wells, are the only +relics to be found of these people. Some few of the caste are still +found in the humblest grade of society as cultivators, police +officers, &c., in Oude and other districts north of the Ganges. Up to +the end of the thirteenth century their sovereignty certainly +extended over what are now called the Byswara and Banoda districts; +and Sultanpore, under some other name, appears to have been their +capital. It was taken and destroyed early in the fourteenth century +by Allah-od Deen, Sultan of Delhi, or by one of his generals, and +named Sultanpore. Chandour was another great town of these Bhurs. I +am not aware of any temples having been found to indicate their +creed.* + +[* The Bhur Goojurs must, I conclude, have been of the same race.] + +The landholders, who have become leaders of gang-robbers, are more +numerous here than in any other part of Oude that I have seen, save +Bangur: but they are not here, as there, so strongly federated. The +Amil is so weak, that, in despair, he connives at their atrocities +and usurpations as the only means of collecting the Government +revenue, and filling his own pockets. The pausee bowmen are here much +more formidable than they are even in Bangur. There they thieve, and +join the gangs of the refractory landholders; but here they have +powerful leaders of their own tribe, and form formidable independent +gangs. They sometimes attack and plunder villages, and spare neither +age nor sex. They have some small strongholds in which they assemble +from different villages over pitchers of spirits, made from the fruit +of the mhowa tree, and purchased for them by their leaders; and, +having determined upon what villages to attack, proceed at once to +work before they get sober. Every town and village through which we +pass has suffered more or less from their atrocities, and the people +are in a continual state of dread. + +In 1843, the pausees, who resided in the village of Chindwara, in the +Dewa district, ran off to avoid being held responsible for the +robbery of a merchant in the neighbourhood. They were pacified and +brought back; but the landholder was sorely pressed by the Government +collector to pay up his balance of revenue, and he, in turn, pressed +the pausees to pay up the balances due by them for rents. They ran +off again, but their families were retained by the landholder. The +pausees gathered together all of their clan that they could muster +from the surrounding villages, attacked the landholder's house, +killed his mother, wife, four of his nephews, the wife of one of his +nephews, two of the King's sipahees who attempted to defend them, and +several of the landholder, Yakoob Husun's, servants, and plundered +him of everything he had. The landlord himself happened to be absent +on business, and was the only one of the family who escaped. In all +twenty-nine persons were murdered by the pausees on that occasion. +They were all permitted to come back and settle in the village, as if +nothing had happened; the village was made over to another, and +Yakoob Husun has ever since been supplicating in vain for redress at +the King's gate. + +About three miles from Badoosura, we passed from the Ramnuggur +district into that of Dureeabad Rodowlee; but the above description +is applicable to both, though in a somewhat less degree to Ramnuggur +than to Dureeabad. It is equally applicable to the Dewa district, +which we left on our right yesterday, midway between our road and +Lucknow. There Gunga Buksh Chowdheree and his relatives have large +gangs engaged in plundering towns, and seizing upon the lands of +their weaker and more scrupulous neighbours. In the Dureeabad +district, the leaders of gangs are chiefly of the Behraleea tribe of +Rajpoots, so called after the district of Behralee, in which they +reside. + +I this morning asked Nowsing, a landholder of the Rykwar Rajpoot +clan, who came to me, in sorrow, to demand redress for grievous +wrongs, whether he did not think that all the evils they suffered +arose from murdering their female infants. "No, sir, I do not." "But +the greater part of the Rajpoot families do still murder them, do +they not?" "Yes, sir, they still destroy them; and we believe that +the father who preserves a daughter will never live to see her +suitably married, or that the family into which she does marry will +perish or be ruined." "Do you recollect any instances of this?" "Yes, +sir, my uncle, Dureeao, preserved a daughter, but died before he +could see her married; and my father was obliged to go to the cost of +getting her married into a Chouhan family at Mynpooree, in the +British territory. My grandfather, Nathoo, and his brother, +Rughonath, preserved each a daughter, and married them into the same +Chouhan families of Mynpooree. These families all became ruined; and +their lands were sold by auction; and the three women returned upon +us, one having two sons and a daughter, and another two sons. We +maintained them for some years with difficulty, but this year, seeing +the disorder that prevailed around us, they all went back to the +families of their husbands. It is the general belief among us, sir, +that those who preserve their daughters never prosper, and that the +families into which we marry them are equally unfortunate." + +"Then you think that it is a duty imposed upon you from above to +destroy your infant daughters, and that the neglect and disregard of +that duty bring misfortunes upon you?" "We think it must be so, sir, +with regard to our own families or clan." + +I am satisfied that these notions were honestly expressed, however +strange they may appear to others. Habit has brutalized them, or +rendered them worse than brutes in regard to their female offspring. +They derive profit, or save expense and some mortification, by +destroying them, and readily believe anything that can tend to excuse +the atrocity to themselves or to others. The facility with which men +and women persuade themselves of a religious sanction for what they +wish to do, however cruel and iniquitous, is not, unhappily, peculiar +to any class or to any creed. These Rajpoots know that the crime is +detestable, not only to the few Christians they meet, but to all +Mahommedans, and to every other class of Hindoos among whom they live +and move. But the Rajpoots, among whom alone this crime prevails, are +the dominant class in Oude; and they can disregard the feelings and +opinions of the people around them with impunity. The greater part of +the land is held by them, and in the greater part of the towns and +villages their authority is paramount. + +Industry is confined almost exclusively to agriculture. They have +neither merchants nor manufacturers to form, or aid in forming, a +respectable and influential middle class; and the public officers of +the state they look upon as their natural and irreconcileable +enemies. When the aristocracy of Europe buried their daughters alive +in nunneries, the state of society was much the same as it now is in +Oude. The King has prohibited both infanticide and suttee. The latter +being essentially a public exhibition, the local authorities have +continued, in great measure, to put down; but the former was +certainly never more common than it is at present, for the Rajpoot +landholders were never before more strong and numerous. That suttees +were formerly very numerous in Oude is manifest from the numerous +suttee tombs we see in the vicinity of every town and almost every +village; but the Rajpoots never felt much interested in them; they +were not necessary either to their pride or purse.* + +[* Suttee, infanticide, suicide, the maiming of any one, or making +any one an eunuch, were all prohibited by the King of Oude, on the +15th of May, 1833, as reported to Government by the Resident on the +6th November, 1834. These prohibitions were reported to the Resident, +by the King, on the 14th of June, 1833.] + +_February 24th_, 1850.--Dureeabad, ten miles south-east, over a plain +of good soil--doomut and mutteear--covered with the same rich crops +and fine foliage. There is at present no other district in Oude +abounding so much in gang robbery and other crime as this of +Dureeabad Rodoulee, in which the Amil, Girdhara Sing, is notoriously +conniving at these crimes from a consciousness of utter inability to +contend with the landholders who commit them, or employ men to commit +them. Yet he has at his disposal a force that ought to be sufficient +to keep in order a district five times as large. He has the Jannissar +battalion of nujeebs, under Seetla Buksh at present; the Zoolfukar +Sufderee battalion of nujeebs, under Bhow-od Dowlah, who never leaves +Court; and the Judeed, or new regiment, consisting of a thousand men. +He has nine guns, and a squadron of horse. Of the guns, five are on +the ground, utterly useless; four will bear firing a few rounds. For +these four he has bullocks, but they are not yet in condition. Of the +seer and half of corn, drawn for each bullock per diem, only half a +seer is given. Of the corps, more than one-half of the men are at +Lucknow, in attendance upon Court favourites; and of the half present +not one-third are fit for the work of soldiers. + +The Amil rode by my side, and I asked him about the case of the +marriage-procession. "Sir," said he, "what you heard from Seoraj-od +Deen is all true. Imam Buksh had a strong fort in his estate of +Ouseyree, five miles to our right, where he had a formidable gang, +that committed numerous dacoitees and highway robberies in the +country around. I was ordered to attack him with all my force. He got +intimation, and assembled his friends to the number of five thousand. +I had not half the number. We fought till he lost seventy men, and I +had thirty killed and fifteen wounded. He then fled to the jungles, +and I levelled his fort with the ground. He continued, however, to +plunder, and at last seized the bridegroom and all the marriage +party, and took them to his bivouac in the jungles. The family was +very respectable, and made application to me, and I was obliged to +restore him to his estate, where he has lived ever since in peace. I +attacked him in November 1848, and he took off the marriage party in +February following." "But," said a poor hackery driver, who was +running along by my side, and had yesterday presented me a petition, +"you forgot to get back my two carts and bullocks which he still +keeps, and uses for his own purpose, though I have been importuning +you ever since." "And what did he do to you when he got you into the +jungles?" "He tied up and flogged all who seemed respectable, and +worth something--such as merchants and shopkeepers--and poked them +with red-hot ramrods till they paid all they could get, and promised +to use all the influence and wealth of their families to force the +Amil to restore him to his estate on his own terms." "And were the +parties married after their release?" "Yes, sir, we were released in +April, after the Amil had been made to consent to his terms; and they +were married in May; but I could not get back my two carts." "And on +what terms did you restore this Imam Buksh to his estate?" "I granted +him a lease, sir," said the Amil, "at the same rate of five thousand +rupees a-year which he had paid before."* + +[* This Imam Buksh, in April, 1850, went in disguise to the annual +fair held at Bahraetch, in honour of the old saint. He was recognized +by some of Captain Bunbury's soldiers, who attempted to seize him. He +was armed with sword, spear, and shield, and defended himself as long +as he could. Seeing no chance of escape, he plunged both sword and +spear into his own belly, and died, though Captain Bunbury came up, +had his wounds sewn up, and did all he could to save him.] + +Stopping to talk with the peasantry of a village who had come out to +the roadside to pay their respects and see the procession, I asked +them how, amidst such crimes and disorders, they could preserve their +crops so well. "Sir," said they, "we find it very difficult and +expensive to do so, and shall find it still more so when the crops +are cut and stacked, or have been threshed and stored; then these +gangs of robbers have it all their own way, and burn and plunder all +over the country; we are obliged to spend all we have in maintaining +watchmen for our fields." "But the pausee bowmen have an allowance +for this duty, have they not?" "Yes, sir, they have all an allowance. +Every cultivator, when he cuts his crop, leaves a certain portion +standing for the pausee who has guarded it, and this we call his +_Bisar_. Over and above this he has a portion of land from the +proprietor or holder of the village, which he tills himself or gets +tilled by others." "And they are strong and faithful watchmen, are +they not?" "Yes, sir, they are; and though they will thieve and join +gangs of robbers in any enterprise, they will never betray their +trust. They consider it a _point of honour_ not to trespass on fields +or property under the guardianship of members of their own class with +whom they are on good terms, or to suffer any persons whatever to +trespass on what is under their own care. The money which we send to +the treasuries is commonly intrusted to pausees, and their fidelity +and courage may be relied upon. The gang robbers do little injury to +our fields while the crops are green, for they take animals of hardly +any kind with them in their enterprises; and having to move to and +from their points of attack as quickly as possible, they could carry +little of our crops with them; they are, too, afraid of the arrows of +the pausee bowmen at night, if they venture to trespass upon our +fields." "And are these pausee bowmen paid at the rate you mention +all over the country?" "No, sir; they are in some parts paid in what +is called the beega arhaeya, or two seers and half of grain from +every beega. From a pucka beega they get pucka two and half seers; +and from a kutcha beega, a kutcha two and half seers."* "Your crops, +my friends, are finer than I have ever before seen them in Oude." +"Yes, sir, they are very fine; but how we shall gather them God only +knows, with such gangs of desperate robbers all around us. The alarm +is sounded every night, and we have no rest. The Government +authorities are too weak to protect us, or too indifferent to our +sufferings; and we cannot afford to provide the means to protect +ourselves." + +[* The kutcha measure bears the same relation to the pucka in weight +as in land measurement.] + +As we went on, I asked the Amil what had become of Ahburun Sing, of +Kyampore, the landholder who murdered his father to get possession of +his estate, as mentioned in the early part of this Diary. "Ahburun +Sing, sir, is still in possession of his estate of Kyampore, and +manages it exceedingly well." "I thought he had taken to the jungles +with his gang, like the rest of his class after such a crime, in +order to reduce you to terms?" "It was his father, sir, Aman Sing, +that was doing this. He was the terror of the country; neither road +nor village was safe from him. He murdered many people, and plundered +and burnt down many villages; and all my efforts to put him down were +vain. At last I came to an understanding with his eldest son, who +remained at home in the management of the estate, and was on bad +terms with his father. He had confidential persons always about his +father for his own safety; and when he was one night off his guard, +he went at the head of a small band of resolute men, and seized him. +He kept him in prison for six months, and told me that while so much +plunder was going on around, he did not feel secure of keeping his +father a single night; that many of his old followers wanted him back +as their leader, and would certainly rescue him if he was not +disposed of; that he could not put him to death, lest he should be +detested by his clan as a parricide; but if I would make a feigned +attack on the fort, he would kill him, and make it appear that he had +lost his life in the defence of it. I moved with all the force I had +against the fort, discharged many guns against the walls, made a +feigned attempt at escalade; and in the midst of the confusion _Aman +Sing was killed_. As soon as this was done, I returned with my force; +the son remained in possession of the estate, and all the surrounding +country was delighted to hear that so atrocious a character had been +got rid of." + +This was all true, and the Amil did not seem to think that any one +who listened to him could suppose that he had done anything +dishonourable in all this: he seemed to think that all must feel as +he did, seeing his utter inability to cope with these baronial +robbers in any other way, and the evils they every day inflicted upon +the people. This Aman Sing was the most formidable of these robbers +in this district, and the high road from Lucknow to Fyzabad was for +some time closed by his gang. Of those whom he robbed, he used to +murder all who appeared likely to be able to get a hearing at Court +or at the Residency. + +The Behraleea Rajpoots, of the Soorujpore Behreyla purgunna, are now +the most formidable and inveterate robbers and plunderers in the +district. The Rajah of this estate, Singjoo, was for some years the +most formidable robber in Oude. He had taken a dislike to the family +of a sipahee of the Governor-General's bodyguard; and, in an evil +hour, he buried the sipahee's father, and some members of his family, +alive. Strong remonstrances were made through the Resident, and Man +Sing, the son of Dursan Sing, who has been already mentioned in this +diary, had orders to seize him. In March, 1845, he made a march of +forty miles at the head of five hundred active and brave men; and, on +the night of the 20th of that month, reached the gate of the fort of +Soorujpore, broke it open, entered, killed and wounded fifty of the +Rajah's men, and lost five of his own. + +The Rajah escaped and took shelter in the fort of Goura. After taking +possession of the fort, eight guns, and some elephants, and releasing +two hundred unhappy prisoners, Man Sing followed the Rajah to Goura, +where he was joined by Captain Magness and his corps. The gate of +this fort was giving way before Man Sing's pickaxemen, when Singjoo +surrendered. He was taken to Lucknow, and there died in gaol. The +village, in which his father had been buried alive, Hukkamee, was +given to the sipahee, and is still held by the family;* but they are +a good deal worried in the possession by the widow of the old Rajah, +who still lives at Soorujpore, and would be as formidable as her late +husband was if she could. + +[* In the interval, during which Singjoo held this village, he had +added to its boundaries a good deal of land belonging to himself and +others, under the impression that he was secure in the hereditary +possession. The sipahee's family seized upon all these lands, while +they paid Government only the old rate of revenue. The widow of +Singjoo has been ever since trying to recover them, in the usual way, +by night attacks, and a good many lives have been lost on both sides, +but most on the side of the sipahee's family. December 4th, 1851.] + +Seodeen, another leader of the same tribe, had been seized in the +same manner by Man Sing's father, Dursun Sing, in October, 1830; and +soon after three of his nephews were seized, and all four died in +gaol at Lucknow; but Chunda and Indul, the brothers of these three +men, are still among the most formidable robbers of the district. +Hardly a night passes without their plundering some village or other, +though Chunda continues to hold his estate, which yields 2250 rupees +a-year, under the security of Seetla Buksh, the commandant of the +Jannissaree battalion, for the payment of four hundred and fifty +rupees a-year. The other robbers of the Dureeabad Rodowlee district, +most formidable, are-- + +1. Imambuksh, above described, as having seized the marriage party. +In October last he attacked the town of Syud Mahomedpore, killed +three of the Syud proprietors, and plundered it of all he could find. +In the interval between his being driven out of his stronghold and +restored, he attacked and plundered no less than twelve villages, in +the same purgunna of Bussooree Mowae. In one of them, Myrmow, +belonging to Ameer Chowdheree, he killed no less than twelve of the +inhabitants. He still keeps up his gang, and plunders, though +restored to his estate on his own terms.* + +[* The death of this robber, Imam Buksh, has been already described +in a note.] + +2. Junuck Sing, Behraleea, and his brother, Jeskurun, only twenty +days ago, attacked, plundered, and burnt down the town of Meeangunge, +through which we passed this morning, and carried off all the +inhabitants from whom they thought they could extort any ransom. Only +two days ago, they attacked and plundered the village of Bhojpore, +belonging to Soorujbulee Canoongo, one of the most respectable men in +the district; and cut off the hands of six persons, one of whom died +from loss of blood. The next day they attacked and plundered Gorawa, +a village belonging to the same person, and burnt it down. Two of the +inhabitants were severely wounded, and many bullocks perished in the +flames. Within the last year they have taken off more than two +thousand head of cattle from the purgunna of Soorujpore Behreyla, in +which these villages are situated. Their chief associates in the +crimes they commit every day are Chunda and Indul, their clansmen +above named. + +3. Daood Khan, zumeendar of Sundona, in Mowae Bussooree. He has +murdered several of his co-sharers in the estate, and taken their +lands--frightened out others, and taken theirs, and at the head of +his band of ruffians he robs on the highway, and plunders villages. + +4. Benee Sing Kana, Rajpoot of Deeh, in the Mohlara purgunna. He is +blind of one eye, and has a small but formidable gang. In November, +1850, the native collector of Mohlara, sent a detachment of one +hundred men, accompanied by Seonath Sing, a co-sharer of Benee Sing, +in the village of Deeh, and Oree Sing, a sipahee, in Captain Orr's +Frontier Police, to attack his small gang in their stronghold at +Atgowa, in the Rodowlee purgunna. They reached the place at the dawn +of day, and forthwith commenced the attack. Benee Sing and his men +made a stoat defence. Rajah Man Sing came up, and great numbers of +the armed peasantry joined in the attack. They took the place about +nine o'clock; but Benee Sing, with fourteen of his stoutest men, +defended his house as a citadel till morning, when the house was set +fire to by the assailants. One of the fourteen was burnt and +disabled, when Benee Sing and the remaining thirteen rushed out, +sword in hand, to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Benee Sing +and twelve of the thirteen were killed; and the thirteenth at last +threw down his arms, and called for quarter. He got it, and was +saved. Six of his men had before been killed in defending the place. +Man Sing had three men wounded and one killed; three more of the +assailants were killed, and seven wounded. The head of the "one-eyed +robber" was sent in to the king, and was received with much joy. + +5. Jeskurun Behraleea, zumeendar of Kiteya, in Soorujpore. + +6. Rughbur Behraleea, of Kiteya, an associate of Imam Buksh and +Chunda. Four months ago his gang seized two carts laden with valuable +property belonging to Seodeen subahdar, of the Honourable Company's +service. Through the interposition of the Resident they were restored +fifteen days ago. + +7. Jugurnath _Chuprassee_, a bhala soltan Rajpoot. This is one of the +most formidable of the leaders of banditti in this and the adjoining +district of Jugdeespore. He and his elder brother, Surubdowun Sing, +were chuprassees on the establishment of Captain Paton, when he was +the First Assistant at Lucknow, and had charge of the Post-office, in +addition to his other duties. A post-office runner was one night +robbed on the road, and Jugurnath was sent out to inquire into the +circumstances. The Amil of the district gave him a large bribe to +misrepresent the case to his master; and as he refused to share this +bribe with his fellow-servants, they made known his manifold +transgressions to Captain Paton, who forthwith dismissed him. +Surubdowun Sing was soon after dismissed for some other offence, and +they both retired to their estate of Oskamow, in the Jugdeespore +district. + +This estate comprised fifteen villages. They obtained the leases of +these villages by degrees, through the influence which their position +at the Residency gave them. As soon as they got the lease of a +village, they proceeded to turn out all the old proprietors and +cultivators, in order the better to secure possession in perpetuity; +and those among them of the military class, fought "to the death," to +retain or recover possession of their rights. To defend what they had +iniquitously acquired, Jugurnath and his brothers collected together +bands of the most desperate ruffians in the country, and located them +in the several villages, so as to be able to concentrate and support +each other at a concerted signal. The ousted proprietors attacked +only those who presumed to reside in or cultivate the lands of which +they had been robbed; but Jugurnath and his brethren were less +scrupulous; and as they could afford to pay such bands in no other +way, they gave them free licence to plunder all the villages around, +and all travellers on the highway. Their position and influence at +the Residency enabled them to deter the local authorities from +exposing their iniquities; and they went on till all the villages +became waste, and converted into dens of robbers. + +They were, in all, six brothers, and they found their new trade so +profitable and exciting, that they all became leaders of banditti, by +profession, long before the dismissal of the two brothers from the +Residency, though no one, I believe, ventured to prefer charges +against them to the Resident or the Durbar. Soon after their +dismissal, however, Jugurnath one night attacked and murdered his +eldest brother, Surubdowun Sing, in order to get the whole estate to +himself, and put his widow and daughter into prison. His other four +brothers became alarmed, separated from him, and set up each his +separate gang. But Jugurnath contrived soon after, in a dark night, +to shoot the third brother, Himmut, dead, with one ball through the +chest. Purmode Sing, the youngest brother, was soon after shot dead +by some villager, whose cattle he was driving off in a night attack. +Bhugwunt Sing the fourth, and Byjonath, still survive, and have gangs +of their own, afraid to trust themselves with Jugurnath, who has +built two forts, Oskamow and Futtehpore, in the Jugdeespore district, +and a third in two small villages, which he has lately seized upon +and made waste, in the Rodowlee district, in order that he may have a +stronghold to fly to when pressed by the governors of other +districts. + +They pay no rent or revenue to Government for any of the villages +they hold. The king's officers are afraid to demand any from them. +They have plundered a great many villages, and are every month +plundering others. They have murdered a great many persons of both +sexes and all ages, and tortured more into paying ransoms in +proportion to their supposed means. Jugurnath is still the terror of +the surrounding country, and a reward of five hundred rupees has been +offered for his apprehension.* + +[* See note to Chapter VI., Vol. II., on the capture of Maheput Sing. +A reward of one thousand rupees has since been offered for +Jugurnath's arrest. See in Chapter IV., Vol. II:, an account of his +desertion of his master, Captain Paton. He is still at large, and +plundering. December 4th, 1851.] + +8. Moorut Sing, of _Kiteya_, which has eleven small villages +depending upon it, all occupied by Rajpoot robbers. Nowgowa, in +Mohlara, in Rodowlee, on the left bank of the Goomtee river, twenty +miles below Lucknow, has, in the same manner, twelve villages +depending upon it, all occupied by Rajpoots, who rob, or shelter +robbers, when pursued from the east. On the opposite bank is the +village of Kholee, in the Hydergurh purgunna, held by Surfraz +Chowdheree, and occupied by Brahmans and Musulmans, who shelter +robbers in the same way. When they are pressed in Nowgowa they take +shelter in Kholee, and when pressed in Kholee they take shelter in +Nowgowa. All the robbers above named find shelter in these villages +when pursued, and share their plunder with the inhabitants. + +8. Bhooree Khan. The great-grandfather of Bhooree Khan, Rostam Khan. +was the leader of a large gang of Musulman freebooters. The estate of +Deogon, containing thirty-seven villages, belonged to a family of Bys +Rajpoots. Rostam Khan and his gang seized upon them all, and turned +out the Rajpoot proprietors, and by force made three of them +Musulmans, Kanhur, Bhooree, Geesee; and all their descendants are of +the same creed. + +Imam Buksh, the father of Bhoree Khan, built a fort in Deogon, which +the _family_ still held. In 1829, Rajah Dursun Sing took the mortgage +of the estate for twenty-eight thousand one hundred and ten rupees, +to enable Imam Buksh to liquidate a balance of revenue due to +Government. When the time of payment came, in 1832, Imam Buksh could +pay nothing; and he transferred the estate to Dursun Sing, on a deed +of sale or bynama. He continued to manage the estate for Dursun Sing +in farm; but, falling in balance, he was put into confinement, where +he remained till he died, three years after, in the year 1842. +Bhooree Khan was then a boy, but he continued to receive the usual +perquisites from the estate while Dursan Sing held it. In the year +1846, the governor of the district, Wajid Allee Khan, took the estate +from Dursun Sing's family, and made it over to Bhooree Khan for a +present of five thousand rupees. He ceased to pay the Government +demand, collected a gang, and became a leader of banditti. He +plundered all the people around, and all travellers on the road, +seized and confined all who seemed likely to be able to pay ransom, +and tortured and maimed them till they did pay; and those who could +not or would not pay, he put to cruel deaths. The thirty-six villages +on his estate became deserted by all save his followers, and those +whom he could make subservient to his purposes, as robbers and +murderers. + +Ousan Opudeea resided at the village of Etapore, in the estate of +Deogon, and possessed and cultivated lands in that and other villages +around, for which he paid an annual rent of five hundred and ninety- +nine rupees. In 1846, Bhooree Khan demanded from Ousan an increase of +one hundred and fifty rupees, which he paid. The year after 1847, he +demanded a further increase of the same amount, which he paid. He was +then summoned to appear before Bhooree Khan, and was on his way when +told that he would be seized with all his family, and tortured. He, +in consequence, took his family to the village of Patkhoree. Bhooree +Khan followed with a gang of several hundred men, and two guns, +attacked, plundered, and burnt down his house, and fifteen bullocks +and buffaloes perished in the flames. One hundred and fifty head of +cattle belonging to the village were taken off by the gang. Dwarka, +one of Ousan's sons, was killed in defending the house; and the other +two, Davey, aged sixteen, and Seochurun, aged seventeen, were seized, +bound, and taken off to the jungle, with Ramdeen, Ousan's nephew, and +many others of the respectable inhabitants of the village. After +exacting a ransom from all the rest, he let them go; but retained the +two sons of Ousan, and demanded twelve hundred rupees for their +ransom. Ousan had lost all his property in the attack, and could +raise no more than seven hundred rupees among his relatives and +friends. This would not satisfy Bhooree Khan, who, after torturing +and starving the boys for twelve months, and taking the seven hundred +rupees, took them to the jungle of Gaemow, with fetters on their +legs, and bamboo collars round their necks. He there had them tied to +trees, and after firing at them as targets, for some time, with bows +and arrows, he had them cut to pieces with swords, and then seized +upon all the lands which their father held. + +In 1848, Bhooree Khan attacked and plundered the house of Peer Khan, +in Khanseepoor in Deogon, and bound and carried him off with his two +brothers, Ameer Khan and Jehangeer Khan. He had them beaten with +sticks, and caused small iron spikes to be driven up under their +nails, and their eyelids to be sewn up with needle and thread, and +their beards to be burned, till he extorted from them a ransom of +eight hundred rupees. + +While they were thus confined and being tortured, they saw four +travellers brought in by the gang, and tortured and beaten to death, +because they could not pay the ransom demanded from them. + +Bhoree Khan, in this month of August 1848, attacked the house of +Sirdar Khan, an invalid naek of the 36th Regiment of Bengal Native +Infantry, and, after robbing it, burnt it to the ground, and bound +and carried off to his fort in Deogon, Sirdar Khan himself and his +three sons, Khoda Buksh, Allah Buksh, and Allee Buksh; the first +fourteen years of age, the second eight, and the third seven years. +He tortured all three, and demanded a ransom of nineteen hundred +rupees. This sum was borrowed and paid by Jehangeer Khan, the brother +of the naek, and the naek was released. Bhooree Khan would not, +however, release either of the sons till he got five hundred rupees +more; but Sirdar Khan was unable to procure this further sum, and, in +April 1849, Bhooree Khan had two of the boys, Khoda Buksh and Alla +Buksh, tied to trees and shot to death with arrows, for the amusement +of his gang. They were then hacked with swords, and their bodies were +thrown into a ditch, whence he would not permit their friends to +remove them for burial. Sirdar Khan became for a time deranged on +hearing of the sufferings of his sons, and wandered about the +country. Bhooree Khan, with his gang, again attacked the village, and +burned it all down, and drove off all the cattle, including all that +Sirdar Khan possessed. He recovered, and changed his residence to the +village of Deokalee. Bhooree Khan still retained the third son, Allee +Buksh, alias Pulleen, and he is still in prison.* + +[* The Resident effected the release of the third son, Allee Buksh, +in January, 1851, through the aid of Captain Orr, of the Frontier +Police.] + +Sirdar Khan's ancestors were the Rajpoot proprietors of the estate of +Deogon, and were forcibly converted to Mahommedanism by Bhooree +Khan's ancestors when they seized upon the estate. Sirdar Khan +cultivated eighteen beegahs of land in the village of Salteemow, in +Deogon, for which he had long paid thirty-six rupees a year rent. +Bhooree Khan demanded sixty-five a-year before the attack, and this +sum Sirdar Khan paid, but it had no effect in softening the robber +leader. + +In the year 1847, soon after he took possession of the estate, +Bhooree Khan sent a gang under the command of his cousin, Mungul +Khan, to attack the house of Dulla, the most opulent and respectable +merchant of the district, who resided in the town of Mukdoompore. +Dulla had two sons, Nychint and Pursun Sing. After plundering the +house, the gang seized Dulla, his son Nychint, Golbay the son of +Pursun Sing, and Ajoodheea the son of Nychint. Pursun Sing, the other +son of the old merchant, had gone off to the Governor of the +district, Rajah Incha Sing. to adjust his annual accounts. The +females of the family got out through the back-door of the female +apartments, and escaped to the village of Etwara, in the Jugdeespore +district, where they had a residence. All the valuables had been +buried in a pit in the house, some ten feet deep, and the females had +no time to take them up. + +The old man, his son Nychint, and his two sons, were sent off to +Bhooree Khan, who, on learning that the valuables had not been found, +came with fifty more armed men, accompanied by Baboo Mudar Buksh, the +tallookdar of Silha in Jugdispore, his own agent Muheput, and a +Brahmin prisoner named Cheyn, who knew Dulla, and the wealth he +possessed. He brought with him the merchant's son Nychint, and +commanded him to point out the place in which the valuables lay +concealed. He would not do so, and Bhooree Khan then drove four tent- +pins into the ground in the courtyard, placed Nychint on his face, +and tied his hands and feet to these pegs. He then had him burnt into +the bones with red-hot ramrods, but the young man still persisted in +his refusal. He had then oil boiled in a large brass pot which they +found in the house, and poured it over him till all the skin of his +body came off. He became insensible for a time, and when he recovered +his senses he pointed out the spot. Gold and silver ornaments and +clothes of great value, and brass utensils belonging to the family, +or held as pledges for money due to the old man, were taken up, with +one hundred and fifty matchlocks and the same number of swords. They +found also many pits, containing several thousand maunds of grain. +The valuables, and as much of the grain as he could find carriage +for, Bhooree Khan and his gang carried off, and the rest of the grain +he gave to any one who would take it. The value of the whole plunder +was estimated at one hundred and fifty thousand rupees. + +Nychint was unbound, but died that night, and the body was made over +to the Brahmin, Cheyn, who had now become a Mussulman. He took it to +the jungle, where he had it burnt with the usual ceremonies. Bhooree +Khan still detained Ajodheea, the son of Nychint, and Golbay, the son +of Pursun Sing, and demanded a further ransom for them, but he +released Dulla, who came home and died of grief and of the tortures +inflicted upon him in less than a month after. Cheyn, Dabey Sookul, +and Forsut, all Brahmins of Mukdoompoor, were witnesses to the +tortures inflicted upon Nychint, and to the plunder of the house. He +kept Dulla's grandsons for a year more, with occasional tortures, but +the surviving son, Pursun Sing, had nothing more to give, and no one +would give or lend him anything. Golbay, his son, at last contrived +to get a letter conveyed to him, stating that he was now less +carefully guarded than he had been; that he and his cousin, Ajodheea, +were sent to take their meals with a bearer, who lived in a hamlet on +the border of the jungle, where they were guarded by only four pausee +bowmen, and if his father could come with fifty armed men, and +surprise them at a certain hour, he might rescue them. He assembled +fifty men from surrounding villages, and at the appointed time, +before daybreak, he surprised the guard, and rescued his son and +nephew. + +Gunga Purshad, son of Chob Sing, canoongo of Silha, in Deogon, left +the place when Bhooree Khan took to plundering, and went off, in +1847, with his family to reside at Budulgur, a village held by Allee +Buksh, a mile distant. A month after he had settled in that place, +Bhooree Khan came with his gang, surrounded his house at night, +plundered it, and seized and took off his brother, Bhowanee Purshad, +two younger brothers, and his, Gunga Purshad's, daughter and son, +with Gowree Lall and Gunesh Purshad, his relations, who had come on a +visit to congratulate him on the prudence of his change of residence. +Gunga Purshad was absent at the time on business. All the prisoners +were taken to the jungles and tortured with red-hot iron ramrods, and +put into heavy fetters. He demanded a ransom of nine hundred and +fifty rupees for all. Gunga Purshad sold all he had except some cows +and bullocks, and collected four hundred rupees, and his relation's +clubbed together and raised one hundred more. The five hundred were +sent to Bhooree Khan, and he took them and released all but Bhowanee +Purshad. His two younger brothers collected the cows and bullocks, +and went with them to Mukdoompoor, in the hope of being allowed to +till their lands; but Bhooree Khan and his gang came, seized and sold +all the cows and bullocks they had saved, plundered them of +everything, and took their lands from them. They all fled once more, +and went to reside at Putgowa. At Mukdoompoor, Bhooree Khan had +Bhowanee Purshad flogged so severely that he fell down insensible, +and he then had red-hot iron spikes thrust into his eyes, and a few +days after he died in confinement of his sufferings. The value of the +property taken from the family, besides the five hundred rupees' +ransom, was one thousand rupees. He, about the same time, seized and +carried off from Mukdoompoor Gunga Sookul, a Brahmin, tortured him to +death, and threw his body into the river. + +About the same time, August 1847, he seized and carried off Cheyn, a +Brahmin of Mukdoompoor, son of Bhowanee Buksh. He had come to him to +pay the year's rent for the lands he held in that village. After +paying his own rents and those of others who were afraid to put +themselves into Bhooree Khan's power, and had sent by Cheyn all that +was due, he demanded from him a ransom of four hundred rupees. He +could give no more, and was put under a guard and tortured in the +usual way. As he persisted in declaring his inability to pay more, a +necklace of cow's bones was put round his neck, and one of the bones +was thrust into his mouth, and the blood of a cow was thrown over +him, from which he became for ever an outcast from his religion. He +expected to be put to death, but a friend conveyed to him the sum of +ten rupees, which he gave to the robbers employed to torture him, and +they spared his life. His son had taken shelter in the village of +Pallee, whence he sent a pausee bowman, named Bhowaneedeen, to +inquire after _him_, and offered him ninety rupees if he would rescue +his father. The pausee pledged himself to Bhooree Khan to pay the +money punctually, and Cheyn was released. But Bhooree Khan had cut +down all the crops upon the lands, and taken them away, and cut down +also the five mango-trees which stood upon his land and had been +planted by his ancestors. During his confinement, Cheyn saw Bhooree +Khan torture and murder many men, and dishonour many respectable +women, whom he had seized in the same way. + +In the same month, August 1847, Bhooree Khan seized Sudhae, the son +of Tubbur Khan, of Salteemow, in Deogon, and his (Sudhae's) two sons, +Surufraz and Meerun Buksh, and took them to the jungle. Sadhae had +paid him the eighty rupees rent due for the land he tilled, but +Bhooree Khan demanded one hundred rupees more; and when he could not +pay he made him over to the Jumogdar, to whom he had become pledged +for the payment of a certain sum. The Jumogdar had him beaten till he +saw that nothing could be beaten out of him, when he let him go to +save the cost of keeping him. Bhooree Khan became very angry, and, +with his gang, attacked and plundered the house of Sudhae's brother, +Badul Khan, in Salteemow, with whom Sudhae lived. The two brothers +and their families expected this attack, and escaped unhurt, and +fled, but they lost all their property. + +Bhooree Khan then ordered one of his followers, Mirdae, to take +Surufraz to a tank outside the village and cut off his nose. He took +out at the same time Bukhtawur, a Brahmin, and cut off his nose +first. Mirdae then ordered a Chumar, of Deogon, to cut off the nose +of Surafraz, and standing over him with a sword, told him to cut it +off deep into the bone. Surufraz prayed hard for mercy, first to +Bhooree Khan and then to Mirdae; but his prayers were equally +disregarded by both. The Chumar cut off his nose with a rude +instrument into the bone, and with it-all his upper lip. He was then +let go; but he fell down, after going a little distance, from pain +and the loss of blood, and was there found by his uncle, Badul Khan, +who had gone in search of him. He was taken home, but died the same +night. His brother, Meerun Buksh, was soon after released for a +ransom of fifty rupees. + +Golzar Khan, sipahee of the Dull Regiment, in the King of Oude's +service, tilled some lands in the village of Mukdoompore, for which +he paid rent to Bhooree Khan. In 1847 he first extorted from him +double the rent agreed upon, then seized all the crops, and plundered +his house, and lastly seized the sipahee's sister, and had her +forcibly married to his servant and relative, Mungul Khan. + +In 1846 Bhooree Khan attacked the house of Allah Buksh of Gaemow, in +Deogon, plundered it, killed his brother, Meerun Buksh, cut off the +hands of his relative, Peer Buksh, and wounded three other relatives +who happened at the time to be on a visit with his family. The +articles of property that were taken off by Bhooree Khan and his gang +consisted of five horses and mares, fifteen matchlocks, four maunds +of brass utensils, three hundred and twenty-five maunds of grain, +five swords, four boxes of clothes, fifteen cows and bullocks, five +hundred and forty rupees in money. The houses of all the rest of the +village community were plundered in the same manner. They cut down +all the mango and mhowa trees belonging to the family, as well as all +those belonging to other people of the village. + +In 1847 he attacked the house of Akber Khan, in the village of +Kanderpore, in Deogon; and after plundering it, he bound and carried +off his son, Rumzam, a lad of fifteen years of age; and the year +after, 1848, he again attacked his house, and seized and took off his +brother, Wuzeer Khan. He has them still in confinement under torture, +because Akber Khan cannot get the sum demanded for their ransom; and +all applications for their release to the Government authorities have +been disregarded.* + +[* The Resident could not effect the release of these two persons, +the son and brother of Akber Khan, till January, 1851.] + +In the month of August, 1848, Pransook, a Rajpoot, and Lullut Sing, +his cousin, of Booboopore, in Rodowlee, went to purchase a supply of +bhoosa for their cattle to Mukdoompore, in the Deogon estate, and +were there seized by Aman Sing, an agent of Bhooree Khan, who +pretended that they had given shelter to some of the cultivators who +had fled from Deogon, and demanded their surrender. They protested +that they had never seen any such cultivators, and knew nothing +whatever about them. They were bound and taken off to Deogon to +Bhooree Khan, who had them both put into the stocks. After having +been in the stocks for five days, they were again taken to Bhooree +Khan, who ordered them to produce the cultivators, or pay a ransom of +one hundred and five rupees. They were then taken back to prison, and +confined for eighteen days more; and having no food supplied them, +they were obliged to sell all the clothes they wore to procure a +scanty supply. + +To frighten them, Bhooree Khan one day ordered his followers to make +outcasts in their presence of two respectable men whom he had in +prison, Deena Sing, a Chowan Rajpoot of Jooreeum, and a Brahmin of +Poorwa, a small hamlet near Deogon, while he sat on the roof of his +house to look on. One of his Musulman followers forced open Deena +Sing's mouth, and spit into it; and the others tied the bones of a +neelgae round the neck of the Brahmin, by which both of them were +deprived of their caste. They then told Pransook and Lullut Sin that +they would be served in the same manner unless they paid the ransom +demanded. They became alarmed, and sent to their friends to request +them earnestly to borrow all they could, and send it for their +ransom. Their cousin, Sheobuksh Sing Jemadar, an invalid pensioner +from the 2nd Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, collected one +hundred and eighteen rupees, and sent them. Bhooree Khan took one +hundred and five for himself, and his servants took thirteen, and +they were released; but they were made to swear on the tomb of the +saint Shah Sender that they would not complain of the treatment they +had received, and had their swords and shields taken from them. They +had been confined twenty-seven days. + +In 1846 Davey Sookul, a Brahmin, cultivated land in Mukdoompore, for +which he paid an annual rent of seventy-one rupees. In consequence of +murders and robberies perpetrated by Bhooree Khan and his gang, he +went off with his family to reside at Budulgur, under the protection +of Rajah Allee Buksh, a mile distant. He had witnessed the murder of +Bhowanee Purshad and the torture of many other persons. One morning +his brother, Gunga Purshad, returned to Mukdoompore to gather some +mangoes from trees there planted by their ancestors. He was there +seized by Bhooree Khan and his gang, who were lying in wait for him. +They demanded a ransom of three hundred rupees, which Davey Sookul +could not raise. He kept Gunga Purshad in prison for four months, and +had him tortured every day. Finding that the money was not +forthcoming, Bhooree Khan had a firebrand thrust into one of his +eyes, and then had him flogged with bunches of sticks till he died. +Khoda Buksh, of Kurteepore, one of the followers of Bhooree Khan, +went and reported this to his brother and widow, who wept over the +tale of his sufferings. His brother, Boodhoo Sookul, a sipahee of the +45th Regiment, presented a petition to the Resident, describing these +atrocities, and praying redress, but none was afforded. + +Bukhtawur, son of Kaushee, a Brahmin, tilled lands in Deogon, for +which he paid an annual rent of sixty-eight rupees. In 1847 Bhooree +Khan demanded double that sum; and when he could not pay, he seized +and sold all the stock on the land, and seized and took off to the +jungles Bukhtawur and his two brothers, Heeralall and Jankee, and +seized upon all their lands, and all the property they had to the +value of five hundred rupees. He kept them in prison for six months, +and then had Bukhtawur's nose cut off by a Chumar, because he could +not pay him the ransom demanded. The nose of Surufraz was cut off at +the same time, as above described, and he died in consequence. +Bukhtawur's two brothers made their escape three months afterwards. + +In 1848 he attacked the house of Choupae Tewaree, a Brahmin of +Ottergow, and after plundering it he took off the son of Choupae, +then thirteen years of age, and his, the son's, wife, and his young +son and his wife, and tortured all, till Choupae borrowed and begged +all he could, and paid the ransom demanded. + +Purotee Aheer tilled sixteen beegahs of land in Deogon, for which he +paid an annual rent of thirty-two rupees a-year. As soon as Bhooree +Khan got the estate from Maun Sing, in November, 1846, he demanded +double the sum, and exacted it. He, in 1848, demanded two hundred and +fifty, seized Purotee, sold all his cows and bullocks, sixteen in +number, and other property, and then released him. Purotee then sent +off secretly all his family to Duheepore, two miles distant; but +Bhooree Khan sent off his servants, Bundheen and Bugolal pausees, to +trace them. They seized his two daughters, one fourteen and the other +ten years of age, and his son Nihal's wife, and his son, then only +four years of age. Bhooree Khan ravished the two girls, and then +released them, with Nahal's wife and her little son. Purotee saw the +noses of Bukhtawar and Surafraz cut off while he was in confinement, +and saw Bhooree Khan put them on a plate, which he placed in a recess +in the wall. It was in March, 1848, when he went to pray that his +daughters might be released after they had been ravished. The family +went to reside in the village of Mohlee, in Khundara, but have all +been turned out of their caste in consequence of the dishonour of his +daughters. + +In the same year he attacked the house of Foorsut Aheer of Dehpal ka +Poorwa, made him prisoner, and tortured him till he paid eight +hundred rupees. After this he made his escape; but Bhooree Khan +seized and sold all his bullocks, cows, and buffaloes, and stores of +grain. + +In 1845 Bhoore Khan and his gang attacked the house of Buldee Sing, +subahdar in the Honourable Company's service, in the village of +Ghurwae, and, after plundering him of all the property they could +find, they seized him and his wife, and took them to the jungles, +where they tortured them till they gave all they could borrow or beg +to the amount of many thousand rupees. + +About the same time he seized and carried off Eesuree Purshad, a +Brahmin, who had fled from Palpore, in Deogon, and gone for shelter +to the Bazaar of Ottergow; and after cutting off his nose, he put him +on an ass with a young pig tied to his neck, and paraded him through +the bazaar, with a drummer before him, to render him an outcast. + +In the same year, 1848, he seized Rampurshad Tewaree, and his son +Runghoor, cultivators of Deogon, and demanded from them four times +the rent due for the land they tilled; and when they could not pay, +be sold all their cattle, grain, and other property, and had iron +spikes driven up under their nails. Unable to extort money by this +means, he caused Sotun Bhurbhoonja, or grain-parcher, to ------ in +his father's face, and then released him. + +In 1848 he demanded from Junga Salor, a cultivator of Bhudalmow, in +Deogon, double rent for the land he tilled; and when he could not +pay, seized and took off his wife, and cohabited with her four or +five days, and then made some of the followers do the same before he +released her. + +In the same year, 1848, he and his gang attacked the village of +Byrampore, in the Kisnee purgunna, and seized Omrow Sing, a Bys +Rajpoot, and Boodhea, a Goojur, and all the respectable inhabitants +they could get hold of, with their families. After torturing the rest +for eight days, and extorting from them all they could pay, he let +them go; but detained Omrow Sing, and had him flogged every day till +he reduced him to a dying state, when he let him go. He was taken off +to his home; but he died as soon as he entered the house and saw his +family. The wife of Boodheea, the Goojur, he confined and violated. +Bukhtawur deposes that he saw all this while he was in confinement. + +He, in 1848, seized and carried off to his stronghold Kaseeram, a +Brahmin, of Deogon, and cut off his nose, and tortured him with hot +irons till he got from him all that he and his relations could be +made to pay, and then let him go. + +In the same year and month be attacked and plundered the village of +Puttee, in the Jugdeespore purgunna, carried off all the shopkeepers +of the place, and tortured them till they paid him altogether three +thousand rupees. + +In the same year he attacked the village of Koteea, in the Rodowlee +district, carried off one of the shopkeepers, and drove iron pins up +under his nails till he paid a ransom of one hundred and fifty +rupees. He drove off and sold all the cattle of the village. + +In the same year he attacked and plundered the village of Budulgur, +in the Jugdeespore purgunna, in the same way. + +In the same year he attacked and plundered the village of Khorasa, in +Rodowlee, carried off Sopae, the Putwaree, with his mother and wife, +and tortured them till they paid a ransom of two hundred rupees. He +murdered about the same time the son of Buksh Khan, the holder of the +village of Gaepore, and two members of the family of Poorae, a +carpenter of Almasgunge, in Deogon. + +After plundering the house of Sungum Doobee, a respectable Brahmin of +Mukdoompore, he seized him and his nephew, took them off to his fort, +and, because they could not pay the ransom he demanded, he caused +melting lead to be poured into their ears and noses till they died. +About the same time he, with his own hands, for some slight offence, +cut the throat of his table-attendant, Kbyratee, of Kunhurpore. + +About the same time he seized two travellers; and, because they could +not pay the ransom demanded, he suspended one of them to a tree in +the village of Sathnee, on the bank of the Goomtee river, and the +other to a tree in the village of Mukdoompore. He had their arms +first broken with bludgeons, and then their feet cut off, and at last +they were beaten over the head till they died. + +[Bhooree Khan, in March, 1850, went with a gang of three hundred men +to assist Gunga Buksh and his family in the defence of Kasimgunge and +Bhetae; but he was too late. On his way back, in the beginning of +April, he left his gang in a grove, six miles from Lucknow, and +entered the city alone in a disguise to visit a celebrated dancing- +girl of his acquaintance, named Bunnee. He had been with her two +days, and on the 15th of April he went to see the magnificent tomb of +Mahommed Allee Shah, of which he had heard much. While sauntering +about this place he was recognised by three or four persons belonging +to another dancing-girl of his acquaintance, named the Chhotee Gohur, +or "little Gem," whom he had formerly visited. They seized him. As +soon as Bunnee heard of this she sent ten or twelve of her own men, +and rescued him from the followers of the "Little Gem." They took him +to Bunnee, who made a virtue of necessity, and went off with him +forthwith to the Minister, who rewarded her with a pair of shawls, +and made suitable presents to her followers. + +It is said that he was pointed out to the followers of the "Chhotee +Gohur" by Peer Khan, of Khanseepore, in Deogon, whom Bhooree Khan had +some time before plundered and tortured for a ransom, as already +stated. Bhooree Khan was sentenced to transportation beyond seas for +life, and sent off in October, 1851.] + +After reading such narratives, an Englishman will naturally ask what +are the means by which such atrocious gangs are enabled to escape the +hands of justice. He will recollect the history of the MIDDLE AGES, +and think of strong baronial castles, rugged hills, deep ravines, and +endless black forests. They have no such things in Oude.* The whole +country is a level plain, intersected by rivers, which, with one +exception, flow near the surface, and have either no ravines at all, +or very small ones. The little river Goomtee winds exceedingly, and +cuts into the soil in some places to the depth of fifty feet. In such +places there are deep ravines; and the landholders along the border +improve these natural difficulties by planting and preserving trees +and underwood in which to hide themselves and their followers when in +arms against their Government. Any man who cuts a stick in these +jungles, or takes his camels or cattle into them to browse or graze +without the previous sanction of the landholder, does so at the peril +of his life. But landholders in the open plains and on the banks of +rivers, without any ravines at all, have the same jungles. + +[* The Terae forest, which borders Oude to the north, is too +unhealthy to be occupied by any but those who have been born and bred +in it. The gangs I am treating of are composed of men born and bred +in the plains, and they cannot live in the Terae forest.] + +In the midst of this jungle, the landholders have generally one or +more mud forts surrounded by a ditch and a dense fence of living +bamboos, through which cannon-shot cannot penetrate, and man can +enter only by narrow and intricate pathways. They are always too +green to be set fire to; and being within range of the matchlocks +from the parapet, they cannot be cut down by a besieging force. Out +of such places the garrison can be easily driven by shells thrown +over such fences, but an Oude force has seldom either the means or +the skill for such purposes. When driven out by shells or any other +means, the garrison retires at night, with little risk, through the +bamboo fence and surrounding jungle and brushwood, by paths known +only to themselves. They are never provided with the means of +subsistence for a long siege; and when the Oude forces sent against +them are not prepared with the means to shell them out, they sit down +quietly, and starve or weary them out. This is commonly a very long +process, for the force is seldom large enough to surround the place +at a safe distance from the walls and bamboo fence, so as to prevent +all access to provision of all kinds, which the garrison is sure to +get from their friends and allies in the neighbourhood, the garrison +generally having the sympathy of all the large landholders around, +and the besieging force being generally considered the common and +irreconcilable enemy of all. + +As soon as the garrison escapes, it goes systematically and +diligently to work in plundering indiscriminately all the village +communities over the most fertile parts of the surrounding country, +which do not belong to baronial proprietors like themselves till it +has made the Government authorities agree to its terms, or reduced +the country to a waste. The leaders of the gang may sometimes +condescend to quicken the process by appropriating a portion of their +plunder to bribing some influential person at Court, who gets an +injunction issued to the local authorities to make some arrangement +for terminating the pillage and consequent loss of revenue, or he +will be superseded or forfeit his contract. The rebel then returns +with his followers, repairs all the mischief done to his fort, +improves its defences, and stipulates for a remission of his revenue +for a year or more, on account of the injury sustained by his crops +or granaries. The unlucky Amil, whose zeal and energy have caused the +necessity for this reduction, is probably thrown into gaol till "he +pays the uttermost farthing," or bribes influential persons at Court +to get him released on the ground of his poverty. + +I may here mention the jungles in Oude which have been created and +are still preserved by landholders, almost solely for the above +purposes. They are all upon the finest soil, and in the finest +climate; and the lands they occupy might almost all be immediately +brought into tillage, and studded by numerous happy village +communities. + +I may, however, before I begin to describe them, mention the fact +that many influential persons at Court, as well as the landholders +themselves, are opposed to such a salutary measure. If brought under +tillage and occupied by happy village communities, all the revenue +would or might flow in legitimate channels into the King's treasury; +whereas in their present state they manage to fill their own purses +by gratuities from the refractory landholders who occupy them, or +from the local authorities, who require permission from Court to +coerce them into obedience. Of these gratuities such a salutary +measure would deprive them; and it is, in consequence, exceedingly +difficult to get a jungle cut down, however near it may be to the +city where wood is so dear, and has to be brought from jungles five +or ten times the distance. + +_In the Sultanpore District_. + +_1st_.--The Jungle of Paperghat, about one hundred miles south-east +from Lucknow, on the bank of the Goomtee river, ten miles long, and +three wide, or thirty square miles. + +In this jungle Dirgpaul Sing, tallookdar of Nanneemow, has a fort; +and Rostum Sing, tallookdar of Dera, has another. + +_2nd_.--The Dostpore Jungle, one hundred and twenty miles south-east +from Lucknow, on the bank of the Mujhoee river, twelve, miles long, +and three broad, or thirty-six square miles. + +_3rd_.--The Khapra Dehee Jungle, one hundred miles south-east from +Lucknow, on the plain, about ten miles long, and six miles broad, or +sixty square miles. + +_4th_.--The Jugdeespore Jungle, on the bank of the Goomtee river, +fifty miles south-east from Lucknow, sixteen miles long, and three +miles broad, forty-eight square miles. + +Allee Buksh Khan, tallookdar, has the fort of Tanda in this jungle, +on the bank of the Kandoo rivulet, which flows through it into the +Goomtee. The fort of Bechoogur in this jungle is held by another +tallookdar. + +_5th_.--Gurh Ameytee, seventy miles from Lucknow, south-east, on the +bank of the Sae river, nine miles long and three broad, or twenty +seven square miles. + +Rajah Madhoe Sing has a fort in this jungle, and is one of the very +worst, but most plausible men in Oude. + +_6th_.--Daoodpoor Jungle, seventy miles south-east from Lucknow, on +the plain, four miles long and three broad, or twelve square miles. + +The Beebee or Lady Sagura has her fort and residence in this jungle. + +_7th_.--Duleeppore Jungle, one hundred and ten miles east from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Sae river, ten miles long, and three +miles wide, thirty square miles. + +Seetla Buksh, who is always in rebellion, has a fort in this jungle. + +_8th_.--The Matona Jungle, fifty miles south-east from Lucknow, on +the bank of the Goomtee river, twelve miles long and three wide-- +square miles, thirty-six. + +Allee Buksh Khan, a notoriously refractory tallookdar, has a fort in +this jungle. + +_In the Uldeemow District_. + +_9th_.--Mugurdhee Jungle, one hundred and forty miles east from +Lucknow, on the bank of Ghogra river, eight miles long and three +broad--square miles, twenty-four. + +_10th_.--Putona Jungle, one hundred and twenty miles east from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Tonus river, eight miles long and four +miles broad--square miles, thirty-two. + +_11th_.--Mudungur Jungle, one hundred and twenty miles east from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Tonus river, six miles long, and three +miles broad--square miles, eighteen. + +Amreys Sing and Odreys Sing, sons of Surubdowun Sing (who was killed +by the King's troops thirty years ago), hold the fort of Mudungur in +this jungle. + +_12th_.--Bundeepore Jungle, east from Lucknow one hundred and forty +miles, on the plain, seven miles long and one broad--seven square +miles. + +_13th_.--Chunderdeeh, south-east from Lucknow one hundred and ten +miles, on the bank of the Goomtee river, seven miles long, and three +miles wide--square miles, twenty-one. + +_In the Dureeabad District_. + +_14th_.--Soorujpore Behreyla Jungle, east from Lucknow forty miles, +on the bank of the Kuleeanee river, sixteen miles long, and four +miles broad--square miles, sixty-four. + +Chundee Sing has a fort in this jungle, and the family have been +robbers for several generations. The widow of the late notorious +robber, Rajah Singjoo, the head of the family, has a still stronger +one. + +_15th_.--Guneshpore Jungle, sixty miles south-east from Lucknow, on +the bank of the Goomtee river, six miles long and two broad--twelve +square miles. + +Maheput Sing, an atrocious robber, holds his fort of Bhowaneegur in +this jungle. + +_In the Dewa Jahangeerabad District._ + +_16th_.--The Kasimgunge and Bhetae Jungle, eighteen miles north-east +from Lucknow, sixteen miles long, and four miles wide--square miles, +sixty-four, on the bank of the little river Reyt. + +Gunga Buksh holds the forts of Kasimgunge and Atursae in this jungle; +Thakur Purshad those of Bhetae and Buldeogur; and Bhugwunt Sing that +of Munmutpore. Other members of the same family hold those of Ramgura +Paharpore. The whole family are hereditary and inveterate robbers. + +_In the Bangur District_. + +_17th_.--Tundeeawun Jungle, on the plain, west from Lucknow, seventy- +two miles, twelve miles long and six broad--square miles, seventy- +two. + +_In the Salone District._ + +_18th_.--The Naen Jungle, eighty miles south from Lucknow, on the +bank of the Sae river, sixteen miles long and three wide--square +miles, forty-eight. + +Jugurnath Buksh, the tallookdar, holds the fort of Jankeebund, in +this jungle; and others are held in the same jungle by members of his +family. + +_19th_.--The Kutaree Jungle, on the bank of the Kandoo river, south- +east from Lucknow sixty miles, eight miles long and three broad-- +square miles, twenty-four. + +Surnam Sing, the tallookdar, has a fort in this jungle. + +_In the Byswara District_. + +_20th_.--The Sunkurpore Jungle, south of Lucknow seventy miles, on +the plain, ten miles long and three wide--square miles, thirty. + +Benee Madhoe, the tallookdar, has three forts in this jungle. + +_In the Hydergur District_. + +_21st_.--The Kolee Jungle, fifty miles south-east from Lucknow, on +the bank of the Goomtee river, three miles long and one and a half +wide--square miles, four and a half. + +The rebels and robbers in this jungle trust to the natural defences +of the ravines and jungles. + +_22nd_.--Kurseea Kuraea Jungle, south-east from Lucknow fifty miles, +on the bank of the Goomtee river, three miles long and one wide-- +square miles, three. + +The landholders trust in the same way to natural defences. + +_In the Khyrabad and Mahomdee Districts_. + +_23rd_.--Gokurnath Jungle, north-west from Lucknow one hundred miles, +extending out from the Terae forest, and running south-east in a belt +thirty miles long and five wide--square miles, one hundred and fifty. + +Husun Rajah, the tallookdar of Julalpore, has a fort in this jungle. +Sheobuksh Sing, the tallookdar of Lahurpore, holds here the fort of +Katesura; and Omrow Sing, the tallookdar of Oel, holds two forts in +this jungle. + +_In the Baree and Muchreyta Districts_. + +_24th_.--The Suraen Jungle, north-west from Lucknow thirty-four +miles, along the banks of the Suraen river, twelve miles long and +three miles wide--square miles, thirty-six. + +In this jungle Jowahir Sing holds the fort of Basae Deeh; Khorrum +Sing, that of Seogur; Thakur Rutun Sing, that of Jyrampore. They are +all landholders of the Baree district, and their forts are on the +_north_ bank of the Saraen river. Juswunt Sing holds the fort of +Dhorhara; Dul Sing, that of Gundhoreea; Rutun Sing holds two forts, +Alogee and Pupnamow.--They are all landholders of the Muchreyta +district, and their four forts are on the _south_ bank of the Saraen +river. + +This gives twenty-four belts of jungle beyond the Terae forest, and +in the fine climate of Oude, covering a space of eight hundred and +eighty-six square miles, at a rough computation.* In these jungles +the landholders find shooting, fishing, and security for themselves +and families, grazing ground for their horses and cattle, and fuel +and grass for their followers; and they can hardly understand how +landholders of the same rank, in other countries, can contrive to +live happily without them. The man who, by violence, fraud, and +collusion, absorbs the estates of his weaker neighbours, and creates +a large one for himself, in any part of Oude, however richly +cultivated and thickly peopled, provides himself with one or two mud +forts, and turns the country around them into a jungle, which he +considers to be indispensable as well to his comfort as to his +security. + +[* The surface of the Oude territory, including the Terae forest, is +supposed to contain twenty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty- +nine square miles. The Terae forest includes, perhaps, from four to +five thousand miles; but within that space there is a great deal of +land well tilled and peopled.] + +The atrocities described in the above narrative were committed by +Bhooree Khan, in the process of converting his estate of Dewa into a +jungle, and building strongholds for his gang as it increased and +became more and more formidable. Having converted Deogon into a +jungle, and built his strongholds, he would, by the usual process of +violence, fraud, and collusion with local authorities, have absorbed +the small surrounding estates of his weaker neighbours, and formed a +very large one for himself. The same process, no doubt, went on in +England successively under the Saxons, Danes, and Normans; and in +every country in Europe, under successive invaders and conquerors, or +as long as the baronial proprietors of the soil were too strong to be +coerced by their Sovereign as they are in Oude. + +An Englishman may further ask how it is that a wretch guilty of such +cruelties to men who never wronged him, to innocent and unoffending +females and children, can find, in a society where slavery is +unknown, men to assist him in inflicting them, and landholders of +high rank and large possessions to screen and shelter him when +pursued by his Government. He must, for the solution of this +question, also go back to the MIDDLE AGES, in England and the other +nations of Europe, when the baronial proprietors of the soil, too +strong for their sovereigns, committed the same cruelties, found the +same willing instruments in their retainers, and members of the same +class of landed proprietors, to screen, shelter, and encourage them +in their iniquities. + +They acquiesce in the atrocities committed by one who is in armed +resistance to the Government to-day, and aid him in his enterprises +openly or secretly, because they know that they may be in the same +condition, and require the same aid from him to-morrow--that the more +sturdy the resistance made by one, the less likely will the +Government officers be to rouse the resistance of others. They do not +sympathise with those who suffer from his depredations, or aid the +Government officers in protecting them, because they know that they +could not support the means required to enable them to contend +successfully with their Sovereign, and reduce him to terms, without +plundering and occasionally murdering the innocent of all ages and +both sexes, and that they may have to raise the same means in a +similar contest to-morrow. They are satisfied, therefore, if they can +save their own tenants from pillage and slaughter. They find, +moreover, that the sufferings of others enable them to get +cultivators and useful tenants of all kinds upon their own estates, +on more easy terms, and to induce the smaller allodial or khalsa +proprietors around, to yield up their lands to them, and become their +tenants with less difficulty. It was in the same manner that the +great feudal barons aggrandised themselves in England, and all the +other countries of Europe, in the MIDDLE AGES. + +In Oude all these great landholders look upon the Sovereign and his +officers--except when they happen to be in collusion with them for +the purpose of robbing or coercing others--as their natural enemies, +and will never trust themselves in their power without undoubted +pledges of personal security. The great feudal tenants of the Crown +in England, and the other nations of Europe, did the same, except +when they were in collusion with them for the purpose of robbing +others of their rights; or fought under their banners for the purpose +of robbing or destroying the subjects and servants of some other +Sovereign whom he chose to call his enemy. + +Only one of these sources of union between the Sovereign and his +great landholders is in operation in Oude. Some of them are every +year in collusion with the governors of districts for the purpose of +coercing and robbing others; but the Sovereign can never unite them +under his banners for the purpose of invading and plundering any +other country, and thereby securing for himself and them present +_glory_, wealth, and high-sounding titles, and the admiration and +applause of future generations. The strong arm of the British +Government is interposed between them and all surrounding countries; +and there is no safety-valve for their unquiet spirits in foreign +conquests. They can no longer do as Ram did two thousand seven +hundred years ago--lead an army from Ajodheea to Ceylone. They must +either give up fighting, or fight among themselves, as they appear to +have been doing ever since Ram's time; and there are at present no +signs of a disposition to send out another "Sakya Guntama" from +Lucknow, or Kapila vastee to preach peace and good-will to "all the +nations of the earth." They would much rather send out fifty thousand +more brave soldiers to fight "all the nations of the east," under the +banners of the Honourable East India Company. + +An English statesman may further ask how it is that so much disorder +can prevail in a small territory like Oude without the gangs, to +which it must give rise, passing over the border to depredate upon +the bordering districts of its neighbours. The conterminous districts +on three sides belong to the British Government, and that on the +fourth or north belongs to Nepaul. The leaders of these gangs know, +that if the British Government chose to interpose and aid the Oude +Government with its troops, it could crush them in a few days; and +that it would do so if they ventured to rob and murder within its +territory. They know, also, that it would do the same if they +ventured to cross the northern border, and rob and murder within the +Nepaul territory. They therefore confine their depredations to the +Oude territory, seeing that, as long as they do so, the British +Government remains quiet. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Adventures of Maheput Sing of Bhowaneepoor--Advantages of a good road +from Lucknow to Fyzabad--Excellent condition of the artillery +bullocks with the Frontier Police--Get all that Government allows for +them--Bred in the Tarae--Dacoits of Soorujpoor Bareyla--The Amil +connives at all their depredations, and thrives in consequence--The +Amil of the adjoining districts does not, and ruined in consequence-- +His weakness--Seetaram, a capitalist--His account of a singular +_Suttee_--Bukhtawar Sing's notions of _Suttee_, and of the reason why +Rajpoot widows seldom become _Suttees_--Why local authorities carry +about prisoners with them--Condition of prisoners--No taxes on mango- +trees--Cow-dung cheaper than wood for fuel--Shrine of "Shaikh Salar" +at Sutrik--Bridge over the small river Rete--Recollection of the +ascent of a balloon at Lucknow--End of the pilgrimage. + + +Poorae Chowdheree, of Kuchohee, held a share in the lands of the +village of Bhanpoor in Radowlee. He mortgaged it in 1830, to a co- +sharer, who transferred the mortgage to _Meherban Sing_, of +Guneshpoor. Poorae disliked the arrangement, and made all the +cultivators desert the village of Bhanpoor, and leave the lands +waste. Meherban attacked the village of Kuchohee in consequence, +killed Porae, and seized upon all the lands of Bhanpoor for himself. +Rajah Ram, one of the ousted co-sharers in these lands, attacked and +killed Meherban in 1832, and seized upon all the lands of Bhanpoor. + +After the death of his first wife, Meherban had attacked the house of +Bhowanee Sing, Rajpoot, of Teur, carried off his daughter, who had +been affianced to another, and forcibly made her his wife. By her he +had one daughter and one son, named _Maheput Sing_, who now inherited +from his father a fifteenth part of one of the six and half shares +into which the lands of Guneshpoor were divided. He, by degrees, +murdered, or drove out of the village, all his co-sharers, save +Gunbha Sing and Chungha Sing, joint proprietors of a small part of +one of the shares, known by the name of the Kunnee Puttee. From the +year 1843, Maheput Sing became a robber by profession, and the leader +of a formidable gang; and in three years, by a long series of +successful enterprises, he acquired the means of converting his +residence, on the border of the town of Guneshpoor, into a strong +fort, among the deep ravines of the Goomtee river. This fort he +called _Bhowaneegur_, after Bhowanee, the patroness of the trade of +murder and robbery, which he had adopted. + +I shall now mention, more circumstantially, a few of the many +atrocities committed by him and his gang, during the last few years +of his career, as illustrative of the state of society in Oude. +Bulbhudder Sing, a subadar of the 45th Regiment of Bengal Native +Infantry, resided at Rampoor Sobeha, in the Dureeabad district. By +degrees he purchased thirteen-sixteenths of the lands of these two +small villages, which adjoin each other, out of the savings from his +pay, and those of his nephew, Mugun Sing, havildar of the 43rd +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry. On his being transferred to the +invalid establishment, the subadar resided with his family in +Rampoor, and in May, 1846, his nephew, Mugun Sing, came home on +furlough to visit him. Gujraj, an associate of Maheput Sing's, held +the other three-sixteenths of the lands of these two villages; and by +the murder of the subadar and all his family, he thought he should be +able to secure for himself the possession of the whole estate in +perpetuity. The family consisted of the subadar and his wife,--Mugun +Sing, the son of his deceased brother, Man Sing, and his wife; and +his son Bijonath and his wife,--Dwarka Sing, son of Ojagur Sing, +another deceased brother of the subadar,--Mahta Deen, the son of +Chundun Sing, another deceased brother of the subadar, and his wife +and young son, Surubjeet Sing, seven years of age,--Kulotee Sing, son +of Gobrae, another deceased brother of the subadar,--Bag Sing, a +relative,--Bechun Sing, a servant,--Seo Deen, the gardener,--Jeeawun +Sing, the barber, and the widow of Salwunt Sing, another son of Mugun +Sing, havildar. + +When the family were all assembled, Maheput Sing, with Gujraj and +other associates, and a gang of one hundred and fifty armed +followers, proceeded to the village at midnight, and carefully +reconnoitred the premises. It was, after consultation, determined to +defer the attack till daybreak, as the subadar and his nephews were +known to be brave and well-armed men, who kept watch till towards +morning, and would make a desperate resistance, unless taken by +surprise. They remained concealed within the enclosure of Gujraj's +house, till just before daylight, when they quietly surrounded the +subadar's house. As day dawned the subadar got up, opened the door +and walked out, as usual, to breathe the fresh air, thinking all +safe. He was immediately shot down, and on Mugun Sing's rushing out +to assist his uncle, he received a shot in the eye, and fell dead on +his body. The robbers then rushed in, cut down Jeeawun, the barber, +while attempting to shut the door, and wounded Kulotee Sing,* Bag +Sing, and others of the party. Finding that they could no longer +stand against the numbers, rushing in at the doors and windows, the +defenders climbed from the inside to the flat roof of the house, over +the apartments of the men, fired down upon the robbers, who were +still inside, and shot one of them. The robbers, finding they could +not otherwise dislodge them, set fire to that part of the house, and +the men were obliged to leap off to save themselves. In doing this, +Bag Sing hurt his spine, and Seo Deen sprained his ankle, and both +lay where they fell, pretending to be dead, till night. The others +all went off in search of succour. + +[* Kulotee Sing was murdered, a few days afterwards, by Maheput and +Gujraj, as he was superintending the cultivation of his lands.] + +The robbers found the boy, Surubjeet, lying sick on his bed, attended +by his mother. They seized him and dashed his head against the +ground; and when he still showed signs of life, Gujraj cut him to +pieces with his sword. They then seized and stripped the females +naked, and sprinkled boiling oil over their bodies, till they pointed +out all the property concealed in the house. Seventeen hundred rupees +were found buried in the floor; and the rest of the property in +clothes, gold and silver ornaments, and brass utensils, amounted to +about ten thousand rupees. + +About noon, while the robbers were still in the house, the Amil of +Mohlara came with a large force and one gun, and surrounded them; but +stood at a safe distance, whence he kept up for some time a fire from +his gun and his matchlocks, which had no effect whatever. The robbers +fired in return from the house, merely to show that they were not to +be frightened from their booty in that way. This went on till after +dark in the evening, when the robbers all retired to the jungles with +their booty, unmolested by the Amil. + +Byjonath, who had brought the Amil to the spot, urged him on as much +as he could to save the property and females, and avenge the death of +those who had fallen, and he killed one man and seized another, the +son of one of the leaders; but he was obliged to give him up to the +Amil as an hostage, for the recovery of the property, and a witness +to the robbery. The Amil kept him for six months, and then let him go +on the largest ransom he could get for him from his father. The +circumstances were all represented, through the Resident, to the +Durbar, and redress prayed for, but none was ever obtained.* + +[* When the Resident visited this place, in his tour, in January, +1850, Dwarka Sing and other members of the family described all the +circumstances of this attack, and they were taken down; and have been +confirmed since by a judicial investigation.] + +In May 1846, Maheput attacked the house of Seobuksh, a gardener, and +after plundering it, he seized and carried off to the jungle the +gardener's brother, Puroutee, and tortured him to death with hot +irons, because he could not raise the sum demanded for his ransom. + +In August 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Meherban Tewaree, subadar of the Gwalior Contingent, in the village +of Hareehurpoor, in the district of Rodowlee. It was about ten at +night, and the whole family were asleep. The subadar lay on his cot +below, near the door, his brother, Angud Tewaree, slept on the upper +story. Some placed ladders and entered the upper story through a +window; Maheput, with others, broke open the door, near which the +subadar slept below. The brother got a sword-cut in the hand, and +called out from the upper story as loud as he could for help; but +their neighbours were all too much alarmed to come to their aid. +Maheput seized and bound the subadar with his own waistband, and +commanded his brother to come down, saying, that he need not call for +help, as the villagers all knew him too well to molest him; and if he +did not come down instantly he would set fire to the house. Seeing no +chance of help, he came down, and was bound with his own waistband in +the same manner. When the subadar remonstrated against this +treatment, Maheput struck him over the face. They then plundered the +house of all the property it contained, to the value of six hundred +and fifty rupees; and took the subadar and his brother to the +jungles; and, in the morning, demanded a ransom of one thousand +rupees. At last they came down to four hundred rupees and the horse, +which the subadar kept for his own riding. The subadar consented, and +his brother was released to get the money and horse. He borrowed the +money and sent it with the horse through Bhowanee Deen Tewaree, +landholder of Ladeeka Poorwa, and the subadar was released. He +presented three petitions, through the Resident, and orders were sent +from the Durbar to the local authorities, Hurdut Sing and Monna Lal, +but they were both in league with the robbers, and tried to get the +subadar made away with, to save further trouble, and he sought +security with his regiment.* + +[* Meherban Tewaree, subadar, was present, as a witness at the +subsequent trial of Maheput and Gujraj, who were sentenced to +transportation beyond seas for life.] + +In January 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the village of +Bahapoor, in the Rodowlee district; and after plundering all the +houses, seized and carried off among others Seetul, the spirit- +dealer, and the two sons of Reehta, the widow of Bhosoo, one twenty- +two years of age, and the other eighteen. They tortured them with +red-hot irons, and tied bamboos round their necks every day for +fifteen days. Maheput then shot the eldest son, and cut his body to +pieces with his sword. The younger son, at night, made his escape +while they were asleep, and returned to tell the tale of his +brother's murder to his mother. Seetul, the Kalwar, got his uncle to +lend him twenty-eight rupees, for which he was released. + +In April 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Ramoutar, Brahmin, of the Brahmin village of Guneshpoor, in Rodowlee; +plundered it of properly valued at one hundred rupees, and then bound +Ramoutar, his father and two sons, and took them off to the jungles; +and there tortured them all for seven days. He then had the two boys, +one nine years old and the other five, suspended to a tree and +flogged; and Ramoutar himself tied to a thorny tree and beaten till +the blood flowed down and drenched his waistband, because he could +pay nothing, and would not sign a bond to pay two thousand rupees. +His sufferings and the sight of those of his two sons made him at +last sign one for one thousand rupees. He was flogged again till his +friends brought four hundred out of the thousand, and Cheyt Sing, +Thakoor, a respectable landholder of Koleea, in Rodowlee, consented +to give security for the payment of two hundred and forty-two rupees +more. Ramoutar and his family were then released, after they had been +confined and tortured for thirty-six days, and they went off and +resided at Bookcheyna in Khundasa. A year after his house was there +attacked by Maheput Sing and his gang, and plundered of all it +contained; and his brother Seetul, and his youngest son were seized +and taken off to his fort at Bhowaneegur, and there tortured and +starved for six months. Ramoutar then borrowed one hundred and sixty +rupees, and obtained the release of his brother Seetul, and a year +after he was able to raise forty-seven rupees more, with which he +ransomed his son. + +In May 1847, Maheput Sing attacked the house of Seolal Tewaree of +Torsompoor, in Rodowlee, at midnight; and after plundering it and +stripping his mother and wife, and the wife of his brother, Jurbundun +Sing, of all the clothes and ornaments they had, he bound and carried +off to the jungle the two brothers, Seolal and Jurbundun. They were +flogged, and had hot irons applied to their bodies every day for +twenty days, and had only a little flour to eat and water to drink, +once in three days. After twenty days they contrived to make their +escape one dark and stormy night, and got home; but three days after +he again attacked their house and burnt it to the ground, with all +they possessed. He, at the same time, burnt down the house of their +uncle, in the same village, and that of one of their ploughmen; and +two cows and one bullock were burnt to death in the flames. + +In July 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of Chubbee +Lal, Brahmin, in the village of Bunnee, in the Rodowlee district, and +after plundering it of property to the value of five hundred rupees, +he bound and took the old Brahmin off to the jungles, and demanded +from him a ransom of eight thousand rupees. This sum the old man +could not pay, and he was flogged with thorns, and had red-hot irons +applied to his body every day. Maheput then sent a letter to the old +man's son, Dwarka, desiring him to send the eight thousand rupees if +he wished his father to live. The house having been plundered, the +family had nothing left, and could persuade no one to lend them. On +receiving a reply to this effect, Maheput had the old man's body +plastered all over with moist gunpowder, and made him stand in the +sun till it was dry. He then set fire to the powder, and the poor man +was burnt all over. He then cut off both his hands at the wrists, and +his nose, and sent them to his family, and in this condition be +afterwards sent the poor man to his home upon a cot. The son met his +father at the door, but the old man died as soon as his son had +embraced him. + +Maheput carried off Pem, the son of Teeka, at the same time, and +tortured him till his family paid the ransom demanded. He was witness +to the tortures of the old Brahmin. + +In August 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the house of Bichook, a +Brahmin, in the village of Torsompoor, in Rodowlee, at midnight, +while he was sleeping, and bound and carried him off to the jungle. +The next day, when he was about to have him tortured for a ransom, +one of his followers interceded for him, and he was released. But a +month after, Maheput and his gang again attacked his house, and after +plundering it of all it contained, they burnt it to the ground. +Bichook had run off on hearing their approach, and he escaped to +Syudpoor. + +In November, 1846, Maheput Sing attacked the house of Sook Allee, in +Guneshpoor, at midnight, with a gang of one hundred men; and, after +plundering it of all the property it contained, to the amount of four +hundred rupees, he burnt it to the ground, and bound and carried off +Sook Allee to the house of his friend, Byjonath Bilwar, a landholder +in the village of Kholee, eight miles distant. He there demanded a +ransom of five hundred rupees; and on his declaring that he neither +had nor could borrow such a sum, he had him tortured with hot irons, +and flogged in the usual way. He kept him for two months at Kholee, +and then took him to Tukra, in the Soorajpoor purgunnah, where he +kept him for another month, torturing, and giving him half a meal +every other day. At the end of three months, Akber Sing and Bhowanee +Deen, Rajpoot landholders of Odemow, contrived to borrow two hundred +rupees for Sook Allee, and he was released on the payment of this +sum. The marks of the hot irons, applied to his body by Maheput Sing, +with his own hands, are still visible, and will remain so as long as +he lives.* + +[* I saw these marks on the sufferer.] + +About the same time--the latter end of 1846--Maheput Sing sent to +Sheik Sobratee, of the same place, a message through a pausee, named +Bhowanee Deen, demanding twenty-five rupees. This sum was sent; but +six weeks had not elapsed, before Sheik Sobratee received another +demand for the same amount, through the same person. He had no money, +but promised to send the sum in ten days. At midnight, on the fourth +day after this, Maheput and his gang attacked his house, and +plundered it of all they could find, female ornaments, and clothes, +and brass utensils. Sobratee was that night sleeping at the house of +his friend Peree, the wood-dealer, in the same town. Maheput tried to +make his mother and wife point out where he was, by torturing them, +but they either would not or could not do so. After some search, +however, they discovered him, and bound and took him off, with +handcuffs, and an iron collar round his neck, to the Kurseea jungle, +in the Hydergur pergunnah. His son, a boy, had escaped. After +torturing him in the usual way for eight days, they sent a message to +his mother by Maheput's servant, Salar, to say, that unless she sent +a ransom of five hundred rupees, her son's nose and hands should be +cut off and sent to her as those of _Chubbee Lal_, Brahmin, of +Bunnee, had been. She prevailed upon Baroonath Gotum to lend the +money; and Maheput sent Sobratee to him, accompanied by one of his +armed retainers, with orders to make him over to the Gotum, if he +pledged himself in due form to pay. He did so, and Sobratee was made +over to him, and the next day sent home to his wife and mother. Some +months after, however, when he had completed his fort of Bhowneegur, +Maheput sent to demand two hundred rupees more from Sobratee, and +when he found he could not pay, he had his house pulled, down, and +took away all the materials to his fort. What he did not require he +caused to be burnt. He got from Sobratee, in ransom and plunder, more +than three thousand rupees; and he has been ever since reduced to +great poverty and distress. + +In November 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang seized and carried off +Khosal, a confectioner, of Talgon, in Rodowlee, who had gone to his +sister at Buhapoor, near Guneshpoor, to attend a marriage--took him +to the jungle, and tortured and starved him in the usual way for five +weeks. He had him burnt with red-hot irons, flogged and ducked in a +tank every day, and demanded a ransom of two hundred rupees. At last, +his brother, Davey Deen, borrowed thirty-three rupees from Rambuksh, +a merchant of Odermow, and offered to pay it for his ransom. Maheput +sent Khosal, with his agent, Bhowanee Deen, to Rambuksh, and he +released him on getting the money. He still bears on his body the +marks of the stripes and burnings.* + +[* These marks I have seen.] + +In December 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the house of Motee +Lal Misser, a Brahmin, in the village of------, and after robbing it +of all that it contained, he seized and carried off his nephew, Ram +Deen, a boy of seven years of age, and tortured him for a month in +the jungle. He then cut off his left ear and the forefinger of his +right hand, and sent them to the uncle in a letter, stating, that if +he did not send him one thousand rupees, he would send the boy's head +in the same manner. The boy's father had died, and his uncle, with +great difficulty, prevailed upon his friends and neighbours to lend +him two hundred and twenty rupees, which he sent to Maheput, and his +nephew was released. The boy declares to me that Maheput cut off his +ear and finger with his own hands.* + +[* This boy was present, as a witness, at the trial of Maheput.] + +In June 1848, Forsut Pandee, of Resalpandee-ka-Poorwa, in Rodowlee, +accompanied Girwar Sing, a Rajpoot of Bowra, in Rodowlee, to +Guneshpoor, on some business. They were smoking and talking together +at the house of Mungul Sing, Thakoor, a large landholder of that +place, when five of Maheput's armed men came up, and told Forsut +Pandee to attend them to their master. Girwar Sing remonstrated and +declared that his honour had been pledged for Forsut Pandee's +personal safety. Mungul Sing, Thakoor, however, told him, that he +must offer no opposition, as they seized all travellers who came that +way, and it was dangerous to oppose them. He was taken to Maheput +Sing, in his fort at Bhowaneegur, situated half a mile from +Guneshpoor. Maheput told him that he had heard of his having a good +flint gun, and a shawl in his house, and that he must have them. +Forsut Pandee swore on the Ganges that he had no such things. He then +had him tied up to a tree and flogged him with his own hands with +thorny bushes, the scars of which are still visible. He then demanded +a ransom of three hundred rupees, and had him flogged and tortured +every day for a month, while he gave him to eat only half a pound of +flour every two or three days. The prisoner's brother, Bhoree Pandee, +sold all the clothes and ornaments of his family, utensils, and +furniture, and their hereditary mango and mhowa grove, and raised two +hundred and six rupees, which he sent to Maheput, through Baldan +Sing, a landholder of Bharatpoor, two miles from Guneshpoor. On the +receipt of this Forsut Pandee was released. + +In October 1848, Maheput Sing sent ten of his gang to seize a +cultivator, by name Khosal, who was engaged in cultivating his land +in a hamlet, one mile south of the town of Syudpoor. They seized and +bound him and took him off to their leader, Maheput, who had him +tortured for a month in the usual way. He had him tied up to a ladder +and flogged. He had red-hot irons applied to different parts of his +body--he put dry combustibles on the open palms of his hands and set +fire to them, so that he has lost the use of his fingers for life. +For the whole month he gave him only ten pounds of flour to eat; but +his friends contrived to convey a little more to him occasionally, +which he ate by stealth. He was reduced, by hunger and torture, to +the last stage, when his family, by the sale of all they had in the +world, and the compassion of their friends, raised the sum of one +hundred and twenty-six rupees, which they sent to Maheput, by Thakoor +Persaud, a landholder of the village of Somba, and obtained his +release. The tortures have rendered him a cripple, and the family are +reduced to a state of great wretchedness.* + +[* This man was a witness at the trial of Maheput, and I saw the +signs of his sufferings.] + +The village of Guneshpoor yielded a revenue to Government of twenty- +one thousand rupees a-year, and was divided into six and half shares +each, held by a different person. One belonged to Omrow Sing, +Rajpoot, the father of Hunmunt Sing, a corporal in the 44th Regiment +Bengal Native Infantry, and descended to Omrow Sing's eldest son, +Davey Sing. One share was held, jointly, by Maheput Sing and Chotee +Sing, when, in October 1848, Maheput assembled a gang of about two +hundred men, and attacked the house of Davey Sing, while his brother +Hunmunt Sing was at home on recruiting service. There were in the +house the corporal and his three brothers, and all mounted, with +their friends, to the top of the house, with their swords and spears, +but without fire-arms. The robbers, unable to ascend from the +outside, broke open the doors, but the brothers descended and +defended the passage so resolutely, that the gang was obliged to +retire and watch for a better opportunity. + +Three months after, in January 1849, Maheput attacked the house +again, with a gang of five hundred men and good scaling-ladders. Some +ascended to the top on the ladders, while others broke open the doors +and forced their way in. The brothers and the other male members of +the family defended themselves resolutely. One of the brothers, +Esuree Sing, his uncle, Runjeet Sing, sipahee of the 11th Regiment +Bengal Native Infantry, his cousin, Beetul Sing, sipahee of the 8th +Regiment Bombay Native Infantry, were all killed, and hacked to +pieces by Maheput and his gang. No person came to the assistance of +the family, and the robbers retired with their booty, consisting of +five hundred and ten rupees in money, four muskets, and four swords, +and twelve hundred maunds of corn, and all the clothes, ornaments, +and utensils that could be found. They burnt down the house, and +dispossessed the family of their share in the estate, and plundered +all the cultivators. Davey Sine the eldest brother, went to reside at +Bhanpoor, in the neighbourhood. While he was engaged in cutting a +field of pulse, in the morning, about seven o'clock, in the month of +March following, Maheput Sing, with a gang of two hundred men, +attacked his house, killed his two brothers, Gordut and Hurdut Sing, +and their servant, Omed, and shot down his nephew, Gorbuksh Sing. +Ramsahae, the nephew of Maheput Sing, ran up to despatch him with his +sword, but Gorbuksh rose, cut him down, and killed him with his sword +before he himself expired. + +The corporal, Hunmunt Sing, of the 44th Native Infantry, described +all these things in several petitions to the Resident, and prayed +redress, but no redress was ever obtained. Saligram and other +relatives of the corporal had been plundered and wounded by Maheput +Sing and his gang, and he describes many other atrocities committed +by the same gang. His petition of the 27th September 1849, was sent +to the King by the Resident, who was told, that the Amil of the +district of Dureeabad, Girdhara Lal, had been ordered to seize +Maheput Sing and his gang. This Amil was always in league with them. + +In December 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of a +female, named Arganee, the widow of Sheik Rozae, in the village of +Pertab Pahae. It was midnight, and she was sleeping with her two +grandchildren, the sons of her son, who was a sipahee in the 66th +Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry. They bound her hands: and leaving +her young grandchildren alone, took her off to the jungle eight miles +distant. There Maheput demanded from her the seven hundred rupees +which she was said to have accumulated; and when she pleaded poverty, +and said that the sipahee's pay was their only means of subsistence, +he had her stripped naked and flogged in the usual way. For a month +he had her stripped and flogged in the same manner every day. She +then signed a bond to pay one hundred rupees on a certain day, and +was released. She sold all she had, and borrowed all she could, and +on the fourth day sent him fifty, and the other fifty on the +fifteenth day; but he afterwards had the poor widow's house pulled +down and all the wood-work carried to his fort of Bhowaneegur. + +In April 1849, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Seodeen Misser, sipahee of the 63rd Regiment Bengal Native Infantry; +and after plundering it, seized and carried off to the jungle his +brother and that brother's two sons--one seven years of age and the +other five--and his sister. He sold the two boys as slaves for two +hundred rupees to a person named Davey Sookul, of Guneshpoor; and +tortured the brother and sister till the sipahee and his friends sold +all they had in the world for their ransom, when he released them. + +In the month of May 1849, Maheput Sing and his gang at midnight +attacked the house of Eseree Sing, a Rajpoot of the Chouhan tribe, in +the village of Salpoor, in Dureeabad; and after stripping his mother +and all the other females of the family of their clothes and +ornaments, plundering the house of all it contained, rupees, twenty- +five in money, two handsome matchlocks, two swords, two spears, and +two shields, and brass utensils, weighing one hundred and sixty +pounds, he bound Eseree Sing himself, and took him off with his +sister, four years of age, and his daughter, only three, to a jungle, +four miles distant. He there released Eseree Sing himself, but took +on the girls, and made over his daughter to Akber, one of his +followers, and his sister to Bechoo, another of his gang, to be +united to them in marriage. It was at their instigation, and for that +purpose chiefly, that he made the attack.* + +[* Akber and Bechoo are now in prison, with Maheput, at Lucknow.] + + +In August 1849, Maheput and his gang attacked the houses of Seetul, +Gorbuksh, and Sook Lal, Brahmins, of Guneshpoor; and after plundering +them, he carried off Gorbuksh and his son, Ram Deen, and Bhowanee, +the son of Seetul, and Sook Lal, and murdered them. He carried off +and tortured, in a shocking manner, Benee, of the same place, till he +paid a ransom; and Ongud, son of Khunmun, an invalid Khalasie, of the +26th Regiment Native Infantry. + +In September 1849, Maheput attacked and plundered the house of Ongud +Sing, sipahee of the 24th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, and +confined the sipahee for some time. His petition was sent to the King +on the 11th November 1849. + +On the 15th of December 1849, Monowur Khan, havildar of the 62nd +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, complained that Maheput Sing had +seized him as he was walking on the high road, and extorted eleven +rupees from him. His petition was sent to the King, with a request, +that all local authorities might be urged to aid in his arrest; and +orders were again sent to the Frontier Police. + +On the 24th December 1849, Madho Sing, sipahee of the 11th Regiment +Bengal Native Infantry, complained that Maheput Sing had attacked and +plundered his house twice, burnt it down, and cut down all the trees +which the family had planted for generations, and turned them all out +of the village--that in the second attack he had murdered his +daughter, a girl of only nine years of age. His petition was sent to +the King, who, on the 13th of February 1850, replied that he had +proclaimed Maheput as a robber and murderer, and offered a reward of +three thousand rupees for his arrest. + +On the 16th of March 1850, Goverdhun complained, that Maheput had +attacked and plundered his house, and carried off his father to the +jungles, and extorted from him a ransom of one hundred and ten +rupees. His petition was sent to the King, who, on the 27th March, +replied, that he had given frequent and urgent orders for the arrest +of Maheput Sing. + +Gunga Deen, a trooper of the Governor-General's body-guard, +complained to the Resident, on the 9th of August 1844, that Maheput +Sing had attacked and killed with his own hand his agent, Thakoor +Sing, while he was taking seven hundred and seventy-four rupees to +the revenue-collector. On the 11th of September 1849, he again +complained to the Resident, that Maheput Sing had plundered +Bhurteemow and other villages, in Dureeabad, of property to the value +of six thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine rupees, and murdered +five men, besides Thakoor Sing, his servant, and had committed +numerous robberies in other villages during the year 1848. Among them +one in Bhurteemow, in which he killed Ramjeet and four other men-- +that he had soon after committed a robbery in which no less than +twenty-two persons were killed and wounded, and property to the value +of two thousand rupees was carried off. The King was frequently +pressed most earnestly to arrest this atrocious robber; and on the +9th of December 1849, the Frontier Police was, at the Kings request, +directed to do all in their power to seize him. + +In July 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of Mungul +Sookul, a corporal of the 24th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, at +midnight, robbed it of property to the value of five hundred rupees, +and so rent the ears of his little son, by the violence with which he +tore the gold rings from them, that the boy was not likely to live. +The commanding officer of the regiment sent the corporal's petition +for redress, through the Resident, to the Durbar; and orders were +sent to the local authorities to afford it, but they were unable or +unwilling to do anything. + +Gunga Aheer, of Buroulee, in the district of Rodowlee, had been for +three years a sipahee in the 48th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, +under the name of Mata Deen. Continued sickness rendered him unfit +for duty, and he obtained his discharge, and came home to his family. +In March 1850, having been long without employment, and reduced, with +his family, to great distress, he went to his relation, Ramdhun, of +the Intelligence Department, in the service of the King of Oude, and +then; on duty at Dureeabad, with the Amil. A reward of three thousand +rupees having been offered by the King for the arrest of Maheput +Sing, the Amil ordered Ramdhun to try his best to trace him out, and +he took Gunga Aheer with him to assist, on a promise of securing for +him good service if they succeeded. They went to a jungle, about two +miles from Guneshpoor, and near the foot of Bhowaneegur. While they +were resting at a temple in the jungle, sacred to Davey, Maheput came +up, with twenty followers, to offer sacrifice; and as soon as they +recognized the Harkara, Ramdhun, they seized both, and took them off +in the evening to a jungle, four miles distant. In the hope of +frightening Maheput, the Harkara pretended to be in the service of +the Resident at Lucknow; but as the reward for his arrest had been +offered on the requisition of the Resident, on the application of +injured sipahees of the British army, this did not avail him. Their +hands were tied behind their backs, and as soon as it became dark, +they took Ramdhun off to a distance of twenty paces from where +Maheput Sing sat, and made him stand in a circle of men with drawn +swords. One man advanced, and at one cut with his sword, severed his +right arm from his body, and it fell to the ground. Another cut into +the side, under the stump, while a third cut him across the left side +of the neck with a back cut, he all the time calling out for mercy, +but in vain. On receiving the cut across the neck he fell dead, and +the body was flung into the river Goomtee. Maheput sat looking on +without saying a word. + +They then amused themselves for some time by flogging Gunga Aheer +with thorn bushes, while he in agony cried for mercy. The next day, +by Maheput's orders, they laid him upon a bed of thorns and beat him +again, while he screamed from pain, and they laughed at his cries. +One of the followers told Maheput, that they had been cautioned by +the outlaw, Jugurnath, the chuprassie, not to murder Ramdhun and his +companion, or the English would some day avenge them; but he laughed +and said that spies must be punished, to deter others from pursuing +them. One of his followers then sat on Gunga's chest while another +held his arms, and a third his legs, while a fourth cut off his nose, +and one of his hands at the wrist, and the fingers of the other hand. +He became senseless, and Maheput and his followers all left him in +this state. In the evening a servant of Seochurn Chowdheree, of +Bhowaneepoor, on his way to the jungle, saw him and reported his +condition to his master, who sent people and had him taken to him on +a litter. He had his wounds dressed by a village surgeon, and the +next day sent him home to his wife and mother. The landlord of the +village reported the case to Captain Orr, of the Frontier Police, at +Fyzabad, who had Gunga taken off to the hospital at Lucknow, where he +remained under the care of the Residency surgeon till he recovered. +This poor man had to support his mother, wife, and daughter by his +labour. His mother came in with him, and attended him in hospital, +while his wife and child remained at their village. + +While in hospital recovering, Maheput Sing was brought before him, by +the Frontier Police, to be recognized. As soon as he saw him all the +terrible scene of Ramdhun's murder and his own torture came so +vividly before him, that he trembled from head to foot, like a man in +an ague fit, and was for some time unable to speak. At last, when he +saw the fetters on Maheput's legs, and the handcuffs on his wrists, +and armed Government servants around him, he recovered his senses; +and by degrees, recorded what he had witnessed and suffered at his +hands. + +On the 25th March 1850, Rajah Maun Sing, under orders from the +Durbar, with all the force he could muster, invested the fort of +Bhowaneegur, while the force under Captains Weston, Thomas, Bunbury, +and Magness, attacked the three forts belonging to Rajah Prethee Put, +of Paska. Maheput Sing left the fort on the 27th, with eleven +followers, to collect reinforcements and harass the besiegers, and +the garrison was commanded by his nephew. + +On the 28th, Maun Sing had three men killed and several wounded, from +the fire of the garrison, and wrote for reinforcements to Captain +Weston, who was at Dureeabad, twelve miles distant. As soon as he got +the letter, he mounted his horse, and leaving the force to follow, +rode with his Assistant, Captain Orr, to the place, which is half a +mile from Guneshpoor south, and two hundred yards from the left bank +of the Goomtee river north. They were attended by a few sowars, under +Seo Sing, and they reached the place before daybreak, on the 29th; +and as soon as day appeared, proceeded with Captain Magness, who had +galloped on in advance of his regiment to reconnoitre the fort, and +were fired upon by the garrison wherever they were seen. Maun Sing's +people had retired after the loss of a few men, to the distance of a +mile, and lay scattered over the jungle. + +The Infantry came up before sunset, and the guns before it grew dark, +and all were placed in position, and a fire opened upon the fort till +it grew too dark to point the guns. The garrison soon after attempted +to escape by the west side, and were fired upon by the parties posted +on that quarter. Captain Weston, hearing the fire, collected all the +men he could, and getting with difficulty into the fort, found it +empty. In the attempt to cut their way through, the garrison had two +men killed and fifteen wounded and taken, and five managed to escape, +under cover of the night, into the thick jungle. Bikhai, one of the +most atrocious of Maheput's followers, was killed; but he killed two +of the besiegers, and wounded two more before he fell. Akber Sing, +the most atrocious of all the gang, had his arm taken off by a +cannon-shot, and was seized. Maheput's nephew, the commandant of the +garrison, was taken, with one of Maheput's secretaries and advisers. + +Of Maun Sing's party, four were killed and thirteen wounded, and +Captain Magness had one havildar severely wounded. The fort was +levelled, and the jungle around cut down. The force then proceeded +and took possession of the forts of Futtehpoor, Oskamow, Sorrea, +Dyeepoor, and Etonja, all belonging to Jugurnath Chuprassie, another +leader of banditti of that district They were only a few miles +distant from Bhowaneegur, and were deserted by his gangs on their +seeing a British force and hearing the guns open upon Bhowaneegur. +Two hundred head of stolen cattle were found in the forts of +Jugurnath, and restored to their proper owners. Parties were sent in +pursuit of Maheput Sing, and two of his followers were secured; but +he himself escaped for the time. The forts were all destroyed. +Captain Orr, the Assistant Superintendent, in charge of the Frontier +Police at Fyzabad, had been long in pursuit of Maheput Sing, and his +parties, knowing all his haunts and associates, gave him no rest. His +subadar, Seetul Sing, became acquainted with Prethee Paul, tallookdar +of Ramnuggur, who had been deprived of his estate for defalcation, +and become associated with Maheput Sing. The subadar persuaded this +landholder that it would be to his advantage to aid in the arrest of +so atrocious a robber and murderer; and when Maheput next came to him +to seek some repose from his pursuers, and consult about future +plans, he sent intimation to Seetul Sing, whose detachment of +sipahees was at no great distance. On receiving the intimation, the +subadar marched forthwith, and reached the place at the dawn of day, +on the morning of the 1st of July 1850. Maheput Sing had just left +the house to perform his ablutions, but on seeing them, he suspected +their designs and re-entered the house. The subadar's party saw him, +immediately surrounded the house, and demanded his surrender, Maheput +Sing begged Prethee Paul to join him in defending the house or +cutting their way through; but Prethee Paul told him that he had +ruined himself by his atrocities, and must now submit to his fate, +since he could not involve himself and all his family in ruin merely +to assist him. Prethee Paul then took him by the arm, brought him +out, and made him over to Seetul Sing, who had threatened to set fire +to the house, forthwith unless he did so. He was then secured and +taken off, well guarded, and in all possible haste, to Captain Orr, +lest his gang might collect and attempt a rescue. Captain Orr sent +him off, under a strong guard and well fettered, to Lucknow, to +Captain Weston, the Superintendent of the Frontier Police. + +Prethee Paul, the tallookdar, for the good service, got back his +estate from the Oude sovereign, and an addition of five hundred +rupees a-year to his nankar or personal allowance. Gunga Aheer is now +a pensioner on the Residency fund, and his family has been provided +for. Maheput Sing and his associate Gujraj were sentenced to +transportation beyond seas, and sent off in October 1851. + +It is remarked by the people, that few of these baronial robbers ever +die natural deaths--that they either kill each other, or are killed +sooner or later by the servants of Government. More atrocious crimes +than those which they every month commit it is difficult to conceive. +In the Bangor district, through which we passed last month, this +class of landholders are certainly as strong and as much disposed to +withhold the just dues of Government, and to resist its officers and +troops, as they are here, but they do not plunder and burn down each +other's villages, and murder and rob each other's tenants so often as +they do here. The coalition has introduced among them a kind of +_balance of power_, which makes them respect each other's rights, and +the rights of each other's tenants, for the chiefs are dependent upon +the attachment and fidelity of their respective tenants. The above +list contains only a part of the leaders of gangs, by which the +districts of Dureeabad, Rodowlee, Sidhore, Pertabgunge, Deva, and +Jehangeerabad, are infested. We have seen no manufacture of any +exportable commodity in Oude, nor have we seen traffic on any road in +Oude, save that leading from Cawnpore to Lucknow. + +In consequence of some bad seasons, a good deal of the grain required +at the Capital, and in the districts to the north-cast, comes from +Cawnpore over this road. Were the road from Fyzabad to Lucknow good +and safe, a good deal of land produce would, in ordinary seasons, +come over it from the Goruckpoor district, and those intervening +between Lucknow and Fyzabad. It would, however, be useless to make +the road till the gangs which infest it are put down. A good and +secure road from Lucknow through Sultanpoor to Benares, would be of +still greater advantage. + +_February 25_, 1850.--Halted at Dureeabad. I here saw the draft- +bullocks attached to the guns, with Captain Orr's companies of +Frontier Police. They are of the best kind, and in excellent +condition. They have the same allowance of a seer and half of grain +a-day, which is drawn for every bullock attached to his Majesty's +artillery. The difference is that they get all that is paid for in +their name, while the others get one-third; and really got none when +on detached duty till lately. On Fridays, Captain Orr's bullocks get +only half; and this is, I believe, the rule with all the others that +get any at all. His bullocks are bred in the Nanpara, Nigasun, +Dhorehra, and other districts in the Oude Tarae, and are of an +excellent quality for work. They cost from 40 to 75 rupees a-pair. In +these districts of the Tarae forest, the cows are allowed to go +almost wild in large grass preserves, where they are defended from +tigers; and the calves are taken from them, when a year old, to be +taken care of at home, till sold for the dairy or for work. Captain +Orr's bullocks have no grazing-ground, nor are they sent out at all +to graze--they get nothing but bhoosa (chaff) and corn. Of bhoosa +they get as much as they can eat, when on detached duty, as they take +it from the peasantry without payment; but when at Lucknow, they are +limited to a very small quantity, as Government has to pay for it. On +the 15th of May, 1833, the King prohibited any one from taking bhoosa +without paying for it, either for private or public cattle; and +directed that bhoosa, for all the Artillery bullocks, should be +purchased at the harvests, and charged for in the public accounts; +but the order was disregarded like that against the murder of female +children. + +_February 26_, 1850--Sidhore, sixteen miles, W.S.W. The country, a +plain, covered as usual with spring crops and fine foliage; but +intersected midway by the little river Kuleeanee, which causes +undulations on each side. The soil chiefly doomut and light, but +fertile. It abounds more in white ants than such light soil generally +does. We passed through the estate of Soorujpoor Behreylee, in which +so many of the baronial robbers above described reside, and through +many villages beyond it, which they had lately robbed and burnt down, +as far as such villages can be burnt. The mud-walls and coverings are +as good as bomb-proofs against the fire, to which they are always +exposed from these robbers. Only twenty days ago, Chundee Behraleea +and his party attacked the village of Siswae, through which we passed +a few miles from this--plundered it, and killed three persons, and +six others perished in the flames. They served several others in the +neighbourhood in the same manner; and have, within the same time, +attacked and plundered the town of Sidhore itself several times. + +The boundary which separates the Dureeabad from the Sidhore district +we passed some four miles back; and the greater part of the villages +lately attacked are situated in the latter, which is under a separate +Amil, Aga Ahmud, who is, in consequence, unable to collect his +revenue. The Amil of Dureeabad, Girdhara Sing,* on the contrary, +acquiesces in all the atrocities committed by these robbers, and is, +in consequence, able to collect his revenue, and secure the favour of +the Court. Some of the villages of the estate, held by the widow of +Singjoo, late Rajah of Soorujpoor, are under the jurisdiction of the +Sidhore Amil; and, as she would pay no revenue, the Amil took a force +a few days ago to her twelve villages of Sonowlee, within the +Dureeabad district, and seized and carried off some three hundred of +her tenants, men, women, and children, as hostages for the payment of +the balance due, and confined them pell-mell, in a fort. The clamour +of the rest of the population as I passed was terrible, all declaring +that they had paid their rents to the _Ranee_, and that she alone +ought to be held responsible. She, however, resided at Soorujpoor, +within the jurisdiction, and under the protection of the Amil of +Dureeabad. + +[* Girdhara Sing's patron is Chundee Sahaee, the minister's deputy, +whose influence is paramount at present.] + +The Behraleea gangs have lately plundered the five villages of +Sadutpoor, Luloopoor, Bilkhundee, and Subahpoor, belonging to +Soorujbulee, the head Canoongo, or Chowdheree of Dureeabad, who had +never offended them. Both the Amils were with me for the latter part +of the road; and the dispute between them ran very high. It was +clear, however, that Girdhara Sing was strong in his league with the +robbers, and conscious of being able to maintain his ground at Court; +and Aga Ahmud was weak in his efforts to put them down, and conscious +of his being unable much longer to pay what was required, and keep +his post. He has with him two Companies of Nujeebs and two of +Telingas, and eight guns. The guns are useless and without +ammunition, or stores of any kind; and the Nujeebs and Telingas +cannot be depended upon. The best pay master has certainly the best +chance. It is humiliating and distressing to see a whole people +suffering such wrongs as are every day inflicted upon the village +communities and town's people of Dureeabad, Rodowlee, Sidhore, and +Dewa, by these merciless freebooters; and impossible not to feel +indignant at a Government that regards them with so much +indifference.* + +[* Poor Aga Ahmud was put into gaol, for defalcation, at the end of +the season; but Girdhara Sing was received with great favour by the +Court. The government of the district, for the next season, was +confirmed, and the usual dress of honour was conferred upon him, but +the Resident deemed it to be his duty to interpose and insist upon +his not being sent out. The government of the district was, in +consequence, taken from him, and made over to Rajah Maun Sing.] + +A respectable young agricultural capitalist from Biswa, Seetaram, +rode along by my side this morning, and I asked him, "over whom these +suttee tombs, near Biswa, and other towns were for the most part +raised."--"Sir," said he, "they are chiefly over the widows of +Brahmins, bankers, merchants, Hindoo public officers, tradesmen, and +shopkeepers." "Are there many such tombs in Oude, over the widows of +Rajpoot landholders?"--"I have not seen any, sir, and have rarely +heard of the widow of a Rajpoot landholder burning herself." "No, +sir," said Bukhtawar Sing, "how should such women be worthy to become +suttees? They dare not become suttees, sir, with the murder of so +many innocent children on their heads. Sir, we Brahmins and other +respectable Hindoos feel honoured in having daughters; and never feel +secure of a happy life hereafter till we see them respectably +married. This, sir, is a duty the Deity demands from us, and the +neglect of which we do not believe he can ever excuse. When the +bridegroom comes sir, to fetch our daughter, the priest reads over +the marriage-service, and the parents of the girl wash her feet and +those of her bridegroom; and, as they sit together after the +ceremonies, put into her arms a tray of gold and silver jewels, and +rich clothes, such as their condition in life enables them to +provide; and then invoke the blessing of God upon their union; and +then, and not till then, do they feel that they have done their duty +to their child. What can men and women, who murder their daughters as +soon as they are born, ever hope for in this life or in a future +state? What can widows, conscious of such crimes, expect from +ascending the funeral pile, with the bodies of their deceased +husbands who have caused them to commit such crimes?" "And you think +that there really is merit in such sacrifices on the part of widows, +who have done their duties in this life?"--"Assuredly I do, sir; if +there were none, why should God render them go insensible to the pain +of burning? I have seen many widows burn themselves in my time, and +watched them from the time they first declared their intention to +their death; and they all seemed to me to feel nothing whatever from +the flames: nothing, sir, but support from above could sustain them +through such trials. Depend upon it, sir, that no widow of a Rajpoot +murderer of his own offspring would ever be so supported; they knew +very well that they would not be so; and, therefore, very wisely +never ventured to expose themselves to the trial: faithful wives and +good mothers only could so venture. The Rajpoots, sir, and their +wives were pleased at the prohibition, because others could no longer +do what they dared not do!" "What do you think, Seetarum?"--"I think, +sir, that this crime of infanticide had its origin solely in family +pride, which will make people do almost anything. These proud +Rajpoots did not like to put it into any man's power to call them +_salahs_ or _sussoors_,* (brothers-in-law or fathers-in-law). + +[* These are terms of abuse all over India. To call a man sussoor or +salah, in abuse, is to say to him, I have dishonoured your daughter +or your sister!] + +"I remember an instance of a woman burning herself at Lasoora, six +miles from Biswa, when I was fifteen years of age, and I am now +twenty-five. She certainly seemed to suffer no pain. One forenoon she +told her husband that in a former birth she had promised him that +when he should be born a _maha brahman_ at Biswa, she would unite +herself in marriage to him, and live with him as his wife for twelve +years; that these twelve years had now expired, and that she had that +night received intimation from Heaven that her real husband, _Rajah +Kirpah Shunker_, of Muthura, had died without having been married in +this birth; that she was in reality his wife, and had already burnt +herself five times with his body, and would now mix her ashes with +his for the sixth time, and he must forthwith send her to the village +of Lasoora, where she would become a suttee. The husband was +astounded, for they had always lived together on the best possible +terms, and out of the four children they had had two still survived. +He and all their relations did all they could to dissuade her, but +she disregarded them, and ran off to the Sewala (temple) in Biswa, +which was built by my father. Thence she sent a Brahmin, by name +Gokurn, to call me and my elder brother, Morlee Munohur, then +seventeen years of age. We went, and she told us that she had been +our mother in a former birth, and wished to see us once more before +she died; she blessed us, and prayed that we might have each five +sons, and then told us to arrange for her funeral pile at Lasoora, as +all her former five suttees had been performed at that place. + +"We thought she was delirious, and no one supposed that she would +really burn herself. She, however, left the temple and proceeded +towards Lasoora on foot, followed by a party of women and children, +and by her husband, who continued to implore her to return home with +him. He had a litter with him to take her, but she would not listen +to him or to any one else. We reached Lasoora about an hour and a +half before sunset, and she ordered the people to collect a large +pile of wood for her, and told them that she would light it with a +flame from her own mouth. They seemed to regard her as an inspired +person, and did so. She mounted the pile, and it soon took fire, how +I know not! Many people said they saw the flame come from her month, +and all seemed to believe that it did so. The flames ascended, for it +was in the month of March, and the wood was dry, and she seemed to be +quite happy as she sat in the midst of them, and was burnt to death. +Her husband told us, that she had lost one son some years before, and +another only four days before she burnt herself, and that she had +been much afflicted at his death. Whether there really had been such +a person as Rajah Kirpah Shunker, no one ever thought it necessary to +inquire. Her suttee tomb still stands at Lasoora among many others. +Our mother was alive, though our father had been dead many years, and +she used to say that the poor woman must have become deranged at the +death of her child. The people all believed that she told the truth, +and the husband was obliged to yield, though he seemed much +afflicted. Her two sons still live, and reside at Biswa." * + +[* Moorlee Monowur, a very respectable agricultural capitalist, tells +me, that all that his younger brother, Seetaram, told me, about the +suttee, if strictly true, and can be proved by a reference to the +poor woman's husband and sons, who still survive, and to the people +of Bilwa and Lasoora.] + +I asked the Amil, "How he fed, clothed, and lodged his prisoners?" He +said, "We always take them with us in our marches, secured in stocks +or fetters. We cannot leave them behind, because we have no gaols or +other places to keep them in, and require all our troops to move with +us. As to food and clothing, they are obliged to provide themselves, +or get their families or friends to provide them, for Government will +not let us charge anything for their subsistence and clothing in the +accounts." + +"I understand that you and all other public servants who have charge +of prisoners not only make them provide themselves with food and +clothing, but make them pay for lamp-oil, whether they have a lamp +burning at night or not?"--"When they require a lamp they must of +course pay for it, sir; prisoners are always a source of much anxiety +to us, for if we send them to Lucknow, they are almost sure to be let +out soon, on occasions of thanksgiving, or on payment of gratuities, +and enabled to punish all who have assisted us in the arrest; and +with hosts of robbers around us, we are always in danger of an +attempt to rescue them, which may cost us many lives." "If the gaol +darogahs at Lucknow had not the power to sell his prisoners, sir," +said Bukhtawar Sing, "how should he be able to pay so much as he does +for his place? He is obliged to pay five hundred rupees or more for +his place, and is not sure of holding it a month after he has bought +it, so many are the candidates for a place so profitable!" "But he +gets a share of the subsistence money, paid for the prisoners from +the Treasury, does he not?"--"Yes, sir; of the four pice a-day paid +for them by the King, he takes two, and sends them to beg through the +city for what more they require." "If they get more than what he +thinks they require from the public or their friends, he takes the +surplus from them, I am told?"--"It is very true, sir, I believe. +Fellows, sir, who have no substantial friends, and cannot and will +not beg, soon sink under this scanty supply of food." + +_February 27_, 1850--Sutrick, sixteen miles west, over a plain of +muteear soil, tolerably well cultivated, and very well studded with +trees of the finest kinds, single, in clusters and in groves. The +mango-trees are in blossom, and promise well. The trees are said to +bear only one season out of three, but some bear in one season, and +others in another, so that the market is always supplied, though in +some seasons more abundantly than in others. A cloudy sky and +easterly wind, while the trees are in blossom, are said to be very +injurious. A large landholder told me that they never took a tax upon +any of the trees, not even the mhowa-trees, but the owner could not, +except upon particular occasions, dispose of one to be cut down, +without the permission of the zumeendar upon whose lands it stood. He +might cut down one without his permission for building or repairing +his house, or for fuel, on any occasion of marriage in his family, +but not otherwise. A good many fine trees were, he said, destroyed by +the local officers of Government. Having no tents, they collected the +roofs of houses from a neighbouring village in hot or bad weather, +cut away the branches to make rafters, and left the trunks as pillars +to support the roofs, and under this treatment they soon died. He +told me that cow-dung was cheaper for fuel than wood in this +district, and consequently more commonly used in cooking; but that +they gathered cow-dung for fuel only during four months in the year, +November, December, January, and February; all that fell during the +other eight months was religiously left, or stored for manure. In the +pits in which they stored it, they often threw some of the inferior +green crops of autumn, such as kodo and kotkee; but the manure most +esteemed among them was _pigs' dung_--this, he said, was commonly +stored and sold by those who kept pigs. The best muteear and doomut +soils, which prevail in this district, are rented at two rupees a +kutcha beegah, without reference to the crop which the cultivator +might take from them; and they yielded, under good tillage, from ten +to fifteen returns of the seed in wheat, barley, gram, &c. There are +two and half or three kutcha beegahs in a pucka beegah; and a pucka +beegah is from 2750 to 2760 square yards. + +Sutrick is celebrated for the shrine of Shouk Salar, alias _Borda +Baba_, the father of Syud Salar, whose shrine is at Bahraetch. This +person, it is said, was the husband of the sister of Mahmood, of +Ghuznee. He is supposed to have died a natural death at this place, +while leading the armies of his sovereign against the Hindoos. His +son had royal blood in his veins, and his shrine is held to be the +most sacred of the two. A large fair is held here in March, on the +same days that this fair takes place at Bahraetch. All our Hindoo +camp followers paid as much reverence to the shrine as they passed as +the Mahommedans. It is a place without trade or manufactures; but a +good many respectable Mahommedan families reside in it, and have +built several small but neat mosques of burnt bricks. There is little +thoroughfare in the wretched road that passes through it. + +The Hindoos worship any sign of manifested might or power, though +exerted against themselves, as they consider all might and power to +be conferred by the Deity for some useful purpose, however much that +purpose may be concealed from us. "These invaders, however merciless +and destructive to the Hindoo race, say they must have been sent on +their mission by God for some great and useful purpose, or they could +not possibly have succeeded as they did: had their proceedings not +been sanctioned by Him, he could at any moment have destroyed them +all, or have interposed to arrest their progress." These, however, +are the speculations of only the thinking portion. At the bottom of +the respect shown to such Mahommedan shrines, by the mass of Hindoos, +there is always a strong ground-work of _hope_ or _fear_: the soul or +spirit of the savage old man, who had been so well supported on +earth, must still, they think, have some influence at the Court of +Heaven to secure them good or work them evil, and they invoke or +propitiate him accordingly. They would do the same to the tomb of +Alexander, Jungez Khan, Tymour, or Nadir Shah, without any perplexing +inquiries as to their creed or liturgy. + +_February 28_, 1850.--Chinahut, eleven miles west, over a plain +intersected by several small streams, the largest of which is the +Rete, near Sutrick. There is a good deal of kunkur-lime in the ground +over which we have passed today; but the tillage is good where the +land is at all level, and the crops are fine. The plain is cut up +here and there by some ravines, but they are small and shallow, and +render but a small portion of the surface unfit for tillage. The +banks of the small streams are, for the most part, cultivated up to +the water's edge. + +We passed the Rete over a nice bridge, built by Rajah Bukhtawar Sing +twenty-five years ago, at a cost of twenty-five thousand rupees, out +of his own purse. He told me that one morning, in the rains, he came +to the bank of this river, on his way to Lucknow from Jeytpoor, a +town which we passed yesterday, and found it so swollen that he was +obliged to purchase some large earthen jars, and form a raft upon +them to take over himself and followers. While preparing his raft, +which took a whole day, he heard that from five to ten persons were +drowned, in attempting to cross this little river, every year, and +that people were often detained upon the bank for four or five days +together. He resolved to save people from all this evil; and as soon +as he got home set about building this bridge, and got it ready +before the next rains. It is a substantial work, with three good +arches. About two miles on this side of the bridge he pointed out to +me the single tree, near a mango-grove, where some eighteen or twenty +years ago he overtook a large balloon, which the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, had got made in the Dilkosha Park at Lucknow. It was made, he +tells me, by a tall and slender young English gentleman, who visited +Lucknow, with his uncle, for the special purpose of constructing and +ascending in this machine. "When it was all ready, sir, the young man +got into a small boat that was suspended under it, taking with him a +gun and some artificial fish. We asked him what he intended to do +with a gun in the clouds; and he told us, that in the sky he was in +danger of meeting large birds that might hurt the balloon, and the +gun was necessary to frighten them off. As the balloon began to +ascend the old gentleman's eyes filled with tears, and I asked him +why. He told me, that this young man's father had fallen into the +sea, and been drowned; and he was always afraid, when the son went +up, that he might never see him alive again. + +"The King was sitting at the window in the upper story of the +Dilkosha house, with some English gentlemen, when the balloon passed +up close by, and the gentleman took off his hat and bowed gracefully +as he passed, at which the King seemed much pleased. I commanded a +regiment of Dragoons, and the King told me to take a party of my +boldest and best-mounted men and follow the balloon. I selected +seventeen, and we were all ready in our saddles. The balloon went +straight up, and we lost sight of the man and the boat in which he +sat. The machine, though it was sixty feet long, including boat and +all, and twelve feet wide, seemed at last to be no larger than a +small water-jug. Below we had no wind, but we soon saw the balloon +driven by an upper current to the eastward, along the Fyzabad road. +We followed as fast as the horses could carry us, crossed the Goomtee +river over the old stone bridge, and passed many travellers on the +road staring at the extraordinary machine, for they had heard nothing +about it, and we had no time to tell them. When we had gone about +seventeen miles, the balloon began to descend. It was in the month of +March, and the weather was hot, and I had lost three horses before it +came to the ground. The young man then began to let go his fish, and +they came fluttering down, while the oil-cloths about the balloon +made a noise like the growling of a wild beast. Seeing the enormous +machine going at this rate, followed by us at full speed, the people +along the road, who are always numerous in the morning, became so +panic-struck that a great many fell down senseless upon their faces, +and some of them could not be got to rise for some hours afterwards. + +"We were not far from it when it approached the ground, and swept +along on the border of this grove, on our left. Fortunately for the +young man, it did not strike any trees. He was dressed all in black, +and a very tall, handsome young man he was. As soon as he found +himself near enough to the ground, he jumped out, holding one rope in +his hand, and tried to stop the balloon, calling out to the people on +the road, as loud as he could, _puckaro, puckaro!_--seize, seize! We +were then within two hundred yards of it, and at full speed; and, +instead of helping the young man, the people on the road, thinking +the order was to seize them, fell down flat on their faces, unable to +look upon the balloon, or utter a word. They all thought that it was +some terrible demon from above come to seize and devour them. When we +had headed it a little, we all sprang from our saddles, joined the +young man at the ropes, and lashed them round anything we could find, +as we were being dragged along. The young man took out his penknife, +and gave the balloon a gash in the side, to let out the _smoke_ that +inflated it, and it collapsed and stopped. The first thing, sir, that +the young man did was to call for fire, take a cigar from his +waistcoat pocket, and begin to smoke, while we went to the assistance +of the panic-struck travellers, many of whom were still lying +senseless on the ground. We got water, and threw it in their faces; +and when they were able to sit up, we mounted the young man upon one +of our horses, and took him back slowly to Lucknow. He told me that +it was so very cold above, that it gave him a severe headache, and +that he found a cigar a good thing to remove it. The King was very +glad when we brought him back, and he gave him several thousand +rupees over and above the cost of making the balloon, and providing +him and his uncle during their stay. They soon after left Lucknow for +Lahore, and what became of them I know not." + +Passing a Mahommedan village, I asked some of the landholders, who +walked along by the side of my elephant, to talk of their grievances, +whether they ever used pigs' dung for manure. They seemed very much +surprised and shocked, and asked how I could suppose that Mahommedans +could use such a thing. "Come," said Bukhtawar Sing, "do not attempt +to deceive the Resident. He has been all over India, and knows very +well that Mahommedans do not keep or eat pigs; but he knows, also, +that there is no good cultivator in Oude who does not use the dung of +pigs for manure; and you know that there is no other manure, save' +pigeons' dung, that is so good." "We often purchase _manure_ from +those who prepare it," said the landholders, "and do not ask +questions about what it may be composed of; but the greater part of +the manure we use is the cow-dung which falls in the season of the +rains, and is stored exclusively for that purpose. In the dry months, +sir, the dung of cows, bullocks, buffaloes, &c., is gathered, formed +into cakes, and stacked for fuel; but in the rains it is all thrown +into pits and stored for manure." + +Chinahut is the point from which we set out on the 2nd of December, +and here I was met by the prime minister, Nawab Allee Nakee Khan, and +the chancellor of the exchequer, Maharajah Balkrishun, to whom I +explained my views as to the measures which ought to be adopted to +save the peaceful and industrious portion of his Majesty's subjects +from the evils which now so grievously oppress them. + +Here closes my pilgrimage of three months in Oude; and I can safely +say that I have learnt more of the state of the country, and the +condition and requirements of the people, than I could possibly have +learnt in a long life passed exclusively at the capital of Lucknow. +Any general remarks that I may have to make on what I have seen and +heard during the pilgrimage I must defer to a future period. + +At four in the afternoon, I left Chinahut, and returned to Lucknow. +At the old race-stand, about three miles from the Residency, I was +met by the heir-apparent, and drove with him, in his carriage, to the +Furra Buksh Palace, where we alighted for a few minutes, to go +through the usual tedious ceremonies of an Oriental Court. On the way +we were met by Mr. Hamilton, the chaplain, and his lady. Dr. and Mrs. +Bell, and Captain Bird, the First Assistant, and his brother and +guest. After the ceremony, I took leave of the Prince, and reached +the Resident at six o'clock. My wife and children had left me at +Peernuggur, to return, for medical advice, to the Residency, where I +had the happiness to find them well, and glad to see me. Having +broken my left thigh hone, near the hip joint, in a fall from my +horse, in April, 1849, I was unable to mount a horse during the tour, +and went in a tonjohn the first half of the stage, and on an elephant +the last half, that I might see as much as possible of the country +over which we were passing. The pace of a good elephant is about that +of a good walker, and I had generally some of the landholders and +cultivators riding or walking by my side to talk with. + +END OF THE TOUR. + + + + +PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE + +RELATING TO THE ANNEXATION OF THE KINGDOM OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA. + + + __________________________ + + + + Camp, Nawabgunge, 5th December, 1849. + +My Dear Bird, + +I had heard from Mahomed Khan what you mention regarding the +imposition practised on the King by the singers; but from his having +conferred a khilaut on the knaves, they supposed that he had, as +usual, pardoned all. If you have grounds to believe that the King is +prepared to punish them, or to acquiesce in their punishment, pray +ask an audience and ascertain his Majesty's wishes. When we last +went, I was in hopes that he would tell me that he wished to be +relieved of their presence, and did all I could to encourage him to +do so. If the King wishes to have them removed, encourage him to give +immediate orders to the minister to confine them; and offer any +assistance that may be required to take them across the Ganges, or +put them into safe custody. When it is done, it must be done +promptly. + +As to the Taj Mahal, I went on an order by Richmond, "that the King +should put a Mahaldarnee upon her if he wished." I was told that such +was Richmond's order, and I give mine in consequence. I will refer to +the Dufter for his order. But you must at once insist upon all +sipahees being withdrawn from her house. This order was given by me +and should be enforced by you. I said that the Mahaldarnee might +remain, but it must be alone, without sipahees, &c. + +On emergency, act of course on your own discretion I only wish that +the King may be induced to consent to the removal of all the singers, +and meddling eunuchs also. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Bird, +First Assistant. + +Sadik Allee should be secured, and punished with the rest. + + + + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + __________________________ + + + Camp, Bahraetch, 10th December, 1849. + +My Dear Bird, + +The conduct of the singers which exasperated the King had no +reference to public matters with which he was pledged not to permit +them to interfere; and my only request was, that you should offer +your aid in removing them should his Majesty indicate any wish for +it. The King said he would himself punish them for their conduct by +banishment across the Ganges, and he must be left to do so: it was +not from any demand made by us, but from resentment for a personal +affront, or an affront to his understanding. We cannot call upon the +King to do what he said he would do under such circumstances, but +must leave it to himself. The removal of two out of a dozen fellows +of this description will be of no use--their places will soon be +filled by others. Any attempt on your part to supply their places by +better men will only tend to indispose the King towards them; and it +is no part of our duty to dictate to his Majesty with whom he shall +associate in his private hours. + +I have had abundant proof that, to reduce the influence of the +present favourites, has no tendency to throw the power into better +hands--no authority of any kind taken from them has, by the minister, +been confided to better men; the creatures of one are not a whit +better than the creatures of the other. If his Majesty were to rouse +himself, and apply his own mind to business, we might hope for some +good, and I see little chance of this. + +You are not to order that the King fulfil his promise, because, as I +have said, it was no pledge made on the requisition of our Government +on the Resident. If he does not fulfil it, it is only one proof more +added to a hundred of his exceeding weakness. There are at least a +dozen worse men now influencing all that the King and minister do +than Kotab Alee and Gholam Ruza. The last order given regarding Taj +Mahal by me was, that she should admit a Mahaldarnee from the King, +but that no sipahees should be forced upon her. I wrote to the King +to this effect, and my order must be enforced. I am told by the +moonshee, that when the King expressed a wish to have such guardians +upon many, Richmond replied that he might have one upon Taj Mahal, +who had given such proof of profligacy. It was not a judicial +decision, to be referred to as a guide under all circumstances, but a +mere arrangement which might any day require to be altered. Taj Mahal +is so profligate and insolent a woman, that if she refuses to obey my +order, and receive the King's Mahaldarnee, I shall withdraw the +Residents. + +After what the Governor-General had told the King in November, 1847, +regarding what our Government would feel itself bound to do, unless +his Majesty conducted the duties of a sovereign better than he had +hitherto done; and after the experience we have since had of his +entire neglect of those duties, you should not, I think, have said +what you mention having said to him, that our Government had no wish +to deprive him of one iota of the power he had. It was a declaration +not called for by the circumstances, or necessary on the occasion, +and should have been avoided, as it is calculated to impair the +impression of his responsibility for the exercise of his power. No +sovereign ever showed a greater disregard for the duties and +responsibilities of his high office than he has done hitherto, and as +our Government holds itself answerable to the people of Oude for a +better administration, he should not be encouraged in the notion that +he may always show the same disregard with impunity--that is, +continue to retain every iota of his power whether he exercised it +properly or not. No man, I believe, ever felt more anxious for the +welfare of the King, his family, and country, than I do; but unless +he exercises his fearful power better, I should be glad, for the sake +of all, to see the whole, or part of it, in better hands. + +The minister has his Motroussil with me, and I have daily +communications of what is done or proposed to be done, and you may be +sure that I lose no occasion of admonition. I did not mention +anything you said regarding your interview with the King in your +letter to Mahomed Khan; but in a few hours after your letter came he +got the whole from the minister, and reported it to me. He wants us +to undertake the work of turning out the King's favourites, that he +may get all the power they lose, without offending his master by any +appearance of moving in the matter. + +We go hence to-morrow; hope to be at Gonda on the 14th, and Fyzabad +on the 18th. I have requested the post-master to send all our letters +to Fyzabad by the regular dawk from Thursday next, the 13th. From +Fyzabad I will arrange for their coming to my camp. + + Yours sincerely, + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Bird, + &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Camp, Ghunghole, 12th December, 1849. + +My Dear Bird, + +I got your letter of the 9th instant last night, at our last ground. +In what you have done, you have not, I think, acted discreetly. You +asked me whether, in any case of emergency, you should act on your +discretion, and I told you in reply that you might do so; but surely, +whether the King should have a dozen singers or only ten could not be +considered one of such pressing emergency as not to admit of your +waiting for instructions from me, or, at least, for a reply to your +letter. The King has told you truly, that the matter in which the +offenders had transgressed had reference to his house, and not to his +Government or ours. This is a distinction which you appear to have +lost sight of from the first. If I demand reparation from another for +wrong or insults suffered from his servants, and he promises to +punish them by dismissal from his service but afterwards relents and +detains them, I consider it due to myself and my character to insist +upon the fulfilment of his promise; but if I voluntarily visit any +friend who has at last become sensible of the impositions of his +servants which had long been manifest to all his neighbours, with a +view to encourage him in his laudable resolution to dismiss them from +his service, and to offer my aid in effecting the object should he +require it, and he promises me not to swerve from it, but afterwards +relents and retains the impostors, I pity his weakness, but I do not +consider it due to myself, or to my character, to insist upon his +fulfilling his promise. By considering two cases so very distinct, +the same, you have placed yourself in a disagreeable situation, for I +cannot support you; that is, I can neither demand that the +requisitions made by you be complied with, nor can I tell the King +that I approve of them. Had you waited for my reply, which was sent +off from Bahraetch on the 10th, you would have saved yourself all +this annoyance and mortification. It has arisen from an overweening +confidence in your personal influence over his Majesty; the fact is, +I believe that no European gentleman ever has had or ever will have +any personal influence over him, and I very much doubt whether any +real native gentleman will ever have any. He never has felt any +pleasure in their society, and I fear never will. He has hitherto +felt easy only in the society of such persons as those with whom he +now exclusively associates, and to hope that he will ever feel easy +with persons of a better class is vain. I am perfectly satisfied, in +spite of the oath he has taken in the name of his God, and on the +head of his minister, that he made to you the promise you mention; +and I am no less satisfied that the minister wished for the removal +of the singers, provided it should be effected through us without his +appearing to his master to move in the matter, and that he wished +their removal solely with a view to acquire for himself the authority +they had possessed. You should not have any more audiences with the +King without previous reference to me; nothing is likely to occur to +require it. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Bird, + &c. &c. + + __________________________ + + + Camp, Fyzabad, 18th December, 1819. + +My Dear Bird, + +I send you the letter which you wish to refer to. As you quote my +first letter, pray let me see it. I kept no copy, but have a distinct +recollection of what I intended to say in it regarding this affair of +the singers. It shall be sent back to you. The term "indiscreet" had +reference only to your second visit, and demand from the King of the +fulfilment of his promise. I had no fault whatever to find with your +first visit. The term "private" must have had reference, not to the +promise or to the person to whom it was made, but to the offence with +which the singers stood charged. It was an affront offered to the +King's understanding that he took affront at, and whether he had made +a promise to resent it as such to me, or to you could make no +difference. If he did not fulfil it, we should pity this further +instance of his weakness, but could have no right to insist upon his +doing so. Even had the offence been an interference in public +affairs, and breach of the King's engagements, I should not have +demanded their banishment without a reference to the Governor- +General, because the delay of waiting for instructions involved no +danger or serious inconvenience; that is, I should not have demanded +it when the King was so strongly opposed to it. I must distinctly +deny that you demanded the King's fulfilment of his promise in +conformity to any instructions received from me, or in accordance +with my views of what was right or expedient in this matter. Your +second visit and demand were neither in conformity to the one nor in +accordance with the other. You must have put a construction upon what +I wrote which it cannot fairly bear. By "requisitions" I mean your +requirements that the two men should be banished by the King, +according to his promise. No notice has been made to me of your visit +by the Court, and I have therefore had no occasion to say anything +whatever about it in my communications to the Court, nor shall I have +any I suppose. In your letter of the 4th instant, you say, with +regard to the Taj Mahal's case, "Not knowing whether you do or do not +wish me to act in any sudden emergency during your absence, I +suppose, therefore, that had you had any such wish you would have +instructed me on the subject." In reply, I requested that you would +so act on your own discretion in any such sudden case of emergency. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Bird, + &c. &c. + __________________________ + + + Camp, Mahomdee, 2nd February, 1850. + +My Dear Sir Erskine, + +Had it not been too late for you to join my camp conveniently, I +should have asked you to run out and see a little of the country and +people of Oude, after you had seen so much of those of the Honourable +Company's dominions. A few years of tolerable government would make +it the finest country in India, for there is no part of India with so +many advantages from nature. I have seen no soil finer; the whole +plain of which it is composed is capable of tillage; it is everywhere +intersected by rivers, flowing from the snowy chain of the Himmalaya, +which keep the moisture near the surface at all times, without +cutting up any of the land on their borders into deep ravines; it is +studded with the finest groves and single trees, as much as the lover +of the picturesque could wish; it has the boldest and most +industrious peasantry in India, and a landed aristocracy too strong +for the weak and wretched Government; it is, for the most part, well +cultivated; yet with all this, one feels, in travelling over it, as +if he was moving among a people suffering under incurable physical +diseases, from the atrocious crimes every day perpetrated with +impunity, and the numbers of suffering and innocent people who +approach him, in the hope of redress, and are sent away in despair. + +I think your conclusion regarding the source of the signs you saw of +beneficial interference in the north-west provinces a fair one. A +Lieutenant-Governor is able to see all parts of the country under his +charge every year, or nearly all; and while he is sufficiently +"monarch of all he surveys" to feel an interest in, and to provide +for the general good, he has a sufficient knowledge of the internal +management of particular districts to control the proceedings of the +local officers. He is also well seconded in a very efficient Board of +Revenue. But I must not indulge in these matters any further, till I +have the pleasure of meeting you where we can talk freely about them. + +I trust that all at Lucknow will be conducted to your satisfaction +and that of Mrs. Erskine. I have this morning received a note from +Mr. Erskine, who left you, it appears, before the little heir- +apparent returned your visit. I expect to complete my tour and return +to Lucknow on the 20th, when I shall have seen all that I required to +see, to understand the working of the existing system, and the +probable effects of any suggested changes. + +With kind regards to Mrs. Erskine, + + Believe me, + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir Erskine Perry. + +P.S.--I must not omit to thank you for the expression of your +favourable opinion of the "Rambles." There is one thing of which I +can assure you, that the conversations mentioned in it are genuine, +and give the real thoughts and opinions of the people on the subjects +they embrace. + W. H. S. + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 26th April, 1850. +My Dear Elliot, + +I did not send Weston's letters with the other papers, because they +were not written in an official form. He was the senior officer with +the force, and had authority from the Durbar to call upon all local, +civil, and military authorities to co-operate in the work; but he did +not take upon himself the command, or write in official form. He +inspired all with harmony and energy, and brought the whole strength +of the little force to bear upon the right points at the right time. + +The head of Prethee Put of Paska was cut off by Captain Magness's +sipahees after his death, to be sent to the King as a trophy, but +Captain Weston would not let it come in. The body was offered to his +family and friends for interment, but none of the family or tribe +(Kolhun's Rajpoots) would have anything to do with the funeral +ceremonies of a man who had murdered his eldest brother and the head +of his tribe. The body was, with the head, put into a sheet, taken to +the river Ghagra, and committed to the stream, to flow to the Ganges, +as the best interment for a Hindoo. These sipahees knew nothing of +the man's history; but the people who saw the affair from the Dhundee +Fort mentioned that the body was thrown into the river at the precise +place where he had thrown in that of his eldest brother, after +murdering him in the boat with his own hands, as stated in the +extract from my Diary; and all believe that this retribution arises +from an interposition from above. The eldest son of the murdered +brother will, I hope, be put into possession of the estate. + +The Governor-General may like to peruse these letters, and I send +them. They give, perhaps, a fuller and better account of what was +done, and the manner in which it was done, than more studied +compositions, in an official form, would have given. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 8th July, 1850. + +My Dear Sir James, + +I feel that my Indian career, which has now lasted forty years, must +be drawing to a close, and I am anxious for the settlement in life of +my only son, now between seventeen and eighteen years of age. Having +no personal claims upon any member of the Home Government of India, I +solicit the insertion of his name on his Grace the Duke of +Wellington's list of candidates for a commission in the Dragoons; and +he is now preparing for his examination under the care of Mr. +Yeatman, at Westow Hill, Norwood, Surrey, near London. But he is +ambitious to obtain an appointment to Bengal, where his father has +served so long, and may, possibly, have friends and recollections +that might be useful to him in the early part of his career. It falls +to the lot of few to have the opportunities that I have had to carry +out the benevolent views of Government in measures of great and +general benefit to the people, and to secure their gratitude and +affection to their rulers. All the measures which I have been +employed to carry out have tended to display the benevolent +solicitude of the Government of India for the welfare of the people +committed to its charge; the object of all has been the greater +security of life and property throughout the country, the greater +confidence of the people in the wisdom and efficiency of our rule, +and their greater feeling of interest in this stability. These +measures, as far as they have been confided to my care, have all +succeeded; but, as I have stated (p. 79) in a printed report, a copy +of which will be sent to you, they have neither flattered the +vainglory of any particular nation, nor enlisted on their side the +self-love of any influential class or powerful individual, and they +have, in consequence, been attended with little _éclat_. They have, +however, tended to secure to the Government the gratitude and +affection of the people of India, and are measures of which that +Government may justly feel proud. The stability of our Government in +India must depend less upon our military victories than upon the +confidence and affection with which our civil and political +administration may inspire the great mass of the people. The general +belief is, that our object is their substantial good, and that we are +instruments in the hands of Divine Providence to effect that object. +In our military glory they can feel no sympathy, and in our +territorial acquisitions little interest; but they can and do +appreciate every measure which tends to improve the security of life, +property, and industry through the land--to restore the bond of good +feeling between the Government and governed, where it has for a time +been severed or impaired by accident--to provide the people with +works tending to improve their comfort and convenience--to mitigate +sufferings from calamities of season, and to encourage all to exert +themselves honestly in their proper sphere. In carrying out the views +of Government in such measures, and such only, has my life in India +been spent; and for doing so to the best of my humble ability I have, +I believe, done much to make its rule revered throughout India. It is +by such measures that the respect and confidence of the great mass of +the people have been secured, so as to enable Europeans, male and +female, to pass from one end of the country to the other with the +assurance, not only that they will suffer no personal injury, but no +mark of disrespect. Should anything occur to deprive us of this +confidence and respect among the great mass of the people, the +recollection of our victories, and assurance of our superior military +organization will avail us but little; and it is as one who has +zealously and successfully aided Government in securing them, that I +now venture to address you, in the hope that you will--if you can do +so consistently with your public duties and pledges to others--open +to my son the same career of usefulness by conferring upon him a +nomination to the civil service of India. He is now five months above +seventeen years of age; and by the time he is eighteen, he will, I +hope, under Mr. Yeatman's judicious care, be able to pass his +examination for Haileybury, should he, through your means, obtain +this the utmost object of his ambition. Over and above the desire to +follow his father's footsteps in India, he is anxious to avoid the +necessity of encroaching so much upon the small means I have to +provide for his four sisters, by entering so expensive a branch of +the public service as the Dragoons. I know the great nature of the +favour I ask from you. It is the first favour that I have ever asked +from any member of the Home Government of India; and I solicit it +from you solely on the ground of service rendered to the Government +and people of India. I am told that I must address my application to +an individual; and I address it to you, under the impression that you +are the member with whom such ground is likely to meet with most +consideration;--not that I think any member of the Honourable Court +would disregard it; for I believe, after long and varied experience +in public affairs, and much thought and reading, that no body +intrusted with the Government of a distant possession ever performed +their duties with more earnest solicitude for its welfare than the +Court of Directors of the Honourable East India Company; but because +your public career has inspired me with more confidence than that of +any other member of the Court as now constituted. If you cannot grant +me the favour I ask, you will, I know, pardon the liberty I have +taken in asking it. + + And believe me, with great respect, + Yours faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 20th September, 1850. + +My Dear Sir Charles, + +The papers give us reason to hope that it is your intention to visit +Lucknow on your way down from the hills, and if you can make it +convenient to come, I shall be rejoiced to have the opportunity of +showing you all that is worth seeing, and be able to afford all who +come with you, ladies and gentlemen, accommodation. + +The only road to Lucknow for carriages is from Cawnpore, and if you +come that way, I will have carriages sent for you. If you come by any +other road, I will have elephants sent to whatever place you may +mention, and tents if required. It has been usual, when the +Commander-in-chief visits Lucknow, for Government to intimate the +intention to the King through the Resident in Oude, that preparation +may be made for his reception in due form. + +I mention this that you may make known your wish or intention to the +Governor-General, in time for me to prepare the King and his Court. + +From Cawnpore to this is only a drive of six hours, the distance +being fifty miles, and the road good. All officers, &c., will be glad +to have an opportunity of paying their respects to their +distinguished Chief. + + Believe me, + Yours very faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To his Excellency +Sir Charles Napier, G.C.B., + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 7th November, 1850. + +My Dear Allan, + +In the "Englishman" of the 28th, and the "Hurkara" of the 29th, there +are some strictures on Oude affairs. The editors of both papers are, +I believe, sturdy, honest men; but their correspondents are not +acquainted with the merits of the particular case referred to, or +with Oude affairs generally. I vouch for the truth of everything +stated in the enclosed paper, and shall feel obliged if you will give +it to the one most likely, in your opinion, to make a fair use of it. +There can be no harm in putting an editor in possession of the real +truth in a question involving not only individual but national +honour; for he must be anxious to make his paper the vehicle of truth +on all such questions. + +I do not like to address either of the editors, because Government +expect all their servants will abstain from doing so in their own +vindication, and will leave their honour in their keeping. I have +done so since 1843, and should now do so were I alone concerned in +this affair. You may mention my name as authority for what is stated, +but pray let it be mentioned confidentially. Government has been +informed of the truth, and it is well that the public should be so. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN + +To J. Allan, Esq. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 17th November, 1850. + +My Dear Sir James, + +I thank you for your very kind letter of the 7th ultimo: my son is +preparing for his examination, and expects his commission in some +regiment of cavalry very soon. He has not only become reconciled to +it, but would, I believe, now prefer remaining at home as a cavalry +officer to coming to India in any capacity. As I have only one son, +and he has four sisters to look after, I should be unwilling to have +him sent out to India as a cadet, were he anxious to be so. A good +regiment is an excellent school for a young man, but no school could +be worse than a bad regiment; and among so many, there must always be +some bad. I have seen some of the sons of my old friends utterly +ruined in character and constitution by being posted to such +regiments when too young to think for themselves. I feel, however, as +grateful to you for your very kind offer as I should be, were I to +avail myself of it. + +If I return to England, I shall take advantage of the earliest +opportunity to pay my respects and become personally acquainted with +you; but I have no intention to leave India as long as I feel that I +can perform efficiently the duties intrusted to me. + +I had a few days ago, in referring to Government an important +question that must some day come before you, occasion to mention an +important and interesting fact. During the last collision with the +Seiks, I found that the Government securities kept up their value +here, while in Calcutta they fell a good deal; and the merchants here +employed agents in Calcutta to purchase largely for sale here. Paper +to the value of more than three millions sterling, or three crores of +rupees, is held by people residing in the city of Lucknow, and the +people had never the slightest doubt that we should be ultimately +triumphant. The question was whether heirs and executors of persons +domiciled here and leaving property in Government securities, should +apply to Her Majesty's Supreme Court in Calcutta, for probates to +wills and letters of administration, or whether an act should be +passed to render the decision of the highest Court at Lucknow, +countersigned, by the Resident, as valid as the certificate of a +judge in our own provinces, as far as such property in Government +securities might be concerned. A provision of this sort had been +omitted in Act 20 of 1841, which was considered applicable to all +British India, of which the kingdom of Oude was held to form a part. + +We have now a fair prospect of long peace, during which I hope our +finances will improve. The lavish life-pensions granted after wars in +Central and Southern India will be lapsing with the death of the +present incumbents, many of whom are becoming old and infirm, and our +means of transit and irrigation will increase with the new works +which are being formed, and we shall always have it in our power to +augment our revenue from indirect taxation, as wealth and industry +increase. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir James, + Very faithfully and obligedly yours, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 2nd March, 1851. + +My Lord, + +The mail of the 24th January has just come in, and I find my only son +Henry Arthur gazetted for the 16th Dragoons. He told me by the last +mail that he was to be so if he passed his examination on the 10th of +that month, which he hoped to do; but I deferred writing to thank you +for your kind exertions in his behalf till his name should appear in +the "Gazette." I pray your Lordship to accept my most grateful +acknowledgments for this act of kindness, added as it has been to the +many others which I have received at your hands. It is not the less +valuable that it is the only favour I have received from England +since I left it more than forty years ago, though, I believe, few +have done more to benefit the people of its eastern dominions, and to +secure for it their esteem and affection. + +I trust that my son will never do anything to make your Lordship +regret the favour conferred upon me and him on this occasion. He is, +I believe, in disposition, manners, and education a little gentleman; +and in time he will, I hope, become a good officer. + +If I might take the liberty, I would pray your Lordship to offer, in +such terms as may appear to you suitable, my grateful acknowledgments +for the consideration I have received, to his Grace the Duke of +Wellington, and to Lord Fitzroy Somerset. My London Agents, Messrs. +Denay, Clark, and Co., of Austin Friars, have been instructed to pay +for my son's commission and outfit, and to provide him with the funds +indispensably necessary in addition to his pay. + +We shall now look with much interest to the Parliamentary discussions +on Indian affairs, for we must expect some important changes on the +renewal of the Charter. Whatever these changes may be for the home or +local Government, I trust the benefit of the people of India will be +considered the main point, and not the triumph of a party. The +statesman who shall link India more closely with New Zealand will be +a benefactor to both England and India, and that colony also. It +might, with advantage to itself, take those children of Indian +officers who cannot find employment of any kind in India, and ought +not to be thrown back upon the mother-country. With this view, it +might be useful to transfer our orphan institutions to that island, +to direct that way our invalid and pensioned officers, who, while +subsisting upon their pensions or stipends, would be able to +establish their children in a climate suitable to the preservation of +their race, which that of India certainly is not. + +India is at present tranquil, and likely to remain so. We have no +native chiefs, or combination of native chiefs, to create uneasiness; +and if we continue to satisfy the great body of the people that we +are anxious, to the best of our ability, to promote their happiness +and welfare, and are the most impartial arbitrators that they could +have, we shall have nothing to fear. The moment that this mass is +impressed with the belief that we wish to govern India only for +ourselves, or as the French govern Algiers, from that moment we must +lose our vantage ground and decline. We may war against the native +chiefs of India, but we cannot war against the people--we need not +fear what may be called political dangers, but we must guard +carefully against those of a social character which would unite +against us the members of all classes and all creeds. + +But I must no longer indulge in speculations of this sort, in which +you can now feel little interest amidst the important changes which +are now taking place in the institutions and relations of European +nations. With grateful recollections of kindness received, and great +respect, + I remain, + Your Lordship's obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Right Hon. +the Earl of Ellenborough. + +P.S.--Since writing the above, I have received your Lordship's letter +of the 18th of January, and have been much gratified with the +favourable opinion you entertain of the commandant and officers. It +is the best assurance I could have of my boy being safe. Nothing +could be more auspicious than the opening of the lad's career, and I +trust he will profit by the advantage. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 18th March, 1851. + +My Dear Sir Erskine, + +I have read over with much interest the two small works you have done +me the favour to send me, the one on Buddhism, and the other on Law +Reform; but I have not ventured upon the Seventh Report of the Board +of Education yet, because I have had a good deal to do and think +about; and a good deal of it is in small print, very trying for my +eyes, which are none of the strongest. I shall, however, soon read +it. + +I concur in all your views about the necessity of throwing overboard +the whole system of special pleading, and have been amused with Sir +J. P. Grant's horror of your proposed innovations. It is not less +than that which he expressed at the little Macaulay Code, intended to +blow up the whole pyramid raised by "the wisdom of our ancestors," in +which so many illustrious characters he entombed. He was, indeed, as +you say, "a great _laudator temporis acti_;" but the number of those +like him at all times in England and its distant possessions is +fearful. One likes to look to America in this as in all things +tending to advancement; but there the "damned spot" stares us in the +face, blights our hopes, and crushes our sympathies--hideous slavery +--hideous alike in the recollection of the past, the contemplation of +the present, and the anticipation of the future. I wish two things-- +1. That you would write a work on the subject less "sketchy and +perfunctory," as you call it, so that any one not versed in English +law and procedure might be able to understand it and appreciate it +thoroughly. 2nd. That you would, when relieved from your present +office, come out as our law member of council, to press your views on +our Government with effect. With these law reforms, as with +railroads, there were less impediments in India than in England; but +there is one thing that I would observe. In our own Indian Courts our +judges would--for a time at least--want the aid of honest _masters_ +to condense and report upon cases under trial. Such men would be made +in time; and in considering such things, we must recollect that +almost the only persons in India who can send agents into all parts +of it, with a perfect assurance of honest dealing, are the native +merchants and bankers. But I won't dwell on this subject. I can't +find amongst the numerous Buddhists here, one who knows anything +about "Kapila vasta," which you place near to Lucknow. I should like +to visit the birth-place of a man who did so much for mankind as +Sakeen Gantama. + +He would hardly have done as I have, placed my only son in the 16th +Lancers. However, I may console myself, for he may be in it a long +time without doing much mischief, for I do hope that the people of +the nations of modern Europe are too strong and too wise to let their +sovereigns and ministers play such fantastic tricks as they were +"wont to play," when George the 3rd, and Edward the 3rd, and Henry +the 5th were kings. Property, good sense, and good business have +greatly increased and spread, and are every day producing good +fruits. + + Believe me, + Yours very trusting, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir Erskine Perry, + &c. &c. + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 31st March, 1851. +My Dear Sir, + +I grieve to say that I can do nothing whatever for the son of my late +friend Colonel Ouseley, and have been obliged to write to him to that +effect, as to many other sons of old and valued friends whom I should +be glad to aid if I could. + +Tens of thousands of the most happy families I have seen in India owe +all they have to the able and judicious management of the late +Colonel Ouseley when in the civil charge of the districts of +Houshengabad and Baitool, in the Saugor territories; and no man's +memory is more dear to the people of those districts than his now is. +The family of a man who had done so much to make his government +beloved and respected over so large a field should never want if I +could prevent it; but I have no situations whatever in my gift, nor +have I any influence over any persons who have such situations to +bestow. + + Believe me, + Yours truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Harrington. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th November 1851. + +My Lord, + +Lucknow affairs are now in a state to require the assumption of the +entire management of the country; and the principal question for your +Lordship's consideration is, whether this shall be done by a new +treaty or by simple proclamation. Treaties not only justify but +enjoin the measure; our pledges to the people demand it; and all +India are, I believe, satisfied of its justice, provided we leave the +revenues for the maintenance of the royal family in suitable dignity, +and for the benefit of the people. + +We may disencumber our Government of the pay of two regiments of Oude +Local Infantry, and incorporate them with the Oude force to be +raised, and of that of the officers of the residency, altogether +about two lacs and a-half of rupees; and when things are settled down +a little, the brigade now here--of three infantry regiments and a +company of artillery, costing some four lacs more--may be dispensed +with, perhaps. + +If I may be permitted to give an opinion as to the best mode of the +two, I should say proclamation, as the more dignified. + +I have prepared all the information I believe your Lordship will +require, and am ready to wait upon you with it when and where it may +seem most convenient. + +The treasury is exhausted, and fifty lacs are required to pay the +stipendiaries of the royal family and establishments; and assuredly +all the members of that family, save the King's own household, are +wishing for some great measure to place them under the guarantee of +the British Government. The people all now wish for it, at least all +the well-disposed, for there is not a man of integrity or humanity +left in any office. The King's understanding has become altogether +emasculated; and though he would not willingly do harm to any one, he +is unable to protect any one. He would now, I believe, willingly get +rid of his minister; and, having exhausted the treasury, the minister +would not much dislike to get rid of him. I shall do my best to +prevent his being released from the responsibility of his misdoings +till I meet your Lordship. I should like, if possible, to meet your +Lordship where there is likely to be the least crowd of expectants +and parade to take up your time and distract your attention. If at +Cawnpore, I hope you will permit me to have my camp on the Oude side +of the river, with a tent in your camp for business during the day. +With your Lordship's commands to attend, it will be desirable to have +an order to make over my treasury to the First Assistant, to prevent +delay. Should you desire any memoranda to be sent, they shall be +forwarded as soon as ordered. If any further public report upon the +state of Oude affairs appears to be required, I must pray your +Lordship to let me know as soon as convenient. I shall not propose +any native gentlemen for the higher offices; but it will be necessary +to have a great many in the subordinate ones, to show that your +Lordship wishes to open employment in all branches of the new +administration to educated native gentlemen. + + I remain, + Your Lordship's obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, +Governor-General, + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 18th March, 1852. + +My Lord, + +I was favoured with your Lordship's letter of the 24th ultimo in due +course, and did not reply immediately as I had stated, or was about +to state, in a public form, all that seemed to be required about +Captain Bird and Dr. Bell. Dr. Bell had apologised for indiscretions +in conversation, but denied ever having authorised Mr. Brandon to +make use of his name; and pretended utter ignorance of the intrigues +which he was carrying on at the time that he was doing his utmost to +convey wrong impressions to the Durbar. I feel grateful for the +support your Lordship has given me. I cared nothing about the +intrigues of these very silly men while under the impression that it +was your intention to interpose effectually for the benefit of the +people of Oude, because the new arrangements would have rendered them +harmless; but when I found that you could not do so at present, it +became necessary, for my own dignity and that of the Government, to +do my best to put a stop to them. Most assuredly Captain Bird had +been trying hard to persuade the King and his minister that our +Government could not interfere, and that all the threats of the +Governor-General would continue to be what they had hitherto been, +and might be disregarded. + +I find that your Lordship has departed slightly from your original +plan in regard to Burmah, by sending a detachment to make a +demonstration upon Rangoon and Martaban. There is no calculating upon +the result of such a demonstration in dealing with a Government so +imbecile, and so ignorant of our resources. The places are too far +from the capital, and the war party may succeed in persuading the +King that in this demonstration we put forth all our strength. I can +appreciate your motive--the wish to avoid, if possible, a war of +annexation, which a war upon any scale must be. We should have to +make use of a vast number of suffering people, whom we could not +abandon to the mercy of the old Government. + +In the last war our great difficulties were the want of quick transit +for troops and stores by sea, the want of carriage cattle, and +sickness. These three impediments will not now beset us. Our own +districts on the coast will supply land-carriage, steam-vessels will +carry our troops and stores, and subsequent experience will enable us +to avoid sources of endemial diseases. I have no map of the country; +but some letters in the papers about the Busseya river interested me +much. Our strong point is steam; and the discovery of a river which +would enable us to use it in getting in strength to the rear or flank +would be of immense advantage. There must be healthy districts; +indeed Burmah generally must be a healthy country, or the population +would not be so strong and intelligent as they are known to be. In +religious feeling they are less opposed to us than any other people +not Buddhists. Indeed, from the people we should have nothing to +fear; and the army must be insignificant in numbers as well as +equipments. I am very glad to find that so able and well-trained a +statesman as Fox Maule has been put at the head of the Board of +Control; and trust that your Lordship will remain at our head till +the Burmah affair is thoroughly settled. + +The little affair of the Moplars, on the Malabar coast, may grow into +a very big one unless skilfully managed. A brother of the Conollys is +the magistrate, I believe. We can learn nothing of the cause of the +strong feeling of discontent that prevails among this fanatical +people. No such strong feeling can exist in India without some +"canker-worm" to embitter the lives and unite the sympathies of large +classes against their rulers or local governors, and make them think +that they cannot shake it off without rebelling and becoming martyrs. +I must pray your Lordship to excuse this long rambling letter, and + + Believe me, with great respect, + Your obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, +Governor-General, +Calcutta. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 4th April, 1852. + +My Dear Sir James, + +Your present of the cadetship for her son made the poor widow's heart +glad, and I doubt not that she has written to express her grateful +feelings. The young man will, I hope, prove himself deserving of the +favour you have conferred upon him so gracefully. The Court has +called for a copy of my Diary of the tour I made through Oude soon +after I took charge of my office; and I have sent off two copies, one +for Government and the other for the Court. I purchased a small press +and type for the purpose of printing it in my own house, that no one +but myself and the compositor might see it. I will send home two +copies for yourself and the chairman as soon as they can be bound in +Calcutta. The Diary contains a faithful picture of Oude, its +Government, and people, I believe. I have printed only a few copies, +and they will not be distributed till I learn that the Court consider +them unobjectionable. In spirit they will be found so. I intend, if I +can find time, to give the history of the reigning family in a third +volume. My general views on Oude affairs have been given in my +letters to Government, which will, I conclude, be before the Court. A +ruler so utterly regardless of his high duties and responsibilities, +and of the sufferings of the people under his rule, as the present +King, I have never seen; nor have I ever seen ministers so +incompetent and so unworthy as those whom he employs in the conduct +of his affairs. We have threatened so often to interpose for the +benefit of the poor people, without doing anything, that they have +lost all hope, and the profligate and unprincipled Government have +lost all fear. The untoward war with Burmah prevents our present +Governor-General from doing what he and I believe the Honourable +Court both wish. We certainly ought not any longer to incur the odium +of supporting such a Government in its iniquities, pledged as we are +by treaties to protect the people from them. I do not apprehend any +serious change in the constitution of the Court of Directors in the +new charter. No ministers would hazard such a change in the present +state of Europe. The Court is India's only safeguard. No foreign +possession was ever so governed for itself as India has been, and +this all foreigners with whom I have conversed, admit. The Governor- +General of the Netherlands India was with me lately on his way home. +He is a first-rate statesman, and he declared to me that he was +impressed and delighted to see a country so governed, and apparently +so sensible of the benefits conferred upon it by our paternal rule. +He will tell you the same thing if you ever meet him. His name is +Rochasson. The people appreciate the value of the Court of Directors, +and no act, as far as it is known to them, has tended more to +strengthen their confidence in it than that which has brought +retribution on the great sinner in Scinde, Allee Murad. No punishment +was ever more just or merited. Scinde, however, is too remote for the +people in general to feel much interest in its affairs or families. +Our weak points in the last Burmese war were:--1. The want of +transport for troops and stores; 2. The want of carriage by land, for +arms and stores; 3. Sickness. All these things have been remedied, +and the war, when begun in earnest, can last but a short time. We +know more of the country and shall avoid the sources of endemial +disease; our steam provides for the rapid transport of troops and +stores; and draft-cattle will be supplied from our own districts on +the coast. Where our Government has no representative as Resident or +Consul, all Europeans should be told that they remain entirely on +their own responsibility. Unless this is done, the Governments must +be eternally in collision. If war be carried on in earnest, it must +be one of annexation: we must make use of persons whom we cannot +abandon to the mercy of the Burmese Government. We have nothing to +fear from the people: they have no religious feeling against us, +being all Buddhists; and they have seen too much of the benefits +conferred by us on the territories taken during the last war to have +any dead of our dominion. Lord Dalhousie has, I believe, been most +anxious to avoid a war--it has been forced upon him. + + Believe me, + Yours very faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James W. Hogg, +Deputy Chairman, +India House. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 6th April, 1842. + +My Dear Mr. Halliday, + +We are all wrong here in the Martiničre institution, and you have now +an admirable opportunity of setting all right and doing an infinite +deal of good with little trouble. I know how little you have of time +and attention to devote to such things, and conclude that Mr. +Devereux cannot have much more, and you may feel assured that I shall +do all in my power to assist you. We are here attempting to give the +education of gentlemen to beggar-boys, who must always depend upon +their daily work for their daily bread. The senior boys are in +despair, for they find that they have learnt hardly anything to fit +them for the only employments open to them, and this tends to +discourage the younger ones. The Roorkee Civil Engineering School +seems to have been eminently successful, and a fine field is open to +all who are taught in it. We shall no doubt have a similar field open +in Oude when Government interposes in behalf of the suffering people, +and we might prepare for it by converting the Martiničre into a +similar school or college. The committee has just expressed to you a +hope that Mr. Crank, the officiating principal, may be able to pass +an examination in the native languages. This hope can never be +realised; and if he does I shall have to record my opinion that he is +otherwise unfitted. The power of nominating a principal rests +entirely with the trustees; and if you concur in my views you might +at once prepare for the change by getting a man from England or +elsewhere, such as Mr. Maclagan, the late superintendent of the +Roorkee school, fitted to teach civil engineering in all its +branches. You have the command of funds to provide him with +assistants of all kinds; and we have accommodations and funds to +raise more, and provide machinery, books, &c. The thing might be set +going at once, after you send a competent man to superintend it; and +the work will be honourable to our Government and ourselves, and of +vast benefit to the boys brought up at this Martiničre, and to their +parents and families. If you think favourably of the proposed change, +and will direct the committee to take it into consideration, I will +do my best to make it respond cordially to your call; or if you +direct the measure to be adopted at once, I will see that it is +worked out as it should be. Mr. Crank has a good knowledge of +mathematics and mechanics, and will make a good second under a good +first; but he would be quite unfit for a first. Mr. Maclagan intended +going home, via Bombay, as soon as relieved by Captain Oldfield, and +has embarked by this time. He might be written to, to send out a +competent person and the required machinery. Constantia is admirably +adapted for such an establishment; the river Goomtee flows close +under it; the grounds are ample, open, and level, and the climate +fine. It would interest the whole of the Oude aristocracy, and induce +them to send their sons there for instruction. It would be gratifying +to the Judges of the Supreme Court to know that the funds available +were devoted to a purpose so highly useful; and you would carry home +with you the agreeable recollection of having engrafted so useful a +branch upon the almost useless old trunk of the Martiničre. + + Yours very truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To F. J. Halliday, Esq. +Secretary to Government, +Calcutta. + +Mr. Maclagan is a Lieutenant of Engineers, and lives in Edinburgh. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow. 10th April, 1852. + +My Lord, + +In September 1848, I took the liberty to mention to your Lordship my +fears that the system of annexing and absorbing native States--so +popular with our Indian service, and so much advocated by a certain +class of writers in public journals--might some day render us too +visibly dependent upon our native army; that they might see it, and +that accidents might occur to unite them, or too great a portion of +them, in some desperate act. My only anxiety about Burmah arises from +the same fears. Our native army has been too much _petted_ of late; +and they are liable to get into their heads the notion that we want +them more than they want us. Had the 38th been at first ordered to +march to Aracan, they would, in all probability, have begged their +European officers to pray Government to permit them to go by water. + +We committed a great mistake in not long ago making all new levies +general service corps; and we have committed one not less grave in +restricting the admissions into our corps to high-caste men: and +encouraging the promotion of high-caste men to the prejudice of men +equally deserving but of lower caste. The Brahmins in regiments have +too much influence, and they are at the bottom of all the mischief +that occurs. The Rajpoots are too numerous, because they are under +the influence of the Brahmins, and feel too strong from their +numbers. + +We require stronger and braver men than the Madras Presidency can +afford, with all their readiness for general service. The time may +not be distant when England will have to call upon India for troops +to serve in Egypt; and the troops from Madras, or even from Bombay, +will not do against Europeans. Men from Northern or Western India +will be required, and, in order to be prepared, it would be well to +have all new corps--should new corps be required--composed of men +from the Punjaub or the Himmalayah chain, and ready for any service. +Into such corps none but Seiks, Juts, Goojurs, Gwalas, Mussulmans, +and Hillmen should be enlisted. Too much importance is attached to +height, merely that corps may look well on parade. Much more work can +be got out of moderate sized than tall men in India. The tall men in +regiments always fail first in actual service--they are fit only for +display at reviews and on parades: always supposing that the +moderate-sized men are taken from Western and Northern India, where +alone they have the strength and courage required. + +No recruit should henceforward be taken except on condition of +general service; and by-and-by the option may be given to all +sipahees, of a certain standing or period of service, to put their +names down for general service, or retire. This could not, of course, +be done at present. No commanding officer can say, at present, what +his regiment will do if called upon to aid the Government in any way +not _specified in their bond_. They have too commonly favourites, who +persuade them, for their own selfish purposes, that their regiments +will do anything to meet their wishes, at the very time that these +regiments are watching for an occasion to disgrace these favourites +by refusal. I have known many occasions of this. None but general +service corps or volunteers should be sent to Burmah from Bengal +during this campaign, or we shall hazard a disaster. There are, I +believe, several that your Lordship has not yet called upon. They +should be at hand as soon as possible, and their present places +supplied by others. In the mean time, corps of Punjaubies and Hillmen +should be raised for general service. Not only can no commanding +officer say what his corps will do under circumstances in which their +religion or prejudices may afford a pretext for disobedience, but no +officers can say how far their regiments sympathise with the +recusant: or discontented, corps, and are prepared to join them. + +In case it should ever be proposed to make all corps general service +corps, in the way I mention, a donation would, of course, be offered +to all who declined of a month's pay for every year of past service, +or of something of that kind. A maximum might be fixed of four, five, +or six months. It would not cost much, for but few would go. I must +pray your Lordship to excuse the liberty I take in obtruding my +notions on this subject, but it really is one of vital importance in +the present state of affairs in India, as well as in Europe. + + With great respect, I remain, &c., + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Moat Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T. +Governor-General of India, +Calcutta. + + + + + __________________________ + + +_Memorandum_. + +In the year 1832 or 1833 the want of bamboos of large size, for yokes +for artillery bullocks, was much felt at Saugor and the stations of +that division; and the commissariat officer was authorised to form a +bamboo grove, to be watered by the commissariat cattle, in order to +supply the deficiency for the future. Forty beegas, or about twenty +acres of land, were assigned for the purpose, and Government went to +the expense of forming twelve pucka-wells, as the bamboos were +planted upon the black cotton-soil of Central India, in which kutcha- +wells do not stand. The first outlay was, therefore, greater than +usual, being three thousand rupees. The establishment kept up +consisted of one gardener, at five rupees a month, and two assistants +at three rupees each. The bamboos were watered by the artillery +bullocks and commissariat servants. + +In a few years the bamboos became independent of irrigation, and no +outlay has since been incurred upon them. The bamboos are now between +forty and fifty feet high, and between four and five inches in +diameter. They are used by the commissariat and ordnance departments +at Saugor, but are not, I believe, required for yokes for the +artillery bullocks. + +There is a grove of sesum trees near the Lucknow cantonments formed +in the same way, but with little or no outlay in irrigation. The +trees were planted, and all the cost incurred has been in the people +employed to protect them from trespass. In a dryer climate they might +require irrigation for a few years. Groves of saul, _alias_ sukhoo +trees, might be formed in the same manner in the vicinity of all +stations where there are artillery bullocks; and the bullocks +themselves would benefit by being employed in the irrigation. The +establishments kept up for the bullocks would be able to do all the +work required. + +The complement of bullocks for a battery of 6 guns, 6 waggons, and 2 +store carts, is 106. The number yoked to each gun and waggon is 61, +[transcriber's note, should be 6], and to each cart 4, leaving a +surplus of 26 for accidents. There would, therefore, be always a +sufficient number of bullocks available for the irrigation of such +groves where such a battery is kept up. These bullocks are taken care +of by 4 sirdars and 59 drivers; and an European sergeant of artillery +is appointed as bullock-sergeant to each battery, to superintend the +feeding, cleaning, &c. &c. The officer on duty sees the bullocks +occasionally, and the commanding officer sometimes. Such groves might +be left to the care of the commandant of artillery at small stations, +and to the commissariat officer at large ones. + +At every large station there might be a grove of sesum, one of +sakhoo, and one of bamboos, each covering a hundred acres; and at all +stations with a battery, three groves of the same kind, covering each +twenty acres or more. For the convenience of carriage by water, such +groves might be formed chiefly in the vicinity of rivers, or in that +of the places where the timber is most likely to be required; but no +battery should be without such groves. The men and bullocks would +both benefit by the employment such groves would give them. The men, +to interest them, might each have a small garden within the grove +which he assists in watering. + +Such groves would tend to improve the salubrity of the stations where +they are formed, and become agreeable and healthful promenades for +officers and soldiers. In most stations, kutcha-wells, formed at a +cost of from 20 to 50 rupees, would suffice for watering such groves. +They might be lined, like those of the peasantry, by twisted cables +of straw and twigs; and the men who attend the bullocks might be +usefully employed in weaving them, as all should learn to make +fascines and gabions. Willows should be planted near all the wells, +to supply twigs for making the cables for lining the wells, and the +manure of the artillery draft-bullocks should be appropriated to the +groves. + +[Submitted to the Governor-General through the Private Secretary, in +March, 1852, with reference to a conversation which I had with his +Lordship in his camp.] + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 23rd August, 1852. + +My Lord, + +Permit me to offer my congratulations, not only on the success which +has hitherto attended your Lordship's arrangements in Burmah, but on +the very favourable impression which that success has made upon the +Sovereign and people of England. It has enabled you to show that the +war is not with the people of Burmah, but with a haughty, insolent, +and incompetent Government, with whom that people has no longer any +sympathy; and that, should circumstances render the annexation of any +portion of its territory necessary, the people of that portion would +consider the measure a blessing, and be well pleased to live in +harmony under the efficient protection of the new rule. + +They are not in any way opposed to us from either religions or +political feelings, for they seem to consider Christianity as a +branch only of their own great system of Buddhism, which includes +almost half of the human race; and they are evidently weary of the +political institutions under which they now live, and which have +ceased to afford them protection of any kind. In the annexation of +Pegu--should it be forced upon your Lordship--there would be nothing +revolting to the feelings of its people or to those of the people of +England; on the contrary, both would be satisfied, after the +disposition the people of Pegu have manifested towards us, that the +measure was alike necessary to their security and to the honour and +interest of our Government. + +Nor do I think that there would be any ground to apprehend that the +resources of the territory taken would not, after a time, be +sufficient to defray the costs of the establishments required to +retain and govern it. Among the people of Pegu we should find men +able and willing to serve us faithfully and efficiently in both our +civil and military establishments, and the drain for the maintenance +of foreigners would not be large. I have heard the mental and +physical powers of the men of Pegu spoken of in the highest terms by +persons who have spent the greater part of their lives among them; +and a country which produces such men cannot be generally +insalubrious. This early demonstration has enabled your Lordship to +ascertain and expose the determination of the Government of Ava not +to grant the redress justly demanded for wrongs suffered, so as to +enlist on our side the sympathy of all civilized nations, and at the +same time to discover the real weakness of the enemy and the +facilities offered to us, in their fine rivers, for the use of our +strong arm--the steam navy. Not a single "untoward event" has yet +occurred to dispirit our troops, or give confidence to the enemy, or +to prejudice the people of Burmah against us: and there certainly is +nothing in this war to make us apprehend "that our political +difficulties will begin when our military successes are complete." It +is not displeasing to perceive the strong tendency to an early onward +move, while your Lordship has so prudent a leader in General Godwin +to restrain it within due bounds. + + I remain, &c., + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T. +Governor-General of India. +Calcutta. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, September, 1852. + +My Lord, + +The longer the present King reigns, the more unfit he becomes to +reign, and the more the administration and the country deteriorate. +The State must have become bankrupt long ere this, but the King, and +the knaves by whom he is governed, have discontinued paying the +stipends of all the members of the royal family, save those of his +own father's family, for the last three years; and many of them are +reduced to extreme distress, and without the hope of ever getting +their stipends again unless our Government interferes. The females of +the palaces of former sovereigns ventured to clamour for their +subsistence, and they were, without shame or mercy, driven into the +streets to starve, beg, or earn their bread by their labour. This +deters all from complaining, and they are in a state of utter dismay. +No part of the people of Oude are more anxious for the interposition +of our Government than the members of the royal family; for there is +really no portion more helpless and oppressed: none of them can ever +approach the King, who is surrounded exclusively by eunuchs, +fiddlers, and poetasters worse than either; and the minister and his +creatures, who are worse than all. They appropriate at least one-half +of the revenues of the country to themselves, and employ nothing but +knaves of the very worst kind in all the branches of the +administration. The King is a crazy imbecile, who is led about by +these people like a child, and made to do whatever they wish him to +do, and to give whatever orders may best suit their private +interests. At present, the most powerful of the favourites are +Decanut od Doula and Husseen od Doula, two eunuchs; Anees od Doula +and Mosahib od Doula, two fiddlers; two poetasters, and the minister +and his creatures. The minister could not stand a moment without the +eunuchs, fiddlers, and poets, and he is obliged to acquiesce in all +the orders given by the King for their benefit. The fiddlers have +control over the administration of civil justice; the eunuchs over +that of criminal justice, public buildings, &c. The minister has the +land revenue; and all are making enormous fortunes. The present King +ought not certainly to reign: he has wilfully forfeited all right to +do so; but to set him aside in favour of his eldest, or indeed any +other son, would give no security whatever for any permanent good +government A well-selected regency would, no doubt, be a vast +improvement upon the present system; but no people would invest their +capital in useful works, manufactures, and trades, with the prospect +of being handed over a few years hence to a prince brought up +precisely in the same manner the present King was, and as all his +sons will be. What the people want, and most earnestly pray for is, +that our Government should take upon itself the responsibility of +governing them well and permanently. All classes, save the knaves, +who now surround and govern the King, earnestly pray for this--the +educated classes, because they would then have a chance of +respectable employment, which none of them now have; the middle +classes, because they find no protection or encouragement, and no +hope that their children will be permitted to inherit the property +they may leave, not invested in our Government securities; and the +humbler classes, because they are now abandoned to the merciless +rapacity of the starving troops, and other public establishments, and +of the landholders, driven or invited into rebellion by the present +state of misrule. There is not, I believe, another Government in +India so entirely opposed to the best interest's and most earnest +wishes of the people as that of Oude now is; at least I have never +seen or read of one. People of all classes have become utterly weary +of it. The people have the finest feelings towards our Government and +character. I know no part of India, save the valley of the Nurbuddah, +where the feeling towards us is better. All, from the highest to the +lowest, would, at this time, hail the advent of our administration +with joy; and the rest of India, to whom Oude misrule is well known, +would acquiesce in the conviction, that it had become imperative for +the protection of the people. With steamers to Fyzabad, and a +railroad from that place to Cawnpore, through Lucknow, the Nepaul +people would be for ever quieted, with half of the force we now keep +up to look after them; and the N. W. Provinces become more closely +united to Bengal, to the vast advantage of both. I mentioned that we +should require a considerable loan to begin with; but I think that an +issue of paper money, receivable in Oude in revenue, and payable to +public establishments in Oude, might safely be made to cover all the +outlay required to pay off odd establishments and commence the new +work. Little money goes out of Oude, and the increased circulating +medium, required for the new public works and new establishments, +would soon absorb all the paper issued. It might be issued at little +or no cost by the financial department of the new administration. +Though everybody knows that the King has become crazy and imbecile, +it would be difficult to get judicial proof that he is so, where the +life and property of every one are at his mercy and that of the +knaves who now govern him. His every-day doings sufficiently manifest +it. There is not the slightest ground for hope that he will ever be +any other than what he now is, or that his children will be better. +There are too many interested in depriving them of all capacity for a +part in public affairs that they may retain the reins in their own +hands when the children come of age to admit of their ever becoming +better than their father is. I have not lately made the reports which +Lord Hardinge directed the Resident to make periodically, but shall +be prepared to resume them whenever your Lordship may direct. I +suspended them on account of hostilities with Burmah. I have printed +eighteen copies of the establishments, as they are and were last +year, and as I proposed for the new system. I shall not let any one +have a copy till your Lordship permits it, and they are all at your +disposal if required. This, and the "Substantive Code," are the only +papers connected with Oude, except the Diary that I have had printed, +or shall have printed, unless ordered by you. + + I remain, with great respect, + Your Lordship's obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +P.S.--I believe that it is your Lordship's wish that the whole of the +revenues of Oude should be expended for the benefit of the royal +family and people of Oude, and that the British Government should +disclaim any wish to derive any pecuniary advantages from assuming to +itself the administration. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T. +Governor-General, + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 21st September, 1852. + +My Dear Sir, + +I will reply to the queries contained in your letter of the 16th +instant to the best of my recollection. I was in Calcutta in January, +1838, when the late Dyce Sombre was there, and about to embark for +England. I had seen a good deal of him at Sirdhanah, in March 1836, +soon after the Begum Sumroo's death, and he afterwards spent a short +time with me at Mussoorie, and consulted me a good deal on the +subject of a dispute with his father. + +Colonel James Skinner and Dr. Drener were, I believe, executors to +his will. Colonel Skinner was at Delhi, and Dr. Drener had either +gone home or was going, I forget which, and Dyce Sombre asked me to +consent to become one of his trustees, for the conduct of his affairs +in this country. I consented, and I think the circumstance was +inserted in a codicil or memorandum added to his will or deed; but my +recollection on this point is not distinct. + +I had, however, nothing to do with the conduct of his affairs in this +country until the death of Colonel James Skinner, which took place in +December, 1841, when Mr. Reghilini, the overseer or agent at +Sirdhanah, got my sanction to the outlay for establishments, &c. At +this time I corresponded with Dyce Sombre, and continued to do so +until his affairs were thrown into Chancery. I then sought a lawyer's +opinion as to my proper course, and refused to give Mr. Reghilini any +further orders. The opinion was, "that my only safe course was to do +nothing whatever in the conduct of his affairs;" and I never +afterwards did anything. I never heard of any Colonel Sheerman, and +his name may have been inserted by mistake for mine; but I was then +(1838) only a major, and was not promoted until 1843. I never heard +of any desire on the part of Dyce Sombre, or the Begum Sumroo, to +found a college other than as an appendage to the Sirdhanah church, +nor of his having given the residue of his property for the purpose; +at least, I have no recollection of having heard of such desire. I +always hoped, and expected, until I heard of his marriage, that he +would return and reside at Sirdhanah. + +Dyce Sombre always spoke to me of Mrs. Troup and Mrs. Soloroli as his +sisters: he regarded them alike as such, and so did the Begum Sumroo. +I always understood them to be the children of the same mother; but +the question was never mooted before me, and I have always heard that +Mrs. Troup was very like Dyce Sombre in appearance, and that Mrs. +Soloroli was not so. + +Mr. Reghilini, who is, I believe, still at Sirdhanah, may know +whether a Colonel Sheerman was appointed executor or not. Dr. Drener +must know. The notes which passed between me and Dyce Sombre, after +he left India, were on the ordinary topics of the day, and were +destroyed as soon as read. I have none of them to refer to, nor would +they furnish any confirmation on the matter in question if I had. + + Believe me, yours, very truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +Charles Prinsep, Esq., +Barrister-at-Law, +Calcutta. + + + __________________________ + + +_To Messrs. Molloy, Mackintosh, and Poe, Calcutta_. + +Dear Sirs, + +In reply to your letter of the 16th instant, I enclose the copy of a +letter addressed by me on the 21st ultimo to Mr. Charles Prinsep, in +reply to similar queries. To what I stated in that letter I can add +but little. + +Dyce Sombre always spoke to me of Mrs. Soloroli and Mrs. Troup as his +sisters, and of the former as the eldest of the two; and Mrs. Troup +spoke of Mrs. Soloroli as her eldest sister. They were always treated +by the Begum Sumroo as his sisters; and when Dyce Sombre went to +England I think he left the same provision for both in addition to +what they had received from the Begum. + +I was introduced to Mrs. Troup by her husband as an old friend on my +way back from Mussoorie in November, 1837, but I did not see Mrs. +Soloroli, though she and her husband were at the same place, +Sirdhanah, at that time. They both lived under the curtain, secluded +from the sight of men, after the Hindoostanee fashion, as long as +they remained in India, I think; and I was introduced to Mrs. Troup +as a friend of the family, whom all might require to consult. Her +husband only was present during the interview. Dyce Sombre had left +the place for Calcutta. I never heard a doubt expressed of their +being sisters by the same mother and father till the new will came +under discussion at the end of last year. + +I may refer you to pages 378 and 396 of the second volume of a work +by me, entitled "Rambles and Recollections," in which you will find +it mentioned that the grandmother of Dyce Sombre died insane at +Sirdhanah in 1838. She must have been insane for more than forty +years up to her death. Her son Zuffer Yab Khan was a man of weak +intellect, and he was the father of Dyce Sombre's mother, of whom I +know nothing whatever. + +Dyce Sombre, showed no symptoms of derangement of mind while I knew +him; but he inherited from his grandmother a predisposition to +insanity, which I apprehended might become developed by any very +strong feelings of excitement; and I urged him to return and settle +at Sirdhanah, when he had seen all he wished to see in Europe. + +He saw a good deal of English society in India, and understood well +the freedom which English wives enjoy in general society; but I +doubted whether he could ever thoroughly shake off his early +predilections for keeping them secluded. It would, I thought, be +always to him a source of deep humiliation to see his wife mix with +other men in the manner in which English married ladies are +accustomed to do. Since his affairs were put into Chancery I have +always felt persuaded that this must have been the principal +"exciting cause" acting upon the predisposition derived from his +grandmother, which led to it. I have never had the slightest doubt +that he suffered under an aberration of mind upon this point, though +he never mentioned the subject in any of his short letters to me from +England, nor did he in any of them show signs of such aberration. + + Believe me, yours, faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +26th October, 1852. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 28th October, 1852. + +My Dear Sir James, + +Your letter of the 6th ultimo reached me by the last mail, and I +trust we shall see your hopes of an early renewal of the Charter with +few alterations realised. I entirely concur with you in opinion that +the power of recall is indispensable to the due authority of the +Court; and was much surprised to find Maddock opposed to it. Many +thinking men at home have been of opinion that the Ministers would +secure for the Queen the nomination of a certain number to the +Direction, on the ground that many of the best men from India are +deterred from becoming candidates by the time and pledges required in +the canvass. The late elections, however, seem to have come in time +to increase the Jealousy of ministerial influence, and prevent such a +measure. + +Hostilities with Burmah have prevented my making public periodical +reports to Government about Oude affairs since I submitted my Diary. +I took the liberty to send, through my London agents copy to yourself +and the Deputy Chairman. Things have not improved since it was +written. The King is as regardless of his high duties and +responsibilities as ever: he is, indeed, an imbecile in the hands of +a few fiddlers, eunuchs, and poetasters, and the minister, who is no +better than they are, and obliged to provide for all these men out of +the revenues and patronage of the country, and sundry women about the +Court, also, to secure their influence in his favour. + +The King contrives to get the stipends of those immediately about +him, and of his mother, brothers, and sisters, paid out of the +revenues; but is indifferent about those of his more distant +relatives, and hardly any of them have had any stipends for the last +two and even three years. Those who happen not to have a little +Company's paper given to them by former Sovereigns, or pensions +guaranteed by our Government and paid out of our Treasury, are +starving, and pray for the day when our Government may interpose in +the administration. The expenditure is much above the income, and the +reserved treasury is exhausted; but the King has his jewels and some +personal property in Government notes, derived from his father and +grandmothers. He thinks himself the best of kings and the best of +poets, and nothing will induce him willingly to alter his course or +make room for a better ruler or better system. + +If our Government interpose, it must not be by negotiation and +treaty, but authoritatively on the ground of existing treaties and +obligations to the people of Oude. The treaty of 1837 gives our +Government ample authority to take the whole administration on +ourselves, in order to secure what we have often pledged ourselves to +secure to the people; but if we do this we must, in order to stand +well with the rest of India, honestly and distinctly disclaim all +interested motives, and appropriate the whole of the revenues for the +benefit of the people and royal family of Oude. If we do this, all +India will think us right, for the sufferings of the people of Oude, +under the present system, have been long notorious throughout India; +and so have our repeated pledges to relieve the people from these +sufferings, unless the system should be altered. Fifty years of sad +experience have shown to us and to all India, that this system is +incapable of improvement under the present dynasty; and that the only +alternative is for the paramount power to take the administration +upon itself. + +Under the treaty of 1801, we took one-half of the territory of Oude, +and that half yields to us above two crores of rupees; though, when +taken, it was estimated at one hundred and thirty-three lacs. The +half retained by the Oude Sovereign was estimated at the same; but it +now yields to the Sovereign only one crore. The rest is absorbed by +the knaves employed in the administration and their patrons at Court. +All that is now so absorbed would come to the Treasury under us, and +be employed in the maintenance of efficient establishments, and the +construction of useful public works; and we should have ample means +for providing for all the members of the royal family of Oude. + +We should derive substantial benefit from the measure, without in any +degree violating our declaration of disinterestedness. We now +maintain five regiments of Infantry, and a company of Artillery, at a +cost of from five to six lacs a-year. We maintain the Residency and +all its establishments at a cost of more than one lac of rupees a- +year. All these would become fairly chargeable to the Oude revenues +under the new administration; and we might dispense with half the +military forces now kept up at Cawnpore and Dinapore on the Ganges, +as the military force in Oude would relieve us from all apprehension +as to Nepaul. + +Oude would be covered with a network of fine macadamised roads, over +which the produce of Oude and our own districts would pass freely to +the benefit of the people of both; and we should soon have the river +Ghagra, from near Patna on the Ganges, to Fyzabad in Oude, navigable +for steamers: with a railroad from Fyzabad, through Lucknow to +Cawnpore, to the great benefit of the North-West Provinces and those +of Bengal. + +Were we to take advantage of the occasion to _annex_ or _confiscate_ +Oude, or any part of it, our good name in India would inevitably +suffer; and that good name is more valuable to us than a dozen of +Oudes. We are now looked up to throughout India as the only impartial +arbitrators that the people generally have ever had, or can ever hope +to have without us; and from the time we cease to be so looked up to, +we must begin to sink. We suffered from our conduct in Scinde; but +that was a country distant and little known, and linked to the rest +of India by few ties of sympathy. Our Conduct towards it was preceded +by wars and convulsions around, and in its annexation there was +nothing manifestly deliberate. It will be otherwise with Oude. Here +the giant's strength is manifest, and we cannot "use it like a giant" +without suffering in the estimation of all India. Annexation or +confiscation are not compatible with our relations with this little +dependent state. We must show ourselves to be high-minded, and above +taking advantage of its prostrate weakness, by appropriating its +revenues exclusively to the benefit of the people and royal family of +Oude. We should soon make it the finest garden in India, with the +people happy, prosperous, and attached to our rule and character. + +We have at least forty thousand men from Oude in the armies of the +three Residencies, all now, rightly or wrongly, cursing the +oppressive Government under which their families live at their homes. +These families would come under our rule and spread our good name as +widely as they now spread the bad one of their present ruler. +Soldiers with a higher sense of military honour, and duty to _their +salt_, do not exist, I believe, in any country. To have them bound to +us by closer ties than they are at present, would of itself be an +important benefit. + +I can add little to what I have said in the latter end of the fourth +chapter of my Diary (from p. 187*, vol. ii.), on the subject of our +relations with the Government of Oude; and of our rights and duties +arising out of those relations. The diaries political, which I send +every week or fortnight to the Government of India, are formed out of +the reports made every day to the Durbar, by their local or +departmental authorities. The Residency News-writer has the privilege +of hearing these reports read as they come in; and though the reports +of many important events are concealed from him, they may generally +be relied upon as far as they go. The picture they give of affairs is +bad enough, though not so bad as they deserve. + +[* Transcriber's note. From the text "By the treaty of 1801 we bound +ourselves......."--to the end of the chapter IV in vol. ii] + +There are so many worthless and profligate people about the Court, +interested in smothering any signs of common sense and good feeling +on the part of the heir apparent to the throne, in order to maintain +their ascendancy over him as he grows up, that he has not the +slightest chance of becoming fit to take any part in the conduct of +public affairs when he comes of age. The present King has three or +four sons, all very young, but it is utterly impossible for any one +of them to become a man of business; and it would be folly to expect +any one of them to make a better Sovereign than their father. He is +now only twenty-eight or twenty-nine years of age; but his +understanding has become quite emasculated by over-indulgencies of +all kinds. He may live long, but his habits have become too +inveterate to admit of his ever becoming better than he now is or fit +to be intrusted with the government of a country. + +I shall recommend that all establishments, military, civil, and +fiscal, be kept entirely separate from those of our own Government, +that there may be no mistake as to the disinterestedness of our +intentions towards Oude. The military establishments being like +Scindiah's contingent, in the Gwalior state, or the Hydrabad +contingent in the Nizam's. I estimate the present expenditure at, +civil and fiscal establishments, and stipendiaries, 38 lacs. Military +and police, 55. King's household, 30. Total, 123 lacs. Establishments +required for an efficient administration--civil and fiscal--at 22 +lacs. Military, 26 lacs. Families and dependents of former Sovereigns, +12 lacs. Household of the Sovereign, his sons, brothers, and sisters, +15 lacs. Total, 75 lacs. + +This would leave an abundant store for public works, military stores, +contingent charges, pension establishments for the civil and military +officers employed under us, &c. To pay off all the present heavy +arrears of stipends, salaries, to provide arms, ammunition, and +stores, and to commence upon all the public works, our Government +would have either to give or guarantee a loan; or to sanction the +issue of a certain amount of paper money, to circulate exclusively in +Oude, by making it receivable in the Oude Treasuries in taxes. + +The revenues would be at once greatly increased, by our taking for +the treasury all that is now intercepted and appropriated by public +officers and Court favourites for their own private purposes, by our +making the great landholders pay a due portion of their assets to the +state, and by our securing the safe transit of raw produce and +manufactured goods to their proper markets. + +By adopting a simple system of administration, to meet the wishes of +a simple people, we should secure the goodwill of all classes of +society in Oude; and no class would be more pleased with the change +than the members of the royal family themselves, who depend upon +their stipends for their subsistence, and despair of ever again +receiving them under the present Sovereign and system. + +I hope a happy termination of the present war with Burmah will soon +leave Lord Dalhousie free to devote his attention to Oude affairs. As +far as I am consulted, I shall advocate, as strongly as may be +compatible with my position, the measures above described, because I +think they will be found best calculated to benefit the people of +Oude, to meet the wishes of the home Government, and to sustain his +Lordship's own reputation, and that of the nation which he represents +throughout our Eastern empire. + +You are aware of some of the difficulties that I have had to contend +with, in carrying out important measures beneficial to the people, +and honourable to the Government of India; but in no situation in +life have I ever had to struggle with so many as here, in pursuing an +honest and steady course of policy, calculated to secure the respect +of all classes for the Government which I represent. Such a scene of +intrigue, corruption, depravity, neglect of duty, and abuse of +authority, I have never before been placed in, and hope never again +to undergo; and I have had to contend with bitter hostility where I +had the best right to expect support. I have never yet failed in the +performance of any duty that Government has intrusted to me, and, +under Providence, I hope that I shall ultimately succeed in the +performance of that which I have committed to me here. + +Lucknow is an overgrown city, surrounding an overgrown Court, which +has, for the last half century, exhausted all the resources of this +fine country; and so alienated the feelings of the great body of the +people that they, and the Sovereign, and his officers, look upon each +other as irreconcileable enemies. Between the city, the pampered +Court and its functionaries, and the people of the country beyond, +there is not the slightest feeling of sympathy; and if our troops +were withdrawn from the vicinity of Lucknow, the landholders and +sturdy peasantry of the country would, in a few days, rush in and +plunder and destroy it as a source of nothing but intolerable evil to +them. + +Though I have written a long letter, I may have omitted many things +which you wished me to notice. In that case I must rely upon your +letting me know; and in the mean time, I shall continue to write +whenever I have anything to communicate that is likely to interest +you. + + Believe me, dear Sir James, + Yours very faithfully, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart. + &c. &c. &c. + +P.S. By treaty, we are bound to keep up a certain force near the +capital for the protection of the Sovereign; and we should be +obliged, till things were quite settled under the new system, to +retain the brigade we now have of our regular troops in the +cantonments, which are three miles from the city. + + W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 20th November, 1852. + +My Dear Sir James, + +To be prepared for accidents, I deem it right to send a duplicate of +the letter which I sent to you by the last mail, addressed to the +care of my London agents, Messrs. Denny and Clark, Austin Friars. I +have nothing new or interesting to communicate from Oude. The Burmese +war seems likely to divert the Governor-General's attention from Oude +and Hydrabad affairs for some time to come; and the death of the Duke +of Wellington, and probable changes in the ministry at home, may +prevent him from venturing upon any important change in the Oude +administration when that war closes. + +The war is an "untoward event," arising from a very small cause; and +it should prevent our ever guaranteeing British subjects in countries +where we have no accredited agents to conduct our relations with the +Government. All such subjects, and all the subjects of our European +and American allies, should in future be made to understand that they +enter such countries entirely upon their own responsibility. Without +some such precaution we must always be liable to be involved in war +with bordering countries by adventurers of one land or another; and +as war is almost always followed by annexation or confiscation, our +Indian empire, like that of the Romans, must soon sink from its own +weight. The people will think that we are perpetually seeking +pretexts for war in order to get new territories, and the general or +universal impression will be dangerous. + +When the public press of England abuse those who have to conduct the +present war for delay, they do not sufficiently consider our +ignorance of the state of the rivers and of the military resources of +the country in which it was to be carried on when we entered upon it. +We did not know that the rivers were navigable, nor did we know how +they were defended; nor did we know what forces Burmah could muster, +nor how they were distributed. It was not intended to commence the +war till after the rains, when it would be safe to move troops over +the country; for it was not reasonable to suppose that the Government +of the country could be so haughty and insolent without military +force to support its pretensions, and we have often had sad +experience of the danger of underrating the power of an enemy. The +object of the earlier movement was merely to secure some points of +support, at which to concentrate our forces as they came up, and not +to advance at once on the capital or into the country at a season +when no troops could move by land. + +Our strong arm was, no doubt, the steam flotilla; but it would have +been madness in us, with our ignorance of the rivers and resources of +the country, to have calculated upon conquering Ava by steamers +alone. With what we now know, people may safely say that General +Godwin has failed to make all the use he might of the flotilla, as +Lord Gough failed to make all the use he might of his "strong arm," +the artillery, in the battles of the Punjaub; but Lord Gough was not +ignorant of the country in which he had to operate, nor of the +resources of the country he had to contend with. According to +previous calculations, the war ought not to have begun till this +month. The earlier movement has, however, been of great advantage--it +has taught us what the rivers and resources of the country are; and, +what is of still more importance, what the people and their feelings +towards their Government and ours are. It is manifest that they fully +appreciate the value of the protection which the people, under our +rule, enjoy; and that they have neither religious nor political +feelings of hostility towards us; and that the people of Pegu, at +least, would hail the establishment of our rule as a blessing. + +You were so kind as to express a wish to see my son. He is now with +his regiment, the 16th Lancers, in Ireland, and has lately obtained +his Lieutenancy. He will be twenty years of age in January. I will +make known to him your kind wish, and doubt not that he will pay his +respects when he visits London. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir James, + Yours very faithfully, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart, + &c. &c. &c. + +P.S.--In page 217, line 4, vol. i., of my Diary, the printer has put +"months" for weeks. Pray do me the favour to have this corrected.--W. +H. S. + + + __________________________ + + +My Lord, + +Your Lordship's wishes in regard to the papers on Oude affairs shall +be strictly attended to. They are locked up in my box, and no one +shall see them. I had no wish to print any but those I mentioned in +my last letter, and they are locked up with the others, which I have +not looked at since I left your Lordship's camp; the Diary, excepted. + +Things in Oude are just as they were; and the King's ambition seems +to be limited to the reputation of being the best drum-beater, +dancer, and poet of the day. He is utterly unfit to reign; but he is +himself persuaded that no man can be more fit than he is for +anything, and he will never willingly consent to make over the reins +of Government to any one. It would be impossible to _persuade_ him to +abdicate even in favour of his own son, much less to resign his +sovereignty in perpetuity. If our Government interpose, it must be by +the exercise of a right derived from the existing relations between +the two Governments, or from our position as the paramount power in +India. + +Of this your Lordship will have to consider and decide when your mind +is relieved from Burmese affairs, which appear to be drawing very +_quietly_ to a close. I shall not write publicly about Oude affairs +generally till I have your Lordship's commands to do so. The Diary +will continue to be transmitted regularly; but the Periodical General +Report will be suspended. + +Mr. Bushe remained a few days at Lucknow. He has since seen Agra, +Bhurtpoor, and other places, and is now on his way back to Calcutta, +well pleased with his tour. + + With great respect, + Your Lordship's obedient Servant, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., +Governor-General of India. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 2nd January, 1853. + +My Dear Sir James, + +I enclose two sets of Tables of Errata for the Diary, and must pray +you to do me the favour to have one set put into the two volumes of +the copy you have, and the other sent to the Deputy-Chairman for +insertion in his copy. I did not take the liberty to send a copy to +the President of the Board of Control, but if you think I should do +so, I will. + +The King of Oude is becoming more and more imbecile and crazy, and +his servants continue more and more to abuse their power and neglect +their duty. The King, every day manifests his utter unfitness to +reign, in some new shape. He, on several occasions during the +Mohurrum ceremonies which took place lately, went along the streets +beating a drum tied round his neck, to the great scandal of his +family and the amusement of his people. The members of his family +have not been paid their stipends for from two to three years, and +many of them have been reduced to the necessity of selling their +clothes to purchase food. All classes, save the knaves who surround +him, and profit by his folly, are become disgusted with and tired of +him. + +I do not interfere, except to protect our pledges and guarantees; and +to conduct the current duties of the Residency in such a manner as to +secure the respect of all classes for the Government which I +represent. While the present King reigns, or has anything whatever to +do with the Government, no interference could produce any substantial +and permanent reform. The minister is a weak man and a great knave; +but he has an influence over his master, obtained by being entirely +subservient to his vices and follies, to the sacrifice of his own +honour; and by praising all that he does, however degrading to him as +a man and a sovereign. + +Though the King pays no attention whatever to public affairs or to +business of any kind, and aims at nothing but the reputation of being +the best dancer, best versifier, and best drummer in his dominions, +it would be impossible to persuade him that any man was ever more fit +to reign than he is. Nothing would ever induce him willingly to +abdicate even in favour of his own son, much less to make him +willingly abdicate in perpetuity in favour of our Government, or make +over the conduct of the administration to our Government. If, +therefore, our Government does interfere, it must be in the exercise +of a right arising out of the existing relations 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 sufficient, in their estimation, for the purpose; +and no war, however cruel, that is not justifiable, if it has only +this object in view. If you know George Clerk or Mr. Robertson, both +formerly Governors of our North-West Provinces, they will describe to +you the school I mean. They, I believe, with me, strongly deprecate +the doctrines of this school as more injurious to India and to our +interest in it, than those of any other school that has ever existed +in India. Mr. George Campbell is one of the disciples of this +school.--See the 4th chapter of his "Modern India." The "Friend of +India" is another, and all those whom that paper lauds most are also +disciples of the same school. The Court of Directors will have to +watch these doctrines carefully; and I wish you would speak to George +Clerk and Mr. Robertson about them. They are both men of large views +and sound judgment. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir James, + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 12th January, 1853. + +My Dear Sir James, + +I wrote to you on the 23rd October, 20th November, and the 2nd of +this month; I mention this lest any of my letters miscarry; of the +first letter I sent a duplicate on the 2nd, but I shall not send +duplicates of the last two, or of this. I now write chiefly to call +your attention to a rabid article in the "Friend of India," of the +6th of this month, written by Mr. Marshman, when about to proceed to +England, to become, it is said, one of the writers in the London +"Times." Of coarse, he will be engaged to write the Indian articles; +and you will find him advocating the doctrines of the school +mentioned in my last letter of the 2nd of this month. I consider +their doctrines to be prejudicial to the stability of our rule in +India, and to the welfare of the people, which depends on it. The +Court of Directors is our only safeguard against these Machiavellian +doctrines; and it may be rendered too powerless to stem them by the +new arrangements for the Government of India. The objects which they +propose for attainment--religion, commerce, &c.--are plausible; and +the false logic by which they attempt to justify the means required +to attain them, however base, unjust, and cruel, is no less so. I was +asked by Dr. Duff, the editor of the "Calcutta Review," before he +went home to write some articles for that journal, to expose the +fallacies, and to counteract the influences of the doctrines of this +school; but I have for many years ceased to contribute to the +periodical papers, and have felt bound by my position not to write +for them. Few old officers of experience, with my feelings and +opinions on this subject, now remain in India; and the influence of +this school is too great over the rising generation, whose hopes and +aspirations they tend so much to encourage. Mr. Elphinstone, Mr. +Robertson, and George Clerk will be able to explain their danger to +you. India must look to the Court of Directors alone for safety +against them, and they will require the exertion of all its wisdom +and strength. + +Mr. Robertson will be able to tell you that, when I was sent to +Bundelcund, in 1842, the feelings of the people of that province were +so strongly against us, under the operation of the doctrines of this +school, that no European officer could venture, with safety, beyond +the boundary of a cantonment of British troops; and their servants +were obliged to disguise themselves in order to pass from one +cantonment to another. In a brief period, I created a feeling +entirely different, and made the character of British officers +respected and beloved. In the Gwalior territories the same result was +obtained by the same means. However impulsive on other occasions, +Lord Ellenborough behaved magnanimously after his victories over the +Gwalior troops; but in sparing the State, he acted, I believe, +against the feelings of his Council, amongst whom the doctrines of +the absorbing, annexing, and confiscating schools prevailed; and the +"Friend of India" condemned him, though the invasion was never +justified, except on the ground of expediency. Had I, on these +occasions, adopted the doctrines of the absorbing school, I might +have become one of the most popular and influential men in India; but +I should, at the same time, have rendered our rule and character +odious to the people of India, and so far have injured our permanent +interest in the country. I mention all this merely to show that my +opposition to the doctrines of this school is not new, nor in theory +only, but of long standing and practice, as far as my influence has +extended. I deem them to be dangerous to our rule in India, and +prejudicial to the best interests of the country. The people see that +these annexations and confiscations go on, and that rewards and +honorary distinctions are given for them, and for the victories which +lead to them, and for little else; and they are too apt to infer that +they are systematic, and encouraged, and prescribed from home. The +native States I consider to be breakwaters, and when they are all +swept away, we shall be left to the mercy of our native army, which +may not always be sufficiently under our control. Such a feeling as +that which pervaded Bundelcund and Gwalior in 1842 and 1843, must, +sooner or later, pervade all India, if these doctrines are carried +out to their full extent; and our rule could not, probably, exist +under it. With regard to Oude, I can only say that the King pursues +the same course, and every day shows that he is unfit to reign. He +has not the slightest regard for the duties or responsibilities of +his high position; and the people, and even the members of his own +family, feel humiliated at his misconduct, and grow weary of his +reign. The greater part of these members have not received their +stipends for from two to three years, and they despair of ever +receiving them as long as he reigns. He is neither tyrannical nor +cruel, but altogether incapable of devoting any of his time or +attention to business of any kind, but spends the whole of his time +with women, eunuchs, fiddlers, and other parasites. Should he be set +aside, as he deserves to be, three courses are open: 1. To appoint a +regency during the minority of the heir-apparent, who is now about +eleven years of age, to govern with the advice of the Resident; 2. To +manage the country by European agency during the regency, or in +perpetuity, leaving the surplus revenue to the royal family; 3. To +confiscate and annex the country, and pension the royal family. The +first plan was prescribed by Lord Hardinge, in case of accident to +the King; the second is what was done at Nagpore, with so much +advantage, by Sir Richard Jenkins in 1817; the third is what the +absorbing school would advocate, but I should most deprecate. It +would be most profitable for us, in a pecuniary point of view, but +most injurious, I think, in a political one. It would tend to +accelerate the crisis which the doctrines of that school must, sooner +or later, bring upon us. Which course the Governor-General may prefer +I know not. + + Believe me, + My Dear Sir James, + Yours very faithfully + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart., + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 12th January, 1853. + +My Dear Sir, + +I shall send you by this mail a copy of my Diary under cover, +addressed, as you suggest, to Mr. Secretary Melvill. It is coarsely +bound, as I could find no good binder here. I printed eighteen +copies, and have sent one to Government, in Calcutta, for itself, and +one for the Court of Directors; one to the Governor-General, and one +each to the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman. I have also sent one to a +brother, and one to each of my five children. All to whom I have sent +it of my family have been enjoined to consider it as private and +confidential, and they will do so. Government may publish any portion +of it they please. A memorandum of errata has been added to the copy +to be sent to you. + +Over and above what you justly observe as to the cultivation and +population not being much diminished, and the State not having +incurred any public debt, I may mention the fact noticed, I believe, +somewhere in the Diary, that the landed aristocracy of the half of +Oude, reserved in 1801, has been better preserved than that of the +half made over to us. Had they not combined generally against the +Government, they would all have been crushed ere this, as ours have +been. This makes me mention a school of too much influence in India, +of whose doctrines I have a great abhorrence. They are best expounded +by the so-called "Friend of India," in the last number of which (6th +January, 1851) there is a rabid article on the subject worthy of your +perusal, and that of all men interested in the welfare of India and +the stability of our rule over it. It is in the true Machiavellian +spirit, which justifies, or would persuade the world to justify, +every means, however base, dishonest, and cruel, required to attain +any object which they have persuaded themselves to be desirable for +ourselves. This school is impatient at the existence of any native +principality in India, however related to or dependent upon us. Mr. +George Campbell is a disciple of this school, almost as rabid as the +"Friend of India," as you will see in the fourth chapter of his book +on "Modern India." If Mr. Marshman is to write the Indian articles +for the "Times," as reports give out, you will see these doctrines +advocated in that influential journal. The Court of Directors is the +only safeguard of India, and of our stability in it, against those +doctrine which, in my opinion, tend strongly to the injury of both; +and its power may be rendered too powerless to shun them. + + Believe me, + My Dear Sir, + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Colonel Sykes, +Director Hon. East India Company, +London. + +P.S.--I have felt much interested in the geology of Central and +Southern India; and if you have seen any satisfactory account of the +origin of the stratum which caps the basaltic plateau, shall feel +obliged if you will point it out to me. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th April, 1853. + +My Dear Sir, + +By the last mail I received from a friend in London two articles, +whose merits had been much canvassed at the clubs, one from the +London "Times," of the 9th February, and the other from the "Daily +News," a Manchester paper. The "Times" article must have been written +by Mr. J. Marshman, or one of the most rabid members of the school of +which he is the great organ, and whose chief characteristic is +impatience at the existence of any native territorial chief or great +landholder in India. The other article is a reply to it, and +generally supposed to have been written by Sir George Clerk. I feel +quite sure that it was written either by him or by Mr. T. C. +Robertson, who preceded him in the government of our North-West +Provinces. The article from the "Times" has been noticed in most of +the Indian papers--the "Friend of India," April 7th, 1853, and the +"Englishman," 15th April. But I have not seen that in the "Daily +News" noticed in any Indian papers, though admirably written. I +intended to send it to you, but have mislaid it. I think you can +advocate the cause it adopts more consistently, more powerfully, and +more wisely than any other editor now in India. I hope you will do +so; for I consider the doctrines of the "Times" disgraceful to our +morality, and dangerous to the stability of our rule. As I consider +the welfare of the people of India to depend upon the stability of +our rule, I am very anxious to see the fallacies of the atrocious +doctrines which endanger it ably exposed. In no publication are these +fallacies more obvious or more numerous than in Mr. George Campbell's +"Modern India," chapter fourth, with, perhaps, the exception of the +"Friend of India." With the "Friend," the theory of confiscation and +annexation has become a disease, and he cannot praise or even +tolerate any public officer or statesman who is not known to be a +convert to the doctrines of this school. + +I forget the date of the "Daily News" in which Sir George Clerk's +article appeared, but it was immediately after the article appeared +in the London "Times" of the 9th February. I hope you will give the +article a prominent place in your paper, for it really deserves to be +printed in letters of gold. Though I feel that the character of our +nation, and our safety in India, are compromised by the open avowal +of such atrocious doctrines in our leading journals, still the orders +against officers in political employ writing in the papers are so +strict, that I dare not attempt to expose the fallacies on which they +are based, or express the indignation which they excite in me, in any +public paper. To my superiors, and in the discharge of my public +duties, I shall never cease to express my abhorrence of such +doctrines, for I look upon them as worse than any that Machiavelli +ever wrote. + + Believe me, + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To G. Buist, Esq. + +P.S.--Of course, this note will be considered as confidential. + + (Signed) W. H. S. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th April, 1853. + +Dear Sir, + +An article in your paper of the 15th instant, on the subject of the +international law of India, has interested and pleased me much. It +has reference to an article in the London "Times" of the 9th February +last; and I write to invite your attention to an article which +appeared in the "Daily News," a Manchester paper, in reply to it, +written by Sir G. Clerk, lately Governor of Bombay. Both these +articles have been much discussed at the London clubs, and the +morality of the "Daily News" article has been very favourably +contrasted with that of the article in the "Times." The article in +the "Times" is supposed to have been penned by Mr. J. Marshman +himself, or by one of the most rabid members of the school whose +Machiavellian doctrine he advocates. + +These doctrines are considered by some of our wisest statesmen to be +as dangerous to the stability of our rule in India as they are +disgraceful to our morality; and as these statesmen consider the +well-being of the people of India to depend upon that stability, they +are always glad to see their fallacies exposed and their iniquities +indignantly denounced by the moat able and steady of our public +journalists. I hope you will be able to find the able article in the +"Daily News" to which I refer, and consent to give it a prominent +place in the "Englishman." It was sent to me by a friend in London, +but I have, unfortunately, mislaid it. This note will, of course, be +considered as confidential. + + Yours sincerely, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To W. C. Harry, Esq. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 5th June, 1853. + +My Lord, + +I have read with great interest in the English journals your +Lordship's able Minute on the Burmese war, and am glad that it has +been published, as it cannot fail to disabuse the public mind at +home, and bring about a reaction in the feeling of the people excited +by some very unfair articles in the London "Times." I attributed +these articles to the Napiers, who, however talented, are almost +always wrong-headed. + +I am persuaded that the new Sovereign will acquiesce in your +possession of Pegu, and that he would not have ceded it by treaty +under any circumstances. The old Sovereign might have done it, though +at great risk, but the new Sovereign could not dare to do it. + +Our own history affords us instances enough of powerful ministers +anxious, for the public good, to get rid of conquered, but expensive +and useless possessions, but deterred from proposing the measure by +the dread of popular odium, which ambitious and factious rivals are +always ready to excite. + +There is one argument against the advance which I do not think that +your Lordship has urged with the force of the rest. While the new +Sovereign remains undisturbed in the rest of his dominions he will +maintain his authority over them, and do his best to prevent our new +frontier from being disturbed, knowing that we can advance to his +capital and punish him if he does not. But, were he to be driven from +his capital, all the rest of his dominions would soon fall into a +state of anarchy, and our frontiers would soon be disturbed by +leaders of disorderly bands, anxious to carve out principalities for +themselves, and having no other means than plunder to maintain their +followers. For the acts of such men we could hold no one responsible, +after we had driven their Sovereign from his capital to the hills and +jungles; and half a century might elapse before order could be +restored. In the mean time, wealth would be growing up within our +border to invite their aggression, while they would become poorer and +poorer from disorders, and more and more anxious to seize upon it. + +With regard to an advance upon Amarapoora, it will not be difficult +after the rains, if circumstances render it necessary. The Madras +cattle are much better for hard work and all climates than those of +Bengal, and sufficient could be collected for the occasion by sea. +Your Lordship's reasons for not trusting to steamers alone are +unanswerable, and it seems impossible for a land and river force to +act jointly. In this, we almost realize the contest between the winds +and the moschettoes before the court of the genii in the Arabian +tale: when the winds appeared, the moschettoes could not, and when +they appeared, the winds could not. For the prestige of our own name +in the rest of India, to advance to the capital and then give the +rest of the country to the Sovereign might, perhaps, be the best; but +for the security of our new acquisition, and that of the people of +the rest of Burmah, it would certainly be better to stay where we +are. The benefits of our rule might, by degrees, be imparted to that +of the rest of Burmah. The Government would be obliged to treat their +people better than they have done in order to keep them. + +Here everything still is what I have described it to be so often; +that is, as bad as it can be. The King is the same, and the officers +and favourites whom he employs are the same. I shall not write public +reports on the state of affairs till I learn that your Lordship +wishes it, which will be, I conclude, when you have carried out your +arrangements in Burmah. + +The terrible war of races in China, to which I have been looking +forward for some years, seems to be coming slowly on. I wrote to Sir +H. M. Elliot about it some two or three years ago, and recommended +him to write a better life than we have of Jungez Khan, in order to +show what the Tartars now really are. When he led his swarms of them +over China, Central Asia, and a great part of Europe, they worshipped +the god of war; they now worship the god of peace: but there are +millions of Lamas in Tartary who would change their crosiers for the +sword at the call of a kindred genius, and are now impatient to do +so, and prophesying his advent, just at the time that the rebels +threaten the capital of China and the extinction of the Tartar +dynasty. That dynasty will throw itself upon Tartary, and a new one +will be raised by the successful leader. + + Your Lordship's faithful and obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., +Governor-General. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th June, 1853. + +Dear Sir, + +Your letter of the 20th instant perplexes me a good deal. I have no +place in my own office to offer you, and I never recommended any one +for employment to the King. You cannot, according to rules laid down +for our guidance, act as an advocate in any case before the Resident +or his assistants. All landholders in Oude, except the few whose +estates are included in what is called the Hozoor Tuhseel, transact +their business through the Amils, Chuckladars, and Nazims of +districts, and have nothing to do directly with the Durbar at +Lucknow. Having nothing to do with their affairs, I cannot have +anything to say with the employment by them of wakeels, or advocates. +They, the landholders, generally employ native wakeels, who are +willing to bear a good deal of ill-treatment on the part of Durbar +officials for the sake of very small salaries. Your situation as a +wakeel on their part would be ill remunerated and exceedingly +humiliating. + +If the son of Ghalib Jung has offered to introduce you to the +minister, and to assist in getting employment for you at Lucknow, he +must, I think, do so in the hope of being able to make use of you in +some intrigue; for those only who can aid in such intrigues are +fostered and paid at Lucknow. Honest men can get nothing, and find no +employment about the Court. If you secure employment about the Court, +I cannot hold any communication with you. I should compromise myself +by doing so. In your situation, I would rather be a section writer in +Calcutta, or at Agra, than hold any employment in the Oude Durbar +that you can get by honest means. One of the tasks imposed on you +would be, I conclude, to praise bad persons and things, and abuse +good, in the newspapers. This, of course, you would not do, and you +would be punished accordingly. I strongly advise you to have nothing +to do with Oude at present. + + Yours very truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To G. Norton, Esq., +Azimgurh. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 11th August, 1853. +My Dear Sir, + +Your brother, the late Lieut.-Colonel Ouseley, was a valued friend of +mine. Before his appointment as Governor-General's Agent of the +south-eastern frontier districts, he had for many years held the +civil charge of different districts in the Sangor and Nerbudda +territories. I had for many years the civil charge of districts +bordering on those under his charge, and abundant opportunity of +seeing how much he had made himself beloved, and the character of his +Government respected, by the manner in which he conducted the duties +confided to him. + +When I became Commissioner over those territories in 1844, I passed +through the districts which had so long been under his charge, and I +can honestly say that I have never known a man who had made himself +more beloved and revered by the people. Thousands of happy families +were proud to acknowledge that they owed all their happiness to the +careful and liberal revision of the settlement of the land-revenue +made by him, in which he had provided for the interests of the higher +and middle classes connected with the land, while he secured the +rights of the humblest. + +I visited at the same time the districts of those territories which +bordered upon his then charge of the south-east frontier, and +communed with many people from that quarter. They all spoke of him as +beloved and respected by all classes as much in his then charge as he +had been in his old one. In a country where it is the duty of every +Englishman to make the character of his Government and his nation +respected and beloved, one cannot but feel proud to hear a countryman +and fellow-labourer spoken of by tens of thousands of respectable, +contented, and happy people as your brother was and still is. I know +no part of India where the people of all classes and all grades are +so attached to our character and our Government as that of the Saugor +and Nerbudda territories, and I believe that no man did more to +establish that fine feeling than your brother. + +Your brother's temper was warm, and he was not always happy in +putting his thoughts and feelings to paper. Hence arose occasional +misunderstandings with his official superiors. But while those +superiors were men who could understand and appreciate his noble +nature, such occasional misunderstandings never led to serious +consequences. In the bitterness of his anguish, after his removal +from the south-east frontier, he wrote to me; and it was most painful +to me to feel that I was not in a position, or in circumstances, to +advocate his cause, and describe the value of such a man as the +representative of the Government and the national character among a +wild and half-civilized people like those over whom he had been +placed. I think it was on the representation of the late Mr. +Launcelot Wilkinson, one of the most able and estimable members of +the India Civil Service, that he was sent to the south-east frontier. +He had seen his value in the Saugor and Nerbudda districts while he +was political agent at Bhopaul, which bordered on the districts under +your brother's charge. + +It has been to me a source of much regret that I have not had it in +my power to aid his son in getting employment in India. + + Believe me, + Yours very truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Major Ouseley, + &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 14th September, 1853. + +Dear Sir, + +The King of Oude will certainly not assist you to get up a newspaper +at Lucknow; and you will certainly be disappointed if you come in +expectation of such assistance from him. If you can get into his +service in any other capacity, I am not aware of any objections to +it, but as I have already told you and many others, I cannot +recommend any one for employment under him. The humiliations to which +honest and respectable Christians have to submit in his service, from +the jealousies of influential persons about the Durbar, are such as +few can or ought to submit to; and I certainly would not advise any +one to enter such a service. Under whatever pledge or whatever +influence they might enter it, their tenure of office and their pay +would be altogether precarious, and the Resident would be unable to +assist them in retaining the one or recovering the other. + + Yours faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To G. Norton, Esq. + +P.S.--The King of Oude and his family are in no danger from the +British Government, on whose good faith they repose. I only wish that +his honest and industrious subjects were as safe from the officers +whom he employs in all branches of the administration, and from whom +they are nowhere safe I fear. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 27th September, 1853. + +My Dear James, + +Under the circumstances you mention, I see but one course open to +you; and that is, to recommend to the Government of Bombay to do as +Lord William Bentinck did in the Bengal Presidency under similar +circumstances, appoint a special Commissioner for the trial of +offenders under Acts XX.[_sic_] of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843; or for +the revision of trials under these Acts, conducted by Sessions' +Judges. + +The first would be the best if feasible; but the second would do, +since the Sessions' Judges seem now to be disposed to give their aid +to Government in putting down the evil, and the Sudder Judges do not. +Formerly, I believe, the Sudder Judges were so disposed, and the +Sessions Judges not. In my reply to the Government of Bombay, you +will see reference made to Lord William's appointment of Mr. +Stockwell as special Commissioner. He was at the time Commissioner of +the Allahabad division, and the work was imposed upon him in addition +to his other duties. + +If the Bombay Government does not think it has authority to appoint +such a special Commission, they may apply to the Legislative Council +to pass an Act authorising the Government of every Presidency to +appoint such a Commission when circumstances may render it necessary. + +This will be better and safer than to frame and enforce new rules of +evidence for the guidance of existing Judicial Courts. The one would +be for a special emergency, and temporary; and Government would not +be very averse to it; but the other they certainly would not venture +upon, particularly at this time. A great fuss would be made about it +here and at home; and lawyers are too influential in both places. + +You can show that there is no alternative--that this system of crime +must be left to prosper in the Bombay Presidency, where alone it now +prevails, or such a Commission must be appointed; and as the Acts and +the machinery for giving effect to them have succeeded in putting it +down in all the rest, it would be hard to leave the people of Bombay +exposed to all the evils arising from the want of such a special +Commission. Such Commissions have been adopted to relieve the people +from the hardships of the resumption laws, which affected but a small +portion of the community; and you hope it would not be considered +unreasonable in you to propose one for the relief of the whole +community; for the life and property of no family will be safe an +hour, if these classes of offenders by hereditary profession are +assured that they may carry on their trade with impunity, as they +must be if your agency be withdrawn, and all the prisoners be +released. + +If you make a forcible representation to the Bombay Government in +this strong case, they will adopt the measure if they have the power, +or ask the power from the supreme Government; and I think the supreme +Government will give it. I would say a special Commission for the +trial of commitments under XXX. of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843, or a +special Commission for the revision of trials under these Acts, as +may seem best to Government; but you can say that you think the first +would answer the purpose best in the Bombay Presidency. You may offer +to run down to Bombay and submit your views to the Government in +Council if required. They would not think it necessary, but would be +pleased with the offer. Where men are committed on the general +charge, it has always been thought necessary to show that the gang +committed a murder or a robbery, though it is not so to show what +part the prisoners took in them. If your assistant has not done this, +he has failed in a material point. He should be very cautious in +dealing with whole classes. The fault of our Bombay assistants has +always been a disposition to make offenders of whole classes, when +only some of the members are so. + +You must make your best of the present case--show the necessity of +the remedy clearly, and urge it respectfully without pretending to +find fault with the Judges; merely say that their interpretation of +the laws of evidence laid down for their guidance, however +conscientious, forms an insurmountable obstacle to the conviction of +offenders by hereditary profession, whose system has been founded +upon the experience of their ancestors in the most successful modes +of defeating these laws, and the technicalities of ordinary Judicial +Courts. This is, I think, all that I can say on the subject at +present. The Moncktons leave us this evening, and Amelie intends to +set out for the hills on the 6th proximo. + + Yours affectionately, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain J. Sleeman. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 28th September, 1853. +My Dear James, + +On further consideration, I think that you should say nothing about +the second proposal of a special Commissioner to revise the trials of +offenders tried by Sessions Judges. You should suggest the first +proposal of a special Commissioner to try all prisoners committed for +trial under Acts XXX. of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843, and perhaps also +XI. of 1841. See my Printed Report, page 357. + +You may mention that such Commissioner should be required to submit +his sentences for the consideration and final orders of Government, +as all political officers did till March, 1835; or merely for the +information of Government, as political officers did after that time. + +On the 23rd of March, 1835, the Secretary to the Government of India +forwarded to the Resident of Lucknow, for his guidance, the copy of a +letter addressed on that date to the Agent of the Governor-General in +the Saugor and Nerbudda territories, requesting that he would carry +into execution his sentences on Thugs, and not make any reference to +Government for confirmation, but merely submit to Government abstract +statements of sentences; but desiring that the sanction of the King +of Oude should be required before any capital sentence was carried +into effect. No capital sentence was from that time passed. As all +prisoners will be tried on the general charge, no capital sentence +will ever be passed by the special Commissioner, and the Bombay +Government may be disposed to give him the same orders. But the +Governor in Council at Bombay will be the best judge of that. + +Lord Falkland may possibly be deterred by apprehensions that late +events may have altered the tone of feeling at home towards him; but +I am persuaded that he would be glad to carry this measure into +effect. I will send you a copy of the Government letter to the +Resident here; and you may get from the agent's office a copy of that +sent on the same date to him, though you may not readily find that +office under the new arrangements. You will, I think, have a strong +case, and I wish you success in it. + + Yours affectionately, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Jas. Sleeman. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 4th November, 1853. + +My Dear Malcolm, + +I should recommend for the Baee a money stipend for life of five +thousand rupees a-month, with the understanding that if she adopted a +child she would have to provide for him out of her savings from this +stipend, and out of her private property. All the Rajah's private +property, save what he may will away to others, will of course be +left to her, to be disposed of as she may think fit. But this stipend +should be independent of those to be continued to the stipendiaries +of the Rajah. There are several who have nothing else to depend on +but the stipends which they now receive from the Rajah; and it must +be borne in mind that they have no longer Bajee Rao, Benaek Rao, the +Jhansi and Saugor chief, to go to. This will be the last of the +Brahmin dynasties founded in that part of the world by the Peshwas. +Our Government should therefore be liberal in taking possession of +the estate as an escheat. + +The Mahratta language in accounts should at once be done away with; +but out of the revenues of the estate, Government should found a good +school for English and Hindoo, and Persian; and, above all, for a +very good hospital and dispensary, under well educated and tried +surgeons, native and European, capable of throwing out branches. + +All the public officers of the Rajah should have stipends or +employment, or both, in proportion to their period of service and +respectability. If they take employment the stipends should be +deducted from their salaries while in office, as in our own service. + +In the case of the Baee Regent at Saugor, we continued a small part +of her pension to her adopted son,--one thousand rupees a-month,--to +enable him to provide for her non-pensioned dependents. We took the +management long before her death, and left her only a private lady, +with a large pension of, I think, eight thousand rupees a-month; +besides pensions--too large--to the family of her manager, Benaek +Rao: this will be unnecessary at Jhansi. All the large hereditary +landholders of the Jhansi estate should have liberal settlements at +fixed rates. They are all from the landed aristocracy of Bundelcund, +and should be treated with consideration. The first settlement of the +land revenue should be very moderate. The lands will lose the most +valuable market for their produce in the breaking up of the Court and +establishment of the Rajah at the capital, and yield less money, &c., +than before. This must be borne in mind. + +You may freely use these my views as you think best on the Jhansi +question. + +As to the management, I should make as little changes possible, till +the final orders arrive from the Court of Directors, that you may +have nothing to undo of what you have done. I would leave the +management to Ellis, under your supervision, and interfere only on +references in special cases, except, of course, on emergency. I know +not what the system is to be, or what system the Governor-General has +recommended, except that there is to be one head, as in Rajpootana; +and that all correspondence with Government is to go through that +head, In this state of the matter I know not what to suggest or say. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Major Malcolm, + &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 11th November, 1853. +My Lord, + +I feel grateful for your Lordship's letter of the 27th ult., but +cannot say that I have any hope of discovering the instruments +employed, or the employer, in the late affair. The whole power of the +Government is in the hands of men who are deeply interested in +concealing the truth, and making it appear that no attempt was really +made. The minister has, by his intrigues, put himself so much in the +power of the knave whom I suspect, that he dares not do anything to +offend him. The man could at once ruin him by his exposures if he +chose, and he would do so if he found it necessary for his own +security. The man is biding his time, as he has often done with +former ministers; and the time would have come ere this had not the +King, to save himself, married one of the minister's pretty +daughters. + +The King's chief consort; was the niece of the minister, and her son +is the heir-apparent; so that it was her interest, and that of her +uncle, the minister, to get rid of the King as soon as possible. She +is a profligate woman, and the King's mother is supposed to have +given him a hint of his danger. He took a liking to one of the +daughters, and married her, in order to make it the minister's +interest to keep him alive as long as possible. He now contrives to +make the King believe that neither his life nor reign can be in any +danger as long as he is in his present position. + +The night after this affair took place, a sipahee of the 35th Native +Infantry, standing sentry at one end of the house, fell asleep while +he was leaning with his right wrist on the muzzle of his musket. The +musket went off; the ball passed through his wrist, grazed a large +beam above him, struck against a stone in the roof of the portico, +and fell down flattened by the side of the sentry, as he lay +insensible and bleeding on the ground below. The wrist was +sahttered,[_sic_] and several of the arteries cut through. He bled +profusely, and when taken up he talked incoherently, declaring that +some man had fired at him from behind the railing, twenty paces off. +I have seen similar cases of incoherency, arising from a similar +cause. As soon as day appeared the ball was found, and its marks on +the beam and stone above showed the real state of the case. His right +knee was probably leaning on the lock of the musket when he fell +asleep. I have made no public or official report of this circumstance +to Government. + +I have now before me a curious instance of the difficulty of getting +at the truth when it is the interest of the minister and others about +this Court to prevent it. A wanton attack was made in April last by +about one hundred armed men, led by one of the King's collectors, on +a native British subject coming from Cawnpore to visit a brother in +Oude. The man himself received a wound, from which he some days +afterwards died at Cawnpore; two of his attendants were killed, and +twenty thousand rupees were taken from him. I have investigated the +case myself, with the aid of my assistant, Captain Hayes, and with +the attendance of an assessor on the part of the King. The case is a +very clear one, but they have produced about thirty witnesses to +swear that no man of the poor merchant's party was hurt; and that, +instead of being attacked, he invaded the Oude territory with more +than one hundred armed followers, and wantonly attacked the King's +party of only fifteen unoffending men, while engaged in the discharge +of their duty in collecting the revenue. I have translated the +depositions with the prospect of having ultimately to submit the case +to Government, unless the King consents to punish the offenders and +afford redress. The assessor, an old man, bewildered by the +conflicting testimony, and anxious to escape from all responsibility, +slept soundly through the greater part of the inquiry, which has been +a very tedious one. + + I remain, your Lordship's + Most obedient and humble servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +the Governor-General of India. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 28th December, 1853. + +My Dear Mr. Colvin, + +I was glad to see your handwriting again, and to find that time had +made so little alteration in it. Oude affairs are, as you suppose, +much as they used to be, save that the King is now persuaded by his +minister and favourite that, had his predecessors had men and women +about them so wise as they are, they never would have acted as if +they believed that the Government of India ever really intended to +carry into effect the penalty of misgovernment, so often threatened. +Our Government has cried "wolf" so often that no one now listens to +it. The King is an utter imbecile, from over-indulgences of all +kinds; and the knaves whom he employs in his administration contrive +to persuade him that the preservation of his life and throne depends +entirely upon their vigilance and his doing nothing. Had I come here +when the treasury was full, and Naseer-od Doon Hyder was anxious to +spend his money in the manner best calculated to do good and please +our Government, I might have covered Oude with useful public works, +and much do I regret that I came here to throw away some of the best +years of my life among such a set of knaves and fools as I have to +deal with. + +I think you will do much good in your present charge in the subject +to which you refer. In the matter of discourtesy to the native +gentry, I can only say that Robert Martin Bird insulted them whenever +he had the opportunity of doing so; and that Mr. Thomason was too apt +to imitate him in this as in other things. Of course their example +was followed by too many of their followers and admirers; but, like +you, I have been delighted to see a great many of the elder members +of the civil service, in spite of these bad examples, treat the +native gentry with all possible courtesy, and show them that they had +their sympathy as long as they deserved it by their conduct. + +It has always struck me that Mr. Thomason, in his system, did all he +could to discourage the growth of a middle and upper class upon the +land--the only kind of property on which a good upper and middle +class could be sustained in the present state of society in India. +His village republics and the Ryutwar system of Sir Thomas Munro had +precisely the same tendency to subdivide minutely property in land, +and reduce all landholders to the common level of impoverishment. The +only difference was that the impoverished tenants in the North- +Western Provinces were supposed to manage their own affairs, while +those at Madras had them managed by a very mischievous class of +native public officers. He (Mr. Thomason) would have forced his +village republics upon any new country or jungle that came under his +charge, and thereby rendered improvement impossible. I would have +introduced into all such new countries a system of paternal +government in imitation of our Government of India itself, which +would have rendered improvement certain, and the growth of a middle +and higher class no less so. He would have put the whole under our +judicial courts, and thereby have created a middle class of +pettifogging attorneys to swallow up all the surplus produce of the +land. I would have kept the whole of the land in the hands of our +fiscal courts, by making it all leasehold property, and maintaining +the law of primogeniture in all estates of villages. Mr. Thomason, I +am told, systematically set aside all the landed aristocracy of the +country as a set of middlemen, superfluous and mischievous. + +The only part of our India in which I have seen a middle and higher +class maintained upon the land is the moderately-settled districts of +the Saugor and Nerbudda territories; and there is no part of India +where our Government and character are so much beloved and respected. +You have sent Mr. Read to that part; and if he be bigoted to Mr. +Thomason's system, he will upset all this, and, in my opinion, lay +the foundation of much evil. We found a system of paternal government +in every village, and maintained and improved it. They were all +little principalities; and by the printed rules of the Sudder Board +of Revenue, which are very good, all the sub-tenants were effectually +secured in their rights. + +In making a tour through Oude in the end of 1849 and beginning of +1850 I had a good deal of talk with the people. Many of them had +sojourned in our territories in seasons of disturbance. The general +impression was that they would be glad to see the country taken under +British management, provided we could dispense with our tedious +procedure in civil cases. They all had a very unfavourable impression +of our civil courts, and of the cost and delay of the procedure. +Mills and Harrington, to whom the duty, which was to have devolved on +you, has been confided, may do much good, and I hope will, for there +really is nothing in our system which calls so much for remedy. I am +persuaded that, if it were to be put to the vote among the people of +Oude, ninety-nine in a hundred would rather remain as they are, +without any feeling of security in life or property, than have our +system introduced in its present complicated state; but that ninety- +nine in a hundred would rather have our Government than live as they +do, if a more simple system, which they could understand, were +promised at the same time. + +In 1801, when the Oude territory was divided, and half taken by us +and half left to Oude, the landed aristocracy of each were about +equal. Now hardly a family of this class remains in our half, while +in Oude it remains unimpaired. Everybody in Oude believes those +families to have been systematically crushed. If by-and-by we can get +the people to take an interest in our railroads, and outlays upon +other great public works, it will tend to create the middle class +upon which I set so much value, and to give that feeling of interest +in the stability of our rule which we so much require. We shall then +have objects of common interest to talk and think about, and become +more united with them in feeling. + +Maddock is in Ceylon, but intends to return by the steamer which is +to leave Calcutta on the 5th proximo. His speculations there have +been failures. Had he looked after his estates there instead of +joining the effete party of the Derbyites he might have done well. He +has made great mistakes, and he now suffers for them. His support of +Lord Torrington was his first. + + Believe me, + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Mr. Colvin. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 5th March, 1854. +My Dear Low, + +I have to-day written to Government a letter, which you will of +course see, on the subject of a proposal made to me by Mr. B. +Government will, I have no doubt, consider the reason assigned by me +for refusing to permit him to send an European agent to Lucknow, +ostensibly to collect debts, sufficient; but whether it will consent +to adopt my suggestion, and empower the Resident to assure the King +that it will not again consent to permit Mr. B. to return and reside +at Lucknow, after he has been twice expelled for his misdeeds, I know +not. One thing is certain, that his residence at Cawnpore, under the +assurance from the minister that he shall come back and be made +wealthy if he can aid in getting rid of the Resident, is very +mischievous. + +B., Wasee Allee, and the Minister, succeeded in persuading the King +that Shurfod Dowla, and all the most respectable members of the +Lucknow aristocracy, had signed a memorial to the Government of +India, praying that it would set aside the present King as an +incompetent fool, and put Mostafa Alee on the throne in his place. +All this was reported by me to Government on the 2nd of March, 1853. + +The seals were all forged or filched here at Lucknow, but the papers +were written in Calcutta, under the agency, I believe, of Synd Jan, +Sir H. E.'s moonshee, from Bilgram, where his family have long +enjoyed an estate rent-free, for the aid he has given to the minister +in his intrigues. I have never been able to remove this delusion from +the mind of the imbecile King; and it is the "_raw_" on which these +knaves have been ever since acting; for it enables the minister to +persuade him that his vigilance-alone preserves his life and crown. + +The minister is aware that I know all this, and may some day be able +to show the King how he has been deluded and befooled by him; and he +would give all he is worth to get rid of me in any way. He would give +any sums to B. and his other agents to bribe editors to write against +me; but the only editors who have yielded have been those of the +"Mofussilite," before Mr. C. took the management. Mr. B. complains at +Cawnpore, that he gave Mr. L. a large sum to do his dirty work at +home; but that he did nothing for it. This is not unlikely. That the +minister and Wasee Alee got up the attempt at the Residency, either +to make away with me, or to alarm me into going away, I am persuaded; +but to get judicial proof of it I shall not attempt. It would be vain +here, where the minister has all the revenues of the State to work +with. + +All the native gentlemen whose seals were forged to this document, +look to me for protection; and they have been ever since in a state +of great alarm. It was to keep up this alarm that they tried to turn +Shurfod Dowla out of Oude. I had rarely seen him before that time; +and I have only seen him once since he went to the cantonments; and +then only for five minutes during my walk in the garden, to talk +about Mulki Jahan's affairs. They punish any one who ventures to +approach the King; and they would ruin any one who ventured to +approach the Resident if they could, lest he might open the eyes of +the King to the iniquities they commit. The troops are starved, and +almost all the old members of the royal family, who had no Government +paper or guarantees, have been already starved or driven out. Oude +has never before been afflicted by a Sovereign so utterly imbecile +and regardless of his duties and the sufferings of his people; nor +has there ever been a minister so utterly regardless of his own +reputation and that of his master. He bribes with money, power, and +patronage, every one who has access to the King, to sound his praise +in prose or verse; and the King is persuaded that his life and throne +depend upon his abstaining altogether, from interfering in the +conduct of affairs. + +When I was in the Governor-Generals camp at Futtehgur, M. H., the son +of S. A. K., came there armed, I knew, with four lacs of rupees. He +was an old acquaintance of E.'s, and he (E.) told me that he had +asked for an interview, and asked me whether he ought to consent to +see him. I told him that, if he did see him, he must make up his mind +to the man's persuading the King that he had given him the greater +part of the money, though the man himself kept all that he did not +give to his moonshee. He refused to see the man; but he has ever +since been with Mr. L. at Allahabad, intriguing with his people to +chouse men out of their ancient possessions; or with the Oude people, +to keep up the _raw_ they have established on the King's mind. The +King, by over-indulgence, has reduced his intellect below the +standard of that of a boy of five years of age. It is painful to talk +to a man with a mind so utterly emasculated. + +Our Government would be fully authorized at any time to enforce the +penalty prescribed in your treaty of 1837, and it incurs great odium +and obloquy for not enforcing it. But Lord D. has, no doubt, solid +reasons for not taking such responsibility upon himself at this time. +I do all I can to save the people, and the people are sensible of +what I do, and grateful for it; for the Resident is the only person +they can look up to with any hope. If Government can comply with my +wish to have the King assured that it will not permit Mr. B. to +return and reside at Lucknow again, it will be of great use to me and +to the people, for the hopes held out to him are like a premium +offered for my head, or for my ruin; and one never feels very +comfortable under such offers, at any time or in any country. The +reckless lies which this man gets adventurers at Cawnpore to write +for him, and careless or corrupt editors to publish, are apt to +stagger those who do not know the vile character of the individual, +or the true nature of the facts referred to. + +I am glad you saw W. He is a man of high character and first-rate +ability, and has abundance of sagacity and energy. I miss him very +much. He will be a credit to his regiment if engaged on active +service. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Colonel Low, C.B. + +P.S.--I shall say nothing in this of your domestic bereavement, +though I have felt much for you. + + W. H. S. + +In my public letter, I have referred to that of the Marquess of W. to +L., when he was Resident. Do refer to it Page 388, Vol. 1., +"Despatches." + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 1st June, 1854. + +My Dear Low, + +In my letter of the 10th of November, 1853, I solicited permission to +retain Weston with me for reasons stated therein. In reply, I was +told, in Mr. Dalrymple's letter of the 2nd of December, "that the +Governor-General in Council had every wish to consult my views, but, +for the present at least, his Lordship in Council thinks that +Lieutenant Weston must in fairness be required to join his regiment, +like other officers." + +I am so very anxious to have his services again in the office he +filled, that I have to-day ventured, in a public letter to the +Foreign Secretary, to request that he will submit my wishes to the +Governor-General in Council, should they deem the state of affairs in +Burmah at present to be such as to admit of his being withdrawn from +his regiment I have said, in my public letter, that should any +exigency arise he could, of course, quickly join his regiment on +service again. + +If you can give me any assistance in obtaining his services, I shall +feel very much indebted to you, for I have that confidence in his +abilities and high-mindedness which I cannot feel in those of his +_locum tenens_; and I am very anxious to keep things in good train +here till the end of the cold weather, when I must go on leave to +recruit. I am really in a very difficult position here, not with +regard to the King, for he has, I believe, entire confidence in me; +but he has become so entangled with his minister, that he is afraid +of him; and the minister would give all he has (and he has all the +revenues of the country) to get me out of the way. + +I carried the Government orders regarding Shurfod Dowla into effect, +and he is now, with his family, quiet and safe. The King behaved very +well, and resisted all the attempts of the minister to persuade him +to remonstrate. I am to-day to submit Shurfod Dowla's letter of +grateful thanks to Government. I hope Government will not write to +him in reply, as this might mortify and vex the King, since he is not +written to by the Governor-General. + +I think I told you of the _raw_ the minister, Wasee Alee and Co., had +established on the King's mind--the belief that a party of the +members of the royal family and native gentlemen at Lucknow had been +trying to persuade Government to set him aside, and put his reputed +brother, Mostafa Alee, on the throne. Whenever they want to make the +King angry with any one, they tell him that he is a leader in this +cabal. But the King is, by degrees, growing out of this folly. There +never was on the throne, I believe, a man more inoffensive at heart +than he is; and he is quite sensible of my anxious desire to advise +him rightly, and see justice done in all cases. But I am a sad +stumbling-block to the minister and the other bad and incompetent +officers employed in the administration. + +If you wish it, I will be more circumstantial about Weston's _locum +tenens_, Lieut. B., of the 1st Cavalry. For his own repute, and that +of the Government, I think the less he has to do with the political +department the better. He would be better in a military staff +appointment than a political one. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Colonel Low, C.B. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 11th September, 1854. + +My Lord, + +The post which this morning brought me your Lordship's letter of the +6th instant brought me also one from Bombay, which I enclose for your +Lordship's perusal. Should you think it worth while, Colonel Outram +will be able to sift the matter to which it refers. I have long been +aware of the intrigue, and have taken care to let the King know that +I am so; but as I knew, at the same time, that the object was merely +to get money out of him, and to strengthen his confidence in his +minister, which had begun to give way, I did not think it necessary +to trouble your Lordship with any reference on the subject. I knew +that letters had been forged as from the King of Persia to the King +of Oude, proposing to divide Hindoostan between them, and I thought +it to be my duty to tell him so, in order to warn him; but, as he +denied ever having received such letters, I told him that I should +take the word of a King, and say no more about it. He is certainly +not of sound mind, and things must, ere long, come to a crisis. His +mind may have been of an average kind when he was young, but it has +long become emasculated by over-indulgence; and the minister and his +minions can make him believe or do what they please. They know that +it cannot last long, and they have agents in Bombay and Calcutta to +assist them in fleecing the King of money on all manner of false +pretences. + +The minister, a consummate knave, and one of the most incompetent men +of business that I have ever known, has all the revenues and +patronage of the country to distribute among those who have access to +the King exclusively--they are poets, fiddlers, eunuchs, and +profligate women; and every one of them holds, directly or +indirectly, some court or other, fiscal, criminal, or civil, through +which to fleece the people. Anything so detestable as the Government +I have nowhere witnessed, and a man less competent to govern them +than the King I have never known. + +Had your Lordship left the choice of a successor to me, I should have +pointed out Colonel Outram; and I feel very much rejoiced that he has +been selected for the office, and I hope he will come as soon as +possible. There are many honest men at Lucknow, and a finer peasantry +no country can boast. But no honest man can obtain or retain office +under Government with the present minister and heads of departments. + +But where the whole revenues of a fine country are available to +suborn witnesses to prove the King to be a _Solomon_, no Resident +would be able to find judicial proof of his being a fool; but that he +is so I have had abundance of, to me, satisfactory evidence ever +since I have been here. It must soon, however, become clear, without +the Resident's efforts to make it so. Where the Government of India +is so solemnly pledged to see justice done to the people of a +country, it cannot fairly permit them to be reigned over much longer +by so incompetent a Sovereign. Proofs enough of bad government and +neglected duties were given in my Diary; and a picture more true was, +I believe, never drawn of any country. The duty of remedying the +evils, and carrying out your Lordship's views in Oude, whatever they +may be, must now devolve on another. + +No one of my present assistants knows anything whatever about Oude, +its Government, or its people; and Colonel Outram will, therefore, +labour under great disadvantages. I hope, therefore, that your +Lordship will pardon the liberty I take in suggesting that he be +allowed the aid of Captain Weston. He went over the whole of Oude +with me, and knows almost all who have made themselves prominent for +good or for evil within the last five years. I know that, as soon as +I go, some of the most atrocious villains whom I have kept out of +office will try to purchase their way back; and there is no man too +bad for the minister, provided he pays for his restoration.--The +murderer of the banker, mentioned in my Diary, vol. i., p. 131, and +the murderer of thousands mentioned in the same volume. Captain +Weston is high minded, sagacious, energetic, hard-working, +conciliatory and, to Colonel Outram, his services in the new charge +would be invaluable. + + I have the honour to remain, + Your Lordship's faithful and obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T. +Governor-General. + + + + + + + THE END. + + + + LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, +Volumes I & II, by William Sleeman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KINGDOM OF OUDE *** + +***** This file should be named 16997-8.txt or 16997-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/9/16997/ + +Produced by Philip Hitchcock + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II + +Author: William Sleeman + +Release Date: November 4, 2005 [EBook #16997] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KINGDOM OF OUDE *** + + + + +Produced by Philip Hitchcock + + + + + +</pre> + +<a name="Vol1" id="Vol1"></a> +<h3>A</h3> +<h1>JOURNEY</h1> +<h3>THROUGH THE</h3> +<h1>KINGDOM OF OUDE,</h1> +<h3>IN 1849—1850;</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h3>BY DIRECTION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE,<br> +GOVERNOR-GENERAL.</h3> +<h3>WITH PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ANNEXATION<br> +OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA, &c.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.</h3> +<h3>Resident at the Court of Lucknow</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h3><i>IN TWO VOLUMES.</i></h3> +<h3>VOL. I.</h3> +<br> +<a href="#Vol2"><small>VOL. II.</small></a><br> +<h3>LONDON:</h3> +<h3>RICHARD BENTLEY,</h3> +<br> +<h5>Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.</h5> +<br> +<h5>1858.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote> +<p>[Transcriber's note: The author's spelling of the names of +places and people vary considerably, even within a single +paragraph. The spelling of place names in the text varies from that +shown on the map. The author's spelling is reproduced as in the +printed text.]</p> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<br> +<br> +<p>My object in writing this DIARY OF A TOUR THROUGH OUDE was to +prepare, for submission to the Government of India, as fair and +full a picture of the real state of the country, condition, and +feeling of the people of all classes, and character of the +Government under which they at present live, as the opportunities +which the tour afforded me might enable me to draw.</p> +<p>The DIARY must, for the present, be considered as an official +document, which may be perused, but cannot be published, wholly or +in part, without the sanction of Government previously +obtained.*</p> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 1852. </p> +<p>* This permission was accorded by the Honourable Court of +Directors in December last.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[Transcriber's note: <i>Rambles and Recollections of an Indian +Official</i> by W. H. Sleeman 2nd Ed. 1915, p.xxxvi notes that the +date of the permission was not December 1851, but December +1852.]</p> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</h2> +<br> +<a href="#Bio">Biographical Sketch of Major-General Sir W. H. +Sleeman, K.C.B.</a><br> +<a href="#intro">Introduction</a><br> +<a href="#Private1">Private correspondence preceding the Journey +through the Kingdom of Oude</a><br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<a href="#Chap1">CHAPTER I.</a><br> +<p>Departure from Lucknow—Gholam Hazrut—Attack on the +late Prime Minister, Ameen-od-Dowla—A similar attack on the +sons of a former Prime Minister, Agar Meer—Gunga Sing and +Kulunder Buksh—Gorbuksh Sing, of Bhitolee—Gonda +Bahraetch district—Rughbur Sing—Prethee Put, of +Paska—King of Oude and King of the Fairies—Surafraz +mahal</p> +<a href="#Chap2">CHAPTER II.</a> +<p>Bahraetch—Shrine of Syud Salar—King of the Fairies +and the Fiddlers—Management of Bahraetch district for +forty-three years—Murder of Amur Sing, by Hakeem +Mehndee—Nefarious transfer of <i>khalsa</i> lands to +Tallookdars, by local officers—Rajah Dursun Sing—His +aggression on the Nepaul +Territory—Consequences—Intelligence +Department—How formed, managed, and abused—Rughbur +Sing's management of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846-47—Its +fiscal effects—A gang-robber caught and hung by Brahmin +villagers—Murder of Syampooree Gosaen—Ramdut +Pandee—Fairies and Fiddlers—Ramdut Pandee, the +Banker—the Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor—Murder +of Mr. Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, at Bhinga, in +1823.</p> +<a href="#Chapt3">CHAPTER III.</a> +<p>Legendary tale of breach of Faith—Kulhuns tribe of +Rajpoots—Murder of the Banker, Ramdut Pandee, by the Nazim of +Bahraetch—Recrossing the Ghagra river—Sultanpoor +district, State of Commandants of troops become sureties for the +payment of land revenue—Estate of Muneearpoor and the Lady +Sogura—Murder of Hurpaul Sing, Gurgbunsee, of +Kupragow—Family of Rajahs Bukhtawar and Dursun +Sing—Their <i>bynama</i> Lands—Law of +Primogeniture—Its object and effect—Rajah Ghalib +Jung—Good effects of protection to Tenantry—Disputes +about Boundaries—Our army a safety-valve for Oude—Rapid +decay of Landed Aristocracy in our Territories—Local ties in +groves, wells, &c.</p> +<a href="#Chapt4">CHAPTER IV.</a> +<p>Recross the Goomtee river—Sultanpoor +Cantonments—Number of persons begging redress of wrongs, and +difficulty of obtaining it in Oude—Apathy of the +Sovereign—Incompetence and unfitness of his +Officers—Sultanpoor, healthy and well suited for +Troops—Chandour, twelve miles distant, no less so—lands +of their weaker neighbours absorbed by the family of Rajah Dursun +Sing, by fraud, violence, and collusion; but greatly +improved—Difficulty attending attempt to restore old +Proprietors—Same absorptions have been going on in all parts +of Oude—and the same difficulty to be everywhere +encountered—Soils in the district, <i>mutteear</i>, +<i>doomutteea</i>, <i>bhoor</i>, <i>oosur</i>—Risk at which +lands are tilled under Landlords opposed to their +Government—Climate of Oude more invigorating than that of +Malwa—Captain Magness's Regiment—Repair of artillery +guns—Supply of grain to its bullocks—Civil +establishment of the Nazim—Wolves—Dread of killing them +among Hindoos—Children preserved by them in their dens, and +nurtured.</p> +<a href="#Chapt5">CHAPTER V.</a> +<p>Salone district—Rajah Lal Hunmunt Sing of +Dharoopoor—Soil of Oude—Relative fertility of the +<i>mutteear</i> and <i>doomutteea</i>—Either may become +<i>oosur</i>, or barren, from neglect, and is reclaimed, when it +does so, with difficulty—Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge +of an eleemosynary endowment at Salone—Effects of his +curses—Invasion of British Boundary—Military Force with +the Nazim—State and character of this Force—Rae +Bareilly in the Byswara district—Bandha, or +Misletoe—Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor—Law of +Primogeniture—Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo +and Rogonath Sing—Bridge and avenue at Rae +Bareilly—Eligible place for cantonment and civil +establishments—State of the Artillery—Sobha Sing's +regiment—Foraging System—Peasantry follow the fortunes of +their refractory Landlords—No provision for the king's +soldiers, disabled in action, or for the families of those who are +killed—Our sipahees, a privileged class, very troublesome +in the Byswara and Banoda districts—Goorbukshgunge—Man +destroyed by an Elephant—Danger to which keepers of such +animals are exposed—Bys Rajpoots composed of two great +families, Sybunsies and Nyhassas—Their continual contests for +landed possessions—Futteh Bahader—Rogonath +Sing—Mahibollah the robber and estate of Balla—Notion +that Tillockchundee Bys Rajpoots never suffer from the bite of a +snake—Infanticide—Paucity of comfortable +dwelling-houses—The cause—Agricultural +capitalists—Ornaments and apparel of the females of the Bys +clan—Late Nazim Hamid Allee—His father-in-law Fuzl +Allee—First loan from Oude to our Government—Native +gentlemen with independent incomes cannot reside in the +country—Crowd the city, and tend to alienate the Court from +the people.</p> +<a href="#Chapt6">CHAPTER VI.</a> +<p>Nawabgunge, midway between Cawnpoor and Lucknow—Oosur +soils how produced—Visit from the prime +minister—Rambuksh, of Dhodeeakhera—Hunmunt Sing, of +Dharoopoor—Agricultural capitalists—Sipahees and native +offices of our army—Their furlough, and +petitions—Requirements of Oude to secure good government. The +King's reserved treasury—Charity distributed through the +<i>Mojtahid</i>, or chief justice—Infanticide—Loan of +elephants, horses, and draft bullocks by Oude to Lord Lake in +1804—Clothing for the troops—The Akbery +regiment—Its clothing, &c.,—Trespasses of a great +man's camp in Oude—Russoolabad and Sufeepoor +districts—Buksh Allee, the dome—Budreenath, the contractor +for Sufeepoor—Meeangunge—Division of the Oude Territory +in 1801, in equal shares between Oude and the British +Governments—Almas Allee Khan—His good government—The +passes of Oude—Thieves by hereditary profession, and village +watchmen—Rapacity of the King's troops—Total absence of +all sympathy between the governing and governed—Measures +necessary to render the Oude troops efficient and less mischievous +to the people—Sheikh Hushmut Allee, of Sundeela.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<a name="Bio" id="Bio"></a><br> +<br> +<h2>BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH</h2> +<h5>of</h5> +<h2>MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN. K.C.B.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<p>This distinguished officer, whose career in India extended over +a period of forty years, and whose services were highly appreciated +by three Governors-General—Viscount Hardinge, the Earl of +Ellenborough, and the Marquess of Dalhousie—evinced by their +appointing him to the most difficult and delicate duties—was +the son of Philip and Mary Sleeman, and was born at Stratton, +Cornwall, 8th August, 1788. In early years he evinced a +predilection for the military profession; and at the age of +twenty-one (October, 1809), through the good offices of the late +Lord De Dunstanville, he was appointed an Infantry Cadet in the +Bengal army. Thither he proceeded as soon as possible, and was +promoted successively to the rank of Ensign, 23rd September, 1810; +Lieutenant, 16th December, 1814; Brevet-Captain, 24th April, 1824; +Captain, 23rd September, 1826; Major, 1st February, 1837; +Lieutenant-Colonel, 26th May, 1843; Colonel, 24th November, 1853; +and obtained the rank of Major-General 28th November, 1854.</p> +<p>Early in his career he served in the Nepaulese war. The value of +his talents soon became known, and in 1816, when it was considered +necessary to investigate a claim to property as prize-money arising +out of that war, Lieutenant Sleeman was selected to inquire into +it. The report was accordingly made by him in February 1817, which +was designated by the Government as "able, impartial, and +satisfactory."</p> +<p>In 1820 he was appointed junior Assistant to the Agent of the +Governor-General at Saugur, and remained in the Civil Department in +the Saugur and Nerbudda territories, with the exception of absence +on sick certificate, for nearly a quarter of a century. Here he +manifested that, if he had been efficient in an inferior position, +he was also an able administrator in a superior post. He +distinguished himself so much by his activity in the suppression of +the horrible practice of Thuggism, then so prevalent, that, in +1835, he was employed exclusively in the Thuggee Department; his +appointment in the Saugur and Nerbudda districts being kept open, +and his promotion going on. The very valuable Papers upon Thuggism +submitted to the Governor-General were chiefly drawn up by Sir +William Sleeman, and the department specially commissioned for this +important purpose was not only organised but worked by him. In +consequence of ill-health, however, at the end of 1836, he was +compelled to resign this appointment; but on his return to duty in +February 1839, he was nominated to the combined offices of +Commissioner for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity.</p> +<p>In 1842 he was employed on a special mission in Bundelcund, to +inquire into the causes of the recent disturbances there, and he +remained in that district, with additional duties, as Resident at +Gwalior, from 1844 until 1849, when he was removed to the highly +important office of Resident at the Court of Lucknow. Colonel +Sleeman held his office at Gwalior in very critical times, which +resulted in hostilities and the battle of Maharajpore. But for a +noble and unselfish act he would have received this promotion at an +earlier period. The circumstance was this: Colonel Low, the +Resident at that time, hearing that his father was dangerously ill, +tendered his resignation to Lord Auckland, who immediately offered +the appointment to Colonel Sleeman. No sooner had this occurred, +however, than Colonel Low wrote to his Lordship that, since he had +resigned, the house of Gaunter and Co., of Calcutta, in which his +brother was a partner, had failed, and, in consequence, every +farthing he had saved had been swept away. Under this painful +contingency be begged to place himself in his Lordship's hands. +This letter was sent by Lord Auckland to Colonel Sleeman, who +immediately wrote to Colonel Low, begging that he would retain his +situation at Lucknow. This generous conduct of Colonel Sleeman was +duly appreciated; and Lord Auckland, on leaving India, recommended +him to the particular notice of his successor. Lord Ellenborough, +who immediately appointed Colonel Sleeman to Jhansi with an +additional 1000<i>l</i>. a-year to his income.</p> +<p>Colonel Sleeman held the appointment of Resident at Lucknow from +the year 1849 until 1856. During this period his letters and diary +show his unwearied efforts to arrive at the best information on all +points with regard to Oude. These will enable the reader to form a +just, opinion on the highly-important subject of the annexation of +this kingdom to British India. The statements of Colonel Sleeman +bear inward evidence of his great administrative talents, his high +and honourable character, and of his unceasing endeavours to +promote the best interests of the King of Oude, so that his kingdom +might have been preserved to him. Colonel Sleeman's views were +directly opposed to annexation, as his letters clearly show.</p> +<p>His long and arduous career was now, however, fast drawing to a +close. So early as the summer of 1854 it became evident that the +health of General Sleeman was breaking up, and in the August of +that year he was attacked by alarming illness. "Forty-six years of +incessant labour," observes a writer at this date, "have had their +influence even on his powerful frame: he has received one of those +terrible warnings believed to indicate the approach of paralysis. +With General Sleeman will depart the last hope of any improvement +in the condition of the unhappy country of Oude. Though belonging +to the elder class of Indian officials, he has never been +Hindooized. He fully appreciated the evils of a native throne: he +has sternly, and even haughtily, pointed out to the King the +miseries caused by his incapacity, and has frequently extorted from +his fears the mercy which it was vain to hope from his +humanity."</p> +<p>Later in the year. General Sleeman went to the hills, in the +hope of recruiting his wasted health by change of air and scene; +but the expectation proved vain, and he was compelled to take +passage for England. But it was now too late: notwithstanding the +best medical aid, he gradually sank, and, after a long illness, +died on his passage from Calcutta, on the 10th February, 1856, at +the age of sixty-seven.</p> +<p>His Indian career was, indeed, long and honourable his labours +most meritorious. He was one of those superior men which the Indian +service is constantly producing, who have rendered the name of +Englishman respected throughout the vast empire of British India, +and whose memory will endure so long as British power shall remain +in the East.</p> +<p>It is well known that Lord Dalhousie, on his relinquishing the +Indian Government, recommended General Sleeman and two other +distinguished officers in civil employment for some mark of the +royal favour, and he was accordingly nominated K.C.B., 4th +February, 1856; of which honour his Lordship apprised him in a +highly gratifying letter.</p> +<p>But, however high the reputation of an officer placed in such +circumstances—and none stood higher than Sir William Sleeman, +not only in the estimation of the Governor-General and the +Honourable Company, but also in the opinion of the inhabitants of +India, where he had served with great ability for forty years, and +won the respect and love particularly of the natives, who always +regarded him as their friend, and by whom his equity was profoundly +appreciated—it was to be anticipated, as a matter of course, +that his words and actions would be distorted and misrepresented by +a Court so atrociously infamous. This, no doubt, he was prepared to +expect, The King, or rather the creatures who surrounded him, would +at all cost endeavour to prevent any investigation into their gross +malpractices, and seek to slander the man they were unable to +remove.</p> +<p>The annexation of Oude to the British dominions followed, but +not as a consequence of Sir W. Sleeman's report. No greater +injustice can be done than to assert that he advised such a course. +His letters prove exactly the reverse. He distinctly states, in his +correspondence with the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, that the +annexation of Oude would cost the British power more than the value +of ten such kingdoms, and would inevitably lead to a mutiny of the +Sepoys. He constantly maintains the advisability of frontier +kingdoms under native sovereigns, that the people themselves might +observe the contrast, to the advantage of the Honourable Company, +of the wise and equitable administration of its rule compared with +the oppressive and cruel despotism of their own princes. Sir +William Sleeman had profoundly studied the Indian character in its +different races, and was deservedly much beloved by them for his +earnest desire to promote their welfare, and for the effectual +manner in which, on all occasions in his power, and these were +frequent, he redressed the evils complained of, and extended the +<i>Ægis</i> of British power over the afflicted and +oppressed.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<a name="intro" id="intro"></a><br> +<br> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<p>THE following Narrative of a "Pilgrimage" through the kingdom of +Oude was written by the late Major-General Sir William Sleeman in +1851 (while a Resident at the Court of Lucknow), at the request of +the Governor-General the Marquess of Dalhousie, in order to +acquaint the Honourable Company with the actual condition of that +kingdom, and with the view of pointing out the best measures to be +suggested to the King for the improvement and amelioration of the +country and people.</p> +<p>So early as October, 1847, the King of Oude had been informed by +the Governor-General, that if his system of rule were not +materially amended (for it was disgraceful and dangerous to any +neighbouring power to permit its continuance in its present +condition) before two years had expired, the British Government +would find it necessary to take steps for such purpose in his name. +Accordingly on the 16th September, 1848, the Governor-General +addressed the following letter to Sir William Sleeman, +commissioning him to make a personal visit to all parts of the +kingdom:—</p><br> +<p align="right">"<i>Government House, Sept</i>. 16, +1848. </p> +<p>"MY DEAR COLONEL SLEEMAN,—It was a matter of regret to me +that I had not anticipated your desire to succeed Colonel +Sutherland in Rajpootana before I made arrangements which prevented +my offering that appointment to you. I now regret it no longer, +since the course of events has put it in my power to propose an +arrangement which will, I apprehend, be more agreeable to you, and +which will make your services more <i>actively</i> beneficial to the +State.</p> +<p>"Colonel Richmond has intimated his intention of immediately +resigning the Residency at Lucknow. The communication made by the +Governor-General to the King of Oude, in October, 1847, gave His +Majesty to understand that if the condition of Government was not +very materially amended before two years had expired, the +management for his behoof would be taken into the hands of the +British Government.</p> +<p>"There seems little reason to expect or to hope that in October, +1849, any amendment whatever will have been effected. The +reconstruction of the internal administration of a great, rich, and +oppressed country, is a noble as well as an arduous task for the +officer to whom the duty is intrusted, and the Government have +recourse to one of the best of its servants for that purpose.</p> +<p>"The high reputation you have earned, your experience of civil +administration, your knowledge of the people, and the +qualifications you possess as a public man, have led me to submit +your name to the Council of India as an officer to whom I could +commit this important charge with entire confidence that its duties +would be well performed. I do myself, therefore, the honour of +proposing to you to accept the office of Resident at Lucknow, with +especial reference to the great changes which, in all probability, +will take place. Retaining your superintendency of Thuggee affairs, +it will be manifestly necessary that you should be relieved from +the duty of the trials of Thugs usually condemned at Lucknow.</p> +<p>"In the hope that you will not withhold from the Government your +services in the capacity I have named, and in the further hope of +finding an opportunity of personally making your acquaintance,</p> +<div class="s1">"I have the honour to be,</div> +<div class="s2">"Dear Colonel Sleeman,</div> +<div class="s3">"Very faithfully yours,</div> +<div class="s4">"DALHOUSIE."</div> +<p>"To Colonel Sleeman, &c., &c."</p> +<p>Immediately on receipt of this despatch, Sir William proceeded +to make the necessary inquiry. Doubtless the King (instigated by +his Ministers and favourites, who dreaded the exposure of all their +infamous proceedings) would have prevented this investigation, +which, he was aware, would furnish evidence of gross +mal-administration, cruelty, and oppression almost unparalleled; +but Sir William Sleeman was too well acquainted with the character +of the people of the East to be moved either by cajolery or menaces +from the important duty which had devolved upon him.</p> +<p>Sir William Sleeman's position as Resident enabled him to +ascertain thoroughly the real state of Oude; and the great respect +with which he was universally received manifests the high opinion +entertained of him personally by all ranks. The details he has +given of the prevailing anarchy and lawlessness throughout the +kingdom, would scarcely be believed were they not vouched for by an +officer of established reputation and integrity. Firmness united to +amenity of manner were indeed the characteristics of Sir William in +his important and delicate office at such a Court—a Court +where the King, deputing the conduct of business to Ministers +influenced by the basest motives, and who constantly sacrificed +justice to bribery and low intrigues, gave himself up to the +effeminate indulgence of his harem, and the society of eunuchs and +fiddlers. His Majesty appears to have been governed by favourites +of the hour selected through utter caprice, and to have permitted, +if he did not order, such atrocious cruelties and oppression as +rendered the kingdom of Oude a disgrace to the British rule in +India, and called for strong interference, on the score of humanity +alone, as well as with the hope of compelling amendment.</p> +<p>The letter addressed by Lord Dalhousie to Sir William Sleeman +expresses the desire of the Governor-General that he should +endeavour to inform himself of the actual state of Oude, and render +his Narrative a guide to the Honourable Company in its Report to +the Court of Directors. The details furnish but too faithful a +picture of the miserable condition of the people, equally oppressed +by the exactions of the King's army and collectors, and by the +gangs of robbers and lawless chieftains who infest the whole +territory, rendering tenure so doubtful that no good dwellings +could be erected, and land only partially cultivated; whilst the +numberless cruelties and atrocious murders surpass belief. Shut up +in his harem, the voice of justice seldom reached the ear of the +monarch, and when it did, was scarcely heeded. The Resident, it +will be seen, was beset during his journey with petitions for +redress so numerous, that, anxious as he was to do everything in +his power to mitigate the horrors he witnessed, he frequently gives +vent to the pain he experienced at finding relief +impracticable.</p> +<p>The Narrative contains an unvarnished but unexaggerated picture +of the actual state of Oude, with many remedial suggestions; but +direct annexation formed no part of the policy which Sir William +Sleeman recommended. To this measure he was strenuously opposed, as +is distinctly proved by his letters appended to the Journal. At the +same time, he repeatedly affirms the total unfitness of the King to +govern. These opinions are still further corroborated by the +following letter from his private correspondence, 1854-5, written +when Resident at Lucknow, and published in the <i>Times</i> in +November last:—</p> +<p>"The system of annexation, pursued by a party in this country, +and favoured by Lord Dalhousie and his Council, has, in my opinion, +and in that of a large number of the ablest men in India, a +downward tendency—a tendency to crush all the higher and +middle classes connected with the land. These classes it should be +our object to create and foster, that we might in the end inspire +them with a feeling of interest in the stability of our rule. <i>We +shall find a few years hence the tables turned against us</i>. In +fact, the aggressive and absorbing policy, which has done so much +mischief of late in India, is beginning to create feelings of alarm +in the native mind; and it is when the popular mind becomes +agitated by such alarms that fanatics will always be found ready to +step into Paradise over the bodies of the most prominent of those +from whom injury is apprehended. I shall have nothing new to do at +Lucknow. Lord Dalhousie and I have different views, I fear. If he +wishes anything done that I do not think right and honest, I +resign, and leave it to be done by others. I desire a strict +adherence to solemn engagements, whether made with white faces or +black. We have no right to annex or confiscate Oude; but we have a +right, under the treaty of 1837, to take the management of it, but +not to appropriate its revenues to ourselves. We can do this with +honour to our Government and benefit to the people. To confiscate +would be dishonest and dishonourable. To annex would be to give the +people a government almost as bad as their own, if we put our screw +upon them. My position here has been and is disagreeable and +unsatisfactory: we have a fool of a king, a knave of a minister, +and both are under the influence of one of the cleverest, most +intriguing, and most unscrupulous villains in India."</p> +<p>Major Bird, in his pamphlet "Dacoitee in Excelsis," while +endeavouring to establish a case for the King of Oude, has assumed +that Sir William Sleeman was an instrument in the hands of Lord +Dalhousie, to carry out his purpose of annexing Oude to British +India. The letters, now first printed, entirely refute this hasty +and erroneous statement. Major Bird has, in fact, withdrawn it +himself in a lecture delivered by him at Southampton on Tuesday, +the 16th of February, 1858.</p> +<p>It will be seen that Sir W. Sleeman's "Diary" commences on +December 1, 1849. To preserve chronological order, the letters +written before that date are prefixed; those which refer to a later +period are added at the end of the narrative.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<a name="Private1" id="Private1"></a><br> +<br> +<h2>PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE</h2> +<br> +<h3>PRECEDING THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE KINGDOM OF OUDE.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Camp, 20th February, 1848.</p> +<p>My Dear Sir,</p> +<p>I thank you for your letter of the 10th instant, and am of +opinion that you may be able to make good use of Bhurut Sing under +judicious management, and strict surveillance; but you do not +mention who and what he is—whether he is a prisoner under +sentence, or a free agent, or of what caste and profession. Some +men make these offers in order to have opportunities of escape, +while engaged in the pretended search after associates in crime; +others to extort money from those whom they may denounce, or have +the authority and means to arrest. He should be made to state +distinctly the evidence he has against persons, and the way he got +it; and all should be recorded against the names of the persons in +a Register. Major Riddell is well acquainted with our mode of +proceedings in all such cases, and I recommend you to put yourself +in communication, as soon as possible, with him, and Mr. Dampier, +the Superintendent of Police, who fortunately takes the greatest +possible interest in all such matters. I have no supervision +whatever over the officers of the department employed in Bengal; +all rests entirely with Mr. Dampier. You might write to him at +once, and tell him that you are preparing such a Register as I +suggest; and if he is satisfied with the evidence, he will +authorise the arrest of all or part, and well reward Bhurut Sing +for his services.</p> +<div class="s1">Believe me, my dear Sir,</div> +<div class="s2">With best wishes for your success,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Capt. J. Innes,<br> +Barrackpoor.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Camp, 20th February, 1848. </p> +<p>My Dear Colonel Sutherland,</p> +<p>There are at Jubulpore a good many of the Bagree decoits, who +have been sentenced as approvers, by the Courts of Punchaet, in +Rajpootana, to imprisonment for very short periods. Unless they are +ordered to be retained when these periods expire, on a requisition +of security for their future good behaviour, they will make off, +and assuredly return to their hereditary trade. The ordinary pay of +the grades open to them in our police and other establishments, +will not satisfy them when they find that we have no hold upon +them, and they become more and more troublesome as the time for +their enlargement approaches.</p> +<p>I send you copies of the letters from Government of the 27th +June, 1839, from which you will see that it was intended that all +professional decoits who gave us their services on a promise of +conditional pardon, should have a sentence of imprisonment for life +recorded against them, the execution of which was to be suspended +during their good behaviour, and eventually altogether remitted in +cases where they might be deemed to have merited, by a course of +true and faithful services, such an indulgence. In all other parts, +as well as in our own provinces as in native states, such +sentences, have been recorded against these men, and they have +cheerfully submitted to them, under the assurance that they and +their children would be provided with the means of earning an +honest livelihood; but in Rajpootana it has been otherwise.</p> +<p>By Act 24, of 1843, all such professional gang-robbers are +declared liable to a sentence, on conviction, of imprisonment for +life; and everywhere else a sentence of imprisonment for life has +been passed upon all persons convicted of being gang-robbers by +profession. This is indispensably necessary for the entire +suppression of the system which Government has in view. Do you not +think that in your Courts the final sentence might be left to the +European functionaries, and the verdict only left to the Punchaets? +The greater part of those already convicted in these Courts will +have to be released soon, and all who are so will certainly return +to their trade; and the system will continue in spite of all our +efforts to put it down. I have just been at Jubulpore, and the +bearing of the Bagree decoits, sent from Ajmeer by Buch, is quite +different from that of those who have had a sentence of +imprisonment for life passed against them in other quarters, and is +very injurious to them, for they get so bad a name that no one will +venture to give them service of any kind. Do, I pray you, think of +a remedy for the future. The only one that strikes me is that above +suggested, of leaving the final sentence to the European +officers.</p> +<p>I need not say that I was delighted at your getting the great +Douger Sing by the means you had yourself proposed for the +pursuit—sending an officer with authority to disregard +boundaries.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. S. SLEEMAN</div> +<p>To Col. Sutherland.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 4th March, 1848. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>I had the gratification to receive your Lordship's letter of the +7th of January last, at Nursingpore, in the valley of the Nerbudda, +where I commenced my Civil career more than a quarter of a century +before, and where, of all places, I should have wished to receive +so gracious a testimonial from such high authority. I should have +earlier expressed by grateful acknowledgments, and prepared the +narrative so frequently called for, but I was then engaged in +preparing a Report on Gang-robbery in India, and wished first to +make a little more progress, that I might be able to speak more +confidently of its ultimate completion and submission to +Government. In a less perfect form this Report was, at the earnest +recommendation of the then Lieut.-Governor N.W.P., the Honourable +T. Robertson, and with the sanction of the Governor-General Lord +Auckland, sent to the Government press so long back as 1842, but +his Lordship appeared to me to think that the printing had better +be deferred till more progress had been made in the work of putting +down the odious system of crime which the Report exposed, and I +withdrew it from the press with little hope of ever again having +any leisure to devote to it, or finding any other person able and +willing to undertake its completion.</p> +<p>During the last rains, however, I began again to arrange the +confused mass of papers which I found lying in a box; but in +October I was interrupted by a severe attack of fever, and unable +to do anything but the current duties of my office till I commenced +my tour through the Saugor territories, in November. I have since +nearly completed the work, and hope to be able to submit it to +Government before the end of this month in a form worthy of its +acceptation.</p> +<p>I am afraid that the narrative of my humble services will be +found much longer than it ought to be, but I have written it +hastily that it might go by this mail, and it is the first attempt +I have ever thought of making at such a narrative, for I have gone +on quietly "through evil and through good report," doing, to the +best of my ability, the duties which it has pleased the Government +of India, from time to time, to confide to me, in the manner which +appeared to me most conformable to its wishes and its honour, +satisfied and grateful for the trust and confidence which enabled +me to do so much good for the people, and to secure so much of +their attachment and gratitude to their rulers.</p> +<p>Permit me to subscribe myself, with great respect,<br> +Your Lordship's faithful and obedient humble servant,</p> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Lieut.-General the Right Hon.<br> +Henry Viscount Hardinge,<br> + &c. +&c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 4th March, 1848. </p> +<p>Dear Sir,</p> +<p>Lord Hardinge, in a letter dated the 7th of January last, +requested me to make out a narrative of my humble services in +India, and to send it under cover to you, as he expected to embark +on the 15th, before he could receive it in Calcutta. I take the +liberty to send my reply with the narrative, open, and to request +that you will do me the favour to have them sealed and forwarded to +his Lordship.</p> +<div class="s1">Believe me, dear Sir,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours very faithfully,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To J. Cosmo Melvill,<br> +Secretary to the East India Company,<br> +India House, London.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 28th March, 1848. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>The Court of Directors complain that decoit prisoners are not +tried as soon as they are caught, but they know little of the +difficulties that the officers under me find in getting them tried, +for political officers have, in truth, had little encouragement to +undertake such duties, and it is only a few choice spirits that +have entered upon the duty <i>con amore</i>. General Nott prided, +himself upon doing nothing whatever while he was at Lucknow; +General Pollock did all he could, but it was not much; and Colonel +Richmond does nothing. There the Buduk decoits, Thugs, and +poisoners, remain without sentences, and will do so till Richmond +goes, unless you give him a fillip. If you tell him to apply for an +assistant to aid him in the conduct of the trials, and tell him to +nominate his own, he may go to work, and I earnestly pray you to do +something, or the Oude Turae will become what it had for ages been +before we cleaned it out. Davidson was prevented from doing +anything by technical difficulties, so that out of <i>four +Residents we have not got four days' work</i>.</p> +<p>You will soon get my Report, and it will be worth having, and +the last I shall make on crime in India.</p> +<p>If Hercules had not had better instruments he could not so +easily have cleared out his stable; but he had no "Honourable +Court" to find fault with his mode of doing the thing, I conclude. +The fact is, however, that our prisoners are pretty well tried +before they get into quod. Mr. Bird will be delighted at the manner +in which he is introduced in my first chapter, and many another +good officer well pleased.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To H. M. Elliot, Esq.,<br> +Secretary to the Government of India,<br> +Calcutta.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 29th March, 1848. </p> +<p>My Dear Maddock,</p> +<p>I hope you will not disapprove of the resolution to which I have +come of resigning the charge of the Saugor territories, now that +tranquillity has been restored,—the best possible feelings +among the people prevail, and the object you had in view in +recommending Lord Ellenborough to confide that charge to me has +been effected,—or of the manner in which I have tendered my +resignation. Were I longer to retain the charge, I should be +subjected to humiliations which the exigencies of the public +service do not require that I should at this time of life submit +to, and I shall have enough of labour and anxiety in the charge +that will still remain to me. If an opening for Sir R. Shakespear +could be found, his salary might be saved by my residence being +transferred to Gwalior. If either Hamilton or I were to be removed +to some other post, it would be well to reduce Gwalior and Indore +to political agencies, under the supervision of an agent, as in +Rajpootana, with Bundelcund added to his charge. The latter of +these two measures has, you know, been under consideration, and +was, I think, proposed by Sutherland when you were at Gwalior with +Lord Auckland. Had the Lieutenant-Governor known more of the Saugor +territories when he wrote the paper on which Government is now +acting, he would not, I think, have described the state of things +as he has done, or urged the introduction of the system which must +end in minutely subdividing all leases, and in having all questions +regarding land tenures removed into the civil Courts, as in the +provinces. It is the old thing, "nothing like leather." I shall not +weary you by anything more on this subject. I hope a good man will +be selected for the charge. The selection of Mr. M. Smith as +successor to Mr. Brown was a good one. My letter will go off +to-day, and be, I trust, well received. I am grieved that Clerk has +been obliged to quit his post; he has been throughout his career an +ornament to your service, but his friends seem all along to have +apprehended that he could not long stand the climate of Bombay. I +am anxious to learn how long you are to remain in Council.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours very sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock,<br> + &c. + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 2nd April, 1848. </p> +<p>My dear Elliot,</p> +<p>Till I this morning got the public letter, which will go off +to-day, I never heard one word about Shakespear's intention or wish +to go to the hills, and only thirteen days remain. The orders of +Government as to his <i>locum tenens</i> cannot reach me by the +15th, when he is to leave, and I shall have to put in some one to +take charge, as there is a treasury under his management.</p> +<p>If Government wish to take Major Stevens from the Byza Bae, and +give him some other employment, he might be sent to act for Captain +Ross; but I know nothing of his fitness for such an office.</p> +<p>I believe you know Captain Ross, and I need say nothing more +than what I have said in my public letter. If he be sent to +Gwalior, I hope a good officer may be sent to act for him in +Thalone, for the duties are very heavy and responsible. Blake will +do very well, and so would his second in command, Captain Erskine, +of the 73rd, who is an excellent civil officer. I must pray you to +let me have the orders of Government on the subject as soon as +possible.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>P.S.—I should consider Major Stevens an able man for a +civil charge, but have never seen him.</p> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. S.</div> +<p>To H. M. Elliot, Esq.,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 6th May, 1848. </p> +<p>My Dear Maddock,</p> +<p>Your kind letter of the 21st ultimo had prepared me for the +public one of the 28th, which I got yesterday from Elliot, and I +wrote off at once, to say simply that I should be glad to suspend +or to withdraw the application contained in my letter of the 29th +of March, as might appear best to Government; and that I should not +have made it at all, had I apprehended that a compliance with it +would have been attended with any inconvenience.</p> +<p>With the knowledge I have acquired of the duties of the several +officers, and the entire command of my time here at a quiet place, +and long-established methodical habits, I can get through the work +very well, though it becomes trying sometimes. Arrears I never +allow to accumulate, and regular hours, and exercise, and sparing +diet, with water beverage, keep me always in condition for office +work. I often wish that you could have half the command of your +hours, mode of living, and movements, that I have. However, they +will soon be much more free than mine. I am very glad that you have +the one year more for a wind up; and hope that good fortune will +attend you to the last. You say nothing, however, about your foot. +The papers and letters from home have just come in. I hear that +Lord John is very unwell, and will not be able to stand the work +many months more, and that Sir R. Peel is obliged to be +<i>cupped</i> once a-week, and could not possibly take office. Who +is to take helm in the troubled ocean, no one knows. I am glad that +Metternich has been kicked out, for he and Louis Philippe are the +men that have put in peril the peace and institutions of all +Europe. I only wish that the middle class was as strong in France +as it is in England; it is no doubt infinitely stronger than it +was; while the lower order is better than that of England, I +believe, for such occasions. They have good men now in the +provisional Government—so they had in 1788; and, like them, +the present men will probably be swept away by the mob. They are +not, however, likely to be embarrassed by other nations, since the +days of Pitt and George III. are passed away, and so are the feudal +times when the barons could get up civil wars for their own selfish +purposes. There are no characters sufficiently prominent to get up +a civil war, but the enormous size of the army is enough to create +feelings of disquiet. It is, however, officered from the middle +classes, who have property at stake, and must be more or less +interested in the preservation of order.</p> +<p>The Government has no money to send to Algiers, and must reduce +its strength there, so that Egypt is in no danger at present; were +it so, we should be called upon to defend it from India, and could +well do so. It is evident that the whole French nation was +alienated from Louis Philippe, and prepared to cast off him and all +his family, though, as you say, I do not believe that there was +anywhere any design to oust him and put down monarchy. Had he +thrown off Guizot a little sooner, and left some able military +leaders free to act, the <i>émeute</i> would have been put +down; but those who could have acted did not feel free to do so: +they did not feel sure of the king, while they were sure of the +odium of the people. I am not at all sorry for the change. I am +persuaded that it will work good for Europe; but still its peace +and best institutions are in peril at present. We are in no danger +here, because people do not understand such things; and because +England is in a prouder position than ever, and will, I trust, +retain it.</p> +<p>Lord Grey seems an able man at home, but he is, I believe, +hot-headed, and Lord Stanley is ten times worse; he would soon have +up the barricades in London. Lord Clarendon seems a safe guide, but +<i>Peel</i> is the man for the time, if he has the stamina. Lord +Palmerston has conducted the duties of his office with admirable +tact of late; and much of the good feeling that prevails in Europe +towards England at present seems to arise from it. Amelie begs to +be most kindly remembered; she is here with her little +boy—two girls at Munsoorie, and two girls and a boy at +home.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours very sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock,<br> + &c. + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 14th May, 1848. </p> +<p>My Dear Weston,</p> +<p>I have been directed by Government to name an officer whom I may +consider competent to superintend the suppression of Thuggee in the +Punjaub, where a new class has been discovered, and some progress +has been made in finding and arresting them. I have, in reply, +mentioned that I should have Captain Williams, of the 29th, and +Captain Chambers, of the 21st; but their services might not be +considered available, since the prescribed number of captains are +already absent from their regiments, and, in consequence, I have +you. I know not whether you will like the duties; if not, pray tell +me as soon as possible.</p> +<p>The salary is 700 rupees a-month, with office-rent 40, and +establishments 152. The duties are interesting and important; and +so good a foundation has been laid by Larkins and the other local +authorities, and all are so anxious to have the evil put down, that +you will have the most cordial support and co-operation of all, and +the fairest prospect of success. But you will have to apply +yourself steadily to work, and if you have not <i>passed</i>, you +should do so as soon as possible. I do not see P. opposite your +name, and Government may possibly object on this ground. Let all +this be <i>entre nous</i> for the present.</p> +<p>If you undertake the duties, you will have to go to Lodheeana, +seeing Major Graham at Agra, on the way, to get a little insight +into the work.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>P.S.—You will be in the most interesting scene in India, and +need be under no apprehension about the permanency of the +appointment.</p> +<p>To Lieut. Weston,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 18th May, 1848. </p> +<p>My Dear Maddock,</p> +<p>Things are not going on so well as could be wished in the +Punjaub; and it appears to me that we have been there committing an +error of the same kind that we committed in Afghanistan—that +is, taking upon ourselves the most odious part of the executive +administration. In such a situation this should have been avoided, +if possible. There is a kind of chivalry in this—if there is +anything odious to be done, or repugnant to the feelings of the +people, a young Englishman thinks he must do it himself, lest he +should be thought disposed to shift off a painful burthen upon +others; and he thinks it unbecoming of us to pay any regard to +popular feeling. Of course, also, the officers of the Sikh State +are glad to get rid of such burthens while they see English +gentlemen ready to carry them. Now, it strikes me that we might, +with a little tact, have altered all this, and retained the good +feelings of the people, by throwing the executive upon the officers +of the Sikh State, and remaining ourselves in the dignified +position of Appellate Courts for the redress of grievances +inflicted by these officers in neglect of duty or abuse of +authority. Our duty would have been to guide, control, and check, +and the head of all might have been like the sovereigns of +England—known only by his acts of grace.</p> +<p>By keeping in this dignified position we should not only have +retained the good feelings of the people, but we should have been +teaching the Sikh officers their administrative duties till the +time comes for making over the country; and the chief and Court +would have found the task, made over to them under such a system, +more easy to sustain. In Afghanistan we did the reverse of all +this, and became intolerably odious to the mass of the people; for +they saw that everything that was harsh was done by us, and the +officers of the King were disposed to confirm and increase this +impression because they were not employed. The people of the +Punjaub are not such fanatics, and they are more divided in creed +and caste, while they see no ranges of snowy mountains, barren +rocks, and difficult passes between us and our reinforcements and +resources; but it seems clear that there is a good deal of +excitement and bad feeling growing up amongst them that may be very +mischievous. All the newspapers, English and native, make the +administration appear to be altogether English—it is Captain +This, Mr. That, who do, or are expected to do, everything; and all +over the country the native chiefs will think, that the leaving the +country to the management of the Sirdars was a mere mockery and +delusion.</p> +<p>We should keep our hands as much as possible out of the harsh +and dirty part of the executive work, that the European officers +may be looked up to with respect as the effectual check upon the +native administrators; always prepared to check any disposition on +their part to neglect their duty or abuse their power, and thereby +bring their Government into disrepute. Of course, the outrage at +Mooltan must be avenged, and our authority there established; but, +when this is done, Currie should be advised to avoid the rock upon +which our friend Macnaghten was wrecked. We are too impatient to +jump down the throats of those who venture to look us in the face, +and to force upon them our modes of doing the work of the country, +and to superintend the doing it ourselves in all its details, or +having it done by creatures of our own, commonly ten times more +odious to the people than we are ourselves.</p> +<p>It is unfortunate that this outrage, and the excitement to which +it has given rise, should have come so quickly upon Lord Hardinge's +assurances at the London feast, and amidst the turmoil of popular +movements at home. It has its use in showing us the necessity of +being always prepared.</p> +<p>Baba Bulwunt Row tells me that he has got a letter from you in +the form of Khureela, and claims one from me on that ground. Shall +I comply? We have avoided this hitherto, as the Pundits put him up +to claim everything that the Bae's family had, not even omitting +the Thalone principality; and hints have been dropped of a mission +to England, if the money could be got. I wish to subdue these +pretensions for his own sake, that he may not be entirely ruined by +temptations to expensive displays. He has now got the entire +management of his own affairs, and is a sensible, well-disposed +lad. He was never recognised as the Bae's successor by Government +or the Agent, nor was he written to on the Bae's death. Cunput Row +Bhaca was the person addressed in the letter of condolence. His son +has run through all he has or can borrow, and is in a bad way. +Moresor Row has the reputation of being very rich, though he pleads +poverty always. The whole of the Saugor territories, save Mundla, +have benefited by two very fine seasons, with great demand for land +produce, and the people are happy. I have asked for reductions in +Mundla, to save the little of tillage and population that has been +left. The whole revenue is a mere trifle in such a jungle as you +know it to be, and when once the people go off, there is no getting +them back. Deer destroy the crops upon the few fields left, tigers +come to eat the deer, and malaria follows, to sweep off the +remaining few families.</p> +<p>I must not prose any longer at present. Amelia often talks of +you, and begs to be kindly remembered.</p> +<div class="s3">Ever yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock,<br> + &c. + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 28th May, 1848. </p> +<p>My Dear Maddock,</p> +<p>I yesterday sent off by Dawk Bangy an elaborate Report on +Dacoits by hereditary profession, and on the measures adopted by +the Government of India for their suppression, and hope it will +reach Calcutta before the rains set in heavily. Government may be +justly proud of the good which it shows to have been effected for +the people of India in the course of a brief period; and I am glad +that you have for this period been a member of it. There is much in +the Report to interest the general reader, but much of what is +inserted would, of course, have been left out by any one who had to +consult the wishes of such readers only.</p> +<p>At this time last year I had not the slightest hope of ever +being able to lay such a Report before Government; for I never +expected to find leisure in my present office, and could not carry +the requisite records with me, if driven away by sickness, to where +I might find it. The papers lay mouldering in an old box, to which +I had consigned them in 1840, when I withdrew them from the press, +under the impression that Lord Auckland thought that the exposition +of the terrible evil ought not to appear till more progress had +been made in its suppression; as G. Thompson and other itinerant +orators would be glad to get hold of them to abuse the Government. +The Report is infinitely more interesting and complete than it +could have been then, and may bid defiance to all such orators.</p> +<p>If printed, it will take from 400 to 450 pages, such as those of +the late Report on the Indian Penal Code, and be a neat and useful +volume for reference. I began it in the rains last year, but was +stopped short by a fever, and unable to continue it till I set out +on my tour. Three-fourths of it was written in the intervals +between the morning's march and breakfast-time during my tour +through the Saugor territories.</p> +<p>The tables of dacoitees ascertained to have been committed by +the dacoits described, and of the conditionally pardoned offenders, +will follow, and be found useful for reference, but should not, +perhaps, be in the same volume with the text of the Report; of +that, however, I leave Government to judge. I thank God that I have +been able to place before it so complete and authentic a record of +what has been done to carry out its views.</p> +<div class="s3">Ever most sincerely yours,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock,<br> + &c. +&c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 15th August, 1848. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>As it is possible that the letter which I addressed to your +Lordship on the 6th of March last, and sent open to Mr. Melvill, +the Secretary at the India House, may have miscarried; I write to +mention that I sent it, lest it might be supposed that I was +insensible of the kindness which induced your Lordship to write to +me before leaving India. The work which made me delay so long to +reply to that letter is now being printed in Calcutta, under the +authority of Government; and, as it contains much that is curious +and entertaining, and honourable to our rule in India, I trust at +no distant day to have the honour of presenting a copy to your +Lordship.</p> +<p>Amidst events of such absorbing interest as are now taking place +every day in Europe, India cannot continue long to engage much of +your thoughts; for, with the exception of the little outbreak at +Mooltan, tranquillity prevails, and is likely to do so for some +time. There has been delay in putting down the Mooltan rebels, but +the next mail will, I hope, take home news of the work having been +effectually done. This delay seems to have arisen from a notion +that troops ought not to be employed in the hot winds and rains; +but when occasion requires they can be employed at all times, and +the people of India require to be assured that they can be so. It +has not, I think, been found that troops actually employed in the +hot winds and rains lose more men than in cantonments, at least +native troops.</p> +<p>It was, I think, your Lordship's intention that, in the Lahore +state, we should guide, direct, and supervise the administration, +but not take all the executive upon ourselves, to the exclusion of +all the old native aristocracy, as we had done in Afghanistan. This +policy has not, I am afraid, been adhered to sufficiently; and we +have, probably, less of the sympathy and cordial good-will of the +higher and middle classes than we should otherwise have had. But I +am too far from the scene to be a fair judge in such matters.</p> +<p>The policy of interposing Hindoo native states between us and +the beggarly fanatical countries to the north-west no wise man can, +I think, doubt; for, however averse our Government may be to +encroach and creep on, it would be drawn on by the intermeddling +dispositions and vainglory of local authorities; and every step +would be ruinous, and lead to another still more ruinous. With the +Hindoo principalities on our border we shall do very well, and +trust that we shall long be able to maintain them in the state +required for their own interests and ours.</p> +<p>I wish England would put forth its energies to raise the colony +of New Zealand, the queen of the Pacific Ocean; for the relations +between that island and India must some day become very intimate, +and the sooner it begins the better. I am very glad to find by the +last mail that the French have put their affairs into better +hands—those of practical men, instead of visionaries.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me, with great respect,</div> +<div class="s1">Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Lieut.-General the Right Hon.<br> +Henry Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B.,<br> + &c. + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 22nd August 1848. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir Erskine,</p> +<p>I thank you for kindly sending me a copy of your Address to the +Native Youth at Bombay and their Parents, and should have done so +earlier, but it has been in circulation among many of my friends +who feel interested in the subject. Whatever may be thought of the +question as to where we should begin, all concur in acknowledging +the truth of your conclusions as to the value and use of the +knowledge we wish to impart, and in admiring the language and +sentiment of your Address.</p> +<p>There are some passages of great beauty, which I wish all +persons could read and remember; and I do not recollect ever having +seen one that has pleased me more, for its truths and elegance, +than that beginning, "But if a manufacturing population." That +which begins with—"The views, young men, as to the true +object and ends to be attained," is no less truthful and +excellent.</p> +<p>It is unfortunate that the education which we have to supplant +in India is so blended with the religion of the people, as far as +Hindoos are concerned, that we cannot make progress without +exciting alarm. Had a nation, endowed with all the knowledge we +have, come into Europe in the days of Galileo and Copernicus, and +attempted to impart it to the mass of the people, or to the higher +classes only, the same alarm would have been raised, or nearly the +same. We must be content with small, or slow progress; but there +are certain branches of knowledge, highly useful to the people, +that are finding their way among them from our metropolitan +establishments, and working good.</p> +<p>I might better have said, that had we come into Greece when +Homer was the Bible of the people, with all our astronomy, +chemistry, and physical science generally, and our literature, +blended as it is with our religion, we should have found our Greek +fellow-subjects as untractable as the Hindoos or Parsees. The fact +is, that every Hindoo, educated through our language in our +literature and science, must be more or less wretched in domestic +life, for he cannot feel or think with his family, or bring them to +feel or think with him. The knowledge which he has acquired +satisfies him that the faith to which they adhere, and which guides +them in all their duties, ceremonies, acts, and habits, is +monstrous and absurd; but he can never hope to impart to them this +knowledge, or to alienate them from that faith; nor does he himself +feel any confidence in any other creed: he feels that he is an +isolated being, who can exchange thoughts and feelings unreservedly +with no one. I have seen many estimable Hindoos in this state, with +minds highly gifted and cultivated, and with abilities for +anything. For such men we cannot create communities, nor can they +create them for themselves: they can enjoy their books and +conversation with men who understand and enjoy them like +themselves; but how few are the men of this class with whom they +can ever hope to associate on easy terms! It is not so with +Mahommedans. All the literature and science in the world has no +more effect on their faith than on ours; and their families +apprehend no alienation in any member who may choose to indulge in +them; and they indulge in them little, merely because they do not +find that they conduce to secure them employment and bread.</p> +<p>I think it would be useful if we could get rid of the terms +<i>education</i>, <i>civilization</i>, &c., and substitute that +of <i>knowledge</i>. It would obviate much controversy, for the +greater part of our disputes arise from the vagueness of the terms +we use. All would agree that certain branches of knowledge are +useful to certain classes, and that certain modes are the best for +imparting them. The subject is deeply interesting and important; +but I must not indulge further.</p> +<div class="s1">Believe me, My Dear Sir Erskine,</div> +<div class="s4">With great respect,</div> +<div class="s5">Yours very faithfully,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir Erskine Perry,<br> +Chief Justice, Bombay.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Jhansee, 24th September, 1848. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>I feel grateful for the offer contained in your Lordship's +letter of the 16th instant, and no less so for the gracious manner +in which it has been conveyed, and beg to say that I shall be glad +to avail myself of it, and be prepared to proceed to take charge as +soon as I am directed to do so, as I have no arrears in any of my +offices to detain me, and can make them over to any one at the +shortest notice, with the assurance that he will find nothing in +them to perplex or embarrass him.</p> +<p>I shall do my best to carry out your Lordship's views in the new +charge; and though I am not so strong as I could wish, I may, with +prudence, hope to have health for a few years to sustain me in +duties of so much interest.</p> +<p>I hope your Lordship will pardon my taking advantage of the +present occasion to say a few words on the state of affairs in the +north-west, which are now of such absorbing interest. I have been +for some time impressed with the belief that the system of +administration in the Punjaub has created doubts as to the ultimate +intention of our Government with regard to the restoration of the +country to the native ruler when he comes of age. The native +aristocracy of the country seem to have satisfied themselves that +our object has been to retain the country, and that this could be +prevented only by timely resistance. The sending European officers +to relieve the chief of Mooltan, and to take possession of the +country and fort, seems to have removed the last lingering doubt +upon this point; and Molraj seems to have been satisfied that in +destroying them he should be acting according to the wishes of all +his class, and all that portion of the population who might aspire +to employment under a native rule. This was precisely the +impression created by precisely the same means in Afghanistan; and +I believe that the notion now generally prevalent is, that our +professed intentions of delivering over the country to its native +ruler were not honest, and that we should have appropriated the +country to ourselves could we have done so.</p> +<p>There are two classes of native Governments in India. In one the +military establishments are all national, and depend entirely upon +the existence of native rule. They are officered by the aristocracy +of the country, chiefly landed, who know that they are not fitted +for either civil or military office under our system, and must be +reduced to beggary or insignificance should our rule be substituted +for that of their native chief. In the other, all the +establishments are foreign, like our own. The Seiks were not +altogether of the first class, like those of Rajpootana and +Bundelcund, but they were so for the most part; and when they saw +all offices of trust by degrees being filled by Captain This and +Mr. That, they gave up all hopes of ever having their share in the +administration.</p> +<p>Satisfied that this was our error in Afghanistan, in carrying +out the views of Lord Ellenborough in the Gwalior State, I did +everything in my power to avoid it, and have entirely succeeded, I +believe; but it has not been done without great difficulty. I +considered Lord Hardinge's measures good, as they interposed Hindoo +States between us and a beggarly and fanatical country, which it +must be ruinous to our finances to retain, and into which we could +not avoid making encroachments, however anxious the Government +might be to avoid it, if our borders joined. But I supposed that we +should be content with guiding, controlling, and supervising the +native administration, and not take all the executive upon +ourselves to the almost entire exclusion of the native aristocracy. +I had another reason for believing that Lord Hardinge's measures +were wise and prudent. While we have a large portion of the country +under native rulers, their administration will contrast with ours +greatly to our advantage in the estimation of the people; and we +may be sure that, though some may be against us, many will be for +us. If we succeed in sweeping them all away, or absorbing them, we +shall be at the mercy of our native army, and they will see it; and +accidents may possibly occur to unite them, or a great portion of +them, in some desperate act. The thing is possible, though +improbable; and the best provision against it seems to me to be the +maintenance of native rulers, whose confidence and affection can be +engaged, and administrations improved under judicious +management.</p> +<p>The industrial classes in the Punjaub would, no doubt, prefer +our rule to that of the Seiks; but that portion who depend upon +public employment under Government for their subsistence is large +in the Punjaub, and they would nearly all prefer a native rule. +They have evidently persuaded themselves that our intention is to +substitute our own rule; and it is now, I fear, too late to remove +the impression. If your Lordship is driven to annexation, you must +be in great force; and a disposition must be shown on the part of +the local authorities to give the educated aristocracy of the +country a liberal share in the administration.</p> +<p>One of the greatest dangers to be apprehended in India is, I +believe, the disposition on the part of the dominant class to +appoint to all offices members of their own class, to the exclusion +of the educated natives. This has been nobly resisted hitherto; but +where every subaltern thinks himself in a condition to take a wife, +and the land opens no prospect to his children but in the public +service, the competition will become too great.</p> +<p>I trust that your Lordship will pardon my having written so +much, and believe me, with great respect, your Lordship's obedient +humble servant,</p> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>P.S.—The Commander-in-Chief has asked me, through the +Quartermaster-General, whether any corps can be spared from +Bundelcund. I shall say that we can spare two regiments—one +from Nagode, whose place can be supplied by a wing of the regiment +at Nowgow, and one from Jhansee, whose place can be supplied from +the Gwalior Contingent, if your Lordship sees no objection, as a +temporary arrangement.</p> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Right Hon.<br> +the Earl of Dalhousie,<br> + &c. +&c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 30th January, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>A salute of twenty-one guns had been fired here by the King for +the sadly dear victory over Shere Sing, and another has been fired +to-day for the fall of Mooltan. The King continues very ill, but no +danger seems to be apprehended. The disease is accompanied by very +untoward secondary symptoms, which are likely ultimately to destroy +him, and render his life miserable while it lasts. How much of +these symptoms he derives from his birth, and how much from his own +excesses, is uncertain.</p> +<p>The impression regarding the minister, mentioned in my last +note, was from a talk with him while he was, it seems, under the +influence of fever. In later conversations he has been more lucid; +but he is a third-rate man, and quite unequal to the burthen that +the favour of the King has placed upon him. That favour will, +however, be but of short duration, for the King is said to have +expressed great distrust in his capacity to do any of the things he +promised, more especially to collect the immense arrears of revenue +now due.</p> +<p>I am preparing tables of the revenue and expenditure, and of the +machinery in all branches, and hope soon to submit a clearer view +of the state of things than Government is in the habit of getting +on such occasions; but I have to wade through vast volumes of +correspondence to ascertain what has been said and done in the +questions that will come under consideration, to conduct current +duties, and to become acquainted with the people in my new field, +European and native.</p> +<p>I want to ask you whether I could, with any prospect of success +just now, propose a plan which I have much at heart in the Thuggee +and Dacoity Department. The Lieutenant-Governor, I feel assured, +will advocate it. Major Graham is about to obtain his regimental +majority, with a certain prospect of soon obtaining the command of +his regiment, which will give him twelve hundred a-month. I am +anxious to retain him; for his services have been, and would +continue to be, of vast importance to the North-West Provinces. I +should like to propose that he be made superintendent of Thuggee +and Dacoity in those provinces upon a salary of, say eleven hundred +rupees a-month. I would at the same time propose that the +Shahjehanpoor office, lately under Major Ludlow, be done up, and +the duties confided to the assistant-magistrate, with a small +establishment, he to receive an extra salary, say, one hundred +rupees a-month. The same with regard to the Azimghur office, now +under Captain Ward, who could be sent to Rajpootana. Elliot is not +suited well to the work, according to those who have seen most of +him and of it; and you might be able to put him to some other for +which he is fitted. Should you think it desirable to retain him in +Rajpootana, Captain Ward may for the present remain where he is; +and the saving from the Shahjehanpoor office will more than cover +the increase for Major Graham. Pray let me know as soon as you can +whether such a proposal would be likely to be well received. +Graham's services have been and will be most valuable to all the +local authorities at and under Agra.</p> +<p>I suppose the fate of the Punjaub is sealed, for though the +Governor-General might wish to spare it, the home authorities and +the home people will hardly brook the prospect or the chance of +another struggle of the same kind, particularly if the Afghans have +really joined the Seiks under Chutter Sing. The tendency to +annexation, already strong at home, will become still stronger when +the news of our late losses arrive. They indicate a stronger +assurance of national sympathy on the part of the chiefs and troops +opposed to us than was generally calculated upon. The fall of +Mooltan will have relieved the Governor-General's mind from much of +the anxiety caused by the inartistic management of the +Commander-in-Chief.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To H. M. Elliot, Esq.,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 7th March, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliott,</p> +<p>I may mention what has been the state of feeling at Lucknow +regarding the state of affairs in the Punjaub, though it has become +of less interest to the Governor-General now that so decided a +victory has crowned his efforts. During the whole contest the +Government five per cent. notes have been every day sold in my +office at par, and I question whether this can be said of the +offices in Calcutta. One day during the races, on the King's firing +a salute for victory, the European gentlemen talked about it at the +stand with many of the first of the native aristocracy. They said +that the Seiks could not fight as they were fighting unless there +had been some general feeling of distrust as to our ultimate +intentions with regard to the Punjaub which united them together; +and that this feeling must be as strong with the Durbar and those +who did not fight as with those who did. I was not present, as I +did not attend the races; but I found the same opinion prevailing +among all with whom I conversed. But all seemed to be perfectly +satisfied as to the utter hopelessness of the struggle, as evinced +by the great barometer of the Government paper.</p> +<p>I suppose Dost Mahomed's force in Peshawur will have proceeded +in all haste to the Khyber on hearing of the defeat of their +friends, and that General Gilbert's fine division will find none of +them to contend with; and that Gholab Sing will be glad of an +occasion to display his zeal by keeping Shore Sing and his father +out of the hills.</p> +<p>The river Indus will, I suppose, hardly be considered so safe a +boundary as the hills; for if any danger is to be apprehended from +the west, it would not be safe to leave the enemy so fine a field +to organize their forces upon after emerging from the difficult +passes. Well organized upon that field, a force could cross the +river anywhere in the cold and hot seasons; and the revenue of that +field would aid in keeping up a force that might in the day of need +be used against us. It was a great error committed by Lord Hastings +in allowing the Nepaulese the fertile portion of the Jurac, which +then yielded only two lacs of rupees, but now yields thirteen, and +will, ere long, yield twenty. Without this their military force +would have been altogether insignificant; but it is not so now.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To H. M. Elliot, Esq.,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 20th March, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>The King continues much the same as when I last wrote. Under +skilful treatment he might soon get well; but the prescriptions of +his best native physicians are little attended to, and he has not +yet consented to consult an European doctor. He could not have a +better doctor than Leekie, and the natives have great confidence in +him; but his Majesty has not expressed any wish to see or consult +him. If he did so, the chances are one hundred to one against his +taking his medicine.</p> +<p>I do not like to write a public letter on the subject, but am +anxious to know the Governor-General's wishes as to whether any new +engagements should be entered into in case of the King's decease, +and with whom.</p> +<p>The instructions contained in your letter of the 16th August, +1847, referred to in my last, will be carried out; but the +Governor-General may wish to have the new arrangements recorded in +a former treaty, the heads of the royal family consenting thereto, +as at Gwalior, when the regency was appointed. I have no copy of +the treaty made at Lahore, where the regency was appointed.</p> +<p>I should think it desirable to give the members of the regency +each distinct duties, so that he may feel responsible for them, and +take a pride in doing them well. One should be at the head of the +Revenue Department, and another at the head of the Judicial and +Police, each having a deputy; and the Resident, as president, +should have a deputy. These would be sufficient for a regency, and +could form a court, or council, to deliberate and decide about +measures of legislation and administration.</p> +<p>The mother of the King would be the best person to consult upon +the nomination of the members in the first instance; but neither +she nor any other female of the royal family should have any share +in the administration.</p> +<p>All important measures adopted by the Council should be +submitted for the consideration of the Governor-General; and no +member of the Council should be removed without his Lordship's +consent. No important measure adopted by the Council, and +sanctioned by the Governor-General, should at any future time be +liable to be abolished or altered without the sanction of our +Government previously obtained through the Resident.</p> +<p>On the heir-apparent attaining his majority, every member of the +regency who has discharged his duties faithfully should have for +life a pension equal to half the salary enjoyed by him while in +office, and be guaranteed in the enjoyment of this half by the +British Government.</p> +<p>The measures thus adopted during the minority would form a code +for future guidance, and tend at least to give the thing which Oude +most wants—stability to good sales, and to the machinery by +which they are to be enforced.</p> +<p>The King's brother—a very excellent man, who was +Commander-in-Chief during his father's life-time, but is now +nothing—might also be consulted with the mother of the King +in the nomination of the regency, and made a party with her to the +new treaty.</p> +<p>These are all the points which appear to me at present to call +for instructions.</p> +<p>The harvests promise to be abundant, but the collections come in +slowly, and the establishments are all greatly in arrear. I don't +like to write publicly on these subjects, because it is almost +impossible here to prevent what is so written from getting to the +Court; but the Governor-General's instructions were sent to me in +that form without the same risk.</p> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To H. M. Elliot, Esq.,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 23rd March, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>It will perhaps be well to add to the regency, in case of the +King's death, a controller of the household, making three members +of equal grade, and to have no deputy for the Resident, or +President of the Regency. It may also be well to add the mother of +the heir apparent to the persons to be consulted in the selection +of the members of the regency, though she is a person of no mark or +influence in either public or private affairs at present.</p> +<p>The mother of the present King, his brother, the mother of the +heir-apparent, and the young heir-apparent himself will be enough +to have a voice in the selection.</p> +<p>I conclude that it will be the Governor-General's wish that the +heir-apparent should be placed on the throne immediately after the +death of his father, for the slightest hesitation or delay in this +matter would be mischievous in such a place as Lucknow. As soon as +this is done, I can proceed to consult about the nomination of the +regency. The members will, of course, be chosen from among the +highest and most able members of the aristocracy present at the +capital, and they can be installed in office the day they are +chosen. I do not apprehend any confusion or disturbance; but +measures must be adopted immediately to pay up arrears due to the +establishments, and dismiss all that are useless.</p> +<p>The, King is not worse—on the contrary, he is said to be +better; but the hot season may be too much for him. His present +state, with a minister weak in body and not very strong in mind, is +very unsatisfactory. Fortunately the harvest is unusually fine.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To H. M. Elliot, Esq.,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 8th May, 1849. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>Dr. Bell, has relieved Dr. Leekie from his charge, and I am glad +that so able and experienced a medical officer has been appointed +to it by your Lordship, for he will have the means of doing much +good here if he can secure the confidence and esteem of his native +patients. The way has been well paved for him by Dr. Leekie, who, +in professional ability, large experience, and perfect frankness of +character, is one of the first men I have met; and I regret +exceedingly that the King has never manifested any wish to consult +him or any other European physician.</p> +<p>Being anxious that both Dr. Leekie and Dr. Bell should have an +opportunity of seeing the King, and forming some opinion as to his +state of health, I proposed that his Majesty should receive them at +the same time with Captain Bird on his taking leave previous to his +departure for Simla. As it is usual for the residency surgeon to +wait on his Majesty when he first enters on his charge and when he +quits it, I knew that such a proposal would not give rise to any +feelings of doubt or uneasiness, and he at once expressed his wish +to see them. Yesterday, about noon, all three went to the palace, +and sat for some time in conversation with the King. They found him +much better in bodily health than they expected, and in the course +of conversation, found no signs of any confusion of ideas, and are +of opinion that in the hands of a skilful European physician he +would soon be quite well. His Majesty is hypochondriac, and +frequently under the influence of the absurd delusions common to +such persons; but he is quite sane during long intervals, and on +all subjects not connected with such delusions.</p> +<p>When in health, the King never paid much attention to business, +and his illness is, therefore, less felt than it would have been in +the conduct of affairs; but it is nevertheless felt, and that in a +very vital part—the collection of the revenue. The expenses +of Government are about one hundred (100) lacs a-year; and the +collections this year have not amounted to more than sixty (60), +owing to this illness, and to a deficiency in the autumn harvests. +All establishments are greatly in arrears in consequence; and the +King has been obliged to make some heavy drafts upon the reserved +fund left him by his father. I only wish none had been made for a +less legitimate purpose. The parasites, by whom he has surrounded +himself exclusively, have, it is said, been drawing upon it still +more largely during the King's illness, under the apprehension of a +speedy dissolution. The minister is a weak man, who stands somewhat +in awe of these musicians and eunuchs, who have no fear of anybody +but the Resident, whom it is, of course, their interest to keep as +much as possible in the dark. As soon as his Majesty gets stronger, +I shall see him more frequently than I have yet done, and be better +able to judge of what prospect of amendment there may be while he +reigns. If he ever conversed with his male relations, or any of the +gentlemen at the capital worthy of his confidence, I should have +more hope than I now have.</p> +<div class="s4">With great respect I remain</div> +<div class="s2">Your Lordship's obedient humble servant,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Right Hon.<br> +The Earl of Dalhousie, K.T.,<br> +Governor-General of India.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 11th June, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>It will be desirable to have at least the wing of a regiment +sent as soon as possible to Jhansee. Bukhut Sing, who was allowed +to escape after having been surrendered to Ellis at Kyrma, has been +since allowed to get too much a-head. He is aided by the Khereecha +people openly; and secretly, I fear, by some of the Powar Thakoors +of Gigree under the rose. There are four small fortified places +between thirty and forty miles west of Jhansee, and not far from +the Sinde, held by Powar Thakoors, who are a shade higher in caste +than the Bondeylas; and, in consequence, all the principal chiefs +take their daughters in marriage. They are needy, and as proud as +Lucifer, and will always eke out their means by robbery if they +can. The Jhansee chief cannot keep them in order without our aid. +While I was there, they did not venture to rob after the surrender +of the Jylpoor man in September, 1844; and the Hareecha and Hyrwa +people ventured only to send a few highwaymen into the Gwalior +state west of the Sinde river.</p> +<p>The Powar places I mean are Jignee, Odgow, and Belchree. There +was a fourth near them just as bad, called Nowneer; but the +Thakoors of that place are all well disposed towards the Jbansee +chief, and are obedient. All are in the Jhansee state. If the +marauders are pressed with energy and sagacity, they will be soon +put down; and you may rely upon the native chiefs not supporting +them, though, from their marriage connection, they may afford them +an asylum secretly when fugitives.</p> +<p>Who the Gwalior men are that are plundering I know not; but they +are men of no note, and, if pressed skilfully and rigorously in +time, will soon be put down. The chiefs may all be relied upon, I +believe. They are mere gangs of robbers; and you know how easily a +fanatic or successful robber may collect a body for plunder in any +part of India, where the danger of pursuit is small. Had they been +dealt with properly at first, they would never have got a-head so +far: time has been lost, and they will now give trouble, +particularly at such a season. The evil will be confined to the +tract west of Jhansee occupied by these Powars. The chiefs are to +the east, north, and south of Jhansee; and the marauders would be +allowed to enter their estates. The Governor-General need not feel +uneasy about them. The Nurwar chief was always needy, and disposed +to keep and shelter robbers. His few villages were resumed on his +death last year, and his widows pensioned; but some of his +relations are, I conclude, among the marauders. There is a wild +tract west of the Sinde in the Gwalior territory, to which the +marauders will fly when hard pressed in the Jhansee state.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To H. M. Elliot, Esq.,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 18th June, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>I was writing the last sentence of a long Report on Oude affairs +when your note came in. There are some parts that will amuse, some +that will interest, and the whole gives, I believe, a fair +exposition of the evils, with a suggestion for the best remedy that +I can think of. It is the formation of a Board, consisting of a +President and two members nominated by the King, subject to the +confirmation of the Governor-General, and not to be dismissed +without his Lordship's previous sanction. This Board to make the +settlement of the revenue proposed when Lord Hardinge was here, and +to have the carrying it out.</p> +<p>This Board will be a substitute for the Regency, but not so +good. The King is well in body; and, unless he will abdicate, we +cannot get the minority for the Regency. I think, upon the whole, +the Governor-General will think the Report worth reading, and the +remedy worth considering. It will bring little additional trouble +on Government, but a good deal on the Resident, who will require to +have had much administrative experience.</p> +<p>Things are coming fast to the crisis, in which I must be called +upon to advise and act, a thing which the fiddlers and eunuchs +dread. I can't trust the Report in the office, and the hand may not +be so legible as I could wish.</p> +<p>The Court is very averse to the appointment of a successor to +Wilcox; and it is with reluctance they have kept on the native +officers who go on with the work. I told them either to keep them +on or to pension them. I don't think a successor should be urged +upon them in the present state of beggary to which they are +reduced. Nobody sees any use in it, while there are a vast number +of useful things neglected for want of funds; as to the +instruments, the Court care nothing about them, knowing nothing of +their value; and would, no doubt, be glad to give them to any +establishment requiring them.</p> +<p>The minister, singers, and eunuchs are all now sworn to be +united; but this cannot last many days. The "pressure from +without," in the clamour for pay, will soon upset the minister; but +they will find it difficult to get another to undertake the burthen +of forty or fifty lacs of balance, and a score of fiddlers and +eunuchs as privy councillors. Something must be done to +<i>unthrone</i> these wretches, or things will be worse and worse. +The best remedy that occurs to me is to interpose an authority +which they dare not question, and the King cannot stultify; and if +the King objects, to tell him that he must abdicate in favour of +his son. This, of all courses, will be the best, and give no +trouble; things would go on like "marriage bells," without any +trouble whatever to the Governor-General and your +<i>secretariat</i>.</p> +<p>I am glad that the Punjaub Board goes on well. It is a scene of +great importance and interest. The only way to get the confidence +and affection of men is to show that we confide in them; and I +don't think we need fear Seik soldiers while we treat them, and +govern the country well.</p> +<p>We were very anxious about Mrs. Elliot for many days, for the +accounts from Simla were bad; but she is now, I am told, quite +restored. I have suffered much less than I expected: I recovered +much sooner. The doctors tell me that I should have had no right to +expect an earlier recovery had I been twenty years younger.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To H. M. Elliot, Esq.,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 24th July, 1849. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>I have to-day written to Lord Fitzroy Somerset to request that +he will do me the favour to have the name of my only son placed, if +possible, upon his Grace the Commander-in-Chiefs list of candidates +for commissions in Her Majesty's Dragoons. He was sixteen years of +age on the 6th of January last, and is now prosecuting his studies +under the care of Mr. C. J. Yeatman, Westow Hill, Norwood, Surrey, +five miles from London.</p> +<p>He is an amiable and gentlemanly lad, and will, I trust, be able +to qualify himself to pass the examination required; and my agents +in London will be prepared to lodge the money for his commission +when available. He is my eldest child, and will have to take care +of four sisters when I am taken from them, as I must be ere long; +and I am anxious to place him in the position from which he can do +so with most advantage. I could wish to have had him placed in the +Bengal Civil Service. But I have no personal friend in the +direction, and no good that I may have had an opportunity of doing +for the people and government of India can be urged as a claim to +any employment for my child.</p> +<p>Having carried out your Lordship's policy successfully over a +large and interesting portion of India, and to the advantage, I +believe, of many millions of people, you will not, I think, be +offended at my soliciting your Lordship's protection for my only +son. He will stand in need of it, since I know no other that I can +solicit for him; and though my name might be of some use to him in +India, it can be of none in England. With a view to his taking care +of his sisters, I could wish him to be in a regiment not likely to +come to India. General Thackwell tells me that the regiments most +likely to come to India soon are the 6th Dragoons, 9th Hussars, and +12th Lancers. Perhaps your Lordship might be willing to speak to +Lord F. Somerset, or even to his Grace the Duke himself, in favour +of my son, who will be proud at any time when commanded to attend +your Lordship. I have the misfortune to have been with some of the +most inefficient sovereigns that ever sat upon a throne, with +deficient harvests last year, and a threat of still more deficient +ones this year; and with a Government so occupied with the new +acquisitions of the Punjaub as to be averse to interfere much with +the management of any other portion of the country.</p> +<p>I remain, your lordship's most obedient, humble servant,</p> +<div class="s5">W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Right Hon. Gen. Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B.,</p> +<div class="s1">&c. &c. + &c.</div> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 24th July, 1849. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>May I, request that your Lordship will do me the favour to have +the name of my only son, Henry Arthur Sleeman, placed upon his +Grace the Commander-in-Chiefs list of candidates for a commission +in one of her Majesty's Dragoon regiments?</p> +<p>He was sixteen years of age on the 6th of January last; and he +is now prosecuting his studies under the care of Mr. C. J. Yeatman, +at Westow Hill, in Surrey, five miles from London, who will be +instructed to have him prepared for the examination he will have to +undergo. My agents, Messrs. Denny, Clark, and Co., Austin Friars, +London, will be prepared to lodge the money, and to forward to me +any letters with which they may be honoured by your Lordship. My +rank is that of Lieut.-Colonel in the Honourable East India +Company's service, and present situation, that of Resident at the +Court of his Majesty the King of Oude.</p> +<div class="s1">I have the honour to be,</div> +<div class="s3">Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant,</div> +<div class="s5">W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Lieut.-General Lord Fitzroy Somerset, G.C.B.,<br> +Military Secretary to his Grace the Commander-in-Chief,<br> +Horse Guards, London.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, August 1849. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>1. I will answer your Lordship's queries in the order in which +they are made.</p> +<p>2. The King, as I shall show in my next official report, is +utterly unfit to have anything to do with the administration, since +he has never taken, or shown any disposition to take any heed of +what is done or suffered in the country. My letters have made no +impression whatever upon him. He spends all his time with the +singers and the females they provide to amuse him, and is for seven +and eight hours together living in the house of the chief singer, +Rajee-od Dowla—a fellow who was only lately beating a drum to +a party of dancing-girls, on some four rupees a-month. These +singers are all Domes, the lowest of the low castes of India, and +they and the eunuchs are now the virtual sovereigns of the country, +and must be so as long as the King retains any power. The minister +depends entirely upon them, and between them and a few others about +Court everything that the King has to dispose of is sold.</p> +<p>3. To secure any reform in the administration, it will be +necessary to require the King to delegate all the powers of +sovereignty to the Board. This he can do, retaining the name of +Sovereign and control of his household; or abdicating in favour of +his son the heir apparent, to whom the Board would be a regency +till he comes of age. If the alternative be given him, and he +choose the former, it should be on the condition, that if his +favourites continue to embarrass the Government, he will be +required to submit to the latter. Oude is now, in fact, without a +Government: the minister sees the King for a few minutes once a +week or fortnight, and generally at the house of the singer above +named. The King sees nobody else save the singers and eunuchs, and +does not even pretend to know anything or care anything about +public affairs. His sons have been put under their care, and will +be brought up in the same manner. He has become utterly despised +and detested by his people for his apathy amidst so much suffering, +and will not have the sympathy of any one, save such as have been +growing rich by abusing his power.</p> +<p>4. The members of such a Board as I propose, invested with full +powers, and secured in office under our guarantee during good +conduct, would go fearlessly to work; they would divide the labour; +one would have the settlement of the land-revenue, with the charge +of the police; the second would have the judicial Courts; and if +the Board be a regency during the minority, the control of the +household; the third would have the army. Each would have the +nomination of the officers of his department, subject to the +confirmation of the whole Board, and the dismissal would depend +upon the sanction of the whole or two-thirds, as might be found +expedient. If the sanction of all three be required. Court +influence may secure one vote, and impunity to great offenders. +Neither of the three would be liable to be deprived of his office, +except with the consent, or on the requisition of the +Governor-General; and this privilege they would value too highly to +risk it by neglect or misconduct. The King's brother—a most +worthy and respectable, though not able man—might be a +member, if agreeable to the King.</p> +<p>5. The abuses they would have to remedy are all perfectly well +understood, and the measures required to remedy them are all simple +and obvious: a settlement would be made with the landholders, based +upon past avowed collections; they would be delighted to bind +themselves to pay such an assessment, as they would escape from the +more than one-third more, which they have now to pay, in one form +or another, to contractors and Court favourites; the large +landholders, who are for the most part now in open resistance to +the Government, would rejoice at the prospect of securing their +estates to their posterity, without the necessity of continually +fighting for them.</p> +<p>6. The army would soon become efficient: at present every man +purchases his place in it from the minister and the singers and +eunuchs, and he loses it as soon as he becomes disabled from wounds +or sickness. The only exceptions are the four regiments under +Captain Burlow, Captain Bunbury, Captain Magness, and Soba Sing, +lately Captain Buckley's; in these, all that are disabled from +wounds or sickness are kept on the strength of the corps, and each +corps has with it a large invalid establishment of this kind +unrecognized by the Government. They could not get their men to +fight, without it. These regiments are put up at auction every +season, and often several times during one season; the contractor +who bids highest gets the services of the best for the season or +the occasion; the purchase-money is divided between the minister +and the Court favourites, singers, &c. These are really +efficient corps, and the others might soon be made the same. The +men are as fine-looking and brave as those of our, regular +infantry, for Oude teems with such men, who have from their boyhood +been fighting against contractors under the heads of their clan or +families.</p> +<p>7. The rest are for the most part commanded by boys, or Court +favourites, who seldom see them, keep about two-thirds of what are +borne on the rolls and paid for, and take about one-third of the +pay of what remain for themselves. The singer, Rajee-od Dowla, the +prime favourite above named, has two regiments thus treated, and of +course altogether inefficient, ragged, hungry, and discontented. It +will be easy to remedy all this, get excellent men, and inspire +them with excellent spirit by instituting a modified pension +establishment for men disabled in the discharge of their duties, +and providing for their regular pay and efficient command.</p> +<p>8. This would prevent the necessity of employing British troops, +except on rare and great occasions; the settlement of the +land-revenue, and knowledge that they would be employed if +required, would keep the great landholders in obedience. It would +be well to have back the corps of infantry and two guns that were +taken away from Pertanghurh, in Oude, in 1835. This is all the +addition that would be required to secure an efficient Government; +and the scale to which our troops in Oude had been reduced up to +that time (1835) was generally considered the lowest compatible +with our engagements. A regiment of cavalry had been borrowed from +Pertanghurh for the Nepaul and Mahratta wars in 1814 and 1817; it +was finally withdrawn in 1823.</p> +<p>9. The judicial Courts would be well conducted while the +presiding officers felt secure in their tenure of office, which +they would do when their dismissal depended upon proof of guilt or +incompetency sufficient to satisfy a Board guaranteed by our +Government.</p> +<p>10. The police would soon become efficient under the supervision +and control of respectable revenue-officers, having the same +feeling of security in their tenure of office. All the +revenue-officers would, of course, be servants of Government +instead of contractors. There would be grades answering to our +commissioners of divisions, say four; 2nd, to our collectors of +revenue, say twenty-eight; 3rd, deputy-collectors, say +twenty-eight; all under the Board, and guided by the member +intrusted with that branch of the administration: all would be +responsible for the police over their respective jurisdictions.</p> +<p>11. Oude ought to be, and would soon be, under such a system, a +garden; the soil is the finest in India, so are the men; and there +is no want of an educated class for civil office: on the contrary, +they abound almost as much as the class of soldiers. From the +numerous rivers which flow through the country the water is +everywhere near the surface, and the peasantry would manure and +irrigate every field, if they could do so in peace and security, +with a fair prospect of being permitted to reap the fruits. The +terrible corruption of the Court is the great impediment to all +this good: the savings would more than pay all the increased outlay +required for rendering establishments efficient in all branches, +while the treasury would receive at least one-third more than the +expenditure; that is, 1,50,00,000 Rs., or one crore and a half.</p> +<p>12. From the time the treaty of 1801 was made, up to within the +last few years, the term "internal enemies" was interpreted to mean +the great landholders who might be in resistance to the Government, +and this interpretation was always acted upon; the only difficulty +was in ascertaining whether the resistance was or was not, under +the circumstances, justifiable. While employed in Oude with my +regiment, and on the staff in 1818 and 1819, I saw much of the +correspondence between the Resident and Commandant; many letters +from the Resident, Colonel Baillie, mentioning how bitterly +Saadulullee, with whom that treaty was made, had complained, that +after the sacrifice of half his kingdom for the aid of British +troops in keeping down these powerful and refractory landholders, +he could not obtain their assistance without being subject to such +humiliating remonstrances as he got from officers commanding +stations whenever he asked for it. Aid was often given, and forts +innumerable were reduced from time to time, but the privilege of +building them up again was purchased from the same or another +contractor next season.</p> +<p>13. At this time I have calls for at least two battalions and a +train of artillery, from about six quarters, to enforce orders on +these landholders. Captain Hearsey has had men of his Frontier +Police killed and wounded by them on the western border, and +declares that nothing can be done to secure offenders, refugees +from our districts, with a less force. Captain Orr has had several +men wounded, and prisoners taken from him, by the same class on the +eastern border, and declares to the same effect. Sixteen sepoys of +our army, 59th N. I., on their way home on furlough were attacked +and two of them killed, three weeks ago, by a third Zumeendar, at +Peernugger, his own estate, within ten miles of the Setapore +Cantonments, where we have a regiment. Captain Barlow's regiment +and artillery, and another, with all Captain Hearsey's Frontier +Police, are in pursuit of him. Four others have committed similar +outrages on our officers and sepoys and their families, and the +Government declares its utter inability to enforce obedience or +grant any redress, without a larger force than they have to send. +Great numbers of the same class are plundering and burning +villages, and robbing and murdering on the highway, and laughing at +the impotency of the sovereign. It was certainly for aid in +coercing these "internal enemies" that the Sovereign of Oude ceded +his territories to us, and for no other, and that aid may be +afforded at little cost, and to the great benefit of all under the +system I have submitted for your Lordship's consideration. It will +be very rarely required, and when called for, a mere demonstration +will, in three cases out of four, be sufficient to effect the +object.</p> +<p>14, After a time, or when the heir-apparent comes of age, the +duties of the guaranteed members of the Board may safely be united +to a supervision over the settlement made with the principal +landholders, whose obedience our Government may consider itself +bound to aid in enforcing; all the rest may be left to a competent +sovereign; and there will be nothing in the system opposed to +native usages, feelings, and institutions, to prevent its being +adhered to. I should mention, that many of these landholders have +each armed and disciplined bodies of two thousand foot and five +hundred horse; and, what is worse, the command of as many as they +like of "Passies," armed with bows and arrows. These Passies are +reckless thieves and robbers of the lowest class, whose only +professions are thieving and acting as Chowkedars, or village +police. They are at the service of every refractory Zumeendar, for +what they can get in booty in his depredations. The disorders in +Oude have greatly increased this class, and they are now roughly +estimated at a hundred thousand families; these are the men from +whom travellers on the road suffer most.</p> +<p>15. A second Assistant would be required for a time to enable +the Resident to shift off the daily detail of the treasury, which +has become the largest in India,—I believe, beyond those at +the three Presidencies.<br> +A good English copyist, capable of mapping, will be required in the +Resident's office at 150, and two Persian writers 100; total 250. +These are the only additions which appear to me to be required.</p> +<p>16. I annex a list of the regiments now in the King's service, +Telungas, or regulars, and Nujeebs, or irregulars; and with my next +official report I will submit a list of all the establishments, +civil and military.</p> +<p>17. The King's habits will not alter; he was allowed by his +father to associate, as at present, with these singers from his +boyhood, and he cannot endure the society of other persons. His +determination to live exclusively in their society, and to hear and +see nothing of what his officers do or his people suffer, he no +longer makes any attempt to conceal. It would be idle to hope for +anything from him but a resignation of power into more competent +hands; whatever he retains he will assuredly give to his singers +and eunuchs, or allow them to take. No man can take charge of any +office without anticipating the income by large gratuities to them, +and the average gratuity which a contractor for a year, of a +district yielding three lacs of rupees a-year, is made to pay, +before he leaves the capital to enter upon his charge, is estimated +to be fifty thousand rupees: this he exacts from the landholders as +the first payment, for which they receive no credit in the public +account. All other offices are paid for in the same way.</p> +<p>18. The King would change his minister to-morrow if the singers +were to propose it; and they would propose it if they could get +better terms or perquisites under any other. No minister could hold +office a week without their acquiescence. Under such circumstances +a change of ministers would be of little advantage to the +country.</p> +<p>19. The King will yield to the measure proposed only under the +assurance, that if he did not, the Governor-General would be +reduced to the necessity of having recourse to that which Lord +Hardinge threatened in the 10th, 11th, and 12th paragraphs of his +letter of October, 1847, and the Court of Directors, on the +representation of Lord William Bentinck, sanctioned in 1831. The +Court was at that time so strongly impressed with the conviction +that the threat would be carried into execution, that they +prevailed upon the President to undertake a mission to the Home +Government, with a view to enlarge the President's powers of +interference, in order to save them from the alternative. This led +to Mr. Maddock's removal from the Presidency; all subsequent +correspondence has tended to keep up the apprehension that the +threatened measure would be had recourse to, and to stimulate +sovereigns and ministers to exertion till the present reign. The +present King has, from the time he ascended the throne, manifested +a determination to take no share whatever in the conduct of +affairs; to spend the whole of his time among singers and eunuchs, +and the women whom they provide for his amusement; and carefully to +exclude from access, all who suffer from the maladministration of +his servants, or who could and would tell him what was done by the +one and suffered by the other.</p> +<p>20. But it is not his minister and favourites alone who take +advantage of this state of things to enrich themselves; corruption +runs through all the public offices, and Maharaja Balkishen, the +Dewan, or <i>Chancellor of the Exchequer</i>, is notoriously among +the most corrupt of all, taking a large portion of the heavy +balances due by contractors to get the rest remitted or +misrepresented. There is no Court in the capital, criminal, civil, +or fiscal, in which the cases are not tampered with by Court +favourites, and divided according to their wishes, unless the +President has occasion to interfere in behalf of guaranteed +pensioners, or officers and sepoys of our army. On his appearance +they commonly skulk away, like jackals from a dead carcase when the +tiger appears; but the cases in which he can interfere are +comparatively very few, and it is with the greatest delay and +difficulty that he can get such cases decided at all. A more +lamentable state of affairs it is difficult to conceive.</p> +<div class="s1">With great respect, I remain,</div> +<div class="s2">Your Lordship's obedient humble servant,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,<br> + &c. +&c. &c.</p> +<p>P.S.—I find that the King's brother is altogether +incompetent for anything like business or responsibility. The +minister has not one single quality that a minister ought to have; +and the King cannot be considered to be in a sound state of +mind.</p> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<br> +<br> +<div class="s4"><i>Annexures</i>.</div> +<p> 1. Extracts, pars. 9 to 14 of Lord Hardinge's +Memorial.<br> + 2. Statement of British troops in Oude in Jan. 1835 and +1849.<br> + 3. Table of the King of Oude's troops of all kinds.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 6th September, 1849. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>I take the liberty to enclose, for your Lordship's perusal, a +more full and correct Table of the troops and police in Oude than +that which I submitted with my last letter, as also a Table of all +the other branches of expenditure—save those of buildings, +charities, presents, &c., which are ever varying.</p> +<p>It may be estimated that two-thirds of the numbers in the corps +of Telungas and Nujeebs paid for are kept up; and that one-half of +what are kept up are efficient, all having to purchase their +places, and those most unfit being disposed to pay highest.</p> +<p>Further: one-half of what are kept up are supposed to be always +absent; and when they are so, they receive one-half of their pay, +and the other half is divided between the commandant and the +paymaster. These two are supposed to take, on one pretence or +other, one third of the pay of those who are actually present. The +corps of Telungas commanded by Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and +Magness are exceptions; but the pay department is not under their +control, and they are obliged to acquiesce in abuses that impair +the efficiency their corps.</p> +<p>After reducing one-third-of these corps, and rendering the +remaining two-thirds efficient, the force would be sufficient for +all purposes, and we may well dispense with the corps of regular +infantry which in my last letter I proposed to restore to Oude. It +will, however, be desirable to have a good and experienced infantry +officer as inspector, to see that the measures adopted for reform +are effectually carried out. An artillery officer as inspector will +also be desirable, as it will be necessary to have that branch of +the force in the best possible order, when Oude has to depend +chiefly on its own resources. A few European officers, too, for +commandants of corps and seconds in command will be +desirable—such as have been employed with native corps as +sergeant-majors or quartermaster-sergeants, and have obtained +distinctions for good conduct.</p> +<p>I should propose six primary stations as seats for the principal +Revenue and Judicial Courts, and the headquarters of the best corps +with cavalry and artillery; thirty second and third rate stations +for the subordinate Courts and detachments of troops and police. +All to be chosen, with reference to position in districts under +jurisdiction, and to salubrity of climate. At all these Stations +suitable buildings would be provided; and as all would be commenced +upon simultaneously, all would soon be ready.</p> +<p>Your Lordship will observe the small item put down for the +judicial establishments all over Oude. Such as are really kept up +are worthless, and are altogether without the confidence of the +people. The savings in the other branches of the expenditure will +more than cover all the outlay required for good ones.</p> +<p>The King continues to show the same aversion to hear anything +about public affairs, or to converse with any but the singers, +eunuchs, and females. At the great festival of the Eed, on the +first appearance of the present moon, he went out in procession, +but deputed his heir-apparent to receive the compliments in Durbar. +He does not suffer bodily pain, but is said to have long fits of +moping and melancholy, and he is manifestly hypochondriac. He +squanders the state jewels among the singers and eunuchs, who send +them out of the country as fast as they can. The members of his +family who have its interests most at heart, are becoming anxious +for some change; and by the time the two years expire, it will not, +perhaps, be difficult to induce him to put his affairs into other +hands. He would change his minister on the slightest hint from me; +but it would be of no use: the successor, pretending to carry on +the Government under the King's orders, would be little better than +the present minister is, and things would continue to be just as +bad as they now are: they certainly could not be worse.</p> +<p>The Board, composed of the first members of the Lucknow +aristocracy, would be, I think, both popular and efficient; and +with the aid of a few of the ablest of the native judicial and +revenue officers of our own districts, invited to Oude by the +prospect of higher pay and security in the tenure of office, would +soon have at work a machinery capable of securing to all their +rights, and enforcing from all their duties in every part of this, +at present, distracted country. We should soon have good roads +throughout the kingdom; and both they and the rivers would soon be +as secure as in our own provinces. I think, too, that I might +venture to promise that all would be effected without violence or +disturbance; all would see that everything was done for the benefit +of an oppressed people, and in good faith towards the reigning +family.</p> +<p>With great respect, I remain your Lordship's obedient, humble +servant.</p> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,<br> + &c. &c. + &c.</p> +<p>P.S.—I may mention that the King is now engaged in turning +into verse a long prose history called Hydree. About ten days ago +all the poets in Lucknow were assembled at the palace to hear his +Majesty read his poem. They sat with him, listening to his poem and +reading their own from nine at night till three in the morning. One +of the poets, the eldest son of a late minister, Mohamid-od Dowla, +Aga Meer, told me that the versification was exceedingly good for a +King. These are, I think, the only men, save the minister, the +eunuchs, and the singers who have had the honour of conversing with +his Majesty since I came here in January last.<br></p> +<div class="s5">W. H. S.</div> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 23rd September, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>I conclude that no further Tables will be required from me on +Oude statistics for the present. Should they be so, pray let me +know, and they shall be sent. I thought at first that it would be +thought bad taste in me to refer to the domestic troubles of the +King, but it is necessary to show the state to which his Majesty is +reduced in his palace. The facts mentioned are known and talked of +all over Lucknow and Oude generally, and tend more than greater +things to bring his conduct and character into contempt.</p> +<p>The time was certainly never so favourable to propose an +arrangement that shall secure a lasting and substantial reform, and +render Oude what it ought to be—a garden. The King is in +constant dread of poison, and would do anything to get relieved +from that dread, and all further importunity on the state of the +country. His chief wife would poison him to bring on the throne her +son, and restore to her her paramour, who is now at Cawnpoor, +waiting for such a change. Her uncle, the minister, would, the King +thinks, be glad to see him poisoned, in the hope of having to +conduct affairs during the minority. He is afraid to admonish his +other wife for her infidelities with the chief favourite and +singer, lest she should poison him to go off with her paramour to +Rampoor, whither he has sent the immense wealth that the King has +lavished upon him.</p> +<p>The whole family are most anxious that the King should resign +the reins into abler hands, and would, I feel assured, hail the +arrangement I have proposed as a blessing to them and the country. +All seems ripe for the change, and I hope the Governor-General will +consent to its being proposed soon. Any change in the ministry +would now be an obstacle to the arrangement, and such a change +might happen any morning. At the head of the Board, or Regency, I +should put Mohsin-od Dowla, grandson of Ghazee-od Deen, the first +King, and son-in-law of Moohummed Alee Shah, the third King. His +only son has been lately united in marriage to the King's daughter. +He is looked up to as the first man in Oude for character, and the +most able member of the royal family. He is forty-five years of +age. I should probably put two of the King's uncles in as the other +members, Azeemoshan and Mirza Khorum Buksh, whose names you will +find in the short appended list of those who have received no +stipends since the present King ascended the throne. These princes +cannot visit, the Resident except when they accompany the King +himself, so that I have never seen the two last that I recollect, +and only once conversed with the first. But their characters stand +very high. They are never admitted to the King, nor have they seen +him for more than a year, I believe.</p> +<p>The King will probably object to members of his family forming +the Board, but I dare say I shall be able to persuade him of the +advantage of it. Such a Board, so constituted, would be a pledge to +all India of the honesty of our intentions, and secure to us the +cordial good-will of all who are interested in the welfare of the +family and the good government of the country.</p> +<p>I should persuade the members to draw from the +<i>élite</i> of their own creed in our service to aid in +forming and carrying out the new system in their several +departments. We can give them excellent men in the revenue and +judicial branches, who will be glad to come when assured that they +will not be removed so long as they do their duty ably and +honestly, and will get pensions if their services are dispensed +with after a time. This is all I shall say at present.</p> +<div class="s4">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B.,<br> + &c. + &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>My Official Report went off on the 25th instant, and will have +been submitted, for your Lordship's consideration. It contains, I +believe, a faithful description of the abuses that exist and +require remedy, and of the obstacles which will be opposed to their +removal. But it does not tell all that might be told of the King +himself, who has become an object of odium and contempt to all but +those few despicable persons with whom he associates exclusively. +He eats, drinks, sleeps, and converses with the singers and eunuchs +and females alone, and the only female who has any influence over +him is the sister of the chief singer, Rusee-od Dowlah, whom he +calls his own sister. No member of the royal family or aristocracy +of Oude is ever admitted to speak to or see his Majesty, and these +contemptible singers are admitted to more equality and familiarity +than his own brothers or sons ever were; they go out, too, with +greater pomp than they or any of the royal family can; and are +ordered to be received with more honours as they pass through the +different palaces. The profligacy that exists within the palace +passes all belief, and these things excite more disgust among the +aristocracy of the capital than all the misrule and malversation +that arise from the King's apathy and incapacity.</p> +<p>Should your Lordship resolve upon interposing effectually to +remedy these disorders, I think it will be necessary to have at +Lucknow, for at least the first few months, a corps of irregular +cavalry. We have no cavalry in Oude, and none of the King's can be +depended upon. The first thing necessary will be the disbanding of +the African, or Hubshee corps, of three hundred men. They are +commanded by one of the eunuchs, and a fellow fit for any dark +purpose. They were formed into a corps, I believe, because no man's +life was safe in Lucknow while they were loose upon society.</p> +<p>I think the King will consent without much difficulty or +reluctance to delegate his powers to a Regency, but I am somewhat +afraid that he will object to its being composed of members of his +own family. The Sovereign has always been opposed to employing any +of his own relatives in office. I shall, I dare say, be able to get +over this difficulty, and it will be desirable to employ the best +members of the family in order to show the people of Oude, and of +India generally, that the object of our Government is an honest and +benevolent one.</p> +<p>A corps of irregular cavalry might be sent to Lucknow from +Goruckpoor, and its place there supplied for a season by a wing +from the corps at Legolee. There is little occasion for the +services of cavalry at either of these places at present. Without +any cavalry of our own here, and with this corps of African +assassins at Lucknow at the beck of the singers, eunuchs, and their +creature, the minister, neither the Resident nor any of the Regency +would be safe. The treasury and crown jewels would be open to any +one who would make away with them. If, therefore, your Lordship +should determine upon offering the king the alternative proposed, +no time should be lost in ordering the irregular corps from +Goruckpoor to Lucknow, to be held at the Resident's disposal. Its +presence will be required only for a few months.</p> +<p>I have mentioned, in my private letter to Sir H. M. Elliot, +three persons of high character for the Regency. Two of them are +brothers of the King's father. The third, and best, may be +considered as in all respects the first man in Oude. Mohsin-od +Dowlah is the grandson of the King, Ghasee-od Deen; his wife, and +the mother of his only son, is the sister of the King's father, and +his only son has been lately united in marriage to the present +King's daughter. He and his wife have large hereditary incomes, +under the guarantee of our Government, and his character for good +sense, prudence, and integrity stands higher, I believe, than that +of any other man in Oude.</p> +<p>All three belong to the number of the royal family who never +visit the Resident except in company with the King, and I have, in +consequence, never spoken to Mohsin-od Dowlah but once, and never +seen either of the other two whom I have named, Azeemoshan and +Khorum Bukeh, the King's uncles. The characters of all three are +very high, and in general esteem.</p> +<p>Things are coming to a very critical state. There is no money to +pay any one in the treasury, and the greater part of what comes in +is taken for private purposes, by those who are in power. All see +that there must soon be a great change, and are anxious "to make +hay while the sun shines." The troops are everywhere in a state +bordering on mutiny, but more particularly in and about the +capital, because they cannot indemnify themselves by the plunder of +the people as those in the distant districts do.</p> +<p>Fortunately the rains have this season been very favourable for +tillage, and the crops may be good if we can preserve them by, some +timely arrangement.</p> +<div class="s1">With great respect I remain,</div> +<div class="s2">Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie.</p> +<p>P.S.—I find that the irregular corps of cavalry has been +moved from Goruckpoor to Sultanpoor Benares, and that Lagolee and +Goruckpoor have now only one corps between them.</p> +<p>The Sultanpoor Benares corps might well spare a wing for +Lucknow, and so might the corps at Bareilly spare one.</p> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 11th October, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>Here is a little item of palace news, communicated by one of the +poets who has to assist his Majesty in selecting his verses, and +who knows a good deal about what is going on among the favourites. +Perhaps you may recollect him, Ameen-od Doulah, the eldest son of +the late Aga Meer.</p> +<p>There is not a greater knave than Walee Alee in India, I +believe. That his Majesty will consent to what the Governor-General +may authorise us to propose I have no doubt, for he and his family +are by this time satisfied that we shall propose nothing but what +is good for them and the people of Oude.</p> +<p>But the King is no longer in a sound state of mind, and will say +and do whatever the most plausible of the bad speakers may +recommend. When I see him, I must have his signature before +respectable witnesses to all his answers to distinct propositions, +and act upon them at once, as far as I may be authorised by the +Governor-General, or nothing will be done. It would not do for me +to commune with him about affairs till I get instructions from you, +as he would be sure to tell the singers, eunuchs, and minister all +that has been said the moment I left him.</p> +<p>He has never been a cruel or badly-disposed man, but his mind, +naturally weak, has entirely given way, and is now as helpless as +that of an infant. Every hour's delay will add to our difficulties, +and I wait most anxiously for orders. I am prepared with the new +arrangements, and feel sure that the system will work well, and +have the Governor-General's approval. I can explain it in a few +words, and show the details in a small Table all ready for +transmission when called for.</p> +<p>We shall have the royal family, the court, and people with us, +with the exception of the minister and the favourites, who are in +league with him, and those who share in the fruits of their +corruption. Fifteen lacs are spoken of as the means ready to get +either me out of the way or put a stop to all attempts of +improvement for the present. I have in my public letter mentioned +seven lacs as the average annual perquisites of the +minister—they are at present at least twelve.</p> +<div class="s4">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B.,<br> + &c. +&c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<center><a href="images/map1600.png"> +<img src="images/mapt.png" border="3" alt= +"Map of the Kingdom of Oude, showing the author's route"></a></center> +<br> +<blockquote> +<p>[Transcriber's Note: Map of the Kingdom of Oude - Drawn under the +superintendence of the Late Major General Sir Wm. Sleeman. +Approximate area covered 79° to 84° E by 25° to 28.5° +N.; scale approximately 38 miles to the inch. Map shows the route +taken by the author on his journey, as noted in his diary.]</p> +</blockquote> +<br> +<h1>DIARY</h1> +<br> +<h3>of</h3> +<br> +<h1>A TOUR THROUGH OUDE</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="10%" align="center"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chap1" id="Chap1">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> +<br> +<br> +<p>Departure from Lucknow—Gholam Hazrut—Attack on the +late Prime Minister, Ameen-od-Dowla—A similar attack on the +sons of a former Prime Minister, Agar Meer—Gunga Sing and +Kulunder Buksh—Gorbuksh Sing, of Bhitolee—Gonda +Bahraetch district—Rughbur Sing—Prethee Put, of +Paska—King of Oude and King of the Fairies—Surafraz +mahal.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 1, 1849.—I left Lucknow to proceed on a +tour through Oude, to see the state of the country and the +condition of the people. My wish to do so I communicated to +Government, on the 29th of March last, and its sanction was +conveyed to me, in a letter from the Secretary, dated the 7th of +April. On the 16th of November I reported to Government my +intention to proceed, under this sanction, on the 1st of December, +and on the 19th I sent the same intimation to the King. On the +28th, as soon as the ceremonies of the Mohurrum terminated, His +Majesty expressed a wish to see me on the following day; and on the +29th I went at 9 A.M., accompanied by Captain Bird, the first +Assistant, and Lieutenant Weston, the Superintendant of the +Frontier Police, and took leave of the King, with mutual expression +of good-will. The minister, Alee Nakee Khan, was present. On the +30th I made over charge of the Treasury to Captain Bird, who has +the charge of the department of the Sipahees' Petitions and the +Fyzabad Guaranteed Pensions; and, taking with me all the office +establishments not required in these three departments, proceeded, +under the usual salute, to Chenahut, eight miles.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* My escort consisted, of two companies of sipahees, from the +10th Regiment Native Infantry, and my party of Captain Hardwick, +lieutenant Weston, and Lieutenant and Mrs. Willows and my wife and +children, with occasional visitors from Lucknow and elsewhere.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Minister, Dewan and Deputy Minister, Ghoolam Ruza, came out +the first stage with me, and our friend Moonuwur-od Dowla, drove +out to see us in the evening.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 2, 1849.—We proceeded to Nawabgunge, the +minister riding out with me, for some miles, to take leave, as I +sat in my tonjohn. At sunrise I ventured, for the first time since +I broke my left thigh-bone on the 4th April, to mount an elephant, +the better to see the country. The land, on both sides of the road, +well cultivated, and studded with groves of mango and other trees, +and very fertile.</p> +<p>The two purgunnas of Nawabgunge and Sidhore are under the charge +of Aga Ahmud, the Amil, who has under him two naibs or deputies, +Ghoolam Abbas and Mahummud Ameer. All three are obliged to connive +at the iniquities of a Landholder, Ghoolam Huzrut, who resides on +his small estate of Jhareeapoora, which he is augmenting, in a +manner too common in Oude, by seizing on the estates of his weaker +neighbours. He wanted to increase the number of his followers, and +on the 10th of November 1849, he sent some men to aid the prisoners +in the great jail at Lucknow to break out. Five of them were killed +in the attempt, seven were wounded, and twenty-five were retaken, +but forty-five escaped, and among them Fuzl Allee, one of the four +assassins, who, in April 1847, cut down the late minister, Ameen-od +Dowla, in the midst of his followers, in one of the principal +streets of Lucknow, through which the road, leading from the city +to Cawnpore, now passes. One of the four, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, was +killed in attempting to escape on the 8th August 1849, and one, +Alee Mahomed, was killed in this last attempt. The third, Fuzl +Allee, with some of the most atrocious and desperate of his +companions, is now with this Ghoolam Huzrut, disturbing the peace +of the country. The leader in this attempt was Ghoolam Hyder Khan, +who is still in jail at Lucknow.</p> +<p>On my remarking to the King's wakeel that these ruffians had all +high-sounding names, he said, "They are really all men of high +lineage; and men of that class, who become ruffians, are always +sure to be of the worst description." "As horses of the best blood, +when they do become vicious, are the most incorrigible, I suppose?" +"Nothing can be more true, sir," rejoined the wakeel. An account of +the attack made by the above-named ruffians on the minister, may be +here given as both interesting and instructive, or at least as +illustrative of the state of society and government in Oude.</p> +<p>At five in the morning of the 8th of April 1847, the minister, +Ameen-od Dowlah, left his house in a buggy to visit the King. Of +his armed attendants he had only three or four with him. He had not +gone far when four armed assassins placed themselves in front of +his buggy and ordered him to stop. One of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, +seized the horse; by the bridle, and told the minister, that he +must give him the arrears of pay due before he could go on. The +other three, Fuzl Allee, Allee Mahomed, and Hyder Khan, came up and +stood on the right side of the buggy. One of the minister's +servants, named Hollas, tried to prevent their coming near, but was +fired upon by Allee Mahomed. He missed him, but Fuzl Allee +discharged his blunderbuss at him, and he fell; but in falling, he +wounded Hyder Khan slightly with his sword. Hyder Khan then threw +away his fire-arms and sprang into the buggy with his naked dagger +in his right hand and the minister in his left. The minister seized +him round the waist, forced him back out of the buggy on the left, +and fell upon him. Tuffuzzul Hoseyn then quitted his hold of the +horse and rushed to his comrade's assistance, but the minister +still holding Hyder Khan in his right hand, seized Tuffuzzul Hoseyn +with his left. Syud Aman Allee, another personal servant of the +minister, was cut down by Fuzl Allee, in attempting to aid his +master, and a third personal servant, Shah Meer, was severely +wounded by Allee Mahomed, and stood at a distance of twenty paces, +calling for help. Fuzl Allee now made two cuts with his sword on +the right shoulder and arm of the minister, below the elbow, and he +quitted his hold on the two assassins and fell. The four assassins +now grasped their victim, and told him that they would do him no +farther harm if no rescue were attempted. As they saw the rest of +the minister's armed attendants and a crowd approach, Fuzl Allee +and Hyder Khan, with their blunderbusses loaded and cocked, stood +one at each end of an open space of about sixty yards, and +threatened to shoot the first man who should venture to approach +nearer. The crowd and attendants of the minister were kept back, +and no one ventured to enter this space, in the centre of which the +minister lay, grasped by Tuffuzzul Hoseyn and Allee Mahomed, who +held their naked daggers at his breast. The minister called out to +his attendants and the crowd to keep back. He was then allowed to +rise and walk to a small raised terrace on the side of the street, +where he lay down on his back, being unable any longer to sit or +stand from the loss of blood. Tuffuzzul Hoseyn and Allee Mahomed +knelt over him, holding the points of their daggers at his breast, +and swearing that they would plunge them to his heart if he +attempted to move, or any one presumed to enter the open space to +rescue him. Hollas and Syud Aman Allee lay bleeding at the spot +where they fell. Hollas died that day, and Syud Aman Allee a few +days after, of lock-jaw.</p> +<p>As soon as the attack on the minister was made, information of +it was sent off to the Resident, Colonel Richmond, who wrote to +request the Brigadier Commanding the Troops in Oude, to send him, +as soon as possible, a regiment of infantry with two guns, from the +Cantonments, which are three miles and a-half distant from the +Residency, on the opposite side from the scene of the attack, to +prevent any tumult that the loose characters of the city might +attempt to raise on the occasion, and repaired himself to the spot +attended by the Assistant, Captain Bird, and a small guard of +sipahees. They reached the open spot, in the centre of which the +minister lay, about a quarter of an hour after he fell. He found +the street, in which the attack took place, crowded with people up +to the place where the two sentries, Fuzl Allee and Hyder Khan, +stood at each end of the open space, in the centre of which the +minister lay, with the daggers of the two other assassins pressing +upon his breast. On reaching one end of the open space, the +Resident directed Captain Bird to advance to the spot where the +minister lay. The assassin who guarded that end at first threatened +to shoot him, but no sooner recognized him than he let him pass on +unattended. He asked the two men, who knelt over the minister, what +they meant by this assault. They told him, that good men were no +longer employed in the King's service, and that they were, in +consequence, without the means of subsistence; and had been +compelled to resort to this mode of obtaining them; that they +required fifty thousand rupees from the minister, with a written +assurance from the British Resident, that they should be escorted +in safety across the Ganges into the British territory with this +sum.</p> +<p>The Resident peremptorily refused to enter into any written +agreement with them, and told them, through the Assistant, that if +they presumed to put the minister to death, or to offer him any +further violence, they should be all four immediately shot down and +cut to pieces; but, if they did him no further harm, their lives +should, be spared; and, to prevent their being killed as soon as +they quitted their hold, that he would take them all with him to +the Residency, and neither imprison them himself, nor have them +made over as prisoners to the Oude Government; but that he declined +being a party to any arrangement that the minister might wish to +make of paying money for his life.</p> +<p>They continued resolutely to threaten instant death to the +minister should any one but the Resident or his Assistant presume +to enter the open space in which he lay. Many thousands of reckless +and desperate characters filled the street, ready to commence a +tumult, for the plunder of the city, the moment that the minister +or the assassins should be killed, while the relations and +dependents of the minister, with loud cries, offered lacs of rupees +to the assassins if they spared his life, so as to encourage them +to hold out. They at last collected and brought to the spot, on +three or four elephants, the fifty thousand rupees demanded by the +assassins, and offered them to his assailants apparently with his +concurrence; and the four ruffians, having assented to the terms +offered by the Resident, permitted Doctor Login, the Residency +Surgeon, to approach the prostrate minister and dress his wounds. +One of the assassins, however, continued to kneel by his side with +his naked dagger resting on his breast till he saw the other three +seated upon the elephants, on which the money was placed, with the +understanding, that the guard of sipahees, which the Resident had +brought with him, should escort them to the Residency, and that +Captain Bird, the Assistant, should accompany them. The fourth man +then quitted his hold on the minister, who had become very faint, +and climbed upon Captain Bird's elephant and took seat behind him. +Captain Bird, however, made him get off, and mount another elephant +with his companions. The crowd shouted <i>shah bash, shah +bash!</i>—well done, well done! and they attempted to scatter +some of the money from the elephants among them, but were prevented +by Captain Bird, who dreaded the consequences in such a tumult. +They were all four taken to the Residency under the guard of +sipahees, and accommodated in one of the lower rooms of the office; +and a guard was placed over the money with orders to keep back the +crowd of spectators, which was very great. Three of the four +ruffians had been wounded by the minister's attendants before they +could secure his person, and their wounds were now dressed by +Doctor Login.</p> +<p>It was now ten o'clock, and at twelve the Resident had an +interview with the King, who had become much alarmed, not only for +the safety of the minister, but for that of the city, threatened by +the thousands of bad characters, anxious for an occasion of +pillage; and he expressed an anxious wish that the assassins should +be made over to him for trial. But the Resident pleaded the solemn +promise which he had made, and his Majesty admitted the necessity +of the promise under the circumstances, and that of keeping it; but +said that he would have the whole affair carefully investigated. As +soon as the Resident left him, he sent a company of sipahees with +fetters to the Residency to receive charge of the prisoners, but +the Resident would not give them up. The King then wrote a letter +to the Resident with his own hand, requesting that the prisoners +might be surrendered to him. The Resident, in his reply to His +Majesty's, letter, told him, that he could not so far violate the +promise he had given, but that he would send them to answer any +other charges that might be brought against them, in any open and +impartial Court that might be appointed to try them; and if they +should be found guilty of other crimes, His Majesty might order any +sentence passed upon them, short of death, to be carried into +execution.</p> +<p>Charges of many successful attempts of the same kind, and many +atrocious murders perpetrated by the ruffians, in distant districts +of Oude, were preferred against them; and they were prevailed upon +to give up their arms, and to submit to a fair and open trial, on +the other charges preferred against them, on condition that they +should neither be put to death nor in any way maimed, or put in +fetters, or subjected to ill-treatment before trial and conviction. +The Resident offered them the alternative of doing this or leaving +the Residency, after he had read to them the King's letter, and +told them, that his promise extended only to saving their lives and +escorting them to the Residency; and, that he would not be +answerable for their lives beyond the court-yard of the Residency, +if they refused the conditions now offered. They knew that their +lives would not be safe for a moment after they got beyond the +court-yard, and submitted. Their arms and the fifty thousand rupees +were sent to the King. At four in the afternoon, the four prisoners +were made over to the King's wakeel, on a solemn promise given +under the express sanction of his Majesty, of safe conduct through +the streets, of freedom from fetters, or any kind of ill-treatment +before conviction, and of fair and open trial.</p> +<p>But they had not gone two paces from the Residency court-yard, +when they were set upon by the very people sent by the King to take +care of them on the way; the King's wakeel having got into his +palkee and gone on before them towards the palace. They were beaten +with whips, sticks, and the hilts of swords, till one of the four +fell down insensible, and the other three were reduced to a +pitiable condition. The Resident took measures to protect them from +further violence, recalled the wakeel; and, after admonishing him +for his dishonourable conduct, had the prisoners taken unfettered +to a convenient house near the prison. The wounded minister wrote +to the King, earnestly praying that the prisoners might not suffer +any kind of ill-treatment before conviction, after a fair and +impartial trial. The Resident reported to Government all that had +occurred, and stated, that he should see that the promises made to +the prisoners were fulfilled, that, should they be convicted before +the Court appointed to conduct the trial, of other crimes +perpetrated before this assault on the minister, they would be +subject to such punishment as the Mahommedan law prescribed for +such crimes. Three of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, Hyder Khan, and Fuzl +Allee, were convicted, on their own confessions, and the testimony +of their own relations, of many cold blooded murders, and +successful attempts to extort money from respectable and wealthy +persons in different parts of Oude, similar to this on the +minister, and all four were sentenced to imprisonment for life. The +Government of India had insisted on their not being executed or +mutilated. Fuzl Allee, as above stated, broke jail, and is still at +large at his old trade, and Hyder Khan is still in prison at +Lucknow.</p> +<p>These ruffians appear to have been encouraged, in this assault +upon the minister, for the purpose of extorting money, by a similar +but more successful attempt made in the year 1824, by a party +headed by a person named Syud Mahomed Eesa Meean, <i>alias</i> Eesa +Meean.</p> +<p>This person came to Lucknow with a letter of recommendation from +Captain Gough. He delivered it in person to the Resident, but was +never after seen or heard of by him till this affair occurred. He +became a kind of saint, or <i>apostle</i>, at Lucknow; and Fakeer +Mahomed Khan Rusaldar, who commanded a corps of Cavalry, and had +much influence over the minister, Aga Meer, became one of his +<i>disciples</i>, and prevailed upon the minister to entertain him +as a mosahib, or aide-de-camp. He soon became a favourite with Aga +Meer, and formed a liaison with a dancing-girl, named Beeba Jan. +His conduct towards her soon became too violent and overbearing, +and she sought shelter with the Khasmahal, or chief consort, of the +minister, who promised her protection, and detained her in her +apartments. Eesa Meean appealed to the minister, and demanded her +surrender. The minister told him that she was mistress of her own +actions, as she had never gone through the ceremonies of permanent +marriage, or <i>nikkah</i>, nor even those of a temporary one, +<i>motah</i>; and most be considered as altogether free to choose +her own lovers or mode of life.</p> +<p>He then appealed to Moulavee Karamut Allee, the tutor of Aga +Meer's children, but was told, that he could not interfere, as the +female was a mere acquaintance of his, and bound to him by no legal +ties whatever; and must, therefore, be considered as free to reside +where and with whom she chose. Eesa Meean then took his resolution, +and prevailed upon some fifteen of the loose and desperate +characters who always swarm at Lucknow, to aid him in carrying it +out. On the 2nd of June 1824, Karamut Allee, the tutor, was +bathing, and Aga Meer's two eldest sons, Aga Allee, aged eleven, +and Nizam-od Dowlah, aged six years were reading their lessons in +the school-room, under the deputy-tutor, Moulavee Ameen Allee. It +was early in the morning, but the minister had gone out to wait +upon the King. Eesa Meean entered the school-room, and approached +the children with the usual courtesy and compliments, followed by +six armed men, and one table attendant, or khidmutgar.</p> +<p>The two boys were sitting beside each other, the eldest, Aga +Allee, on the left, and the youngest, Nizam-od Dowla, on the right. +Eesa Meean sat down on the left side of the eldest, and +congratulated both on the rapid progress they were making in their +studies. Three of his followers, while he was doing this, placed +themselves on the left of the eldest, and the other three on the +right of the youngest. On a concerted signal all drew forth and +cocked their pistols, and placed themselves at the only three doors +that opened from the school-room, two at each, while at a signal +made by the khidmutgar, eight more men came in armed in the same +manner. Two of them with naked daggers in their right hands seized +the two boys with their left, and threatened them with instant +death if they attempted to more or call for help. The other six +threatened to kill any one who should attempt to force his way into +the apartment. The khidmutgar, in the mean time, seized and brought +into the room two large gharahs or pitchers of drinking water, that +stood outside, as the weather was very hot, and the party would +require it They were afraid that poison might be put into the water +if left outside after they had commenced the assault. Eesa Meean +then declared, that he had been driven to this violent act by the +detention of his girl by the Khasmahal, and must have her instantly +surrendered, or they would put the boys to death. Hearing the noise +from his bathing-room, their tutor, Karamut Allee, rushed into the +room with nothing on his person but his waist-band, and began to +admonish the ruffians. Seeing him unarmed, and respecting his +peaceful character, they let him pass in and vociferate, but paid +no regard to what he said.</p> +<p>The alarm had spread through the house and town, and many of the +chief officers of the Court were permitted to enter the room +unarmed. Roshun-od Dowlah, Sobhan Allee Khan, Fakeer Mahomed Khan, +Nuzee Allee Khan, (the Khasmahul's son-in-law,) and others of equal +rank, all in loud terms admonished the assailants, and demanded the +surrender of the children, but all were alike unheeded. The chief +merchant of Lucknow, Sa Gobind Lal, came in; and thinking that all +affairs could and ought to be settled in a business-like way, told +the chief officers to fix the sum to be given, and he would at once +pledge himself to the payment. All agreed to this, and Sobhan Allee +Khan, the Chief Secretary of the minister, set to work and drew up +a long and eloquent paper of conditions. On his beginning to read +it, one of the ruffians, who had one eye, rushed in, snatched it +from his hand, tore it to pieces, and threw the fragments into his +chief's, Eesa Meean's, face, saying, "that this fellow would write +them all out of their lives, as he was writing the people of Oude +every day out of their properties; that if they must die, it should +not be by pen and paper, but by swords and daggers in a fair fight; +that all their lives had been staked, and all should die or live +together." He was overpowered by the others, and other papers were +drawn up by the ready writer and consummate knave Sobhan Allee, but +the one-eyed man contrived to get hold of all, one after the other, +and tear them up.</p> +<p>The minister was with the King when he first heard of the +affair, and he went off forthwith to the Resident, Mr. Ricketts, to +say, that his Majesty had in vain endeavoured to rescue the boys +through his principal civil officers, and had sent all his +available troops, but in vain; and now earnestly entreated the +British Resident to interpose and save their lives. The Resident +consented to do so, on condition that any arrangement he might find +it necessary to make should be binding on his Majesty and the +minister. Aga Meer returned to the King with this message, and his +Majesty agreed to this condition. The Resident then sent his head +moonshie, Gholam Hossein, to promise Eesa Meean, that the woman +should be restored to him, and any grievance he might have to +complain of should be redressed, and his party all saved, if he +gave up the children. But he and his followers now demanded a large +sum of money, and declared, that they would murder the boys unless +it was given and secured to them, with a pledge for personal +security to the whole party.</p> +<p>The minister, on hearing this, came to the Resident, and +implored him to adopt some measures to save the lives of the +children. The Resident had been for three weeks confined to his +couch from illness, but he sent his Assistant, Captain Lockett, +with full powers to make any arrangement, and pledge himself to any +engagements, which might appear to him to be necessary, to save the +lives of the boys. He went, and being unarmed, was permitted to +enter the room. He asked for Eesa Meean, whom he had never before +seen, when one of the party that knelt over the boys rose, and +saluting him, said, "I am Eesa Meean." Captain Lockett told him +that he wanted to speak to him in private, when Eesa Meean pointed +to a door leading into a side room, into which they retired. Eesa +Meean offered Captain Lockett a chair, and at his request sat down +by his side. He then entered into a long story of grievances, which +Captain Lockett considered to be frivolous, and said, "that the +minister had injured his prospects in many ways, and at last +disgraced him in the eyes of all people at Lucknow, by conniving at +the elopement of the dancing-girl that he was a soldier and +regardless of life under such disgrace, and prepared to abide by +the result of his present attempt to secure redress, whatever it +might be; that his terms were the payment down of five lacs of +rupees, the restoration of his dancing-girl, and the security of +his own person and property, with permission to go where he +pleased, unmolested." Captain Lockett reminded him quietly of what +he had just said: "that he was a soldier, and anxious only for the +recovery of his lost honour; that now, to demand, money, was to +show to the world that wounded honour was urged as a mere pretext, +and the seizure of the boys a means adopted for the sole purpose of +extorting money; that he could not condescend to hold further +converse with him if he persisted in such preposterous demands; +that he might murder the children as they seemed to be in his +power, but if he did so, he and his party would be all instantly +put to death, as the house was surrounded by thousands of the +King's soldiers, ready to fall upon them at the slightest signal." +He then recommended him to release the boys forthwith before the +excitement without became more strong, and accompany him to the +Residency, where his real Wrongs would be inquired into and +redressed.</p> +<p>Eesa Meean then rose and said: "Money is not my object. I +despise it. I regard nothing but the preservation of my honour, and +agree to what you propose; but I have several companions here who +require to be consulted: let me speak to them." He then went into +the large room. His companions all made objections of one kind or +another, and what they all agreed to one moment was rejected the +next. They vociferated loudly, and disputed violently with each +other, and with all around them, and at times appeared desperate +and determined to sacrifice the boys, and sell their own lives as +dearly as possible. Eesa Meean himself seemed to be the most +violent and boisterous of all, and had his hand frequently on the +hilt of his sword when he disputed with the King's officers, whom +he abused in the grossest possible terms. They did more harm than +good by their want of temper and patience, but above all by their +utter want of character, since no one could place the slightest +reliance on the word of any one of them in such a trying moment. +They seemed to have no control over their feelings, and to think +that they could do all that was required by harsh language and loud +bawling.</p> +<p>Captain Lockett at last persuaded them to leave the whole affair +in his hands; and had they done so at first, he would have settled +the matter, he thought, in half the time. They had been discussing +matters in this angry manner for four hours and a half, without +making the slightest impression on the ruffians; but when all +became silent, Captain Lockett prevailed on them to release the +boys on the conditions agreed to between him and Eesa Meean, and +recorded on paper. In this paper it was declared—"That Syud Mahomed +Eesa Khan, together with the woman, Beeba Jan, shall be allowed to +go where he liked, with security to his life and honour, and with +all the property and effects he might have, whether he got it from +the King of Oude or from his minister; and that no one, either in +the Honourable Company's or in the King of Oude's dominions, shall +offer him any molestation; that no obstruction shall be thrown in +his way by the officers of the British Government in the countries +of any of the Rajahs at whose courts there may be a British +Resident; and further, that no molestation shall be offered to him +in the British territories in consequence of the disturbance which +took place at Bareilly in 1816.</p> +<div class="s1">"(Signed) A. LOCKETT, <i>Assistant +Resident.</i>"</div> +<p>After this paper had been signed by Captain Lockett, the two +boys were set at liberty, and sent off in palanqeens to their +mother under a guard. The minister had, in the morning, promised to +give the assailants twenty thousand rupees, and they arrived before +the discussions closed, and were placed on the floor of the +school-room.<br> +The girl, Beeba Jan, was now brought into the room, and made over +to Eesa Meean. When first brought before him, she thought she was +to be sacrificed to save the lives of the boys, and was in a state +of great agitation. She implored Captain Lockett to save her life; +but, to the great surprise of all present, Eesa Meean took up one +of the bags of money, containing one thousand rupees, and, with a +smile, put it into her arms, and told her that she was now at +liberty to return to her home or go where she pleased. The joy +expressed by the girl and by all who witnessed this scene was very +great; for they had all considered him to be a mere ruffian, +incapable of anything like a generous action.</p> +<p>It had been arranged that Eesa Meean, with all his party, should +go with Captain Lockett to the Residency; but when the time came, +and the excitement had passed away in the apartment, he began to be +alarmed, and told Captain Lockett that he felt sure he should be +murdered on the road. He wanted to go with Captain Lockett on the +same elephant, but to this Captain Lockett would not consent, as it +would compromise his dignity, to sit on the same elephant with so +atrocious a character. There was no palanqeen available for him, +and he would not allow Captain Lockett to enter his, declaring that +if he did so, he, Eesa Meean, would be instantly cut down by the +King's people. Captain Lockett was, therefore, obliged to walk with +him from the minister's house at Dowlut Poora to the Residency, a +distance of a mile, in the heat of the day, and the hottest month +in the year, followed by the King's troops, and an immense +multitude from the city. About four o'clock Captain Lockett reached +the Residency, and made over Eesa Meean and his sixteen followers +to the Resident, who ratified the written engagement, and sent the +party to the cantonments, three miles distant from the city, to +Brigadier-General Price, who commanded the troops in Oude, to be +taken care of for a few days till arrangements could be made for +their safe conduct to Cawnpore, within the British territory. Their +arms were taken from them, to be sent to the magistrate at +Cawnpore, for delivery to them when they might be released. On the +morning of the 3rd the King came to the Resident to thank him for +what he had done, and express the sense he entertained of the +judicious conduct of his Assistant during the whole of this trying +scene; and to request that he might be permitted to go to the +palace to receive some mark of distinction which his Majesty wished +to confer upon him. Captain Lockett went with the minister, and was +received with marked distinction; and thirteen trays of shawls and +other articles were presented to him. Captain Lockett selected one +pair, which he accepted, and placed, as usual, in the Resident's +Toshuk-khana.</p> +<p>When he signed the paper he remarked the omission of all mention +of Eesa Meean's associates in that document, but did not consider +it to be his duty to point out the oversight, lest it might +increase the excitement, and prolong the angry discussions. In his +report of the circumstances to the Resident, however, he mentioned +it to him, and told him that the omission clearly arose from an +oversight, and unless his associates received the same indulgence +as the principal, Eesa Meean himself, their exclusion from the +benefits of the engagement might be attributed to decoit or +artifice on his part. The Resident concurred in this opinion, and +in his report of the following day to Government, he recommended +that they should all be considered as included in the +engagement.</p> +<p>Government, in its reply of the 25th of June 1824, consents to +this construction of the written engagement, but notices a no less +important oversight on the part of the Resident and his Assistant, +in the free pardon given to Eesa Meean, for the share he had taken +in the Bareilly insurrection, which had caused the loss of so many +lives in April 1816. Government infers, that they could, neither of +them have been aware, that this ruffian was the original instigator +and most active leader in that formidable insurrection; that it was +chiefly, if not entirely, owing to his endeavours to inflame the +popular phrenzy, and to collect partizans from the neighbouring +towns, that the efforts of the local authorities, to quell or avert +the rising storm, failed wholly of success; that he stood charged +as a principal in the murder of Mr. Leycester's son, and that, on +these grounds, he was expressly excluded from the general amnesty, +declared after the successful suppression of the rebellion, and a +reward of two thousand rupees offered for his arrest; that this +written pledge had involved Government in the dilemma of either +cancelling a public act of the British Resident, or pardoning and +setting at large, within its territory, a proclaimed outlaw, and +notorious rebel and most dangerous incendiary; and that it felt +bound in duty to guard the public peace from the hazard of further +interruption, through the violence or intrigue of so desperate and +atrocious an offender; and to annul that part of the engagement +which absolves Eesa Meean from his guilt in the Bareilly +insurrection, since the Resident and his Assistant went beyond +their powers in pledging their Government to such a condition. +Government directed, that he and his associates should be safely +escorted over the border into the British territory, and that he +should not be brought to trial before a Judicial Court, with a view +to his being capitally punished for his crimes at Bareilly, but be +confined, as a state prisoner, in the fortress of Allahabad. The +Government, in strong but dignified terms, expresses its surprise +and displeasure at his having been placed in so confidential a +position, and permitted to bask in the sunshine of ministerial +favour, when active search was being made for him all over India; +for the King and his minister must have been both aware of the part +he had taken in the Bareilly insurrection, since the King himself +alludes to it in a letter submitted by the Resident to Government +on the 8th of June 1824.</p> +<p>The Resident and his Assistant, in letters dated 15th of July, +declare that they were altogether unacquainted with the part which +Eesa Meean had taken in the Bareilly rebellion in 1816, the +Resident being at that time at the Cape of Good Hope, and his +Assistant in England. Eesa Meean was confined, as directed, in the +fort of Allahabad; but soon afterwards released on the occasion of +the Governor-General's visit to that place. He returned again to +Lucknow in the year 1828, soon after Aga Meer had been removed from +his office of minister. As soon as it was discovered that he was in +the city, he was seized and sent across the Ganges; and is said to +have been killed in Malwa or Goozerat, in a similar attempt upon +some native chief or his minister.</p> +<p>The two boys are still living, the eldest, Aga Allee, or +Ameen-od Dowla, at Lucknow, and Nizam-od Dowla, the youngest, at +Cawnpore; both drawing large hereditary pensions, under the +guarantee of the British Government. This is not the Ameen-od Dowla +who was attacked in the streets, as above described, in the year +1847.</p> +<p>About two years ago this Ghoolam Huzrut took by violence +possession of the small estate of Golha, now in the Sibhore +purgunnah; and turned out the proprietor, Bhowannee Sing, a Rathore +Rajpoot, whose ancestors had held it for several centuries. The +poor man was re-established in it by the succeeding contractor, +Girdhara Sing; but on his losing his contract, Ghoolam Huzret, on +the 23rd of September last, again attacked Bhowanne Sing at +midnight, at the head of a gang of ruffians; and after killing five +of his relatives and servants, and burning down his houses, turned +him and his family out, and secured possession of the village, +which he still holds. The King's officers were too weak to protect +the poor man, and have hitherto acquiesced in the usurpation of the +village. Ghoolam Huzrut has removed all the autumn crops to his own +village; and cut down and taken away sixty mango-trees planted by +Bhowannee Sing's ancestors. Miherban Sing, the son of the sufferer, +is a sipahee in the 63rd Regiment Native Infantry, and he presented +a petition through the Resident in behalf of his father. Other +petitions have been since presented, and the Court has been +strongly urged to afford redress. Ghoolam Huzrut has two forts, to +which he retires when pursued, one at <i>Para</i>, and one at +<i>Sarai</i>, and a good many powerful landholders always ready to +support him against the government, on condition of being supported +by him when necessary.</p> +<p>On crossing the river Ghagra, I directed Captain Bunbury, (who +commands a regiment in the King of Oude's service with six guns, +and was to have accompanied me, and left the main body of his +regiment with his guns under his second in command, Captain +Hearsey, at Nawabgunge,) to surprise and capture Ghoolam Huzrut, if +possible, by a sudden march. He had left his fort of Para, on my +passing within a few miles of it, knowing that the minister had +been with me, and thinking that he might have requested my aid for +the purpose. Captain Bunbury joined his main body unperceived, made +a forced march during the night, and reached the fort of Para at +daybreak in the morning, without giving alarm to any one on the +road. In this surprise he was aided by Khoda Buksh, of Dadra, a +very respectable and excellent landholder, who had suffered from +Ghoolam Huzrut's depredations.</p> +<p>He had returned to his fort with all his family on my passing, +and it contained but few soldiers, with a vast number of women and +children. He saw that it would be of no use to resist, and +surrendered his fort and person to Captain Bunbury, who sent him a +prisoner to Lucknow, under charge of two Companies, commanded by +Captain Hearsey. He is under trial, but he has so many influential +friends about the Court, with whom he has shared his plunder, that +his ultimate punishment is doubtful. Captain Bunbury was praised +for his skill and gallantry, and was honoured with a title by the +king.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 3, 1849.—Kinalee, ten miles over a plain, +highly cultivated and well studded with groves, but we could see +neither town, village, nor hamlet on the road. A poor Brahmin, +Gunga Sing, came along the road with me, to seek redress for +injuries sustained. His grandfather was in the service of our +Government, and killed under Lord Lake, at the first siege of +Bhurtpore in 1804. With the little he left, the family had set up +as agricultural capitalists in the village of Poorwa Pundit, on the +estate of Kulunder Buksh, of Bhitwal. Here they prospered. The +estate was, as a matter of favour to Kulunder Buksh, transferred +from the jurisdiction of the contractor to that of the Hozoor +Tehseel.* Kulunder Buksh either could not, or would not, pay the +Government demand; and he employed two of his relatives, Godree and +Hoseyn Buksh, to plunder in the estate and the neighbourhood, to +reduce Government to his own terms. These two persons, with two +hundred armed men, attacked the village in the night; and, after +plundering the house of this Brahmin, Gunga Sing, they seized his +wife, who was then pregnant, and made her point out a hidden +treasure of one hundred and seven gold mohurs, and two hundred and +seventy-seven rupees. She had been wounded in several places before +she did this, and when she could point out no more, one of the two +brothers cut her down with his sword, and killed her. In all the +Brahmin lost two thousand seven hundred and fifty-five rupees' +worth of property; and, on the ground of his grandfather having +been killed in the Honourable Company's service, has been ever +since urging the Resident to interpose with the Oude government in +his behalf.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The term "Hozoor Tehseel" signifies the collections of the +revenue made by the governor himself whether of a district or a +kingdom. The estates of all landholders who pay their land-revenues +direct to the governor, or to the deputy employed under him to +receive such revenues and manage such estates, are said to be in +the "Hozoor Tehseel." The local authorities of the districts on +which such estates are situated have nothing whatever to do with +them.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The estate of Bhitwal has been retransferred to the jurisdiction +of the Amil of Byswara, who has restored it to Kulunder Buksh; and +his two relatives, Godree and Hoseyn Buksh, are thriving on the +booty acquired, and are in high favour with the local authorities. +I have requested that measures may be adopted to punish them for +the robbery and the cruel murder of the poor woman; but have little +hope that they will be so. <i>No government in India is now more +weak for purposes of good than that of Oude</i>.</p> +<p>This village of Kinalee is now in the estate of Ramnuggur +Dhumeereea, held by Gorbuksh, a large landholder, who has a strong +fort, Bhitolee, at the point of the Delta, formed by the Chouka and +Ghagra rivers, which here unite. He has taken refuge with some four +thousand armed followers in this fort, under the apprehension of +being made to pay the full amount of the Government demand, and +called to account for the rescue of some atrocious offenders from +Captain Hearsey, of the Frontier Police, by whom they had been +secured. Gorbuksh used to pay two hundred thousand rupees a-year +for many years for this estate, without murmur or difficulty; but +for the last three years he has not paid the rate, to which he has +got it reduced, of one hundred and fifty thousand. Out of his rents +and the revenues due to Government he keeps up a large body of +armed followers, to intimidate the Government, and seize upon the +estates of his weaker neighbours, many of which he has lately +appropriated by fraud, violence, and collusion. An attempt was this +year made to put the estate under the management of Government +officers; but he was too strong for the Government, which was +obliged to temporise, and at last to yield. He is said to exact +from the landholders the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand +rupees a-year. He holds also the estate of Bhitolee, at the apex of +the delta of the Ghagra and Chouka rivers, in which the fort of +Bhitolee is situated. The Government demand on this estate is fifty +thousand (50,000) rupees a-year. His son, Surubjeet Sing, is +engaged in plunder, and, it is said, with his father's connivance +and encouragement, though he pretends to be acting in disobedience +of his orders. The object is, to augment their estate, and +intimidate the Government and its officers by gangs of ruffians, +whom they can maintain only by plunder and malversation. The +greater part of the lands, comprised in this estate of Ramnuggur +Dhumeereea, of which Rajah Gorbuksh is now the local governor, are +hereditary possessions which have been held by his family for many +generations. A part has been recently seized from weaker +neighbours, and added to them. The rest are merely under him as the +governor or public officer, intrusted with the collection of the +revenue and the management of the police.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 4, 1849.—Gunesh Gunge, <i>alias</i> +Byram-ghat, on the right bank of the river Ghagra, distance about +twelve miles. The country well cultivated, and studded with good +groves of mango and other trees. We passed through and close to +several villages, whose houses are nothing but mud walls, without a +thatched or tiled roof to one in twenty. The people say there is no +security in them from the King's troops and the passies, a large +class of men in Oude, who are village watchmen but inveterate +thieves and robbers, when not employed as such. All refractory +landholders hire a body of passies to fight for them, as they pay +themselves out of the plunder, and cost little to their employers. +They are all armed with bows and arrows, and are very formidable at +night. They and their refractory employers keep the country in a +perpetual state of disorder; and, though they do not prevent the +cultivation of the land, they prevent the village and hamlets from +being occupied by anybody who has anything to lose, and no strong +local ties to restrain him.</p> +<p>The town of Ramnuggur, in which Gorbuksh resides occasionally, +is on the road some five miles from the river. It has a good many +houses, but all are of the same wretched description; mud walls, +with invisible coverings or no coverings at all; no signs of +domestic peace or happiness; but nothing can exceed the richness +and variety of the crops in and around Ramnuggur. It is a fine +garden, and would soon be beautiful, were life and property better +secured, and some signs of domestic comfort created. The ruined +state of the houses in this town and in the villages along the +road, is, in part, owing to the system which requires all the +King's troops to forage for themselves on the march, and the +contractors, and other collectors of revenue, to be continually on +the move, and to take all their troops with them. The troops +required in the provinces should be cantoned in five or six places +most convenient, with regard, to the districts to be controlled, +and most healthy for the people; and provided with what they +require, as ours are, and sent out to assist the revenue collectors +and magistrates only when their services are indispensably +necessary. Some Chundele Rajpoot landholders came to me yesterday +to say, that Ghoolam Huzrut, with his bands of armed ruffians, +seemed determined to seize upon all the estates of his weaker +Hindoo neighbours, and they would soon lose theirs, unless the +British Government interposed to protect them. Gorbuksh has not +ventured to come, as he was ordered, to pay his respects to the +Resident; but has shut himself up in his fort at Bhitolee, about +six miles up the river from our camp. The Chouka is a small river +which there flows into the Ghagra. He is said to have four or five +thousand men with him; and several guns mounted in his fort. The +ferry over the Ghagra is close to our tents, and called +Byram-ghat.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 5, 1849.—Crossed the river Ghagra, in +boats, and encamped at Nawabgunge, on the left bank, where we were +met by one of the collectors of the Gonda Bahraetch district. He +complained of the difficulties experienced in realizing the just +demands of the exchequer, from the number and power of the +tallookdars of the district, who had forts and bands of armed +followers, too strong for the King's officers. There were, he said, +in the small purgunnah of Gouras—</p> +<p>1.—Pretheeput Sing, of Paska, who has a strong fort called +Dhunolee, on the right bank of the Ghagra, opposite to Paska and +Bumhoree, two strongholds, which he has on the left bank of that +river, and he is always ready to resist the Government.</p> +<p>2.—Murtonjee Buksh, of Shahpoor, who is always ready to do +the same; and a great ruffian.</p> +<p>3.—Shere Bahader Sing, of Kuneear.*</p> +<p>4.—Maheput Sing, of Dhunawa.*</p> +<p>5.—Surnam Sing, of Arta.*</p> +<p>6.—Maheput Sing, of Paruspoor.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* All four are at present on good terms with the Government and +its local authorities.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>They have each a fort, or stronghold, mounting five or six guns, +and trained bands of armed and brave men of five or six hundred, +which they augment, as occasion requires, by Gohars, or auxiliary +bands from their friends.</p> +<p>Hurdut Sing, of Bondee, <i>alias</i> Bumnootee, held an estate +for which he paid one hundred and eighty-two thousand (1,82,000) +rupees a year to Government; but he was driven, out of it in +1846-47, by Rughbur Sing, the contractor, who, by rapacity and +outrage, drove off the greater part of the cultivators, and so +desolated the estate that it could not now be made to yield thirty +thousand (30,000) rupees a-year. The Raja has ever since resided +with a few followers in an island in the Ghagra. He has never +openly resisted or defied the Government, but is said to be sullen, +and a bad paymaster. He still holds the estate in its desolate +condition.</p> +<p>The people of Nawabgunge drink the water of wells, close to the +bank of the river, and often the water of the river itself, and say +that they never suffer from it; but that a good many people in +several villages, along the same bank, have the goitre to a very +distressing degree.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 6, 1849.—Halted at Byram-ghat, in order to +enable all our people and things to come up. One of our elephants +nearly lost his life yesterday in the quick-sands of the river. +Capt. Weston rode out yesterday close to Bhitolee, the little fort +of Rajah Gorbuksh Sing, who came out in a litter and told him, that +he would come to me to-day at noon, and clear himself of the +charges brought against him of rescuing and harbouring robbers, and +refusing to pay the Government demand. He had been suffering +severely from fever for fifteen days.</p> +<p>Karamut Allee complains that his father, Busharut Allee, had +been driven out from the purgunnahs of Nawabgunge and Sidhore, by +Ghoolum Huzrut and his associates, who had several times attacked +and plundered the town of Nawabgunge, our second stage, and a great +many other villages around, from which they had driven off all the +cultivators and stock, in order to appropriate them to themselves, +and augment their landed estates; that they had cut down all the +groves of mango-trees planted by the rightful proprietors and their +ancestors, in order to remove all local ties; and murdered or +maimed all cultivators who presumed to till any of the lands +without their permission, that Busharut Allee had held the contract +for the land revenue of the purgunnah for twenty years, and paid +punctually one hundred and thirty-five thousand (1,35,000) rupees +a-year to the treasury, till about four years ago, when Ghoolam +Huzrut commenced this system of spoliation and seizure, since which +time the purgunnah had been declining, and could not now yield +seventy thousand (70,000) rupees to the treasury; that his family +had held many villages in hereditary right for many generations, +within the purgunnah, but that all had, been or were being seized +by this lawless freebooter and his associates.</p> +<p>Seeta Ram, a Brahmin zumeendar of Kowaree, in purgunnah Satrick, +complains, that he has been driven out of his hereditary estate by +Ghoolam Imam, the zumeendar of Jaggour, and his associate, Ghoolam +Huzrut; that his house had been levelled with the ground, and all +the trees, planted by his family, have been cut down and burned; +that he has been plundered of all he had by them, and is utterly +ruined. Many other landholders complain in the same manner of +having been robbed by this gang, and deprived of their estates; and +still more come in to pray for protection, as the same fate +threatens all the smaller proprietors, under a government so weak, +and so indifferent to the sufferings of its subjects.</p> +<p>The Nazim of Khyrabad, who is now here engaged in the siege of +Bhitolee, has nominally three thousand four hundred fighting men +with him; but he cannot muster seventeen hundred. He has with him +only the seconds in command of corps, who are men of no authority +or influence, the commandants being at Court, and the mere +creatures of the singers and eunuchs, and other favourites about +the palace. They always reside at and about Court, and keep up only +half the number of men and officers, for whom they draw pay. All +his applications to the minister to have more soldiers sent out to +complete the corps, or permission to raise men in their places, +remain unanswered and disregarded. The Nazim of Bharaetch has +nominally four thousand fighting men; but he cannot muster two +thousand, and the greater part of them are good for nothing. The +great landholders despise them, but respect the Komutee corps, +under Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and Magness, which is complete, and +composed of strong and brave men. The despicable state to which the +Court favourites have reduced the King's troops, with the exception +of these three corps, is lamentable. They are under no discipline, +and are formidable only to the peasantry and smaller landholders +and proprietors, whose houses they everywhere deprive of their +coverings, as they deprive their cattle of their fodder.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 7, 1849.—Hissampoor, 12 miles north-east, +over a plain of fine soil, more scantily tilled than any we saw on +the other side of the Ghagra, but well studded with groves and fine +single trees, and with excellent crops on the lands actually under +tillage. One cause assigned for so much fine land lying waste is, +that the Rajpoot tallookdars, above named, of the Chehdewara, have +been long engaged in plundering the Syud proprietors of the soil, +and seizing upon their lands, in the same manner as the Mahomedan +ruffians, on the other side of the river, have been engaged in +plundering the small Rajpoot proprietors, and seizing upon their +lands. Four of them are now quiet; but two, Prethee Put and +Mirtonjee, are always in rebellion. Lately, while the Chuckladar +was absent, employed against Jote Sing, of Churda, in the Turae, +these two men took a large train of followers, with some guns, +attacked the two villages of Aelee and Pursolee, in the estate of +Deeksa, in Gonda, killed six persons, plundered all the houses of +the inhabitants, and destroyed all their crops, merely because the +landholders of these two villages would not settle a boundary +dispute in the way 'they proposed'. The lands of the Hissampoor +purgunnah were held in property by the members of a family of +Syuds, and had been so for many generations; but neighbouring +Rajpoot tallookdars have plundered them of all they had, and seized +upon their lands by violence, fraud, or collusion, with public +officers. Some they have seized and imprisoned, with torture of one +kind or another, till they signed deeds of sale, <i>Bynamahs</i>; +others they have murdered with all their families, to get secure +possession of their lands; others they have despoiled by offering +the local authorities a higher rate of revenue for their lands than +they could possibly pay.</p> +<p>The Nazim has eighteen guns, and ten auxiliary ones sent out on +emergency—not one-quarter are in a state for service; and for +these he has not half the draft-bullocks required, and they are too +weak for use; and of ammunition or <i>stores</i> he has hardly any +at all.</p> +<p>Rajah Gorbuksh Sing came yesterday, at sunset, to pay his +respects, and promised to pay to the Oude Government all that is +justly demandable from him. Written engagements to this effect were +drawn up, and signed by both the "high contracting parties." Having +come in on a pledge of personal security, he was, of course, +permitted to return from my camp to his own stronghold in safety. +In that place he has collected all the loose characters and +unemployed soldiers he could gather together, and all that his +friends and associates could lend him, to resist the Amil; and to +maintain such a host, he will have to pay much more than was +required punctually to fulfil his engagements to the State. He +calculates, however, that, by yielding to the Government, he would +entail upon himself a perpetual burthen at an enhanced rate, while, +by the temporary expenditure of a few thousands in this way, he may +still further reduce the rate he has hitherto paid.</p> +<p>The contract for Gonda and Bahraetch was held by Rughbur Sing, +one of the sons of Dursun Sing, for the years 1846 and 1847 A.D., +and the district of Sultanpoor was held by his brother, Maun Sing, +for 1845-46 and 1847 A.D. Rughbur Sing in 1846-47 is supposed to +have seized and sold or destroyed no less than 25,000 +plough-bullocks in Bhumnootee, the estate of Rajah Hurdut Sing, +alone. The estate of Hurhurpoor had, up to that time, long paid +Government sixty thousand (60,000) rupees a-year, but last year it +would not yield five thousand (5,000) rupees, from the ravages of +this man, Rughbur Sing. The estate of Rehwa, held by Jeswunt Sing, +tallookdar, had paid regularly fifty-five thousand (55,000) rupees +a-year; but it was so desolated by Rughbur Sing, that it cannot now +yield eleven thousand (11,000) rupees. This estate adjoins +Bhumnootee, Rajah Hurdut Sing's, which, as above stated, regularly +paid one hundred and eighty-two thousand (182,000) rupees; it +cannot now pay thirty thousand (30,000) rupees. Such are the +effects of the oppression of this bad man for so brief a +period.</p> +<p>Some tallookdars live within the borders of our district of +Goruckpoor, while their lands lie in Oude. By this means they evade +the payment of their land revenues, and with impunity commit +atrocious acts of murder and plunder in Oude. These men maim or +murder all who presume to cultivate on the lands which they have +deserted, without their permission, or to pay rents to any but +themselves; and the King of Oude's officers dare not follow them, +and are altogether helpless. Only two months ago, Mohibollah, a +zumeendar of Kuttera, was invited by Hoseyn Buksh Khan, one of +these tallookdars, to his house, in the Goruckpoor district, to +negotiate for the ransom of one of his cultivators, a weaver by +caste, whom he had seized and taken away. As he was returning in +the evening, he was waylaid by Hoseyn Buksh Khan, as soon as he had +recrossed the Oude borders, and murdered with one of his +attendants, who had been sent with him by the Oude Amil. Such +atrocities are committed by these refractory tallookdars every day, +while they are protected within our bordering districts. Their +lands must lie waste or be tilled by men who pay all the rent to +them, while they pay nothing to the Oude Government. The Oude +Government has no hope of prosecuting these men to conviction in +our Judicial Courts for specific crimes, which they are known every +day to commit, and glory in committing. In no part of India is +there such glaring abuse of the privileges of sanctuary as in some +of our districts bordering on Oude; while the Oude Frontier Police, +maintained by the King, at the cost of about one hundred thousand +(100,000) rupees a-year, and placed under our control, prevents any +similar abuse on the part of the Oude people and local authorities. +Some remedy for this intolerable evil should be devised. At present +the magistrates of all our conterminous districts require, or +expect, that their charges against any offender in Oude, who has +committed a crime in their districts, shall be held to be +sufficient for their arrest; but some of them, on the other band, +require that nothing less than some unattainable judicial proof, on +the part of the officers of the Oude Government, shall be held to +be sufficient to justify the arrest of any Oude offender who takes +refuge in our districts. They hold, that the sole object of the +Oude authorities is to get revenue defaulters into their power, and +that the charges against them for heinous crimes are invented +solely for that purpose. No doubt this is often the object, and +that other charges are sometimes invented, for the sole purpose of +securing the arrest and surrender of revenue defaulters; but the +Oude revenue defaulters who take refuge in our districts are for +the most part, the tallookdars, or great landholders, who, either +before or after they do so, invariably fight with the Oude +authorities, and murder and plunder indiscriminately, in order to +reduce them to their own terms.</p> +<p>The Honourable the Court of Directors justly require that +requisition for the surrender of offenders by and from British +officers and Native States, shall be limited to persons charged +with having committed heinous crimes within their respective +territories; and that the obligation to surrender such offenders +shall be strictly reciprocal, unless, in any special case, there be +very strong reason for a departure from the rule.* But some +magistrates of districts disregard altogether applications made to +them by the sovereign of Oude, through the British Resident, for +the arrest of subjects of Oude who have committed the most +atrocious robberies and murders in the Oude territory in open day, +and in the sight of hundreds; and allow refugees from Oude to +collect and keep up gangs of robbers within their own districts, +and rob and murder within the Oude territory. Happily such +Magistrates are rare. Government, in a letter dated the 25th +February, 1848, state—"that it is the duty of the magistrates +of our districts bordering on Oude to adopt vigorous measures for +preventing the assembling or entertaining of followers by any +party, for the purpose of committing acts of violence on the Oude +side of the frontier."</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* See their letter to the Government of India, 27th May +1835.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>December</i> 8, 1849.—Pukharpoor, a distance of +fourteen miles, over a fine plain of good soil, scantily tilled. +For some miles the road lay through Rajah Hurdut Sing's estate of +Bumnootee, which was, with the rest of the district of Bahraetch +and Gonda, plundered by Rughbur Sing, during the two years that he +held the contract. We passed through no village or hamlet, but saw +some at a distance from the road, with their dwellings of naked mud +walls, the abodes of fear and wretchedness; but the plain is well +studded with groves and fine single trees, and the crops are good +where there are any on the ground. Under good management, the +country would be exceedingly beautiful, and was so until within the +last four years.</p> +<p>In the evening I had a long talk with the people of the village, +who had assembled round our tents. Many of them had the goitre; but +they told me, that in this and all the villages within twenty miles +the disease had, of late years, diminished; that hardly one-quarter +of the number that used to suffer from it had now the disease; that +the quality of the water must have improved, though they knew not +why, as they still drank from the same wells. These wells must +penetrate into some bed of mineral or other substance, which +produces this disease of the glands, and may in time exhaust it. +But it is probable, that the number who suffer from this disease +has diminished merely with the rest of the population, and that the +proportion which the goitered bear to the ungoitered may be still +the same. They told me that they had been plundered of all their +stock and moveable property by the terrible scourge, Rughber Sing, +during his reign of two years, and could not hope to recover from +their present state of poverty for many more; that their lands were +scantily tilled, and the crops had so failed for many years, since +this miscreant's rule, that the district which used to supply +Lucknow with grain was obliged to draw grain from it, and even from +Cawnpore. This is true, and grain has in consequence been +increasing in price ever since we left Lucknow. It is now here +almost double the price that it is at Lucknow, while it is usually +twice as cheap here.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 9, 1849.—Bahraetch, ten miles north-east. +We encamped on a fine sward, on the left bank of the Surjoo river, +a beautiful clear stream. The cultivation very scanty, but the soil +good, with water everywhere, within a few feet of the surface. +Groves and single trees less numerous; and of villages and hamlets +we saw none. Under good government, the whole country might, in a +few years, be made a beautiful garden. The river Surjoo is like a +winding stream in a park; and its banks might, everywhere, be +cultivated to the water's edge. No ravines, jungle, or steep +embankments. It is lamentable to see so fine a country in so +wretched a state.</p> +<p>The Turae forest begins a few miles to the north of Bahraetch, +and some of the great baronial landholders have their residence and +strongholds within it. The Rajah of Toolseepoor is one of them. He +is a kind-hearted old man, and a good landlord and subject; but he +has lately been driven out by his young and reprobate son, at the +instigation and encouragement of a Court favourite. The Rajah had +discharged an agent, employed by him at Court for advocating the +cause of his son while in rebellion against his father. The agent +then made common cause with the son, and secured the interest of +two powerful men at Court, Balkrishen Dewan and Gholam Ruza, the +deputy minister, who has charge of the estates in the Hozoor +Tehsel. The jurisdiction over the estate had been transferred from +the local authorities to the Hozoor Tehsel; and, by orders from +Court, the father's friends, the Bulrampoor and other Rajahs of the +clan, were prevented from continuing the aid they had afforded to +support the father's authority. The father unwilling to have the +estate devastated by a contest with the band of ruffians whom his +son had collected, retired, and allowed him to take possession. The +son seized upon all the property the father had left, and now +employs it in maintaining this band and rewarding the services of +Court favourites. The Nazim of the district is not permitted to +interfere, to restore rights or preserve order in the estate, nor +would he, perhaps, do either, if so permitted, for he has been +brought up in a bad school, and is not a good man. The pretext at +Court is, that the father is deranged; but, though not wise, he is +learned, and no man can be more sober than he is, or better +disposed towards his sovereign and tenants. That he is capable of +managing his estate, is shown by the excellent condition in which +he left it.</p> +<p>Prethee Put, of Paska, is not worse than many of the tallookdars +of Oude, who now disturb the peace of the country; and I give a +brief sketch of his history, as a specimen of the sufferings +inflicted on the people by the wild licence which such landholders +enjoy under the weak, profligate, and apathetic government of +Oude.</p> +<p>Keerut Sing, the tallookdar of Paska, on the left bank of the +Ghagra, between Fyzabad and Byram-ghaut, was one of the Chehdwara +landholders, and had five sons, the eldest Dirgpaul Sing, and the +second Prethee Put, the hero of this brief history. Before his +death, Keerut Sing made over the management of his estate to his +eldest son and heir; but gave to his second son a portion of land +out of it, for his own subsistence and that of his family. The +father and eldest son continued to reside together in the fort of +Dhunolee, situated on the right bank of the Ghagra, opposite Paska. +Prethee Put took up his residence in his portion of the estate at +Bumhoree, collected a gang of the greatest ruffians in the country, +and commenced his trade, and that of so many of his class, as an +indiscriminate plunderer. Keerut Sing and his eldest son, Dirgpaul, +continued to pay the Government demand punctually, to obey the +local authorities, and manage the estate with prudence.</p> +<p>Prethee Put, in 1836, attacked and took a despatch of treasure, +consisting of twenty-six thousand rupees, on its way to Lucknow, +from the Nazim of Bahraetch. In 1840 he attacked and took another +of eighty-five thousand rupees, on its way to Lucknow from the same +place. With these sums, and the booty which he acquired from the +plunder of villages and travellers, he augmented his gang, built a +fort at Bumhoree, and extended his depredations. In January 1842, +his father, who had been long ill, died. The local authorities +demanded five thousand rupees from the eldest son, Dirgpaul Sing, +on his accession. He promised to pay, and sent his eldest son, Dan +Bahader Sing, a lad of eighteen, as a hostage for the payment to +the Nazim. Soon after, Prethee Pat attacked the fort of Dhunolee, +in which his elder brother resided with his family, killed +fifty-six persons, and made Dirgpaul, his wife, and three other +sons prisoners. Dirgpaul's sister tried to conceal her brother +under some clothes; but, under a solemn oath from Prethee Put, that +no personal violence should be offered to him, he was permitted to +take him. His wife and three sons were sent off to be confined +under the charge of Byjonauth Bhilwar, zumeendar of Kholee, in the +estate of Sarafraz Ahmud, one of his associates in crime, on the +left bank of the Goomtee river.</p> +<p>Three days after, finding that no kind of torture or +intimidation could make his elder brother sign a formal resignation +of his right to the estate in his favour, he took him into the +middle of the river Ghagra, cut off his head with his own hands, +and threw the body into the stream. Deeming this violation of his +pledge a dishonourable act his friend, Byjonauth, from whom he had +demanded the widow and her three sons, released them all, to seek +protection elsewhere, as he was not strong enough to resist Prethee +Put himself. They found shelter with some friends of the family in +another district, and Wajid Allee Khan, the Nazim of Bahraetch, in +the beginning of November 1843, went with the best force he could +muster, drove Prethee Pat out of Dhunolee and Paska, and put Dan +Bahader Sing, the eldest son of Dirgpaul, and rightful heir, into +possession. In the latter end of the same month, however, he was +attacked by his uncle, Prethee Put, and driven out with the loss of +ten men. He again applied for aid to the Nazim; but, thinking it +more profitable to support the stronger party, he took a bribe of +ten thousand rupees from Prethee Put, and recognized him as the +rightful heir of his murdered brother. Dan Bahader collected a +small party of fifteen men, and took possession of a small +stronghold in the jungle of the Shapoor estate, belonging to +Murtonjee, another of the Chehdwara tallookdars, where he was again +attacked by his uncle in March 1844, and driven out with the loss +of four out of his fifteen men. Soon after Prethee Put attacked and +took another despatch of treasure, on its way to Lucknow from +Bahraetch, consisting of eighteen thousand rupees. Soon after, in +June, the Nazim, Ehsan Allee, sent a force with Dan Bahader, and +re-established him in possession of the estate of Paska; but Ehsan +Allee was soon after superseded in the contract by Rughbur Sing, +who adopted the cause of the strongest, and restored Prethee Put, +who continued to hold the estate for 1845.</p> +<p>In April 1847, Mahommed Hossein, one of the Tusseeldars under +Rughbur Sing, seized and confined Prethee Put, once more put Dan +Bahader in possession of the estate, and sent his uncle to Rughbur +Sing. In November 1847, Incha Sing superseded his nephew, Rughbur +Sing; and, thinking Prethee Put's the more profitable cause to +adopt, he turned out Dan Bahader, and restored Prethee Put to the +possession of the Paska estate, which he has held ever since. He +has continued to pursue his system of indiscriminate plunder and +defiance of the Government authorities, and has seized upon the +estates of several of his weaker neighbours.</p> +<p>In 1848, he attacked and plundered the village of Sahooreea, +belonging to Sarafraz Allee, Chowdheree of Radowlee, and this year +he has done the same to the village of Semree, belonging to Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing. He carried off fifty-two persons from this village +of Semree, and confined them for two months, flogging and burning +them with red-hot ramrods, till they paid the ransom of five +thousand rupees required. He has this year plundered another +village, belonging to the same person, called Nowtee, and its +dependent hamlet of Hurhurpoora. He has also this year attacked, +plundered, and burnt to the ground the villages of Tirkolee, in the +Radowlee purgunnah, and Aelee Pursolee, in Bahraetch. The attack on +Tirkolee took place in September last, and five of the inhabitants +were killed; and in the attack on Aelee Pursolee, six of the +zumeendars were killed in defending themselves. In this attack he +was joined by the gang under Murtonjee. He also plundered and +confined a merchant of Gowaris till he paid a ransom of seven +hundred rupees; and about twenty-five days ago he attacked and +plundered two persons from Esanugur, on their way to Ojodheea, on +pilgrimage, and kept them confined and tortured till they paid a +ransom of five hundred rupees.</p> +<p>Prethee Put has, as before stated, in collusion with local +authorities, and by violence, seized upon a great portion of the +lands of Hissampoor, and ruined and turned out the Syud +proprietors, by whose families they had been held for many +generations. He is bound to pay twenty thousand rupees a year; but +has not, for many years, paid more than seven thousand.</p> +<p>Mahommed Hossein, the present Nazim of the Gonda Bahraetch +districts, describes the capture of Prethee Put by himself, as +follows:—"In 1846, the purgunnahs of Gowaris and Hissampoor were +reduced to a state of great disorder by the depredations of Prethee +Put, and the roads leading through them were shut up. He had seized +Syud Allee Asgar, the tallookdar of Aleenughur, in the Hissampoor +purgunnah, taken possession of his estate, and driven out, or +utterly ruined, all the landholders and cultivators. He tried, by +all kinds of torture, to make Allee Asgar sign, in his favour, a +deed of sale; but his family found means to complain to the Durbar, +and Rughbur Sing, the Nazim, was ordered to seize him and rescue +his prisoner. I was sent to manage the two purgunnahs, seize the +offender, and rescue Allee Asgar. When I approached the fort of +Bumhoree, where he kept his prisoner confined, Prethee Put put him +in strong irons, left him in that fort, and, with his followers, +passed over the Ghagra, in boats, to his stronger fort of Dhunolee, +on the right bank. I took possession of Bumhoree without much +resistance, rescued the prisoner, and restored him to the +possession of his estate, and put all the rest of the lands held by +Prethee Put under the management of Government officers. Two months +after, seeing my force much reduced by these arrangements, he came +at the head of a band of seventeen hundred men to attack me in the +village of Dhooree Gunge. The place was not defended by any wall, +but we made the best of it, drove him back, and killed or wounded +about fifty of his men, with the loss on our side, in killed or +wounded, of about twenty-three.</p> +<p>"I kept Prethee Put confined for two months, when Rughbur Sing +sent for him, on pretence that he wished to send him to Lucknow. He +kept him till the end of the year, when he was superseded in the +contract by his uncle, Incha Sing, who released Prethee Put at the +intercession of Maun Sing, the brother of Rughbur Sing, who +expected to make a good deal out of him." Prethee Put, of Paska, +was attacked on the morning of the 26th of March, 1850, in his fort +of Dhunolee, by a force under the command of Captains Weston, +Thompson, Magness, and Orr; and, on their approach, he vacated the +fort, separated himself from his gang, and took shelter in the +house of a Brahmin. He was then traced by a party from Captain +Magness's corps; and, as he refused to surrender, he was cut down +and killed. His clan, the Kulhunsies, refused to take the body for +interment. The head had been cut off to be sent to Lucknow as a +trophy, but Captain Weston opposed this, and it was replaced on the +body, which was sewn up in a winding-sheet and taken into the river +Ghagra by some sipahees, as the best kind of interment for a Hindoo +chief of his rank. The persons employed in the ceremony were +Hindoos, who knew nothing of Prethee Put's history; but it was +afterwards found that the place where the body was committed to the +stream was that on which he had killed his eldest brother, and +thrown his body into the river from his boat. This was a remarkable +coincidence, and tended to impress upon the minds of the people +around a notion that his death was effected by divine +interposition. All, except his followers, were rejoiced at the +death of so atrocious a character. Dan Bahader, the eldest son of +the brother he had murdered, being poor and unable to pay the usual +fees and gratuities to the minister and court favourites, was not, +however, permitted to take possession of his patrimonial estate, +and he died in December, 1850, in poverty and despair. Dhunolee and +Bhumoree have been levelled with the ground.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 9, 1849.—In the news-writer's report of +the 3rd December, 1849, it is stated—"that Ashfakos Sultan, Omrow +Begum, one of the King's wives, reported to his Majesty, that a man +named Sadik Allee had come to Lucknow while the King was suffering +from palpitations of the heart, and, in the disguise of a Durveish, +hired a house in Muftee Gunge, and taken up his residence in it. He +there gave himself out as one of the Kings of the Fairies +(<i>Amil-i-Jinnut</i>); and the fakeer, to whom his Majesty's +confidential servants, the singers, had taken him to be cured of +his disease, was no other than this Sadik Allee. The King, on +hearing this, sent for Sadik Allee, who was seized and brought +before him on the 2nd December. He confessed the imposture, but +pleaded that he had practised it merely to obtain some money, and +that the singers were associated with him in all that he did. The +King soothed his apprehensions, and conferred upon him a dress of +honour, consisting of a doshala and roomul, and then made him over +to the custody of Ashfak-os Sultan. At night the King sent for the +minister, and, summoning Sadik Allee, bid him dress himself exactly +as he was dressed on the night he visited him, and prepare a room +in the palace exactly in the same manner as he had prepared his own +to receive his Majesty on that night. He chose a small room in the +palace, and under the ceiling he suspended a second ceiling, so +that no one could perceive how it was fixed on, and placed himself +between the two. When all was ready the King went to the apartment +with the minister, accompanied by Ruzee-od Dowlah, the head singer. +When the door of the apartment was closed, they first heard a +frightful voice, without being able to perceive whence it came. +Neither the minister nor the King could perceive the slightest +opening or fissure in the ceiling. They then came out and closed +the door, but immediately heard from within the peaceful salutation +of 'salaam aleekom,' and the man appeared within as King of the +Fairies, and presented his Majesty with some jewels and other +offerings. All was here enacted precisely as it had been acted on +the occasion of the King's visit to Muftee Gunge. Turning an angry +look upon Ruzee-od Dowlah, the King said, 'All the evil that I have +so often heard of you, men of Rampoor, I have now with my own eyes +seen realized;' and, turning to the minister, he said, 'How often +have these men spoken evil of you before me!' Ruzee-od Dowlah then +said, 'If your Majesty thinks me guilty, I pray you to punish me as +may seem to you proper; but I entreat you not to make me over to +the minister.' The King, without deigning any reply, summoned Hajee +Shureef, and told him to place mounted sentries of his own corps of +cavalry over the door of Saadut Allee Khan's mausoleum, in which +these singers resided, and infantry sentries in the apartments with +them, with strict orders that no one should be permitted to go out +without, being first strictly searched. The sister of Ruzee-od +Dowla could nowhere be found, and was supposed to have made her +escape."</p> +<p>The King had several interviews of this kind with his Majesty, +the King of the Fairies, who described the symptoms from which he +suffered, and prescribed the remedies, which consisted chiefly of +rich offerings to the Fairies, who were to relieve him. He +frequently received letters from the Fairy King to the same effect, +written in an imperious style, suited to the occasion. The farce +was carried on for several months, and the King at different times +is supposed to have given the Fairy King some two lacs of rupees, +which he shared liberally with the singers.</p> +<p>I had heard of the affair of the Durveish from the minister, +through his wakeel, and from Captain Bird, the first Assistant, in +a letter. I requested that he would ask for an audience, and +congratulate his Majesty on the discovery of the imposture, and +offer any assistance that he might require in the banishment of the +impostors. He was received by the King in the afternoon of the 6th. +He expressed his regret that the King should have been put to so +much trouble by the bad conduct of those who had received from him +all that a king could give-wealth, titles, and intimate +companionship; hinted at the advantage taken of this by Ruzee-od +Dowlah, in his criminal intercourse with one of his Sultanas, +Surafraz Muhal; and earnestly prayed him to put an end to the +misery and disgrace which these men had brought and were still +bringing on himself, his house, and his country. The King promised +to have Ruzee-od Dowlah, his sister, and Kotub-od Dowlah, banished +across the Ganges; but stated, that he could do nothing against +Sadik Allee, however richly he deserved punishment, since he had +pledged his royal word to him, on his disclosing all he knew about +the imposition. The King asked captain Bird, whether he thought +that he had felt no sorrow at parting with Surafraz Muhal, with +whom he had lived so intimately for nine years; that he had, he +said, cast her off as a duty, and did Captain Bird think that he +would spare the men who had so grossly deceived him, caused so much +confusion in his kingdom, and ill-feeling towards him, on the part +of the British Government and its representative? His Majesty +added, "I cherished low-bred men, and they have given me the +low-bred man's reward, had I made friends of men of birth and +character it would have been otherwise;" and concluded by saying, +that he could not touch the money he had given to these fellows, +because people would say that he had got rid of them merely to +recover what he had bestowed upon them.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* When he afterwards confined and banished them in June and +July 1850, he took back from them all that they had retained; but +they had sent to their families and friends, property to the value +of many lacs of rupees.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The King, in the latter end of November, divorced Surafraz +Muhal, and sent her across the Ganges, to go on a pilgrimage to +Mecca. She had long been cohabiting with the chief singer, Gholam +Ruza, and was known to be a very profligate woman. She is said to +have given his Majesty to understand that she would not consent to +remain in the palace with him without the privilege of choosing her +own lovers, a privilege which she had freely enjoyed before she +came into it, and could not possibly forego.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chap2" id="Chap2">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Bahraetch—Shrine of Syud Salar—King of the Fairies +and the Fiddlers—Management of Bahraetch district for +forty-three years—Murder of Amur Sing, by Hakeem +Mehndee—Nefarious transfer of <i>khalsa</i> lands to +Tallookdars, by local officers—Rajah Dursun Sing—His +aggression on the Nepaul +Territory—Consequences—Intelligence +Department—How formed, managed, and abused—Rughbur +Sing's management of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846-47—Its +fiscal effects—A gang-robber caught and hung by Brahmin +villagers—Murder of Syampooree Gosaen—Ramdut +Pandee—Fairies and Fiddlers—Ramdut Pandee, the +Banker—the Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor—Murder +of Mr. Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, at Bhinga, in +1823.</p> +<p>Bahraetch is celebrated for the shrine of Syud Salar, a +<i>martyr</i>, who is supposed to have been killed here in the +beginning of the eleventh century, when fighting against the +Hindoos, under the auspices of Mahmood Shah, of Ghuznee, his +mother's brother. Strange to say, Hindoos as well as Mahommedans +make offerings to this shrine, and implore the favours of this +military ruffian, whose only recorded merit consists of having +destroyed a great many Hindoos in a wanton and unprovoked invasion +of their territory. They say, that he did what he did against +Hindoos in the conscientious discharge of his duties, and could not +have done it without God's permission—that God must then have +been angry with them for their transgressions, and used this man, +and all the other Mahommedan invaders of their country, as +instruments of his vengeance, and means to bring about his +purposes: that is, the thinking portion of the Hindoos say this. +The mass think that the old man must still have a good deal of +interest in heaven, which he may be induced to exercise in their +favour, by suitable offerings and personal applications to his +shrine.</p> +<p>The minister reports to the Resident on the 9th, that the King +had relented, and wished to retain the singer, Ruzee-od Dowlah, and +his sister, and Kotub Allee, at Lucknow, with orders never to +approach the presence. Captain Bird, in a letter, confirms this +report.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 11, 1849.—Left Bahraetch and came +south-east to Imaleea, on the road to Gonda, over a plain in the +Pyagpoor estate, almost entirely waste. Few groves or single trees +to be seen; scarcely a field tilled or house occupied; all the work +of the same atrocious governor, Rughbur Sing. No oppressor ever +wrote a more legible hand.</p> +<p>The brief history of the management of this district for the +last forty-three years, is as follows. The district consisted in +1807, of</p> +<pre> + Khalsa Lands Present Khalsa Lands +Bahraetch . . . 2,50,000 4,000 +Hissampoor . . . 2,00,000 40,000 +Hurhurpoor . . . 1,25,000 10,000 +Buhareegunge . . . 1,50,000 15,000 + ________ ______ + 7,25,000 69,000 + <b>________ ______</b> +</pre> +<p>The contract was held by Balkidass Kanoongoe, for five years, +from 1807 to 1811, when he died, and was succeeded in the contract +by his son, Amur Sing, who held it till 1816. In the end of that +year, or early in 1817, Amur Sing was seized, put into confinement, +and murdered by Hakeem Mehndee, who held the contract for 1817 and +1818. In the year 1816, Hakeem Mehndee, who held the contract for +the Mahomdee district, at four lacs of rupees a-year, and that for +Khyrabad at five, heard of the great wealth of Amur Sing, and the +fine state to which he and his father had brought the district by +good management; and offered the Oude government one lac of rupees +a-year more than he paid for the contract for the ensuing year. +Hakeem Mehndee resided chiefly at the capital of Lucknow, on the +pretence of indisposition, while his brother, Hadee Allee Khan, +managed the two districts for him. He had acquired a great +reputation by his judicious management of these two districts, and +become a favourite with the King, by the still more skilful +management of a few male and female favourites about his Majesty's +person. The minister, Aga Meer, was jealous of his growing fame and +favour, and persuaded the King to accept the offer, in the hope +that he would go himself to his new charge, in order to make the +most of it. As soon as he heard of his appointment to the charge of +Bahraetch, Hakeem Mehndee set out with the best body of troops he +could collect, and sent on orders for Amur Sing to come out and +meet him. He declined to do so until he got the pledge of Hadee +Allee Khan, the Hakeem's brother, for his personal security. This +mortified the Hakeem, and tended to confirm him in the resolution +to make away with Amur Sing, and appropriate his wealth. Both +Hakeem Mehndee and his brother are said to have sworn on their +Koran that no violence whatever should be offered to or restraint +put upon him; and, relying on these oaths and pledges, Amur Sing +met them on their approach to Bahraetch.</p> +<p>After discussing affairs and adjusting accounts for some months +at Bahraetch, the Hakeem, by his courteous manners and praises of +his excellent management, put Amur Sing off his guard. When sitting +with him one evening in his tents, around which he had placed a +select body of guards, he left him on the pretext of a sudden call, +and Amur Sing was seized, bound, and confined. Meer Hyder and Baboo +Beg, Mogul troopers, were placed in command of the guards over him, +with orders to get him assassinated as soon as possible. Sentries +were, at the same time, placed over his family and wealth. At +midnight he was soon after strangled by these two men and their +attendants. Baboo Beg was a very stout, powerful man; and he +attempted to strangle him with his own hands, while his companions +held him down; but Amur Sing managed to scream out for help, and, +in attempting to close his mouth with his left hand, one of his +fingers got between Amur Sing's teeth, and he bit off the first +joint, and kept it in his mouth. His companions finished the work; +and Baboo Beg went off to get his fingers dressed without telling +any one what had happened. In the morning Hakeem Mehndee gave out, +that Amur Sing had poisoned himself, made the body over to his +family, and sent off a report of his death to the minister, +expressing his regret at Amur Sing's having put an end to his +existence by poisoning, to avoid giving an account of his +stewardship. The property which Hakeem Mehndee seized and +appropriated, is said to have amounted, in all, to between fifteen +and twenty lacs of rupees!</p> +<p>Amur Sing's family, in performing the funeral ceremonies, had to +open his mouth, to put in the usual small bit of gold, Ganges +water, and leaf of the toolsee-tree; and, to their horror, they +there found the first joint of a man's finger. This confirmed all +their suspicions, that he had been murdered during the night, and +they sent off the joint of the finger to the minister, demanding +vengeance on the murderer. Aga Meer was delighted at this proof of +his rival's guilt, and would have had him seized and tried for the +murder forthwith, but Hakeem Mehndee gave two lacs of rupees, out +of the wealth he had acquired from the murder, to Rae Doulut Rae, +Meer Neeaz Hoseyn, Munshee Musaod, Sobhan Allee Khan, and others, +in the minister's confidence; and they persuaded him, that he had +better wait for a season, till he could charge him with the more +serious offence of defalcations in the revenue, when he might crush +him with the weight of manifold transgressions.</p> +<p>They communicated what they had done to Hakeem Mehnde, who, by +degrees, sent off all his disposable wealth to Shabjehanpoor and +Futtehghur, in British territory. In April 1818, the +Governor-General the Marquess of Hastings passed through the +Khyrabad and Bahraetch districts, attended by Hakeem Mehndee, on a +sporting excursion, after the Mahratta war; and the satisfaction +which he expressed to the King with the Hakeem's conduct during +that excursion, added greatly to the minister's hatred and alarm. +He persuaded his Majesty to demand from Hakeem Mehndee an increase +of five lacs of rupees upon nine lacs a-year, which he already paid +for Mahomdee and Khyrabad; and resolved to have him tried for the +murder of Amur Sing, as soon as he could get him into his power. +Hakeem Mehndee knew all this from the friends he had made at Court, +refused to keep the contract at the increased rate, and, on +pretence of settling his accounts, went first to Seetapoor from +Bahraetch, and thence over the border to Shahjehanpoor, with all +his family, and such of the property as he had not till then been +able to send off. The family never recovered any of the property he +had taken from Amur Sing, nor was any one of the murderers ever +punished, or called to account for the crime.</p> +<p>On the departure of Hakeem Mehndee, Hadee Allee Khan (not the +brother of Hakeem Mehndee, but a member of the old official +aristocracy of Oude) got the contract of the district of Bahraetch +with that of Gonda, which had been held in Jageer by and for the +widow of Shoja-od Dowlah, the mother of Asuf-od Dowlah, commonly +known by the name of the Buhoo Begum, of Fyzabad, where she +resided. Hadee Allee Khan held the contract of these two districts +for nine years, up to 1827. He was succeeded by Walaeut Allee Khan, +who held the contract for only half of the year 1828, when he was +superseded by Mehndoo Khan, who held it for two years and a half, +to the end of 1830, when Hadee Allee Khan again got the contract, +and he held it till he died in 1833. He was succeeded by his +nephew, Imdad Allee Khan, who held the contract till 1835.</p> +<p>Rajah Dursun Sing superseded him in 1836, and was the next year +superseded by the widow of Hadee Allee, named "Wajee-on-Nissa +Begum," who held the contract for one year and a half to 1838. For +the remainder of 1838, the contract was held by Fida Allee Khan and +Ram Row Pandee jointly; and for 1839, by Sunker Sahae Partuk. For +1840, it was held by Sooraj-od Dowlah, and for 1841 and up to +September 1843, Rajah Dursun Sing held it again. For 1844 and 1845, +Ehsan Allee and Wajid Allee held it. For 1846 and 1847, Rughbur +Sing, one of the three sons of Rajah Dursun Sing, held it. For +1848, it was held by Incha Sing, brother of Dursun Sing; and for +1849, it has been held by Mahummud Hasun. The Gonda district +consisted of the purgunnahs of Gonda and Nawabgunge, and a number +of tallooks, or baronial estates.</p> +<p>Under the paternal government of Balukram and his son, Amur +Sing, hereditary canoongoes of the district, life and property were +secure, the assessment moderate, and the country and people +prosperous. It was a rule, strictly adhered to, under the reign of +Saadut Allee Khan, from 1797 to 1814, never under any circumstances +to permit the transfer of <i>khalsa</i> or allodial lands (that is, +lands held immediately under the Crown) to tallookdars or baronial +proprietors, who paid a quit-rent to Government, and managed their +estates with their own fiscal officers, and military and police +establishments. Those who resided in or saw the district at that +time, describe it as a magnificent garden; and some few signs of +that flourishing state are still to be seen amidst its present +general desolation.</p> +<p>The adjoining district of Gonda became no less flourishing under +the fostering care of the Buhoo Begum, of Fyzabad, who held it in +Jageer till her death, which took place 18th December, 1815. +Relying upon the pledge of the British Government, under the treaty +of 1801, to protect him against all foreign and domestic enemies, +and to put down for him all attempts at insurrection and rebellion +by means of its own troops, without any call for further pecuniary +aid, Saadut Allee disbanded more than half his army, and reduced +the cost, while he improved the efficiency of the other half, to +bring his expenditure within his income, now so much diminished by +the cession of the best half of his dominions to the British +Government. He assessed, or altogether resumed, all the rent-free +lands in his reserved half of the territory; and made all the +officers of his two lavish and thoughtless predecessors,* disgorge +a portion of the wealth which they had accumulated by the abuse of +their confidence; and, at the same time, laboured assiduously to +keep within bounds the powers and possessions of his landed +aristocracy.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Asuf-od Dowlah and Wuzeer Allee.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Hakeem Mehndee exacted from the landholders of Bahraetch two +annas in the rupee, or one-eighth, more than the rate they had +hitherto paid; and his successor, Hadee Allee, exacted an increase +of two annas in the rupee, upon the Hakeem's rate. It was difficult +to make the landholders and cultivators pay this rate, and a good +deal of their stock was sold off for arrears; and much land fell +out of cultivation in consequence. To facilitate the collection of +this exorbitant rate, and at the same time to reduce the cost of +collection, he disregarded systematically the salutary rule of +Saadut Allee Khan, who had died in 1814, and been succeeded by his +do-nothing and see-nothing son, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder; and +transferred the khalsa estates of all defaulters to the +neighbouring tallookdars, who pledged themselves to liquidate the +balances due, and pay the Government demand punctually in future. +This arrangement enabled him to reduce his fiscal, military, and +police establishments a good deal for the time, and his tenure of +office was too insecure to admit of his bestowing much thought on +the future.</p> +<p>As soon as these tallookdars got possession of khalsa villages, +they plundered them of all they could find of stock and other +property; and, with all possible diligence, reduced to beggary all +the holders and cultivators who had any claim to a right of +property in the lands, in order to prevent their ever being again +in a condition to urge such claims in the only way in which they +can be successfully urged in Oude—cut down all the trees +planted by them or their ancestors, and destroyed all the good +houses they had built, that they might have no local ties to link +their affections to the soil. As the local officers of the Oude +government became weak, by the gradual withdrawal of British +troops, from aiding in the collection of revenue and the +suppression of rebellion and disorder, and by the deterioration in +the character of the Oude troops raised to supply their places, the +tallookdars became stronger and stronger. They withheld more and +more of the revenue due to Government, and expended the money in +building forts and strongholds, casting or purchasing cannon, and +maintaining large armed bands of followers. All that they withheld +from the public treasury was laid out in providing the means for +resisting the officers of Government; and, in time, it became a +point of honour to pay nothing to the sovereign without first +fighting with his officers.</p> +<p>Hadee Allee Khan's successors continued the system of +transferring khalsa lands to tallookdars, as the cheapest and most +effectual mode of collecting the revenue for their brief period of +authority. The tallookdars, whose estates were augmented by such +transfers, in the Gonda Bahraetch district, are Ekona, Pyagpoor, +Churda, Nanpoora, Gungwal, Bhinga, Bondee, Ruhooa, and the six +divisions of the Gooras, or Chehdwara estate. The hereditary +possessions of the tallookdars, and, indeed, all the lands in the +permanent possession of which they feel secure, are commonly very +well cultivated; but those which they acquire by fraud, violence, +or collusion, are not so, till, by long suffering and "hope +deferred," the old proprietors have been effectually crushed or +driven out of the country. The old proprietors of the lands so +transferred to the tallookdars of the Gonda Baraetch districts from +time to time had, under a series of weak governors, been so crushed +or driven out before 1842, and their lands had, for the most part, +been brought under good tillage.</p> +<p>The King of Oude, in a letter, dated the 31st of August 1823, +tells the Resident, "that the villages and estates of the large +refractory tallookdars are as flourishing and populous as they can +possibly be; and there are many estates among them which yield more +than two and three times the amount at which they have been +assessed; and even if troops should be stationed there, to prevent +the cultivation of the land till the balances are liquidated, the +tallookdars immediately come forward to give battle; and, in spite +of everything, cultivate the lands of their estates, so that their +profits from the land are even greater than those of the +Government." This picture is a very fair one, and as applicable to +the state of Oude now as in 1823.</p> +<p>But if a weak man, by favour, fraud, or collusion, gets +possession of a small estate, as he often does, the consequences +are more serious than where the strong man gets it. The ousted +proprietors fight "to the death" to recover possession; and the new +man forms a gang of the most atrocious ruffians he can collect, to +defend his possession. He cannot afford to pay them, and permits +them to subsist on plunder. In the contest the estate itself and +many around it become waste, and the fellow who has usurped it, +often—nolens-volens—becomes a systematic leader of +banditti; and converts the deserted villages into strongholds and +dens of robbers. I shall have occasion to describe many instances +of this kind as I proceed in my Diary.</p> +<p>Dursung Sing was strong both in troops and Court favour, and he +systematically plundered and kept down the great landholders +throughout the districts under his charge, but protected the +cultivators, and even the smaller land proprietors, whose estates +could not be conveniently added to his own. When the Court found +the barons in any district grow refractory, under weak governors, +they gave the contract of it to Dursun Sing, as the only officer +who could plunder and reduce them to order. During the short time +that he held the districts of Gonda and Bahraetch in 1836, he did +little mischief. He merely ascertained the character and substance +of the great landholders, exacted from the weaker all that they +could pay, and "bided his time." When he resumed the charge in +1842, the greater landholders had become strong and substantial; +and he was commanded by the Durbar to coerce and make them pay all +the arrears of revenue due, or pretended to be due, by them.</p> +<p>Nothing loth, he proceeded to seize and plunder them all, one +after the other, and put their estates under the management of his +own officers. The young Rajah of Bulrampoor had gone into the +Goruckpoor district, to visit his friend, the Rajah of Basee, +Mahpaul Sing, when Dursun Sing marched suddenly to his capital at +the head of a large force. The garrison of the small stronghold was +taken by surprise; and, in the absence of their chief, soon induced +to surrender, on a promise of leave to depart with all their +property. They passed over into a small island in the river, which +flows close by; and as soon as Dursun Sing saw them collected +together in that small space, he opened his guns and musketry upon +them, and killed between one and two hundred. The rest fled, and he +took possession of all their property, amounting to about two +hundred thousand rupees. The Rajah was reduced to great distress; +but his personal friend, Matabur Sing, the minister of Nepaul, +aided him with loans of money; and gave him a garden to reside in, +about five hundred yards from the village of Maharaj Gunge, in the +Nepaul territory, fifty-four miles from Bulrampoor, where Dursun +Sing remained encamped with his large force.</p> +<p>The Rajah had filled this garden with small huts for the +accommodation of his family and followers during the season of the +rains, and surrounded it with a deep ditch, knowing the +unscrupulous and enterprising character of his enemy. In September +1843, Dursun Sing, having had the position and all the road leading +to it well reconnoitred, marched one evening, at the head of a +compact body of his own followers, and reached the Rajah's position +at daybreak the next morning. The garden was taken by a rush; but +the Rajah made his escape with the loss of thirty men killed and +wounded. Dursun Sing's party took all the property the Rajah and +his followers left behind them in their flight, and plundered the +small village of Maharaj Gunge; but in their retreat they were +sorely pressed by a sturdy landholder of the neighbourhood, who had +become attached to his young sporting companion, the Rajah, and +whose feeling of patriotism had been grievously outraged by this +impudent invasion of his sovereign's territory; and they had five +sipahees and one trooper killed. The Bulrampoor Rajah had been +plundered in the same treacherous manner in 1839, by the Nazim, +Sunkersahae and Ghalib Jung, his deputy or <i>collector</i>. He had +invited them to a feast, and they brought an armed force and +surrounded and plundered his house and capital. He escaped with his +mother into British territory; and tells me, that he was a lad at +the time, and had great difficulty in making his mother fly with +him, and leave all her wardrobe behind her.</p> +<p>The Court of Nepaul complained of this aggression on their +territory, and demanded reparation. The Governor-General Lord +Ellenborough called upon the Oude government, in dignified terms, +to make prompt and ample atonement to that of Nepaul. "Promptness," +said his Lordship, "in repairing an injury, however unintentionally +committed is as conducive to the honour of a sovereign, as +promptness in demanding reparation where an injury has been +sustained." The Nepaul Court required, that Dursun Sing should be +seized and sent to Nepaul, to make an apology in person to the +sovereign of that state; should be deprived of all his offices, +with an assurance, on the part of Oude, that he should never be +again employed in any office under that government; and, that the +amount of injury sustained by the subjects of Nepaul should be +settled by arbitrators sent to the place on the part of both +States, and paid by the Oude government. The Governor-General did +not insist upon Oude's complying with the first of these +requirements; but Dursun Sing was dismissed from all employments, +arbitrators were sent to the place, and the Oude government paid +the nine hundred and fourteen rupees, which they decided to be due +to the subjects of Nepaul.</p> +<p>Dursun Sing at first fled in alarm into the British territory, +as the Nepaul government assembled a large force on the border, and +appeared to threaten Oude with invasion; while the Governor-General +held in readiness a large British force to oppose them; and he knew +not what the Oude government, in its alarm, might do to the servant +who had wantonly involved it in so serious a scrape. His brother, +Bukhtawar Sing, the old courtier, knew that they had enemies, or +interested persons at Court, who would take advantage of the +occasion to exasperate the King, and persuade him to plunder them +of all they had, and confiscate their estates, unless Dursun Sing +appeared and pacified the King by his submission, and aided him in +a judicious distribution of the ready money at their command; and +he prevailed upon him to hasten to Court, and throw himself at his +Majesty's feet.</p> +<p>He came, acknowledged that he had been precipitate in his +over-zeal for his Majesty's service; but pleaded, in excuse, that +the young Rajah of Bulrampore had been guilty of great contumacy, +and owed a large balance to the Exchequer, which he had been +peremptorily commanded to recover; and declared himself ready to +suffer any punishment, and make any reparation or atonement that +his master, the King, might deem proper. The British and Nepaul +governments had expressed themselves satisfied; but other parties +had become deeply interested in the dispute. The King, with many +good qualities, was a very parsimonious man, who prided himself +upon adding something every month to his reserved treasury; and he +thought, that advantage should be taken of the occasion, to get a +large sum out of so wealthy a family. Three of his wives, Hoseynee +Khanum, Mosahil Khanum, and Sakeena Khanum, had at the time great +influence over his Majesty, and they wished to take advantage of +the occasion, not only to screw out of the family a large sum for +the King and themselves, but to confiscate the estates, and +distribute them among their male relations. The minister, +Menowur-od Dowlah, the nephew and heir of Hakeem Mehndee, who has +been and will be often mentioned in this Diary, thought that, after +paying a large sum to gratify his Majesty's ruling passion, and +enable him to make handsome presents to the three favourites, +Dursun Sing ought to be released and restored to office, for he was +the only man then in Oude capable of controlling the refractory and +turbulent territorial barons; and if he were crushed altogether for +subduing one of them, the rest would all become unmanageable, and +pay no revenue whatever to the Exchequer. He, therefore, +recommended the King to take from the two brothers the sum of +twenty-five lacs of rupees, leave them the estates, and restore +Dursun Sing to all his charges, as soon as it could be done without +any risk of giving umbrage to the British Government.</p> +<p>The King thought the minister's advice judicious, and consented; +but the ladies called him a fool, and told him, that the brothers +had more than that sum in stores of seed-grain alone, and ought to +be made to pay at least fifty lacs, while the brothers pleaded +poverty, and declared that they could only pay nineteen. The +minister urged the King, to take even this sum, give two lacs to +the three females, and send seventeen to the reserved treasury; and +called upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer to give in his accounts +of the actual balance due by the two brothers, on their several +contracts, for the last twenty-five years. He, being on good terms +with the minister, and anxious to meet his wishes, found a balance +of only one lac and thirty-two thousand due by Dursun Sing, and one +of only fifteen lacs due by his brother, Bukhtawar Sing, in whose +name the contracts had always been taken up to 1842. The King, +sorely pressed by the females, resolved to banish Dursun Sing, and +confiscate all his large estates; but the British Resident +interposed, and urged, that Dursun Sing should be leniently dealt +with, since he had made all the reparation and atonement required. +The King told him, that Dursun Sing was a notorious and terrible +tyrant, and had fearfully oppressed his poor subjects, and robbed +them by fraud, violence, and collusion, of lands yielding a +rent-roll of many lacs of rupees a-year; and, that unless he were +punished severely for all these numerous atrocities, his other +servants would follow his example, and his poor subjects be +everywhere ruined!</p> +<p>The Resident admitted the truth of all these charges; but urged, +in reply, that the Oude government had, in spite of all these +atrocities, without any admonition, continued to employ him with +unlimited power in the charge of many of its finest districts, for +twenty-five or thirty years; and, that it would now be hard to +banish him, and confiscate all his fine estates, when his Majesty +had so lately offered, not only to leave them all untouched, but to +restore him to all his charges, on the payment of a fine of +twenty-five lacs. The King was perplexed in his desire to please +the Resident, meet the wishes of his three ladies, and add a good +round sum to his reserved treasury; and at last closed all +discussions by making Dursun Sing pay the one lac and thirty-two +thousand rupees, found to be due by him, and sending him into +banishment; holding Bukhtawar Sing responsible for the fifteen lacs +due by him, and seizing upon his estates, and putting them under +the management of Hoseyn Allee, the father of Hoseynee Khanum, the +most influential of the three favourites, till the whole should be +paid. She satisfied herself that she should be able to make the +banishment of the man and the confiscation of the estate perpetual; +and, before he set out, she secured the transfer of the strong fort +of Shahgunge, with all its artillery and military stores, from +Dursun Sing's to the King's troops. Dursun Sing went into +banishment on the 17th of March 1844; but before he set out he +addressed a remonstrance to the British Resident, +stating—"that he had paid all that had been found to be due +by him to the Exchequer, and made every atonement required for the +offence charged against him; but had, nevertheless, been ordered +into banishment—had all his charges taken from him, and his +lands, houses, gardens, &c., worth fifty lacs, taken from him, +and made over to strangers and Court favourites."</p> +<p>Hoseyn Allee had promised to pay to the Exchequer one lac of +rupees a-year for these estates more than Dursun Sing had paid. He +had paid annually for the Mehdona estates two lacs and eight +thousand two hundred and seventy-six; and for the Asrewa estates, +in the same district of Sultanpoor, one lac thirty-one thousand and +eighty-nine-total, three lacs and thirty-nine thousand three +hundred and sixty-five; and they probably yielded to him an annual +rent of nearly double that sum, or at least five lacs of rupees. +Hoseyn Allee, however, found it impossible to fulfil his pledges. +The landholders and cultivators would not be persuaded that the +sovereign of Oude could long dispense with the services of such a +man as Dursun Sing, or bring him back without restoring to him his +landed possessions; or that he would, when he returned, give them +credit for any payments which they might presume to make to any +other master during his absence. They, therefore, refused to pay +any rent for the past season, and threatened to abandon their lands +before the tillage for the next season should commence, if any +attempt were made to coerce them. All the great revenue contractors +and other governors of districts declared their inability to coerce +the territorial barons into paying anything, since they had lost +the advantage of the prestige of his great name; and the minister +found that he must either resign his office or prevail upon his +sovereign to recall him. The King, finding that he must either draw +upon his reserved treasury or leave all his establishments unpaid +under such a falling off in the revenue, yielded to his minister's +earnest recommendation, and in May 1844, consented to recall Dursun +Sing from our district of Goruckpoor, in which he had resided +during his banishment.</p> +<p>On the 10th of that month he was taken by the minister to pay +his respects to his Majesty, who, on the 30th, conferred upon him +additional honours and titles, and appointed him Inspector-general +of all his dominions, with orders "to make a settlement of the land +revenue at an increased rate; to cut down all the jungles, and +bring all the waste lands into tillage; to seize all refractory +barons, destroy all their forts, and seize and send into store all +the cannon mounted upon them; to put down all disturbances, protect +all high roads, punish all refractory and evil-minded persons; to +enforce the payment of all just demands of his sovereign upon +landholders of all degrees and denominations; to invite back all +who had been driven off by oppression, and re-establish them on +their estates, or punish them if they refused to return; to +ascertain the value of all estates transferred from the +jurisdiction of the local authorities to the 'Hozoor Tehsel,' +without due inquiry; and report, for the consideration of his +Majesty and his minister, any <i>nankar</i> or rent-free lands, +assigned, of late years, by Amils and other governors of districts; +to enforce the payment of all recoverable balances, due on account +of past years; to muster the troops, and report, through the +commander-in-chief, all officers and soldiers borne on the +muster-rolls, and paid from the treasury, but in reality dead, +absent without leave, or unfit for further service;" in short, to +reform all abuses, and make the government of the country what the +King and his minister thought it ought to be. Dursun Sing assured +them that he would do his best to effect all the objects they had +in view; and, after recovering possession of his estates, and +conciliating, by suitable gratuities, all the reigning favourites +at Court, he went to work heartily at his Herculean task after his +wonted way. But he, soon after, became ill, and retired to his +residence at Fyzabad, where he died on the 20th of August, 1844, +leaving his elder brother, Bukhtawar Sing—my +Quartermaster-general—at Court; and his three sons, Ramadeen, +Rughbur Sing, and Mann Sing, to fight among themselves for his +landed possessions and immense accumulated wealth.</p> +<p>The minister was a man of good intentions; and, having inherited +an immense fortune from his uncle, Hakeem Mehndee, he cared little +about money; but he was an indolent man, and indulged much in +opiates, and his object was to reform the administration at the +least possible cost of time and trouble to himself. He had, he +thought, found the man who could efficiently supervise and control +the administration in all its branches; and he invested him with +plenary powers to do so. Of the duty, on his part and that of his +master; efficiently to supervise and control the exercise of these +plenary powers on the part of the man of their choice, in order to +prevent their being abused to the injury of the state and the +people; or of the necessity of taking from Court favourites the +nomination of officers to the charge of all districts and all +fiscal and judicial Courts, and to the command of all corps and +establishments, in order to render them efficient and honest, and +prevent justice from being perverted, and the revenues of the state +from being absorbed on their way to the treasury, they took no +heed. Court favourites retained their powers, and the King and his +minister relied entirely, as heretofore, upon the reports of the +news-writers, who attend officially upon all officers in charge of +districts, fiscal and judicial Courts, corps and establishments of +all kinds, for the facts of all cases on which they might have to +pass orders; and remained as ignorant as their predecessors of the +real state of the administration and the real sufferings of the +people, if not of the real losses to the Exchequer.</p> +<p>The news department is under a Superintendent-general, who has +sometimes contracted for it, as for the revenues of a district, but +more commonly holds it in <i>amanee</i>, as a manager. When he +contracts for it he pays a certain sum to the public treasury, over +and above what he pays to the influential officers and Court +favourites in gratuities. When he holds it in <i>amanee</i>, he +pays only gratuities, and the public treasury gets nothing. His +payments amount to about the same in either case. He nominates +his-subordinates, and appoints them to their several offices, +taking from each a present gratuity and a pledge for such monthly +payments as he thinks the post will enable him to make. They +receive from four to fifteen rupees a-month each, and have each to +pay to their President, for distribution among his patrons or +patronesses at Court from one hundred to five hundred rupees +a-month in ordinary times. Those to whom they are accredited have +to pay them, under ordinary circumstances, certain sums monthly, to +prevent their inventing or exaggerating cases of abuse of power or +neglect of duty on their part; but when they happen to be really +guilty of great acts of atrocity, or great neglect of duty, they +are required to pay extraordinary sums, not only to the +news-writers, who are especially accredited to them, but to all +others who happen to be in the neighbourhood at the time. There are +six hundred and sixty news-writers of this kind employed by the +King, and paid monthly three thousand one hundred and ninety-four +rupees, or, on an average, between four and five rupees a-month +each; and the sums paid by them to their President for distribution +among influential officers and Court favourites averages above one +hundred and fifty thousand rupees a-year. Many, whose avowed salary +is from four to ten rupees a-month, receive each, from the persons +to whom they are accredited, more than five hundred, three-fourths +of which they must send for distribution among Court favourites, or +they could not retain their places a week, nor could their +President retain his. Such are the reporters of the circumstances +in all the cases on which the sovereign and his ministers have to +pass orders every day in Oude. Some of those who derive part of +their incomes from this source are "persons behind the throne, who +are greater than the throne itself." The mother of the +heir-apparent gets twelve thousand rupees a-year from it.</p> +<p>But their exactions are not confined to government officers of +all grades and denominations; they are extended to contractors of +all kinds and denominations, to him who contracts for the supply of +the public cattle with grain, as well as to him who contracts for +the revenue and undivided government of whole provinces; and, +indeed, to every person who has anything to do under, or anything +to apprehend from, government and its officers and favourites; and, +in such a country, who has not? The European magistrate of one of +our neighbouring districts one day, before the Oude Frontier Police +was raised, entered the Oude territory at the head of his police in +pursuit of some robbers, who had found an asylum in one of the +King's villages. In the attempt to secure them some lives were +lost; and, apprehensive of the consequences, he sent for the +official news-writer, and <i>gratified</i> him in the usual way. No +report of the circumstances was made to the Oude Durbar; and +neither the King, the Resident, nor the British Government ever +heard anything about it. Of the practical working of the system, +many illustrations will be found in this Diary.</p> +<p>The Akbar, or Intelligence Department, had been farmed out for +some years, at the rate of between one and two lacs of rupees +a-year, when, at the recommendation of the Resident, the King +expressed his willingness to abolish the farm, and intrust the +superintendence to <i>men of character and ability</i>, to be paid +by Government. This resolution was communicated to Government by +the Resident on the 24th of April, 1839; and on the 6th of May the +Resident was instructed to communicate to his Majesty the +satisfaction which the Governor-General derived on hearing that he +had consented to abolish this farm, which had produced <i>so large +a revenue to the state</i>. This was considered by the Resident to +be a great boon obtained for the people of Oude, as the farmers of +the department consented to pay a large revenue, only on condition +that they should be considered as the only legitimate reporters of +events—the only recognised <i>masters in the Oude Chancery</i>; +and, as the Resident observed, "they choked up all the channels the +people had of access to their sovereign;" but they have choked them +up just as much since the abolition of the farm, and have had to +pay just as much as before.</p> +<p>A brief sketch of the proceedings of Rughbur Sing, the son of +Dursun Sing, in his government of these districts of Gonda and +Baraetch, for the years 1846 and 1847, may here be given as further +illustration of the Oude government and its administration, in this +part of the country at least. It had not suffered very much under +his uncle's brief reign in 1842 and 1843, and the governors who +followed him, up to 1846, were too weak to coerce the Tallookdars, +or do much injury to their estates. Rughbur Sing had a large body +of the King's troops to aid him in enforcing from them the payment +of the current revenue and balances, real or pretended, for past +years; and a large body of armed retainers of his own to assist him +in his contest with his brothers for the possessions of the Mehdona +and Asrewa estates, which had been going on ever since the death of +their father.</p> +<p>I have stated that Rughbur Sing held in contract the districts +of Gonda and Bahraetch for the years 1846 and 1847, and shown to +what a state of wretchedness he managed to reduce them in that +brief period. In 1849, some months after I took charge of my +office, I deputed a European gentleman of high character, Captain +Orr, of the Oude Frontier Police, to pass through these districts, +and inquire into and report upon the charges of oppression brought +against him by the people, as his agents were diligently employed +at Lucknow in distributing money among the most influential persons +about the Court, and a disposition to restore him to power had +become manifest. He had purchased large estates in our districts of +Benares and Goruckpoor, where he now resided for greater security, +while he had five thousand armed men, employed under other agents, +in fighting with his brother, Maun Sing, for the possession of the +<i>bynamah</i> estates, above described, in the Sultanpoor +district. In this contest a great many lives were lost, and the +peace of the country was long and much disturbed, but, after +driving all his brother's forces and agents out of the district. +Maun Sing retained quiet possession of the estates. This contest +would, however, have been again renewed, and the same desolating +disorders would have again prevailed, could Rughbur Sing's agents +at the capital, by a judicious distribution of the money at their +disposal, have induced the Court to restore him to the government +of these or any other districts in Oude.</p> +<p>On the 23rd of July 1849, Captain Orr sent in his report, giving +a brief outline of such of the atrocities committed by Rughbur Sing +and his agents in these districts as he was able, during his tour, +to establish upon unquestionable evidence; but they made but a +small portion of the whole, as the people in general still +apprehended that he would be restored to power by Court favour, and +wreak his vengeance upon all who presumed to give evidence against +him; while many of the most respectable families in the districts +were ashamed to place on record the suffering and dishonour +inflicted on their female members; and still more had been reduced +by them to utter destitution, and driven in despair into other +districts. To use his own words—"The once flourishing +districts of Gonda and Bahraetch, so noted for fertility and +beauty, are now, for the greater part, uncultivated; villages +completely deserted in the midst of lands devoid of all tillage +everywhere meet the eye; and from Fyzabad to Bahraetch I passed +through these districts, a distance of eighty miles, over plains +which had been fertile and well cultivated, till Rughbur Sing got +charge, but now lay entirely waste, a scene for two years of great +misery ending in desolation."</p> +<p>Rajah Hurdut Sahae, the proprietor of the Bondee estate, was the +head of one of the oldest Rajpoot families in Oude. Having placed +the most notorious knaves in the country as revenue collectors over +all the subdivisions of his two districts, Rajah Rughbur Sing, in +1846, demanded from Hurdut Sahae an increase of five thousand +rupees upon the assessment of the preceding year. The Rajah pleaded +the badness of preceding seasons, and consequent poverty of his +tenants and cultivators; but at last he consented to pay the +increase, and on solemn pledges of personal security he collected +all his tenants, to take upon themselves the responsibility of +making good this demand. To this they all agreed; but they had no +sooner done so, than Rughbur Sing's agent, Prag Pursaud, demanded a +gratuity of seven thousand rupees for himself, over and above the +increase of five thousand upon the demand of the preceding year. +The Rajah would not agree to pay the seven thousand, but went off +to request some capitalists to furnish securities for the punctual +payment of the rent.</p> +<p>The agent sent off secretly to Rughbur Sing to say, that unless +he came at the head of his forces he saw no chance of getting the +revenues from the Rajah or his tenants, who were all assembled and +might be secured if he could contrive to surprise them. Rughbur +Sing came with a large force at night, surrounded his agent's camp, +where the tenants and the Rajah's officers were all assembled, and +seized them. He then sent out parties of soldiers of from one +hundred to two hundred each, to plunder all the towns and villages +on the estate, and seize all the respectable residents they could +find. They plundered the town of Bondee, and pulled down all the +houses of the Rajah, and those of his relatives and dependents; +and, after plundering all the other towns and villages in the +neighbourhood, they brought in one thousand captives of both sexes +and all ages, who were subjected to all manner of torture till they +paid the ransom demanded, or gave written pledges to pay. Five +thousand head of cattle were, at the same time, brought in and +distributed as booty.</p> +<p>The Rajah made his escape, but his agents were put to the same +tortures as his tenants. Rughbur Sing, among other things, +commanded them to sign a declaration, to the effect that his +predecessor and enemy, Wajid Allee Khan, had received from them the +sum of thirty thousand rupees more than he had credited to his +government, but this they all refused to do. Rughbur Sing remained +at Bondee for six weeks, superintending personally all these +atrocities; and then went off, leaving, as his agent, Kurum Hoseyn. +He continued the tortures upon the tenants and officers of the +Rajah, and the captives collected in his camp. He rubbed the beards +of the men with moist gunpowder; and, as soon as it became dry in +the sun, he set fire to it. Other tortures, too cruel and indecent +to be named, were inflicted upon four servants of the Rajah, Kunjun +Sing, Bustee Ram, Admadnt Pandee, and Bhugwant Rae, and upon +others, who were likely to be able to borrow or beg anything for +their ransom.</p> +<p>Finding that the tenants did not return, and that the estate was +likely to be altogether deserted, unless the Rajah returned, Kurum +Hoseyn was instructed by Rughbur Sing to invite him back on any +terms. The poor Rajah, having nothing in the jungles to which he +had fled to subsist upon, ventured back on the solemn pledge of +personal security given by Pudum Sing, a respectable capitalist, +whom the collector had induced, by solemn oaths on the holy Koran, +to become a mediator; and, as a token of reconciliation and future +friendship, the Rajah and collector changed turbans. They remained +together for five months on the best possible terms, and the +Rajah's tenants returned to their homes and fields. All having been +thus lulled into security, Rughbur Sing suddenly sent another +agent, Maharaj Sing, to supersede Kurum Hoseyn, and seize the Rajah +and his confidential manager, Benee Ram Sookul. They, however, went +off to Balalpoor, forty miles distant from Bondee, and kept aloof +from the new collector, till he prevailed upon all the officers, +commanding corps and detachments under him, to enter into solemn +written pledges of personal security. The Rajah had been long +suffering from ague and fever, and had become very feeble in mind +and body. He remained at Balalpoor; but, under the assurance of +these pledges from military officers of rank and influence, Benee +Ram and other confidential officers of the Rajah came to his camp, +and entered upon the adjustment of their accounts.</p> +<p>When he found them sufficiently off their guard, Maharaj Sing, +while sitting one evening with Benee Ram, who was a stout, powerful +man, asked him to show him the handsome dagger which he always wore +in his waistband. He did so, and as soon as he got it in his hand, +the collector gave the concerted signal to Roshun Allee, one of the +officers present, and his armed attendants, to seize him. As he +rose to leave the tent he was cut down from behind by Mattadeen, +khasburdar; and the rest fell upon him and cut him to pieces in +presence of the greater part of the officers who had given the +solemn pledges for his personal security. Not one of them +interposed to save him. Doulut Rae, another confidential servant of +the Rajah, however, effected his escape, and ran to the Rajah, who +prepared to defend himself at Balalpoor, where Maharaj Sing tried, +in vain, to persuade his troops' to attack him. For two months the +towns and villages were deserted, but the crops were on the ground, +and guarded by the Passee bowmen, who are usually hired for the +purpose.</p> +<p>Beharee Lal, the principal agent of Rughbur Sing in these +districts, now wrote a letter of condolence to the Rajah, on the +death of his faithful servant, Benee Ram—told him that he had +dismissed from all employ the villain Maharaj Sing, and appointed +to his place Kurum Hoseyn, who would make all reparation and +redress all wrongs. This letter he sent by a very plausible man, +Omed Rae, the collector of the Rahooa estate. Kurum Hoseyn resumed +charge of his office, and went unattended to the Rajah, with whom +he remained some days feasting, and swearing on the Koran, that all +had been without his connivance or knowledge, and that he had come +back with a full determination to see justice done to his friend, +the Rajah, and his landholders and cultivators in everything. +Having thus soothed the poor old Rajahs apprehensions, he prevailed +on him to go back with him to Bondee, where he behaved for some +time with so much seeming frankness and cordiality, and swore so +solemnly on the Koran to respect the persons of all men who should +come to him on business, that the Rajah's tenants and agents lost +all their fears, and again came freely to his camp. The Rajah now +invited all his tenants as before, to enter into engagements to pay +their rents to officers appointed by the collector as jumogdars; +and the people had hopes of being permitted to gather their +harvests in peace. Kurum Hoseyn now suggested to Beharee Lal, to +come suddenly with the largest force he could collect, and seize +the many respectable men who had assembled-at his invitation.</p> +<p>He made a forced march daring the night, appeared suddenly at +Bondee with a large force, and seized all who were there assembled, +save the Rajah and his family, who escaped to the jungles. +Detachments of from one hundred to two hundred were sent out as +before, to plunder the country, and seize all from whom anything +could be extorted. All the towns and villages on the estate were +plundered of everything that could be found, and fifteen hundred +men, and about five hundred women and children, were brought in +prisoners, with no less than eighty thousand animals of all kinds. +There were twenty-five thousand head of cattle; and horses, mares, +sheep, goats, ponies, &c., made up the rest. All with the men, +women, and children were driven off, pell-mell, a distance of +twenty miles to Busuntpoor, in the Hurhurpoor district, where +Beharee Lal's headquarter had been fixed. For three days heavy rain +continued to fall. Pregnant women were beaten on by the troops with +bludgeons and the butt-ends of muskets and matchlocks. Many of them +gave premature birth to children and died on the road; and many +children were trodden to death by the animals on the road, which +was crowded for more than ten miles.</p> +<p>Rughbur Sing and his agents, Beharee Lal, Kurum Hoseyn, Maharaj +Sing, Prag Sing, and others, selected several thousand of the +finest cattle, and sent them to their homes; and the rest were left +to the officers and soldiers of the force to be disposed of; and, +for all this enormous number of animals, worth at least one hundred +thousand rupees, the small sum of one hundred and thirty rupees was +credited in the Nazim's accounts to the Rajah's estate. At +Busuntpoor the force was divided into two parties, for the purpose +of torturing the surviving prisoners till they consented to sign +bonds, for the payment of such sums as might be demanded from them. +Beharee Lal presided over the first party, in which they were +tortured from day-break till noon. They were tied up and flogged, +had red-hot ramrods thrust into their flesh, their tongues were +pulled out with hot pincers and pierced through; and, when all +would not do, they were taken to Kurum Hoseyn, who presided at the +other party, to be tortured again till the evening. He sat with a +savage delight, to witness this brutal scene and invent new kinds +of torture. No less than seventy men, besides women and children, +perished at Busuntpoor from torture and starvation; and their +bodies were left to rot in the mud, and their friends were afraid +to approach them. Bustee's body was stolen at night by his son, and +Guyadut's was sold to his family by the soldiers.</p> +<p>Among the persons of respectability who died under the tortures, +several are named below.* Buldee Sing, the husband of the Rajah's +sister, took poison and died; and Ramdeen, a Brahmin of great +respectability, stabbed himself to death, to avoid further torture +and dishonour. For two months did these atrocities continue at +Busuntpoor; and during that time the prisoners got no food from the +servants of Government. All that they got was sent to them by their +friends, or by the charitable peasantry of the country around; and +when sweetmeats were sent to them as food, which the most +scrupulous could eat from any hand, the soldiers often snatched +them from them and ate them themselves, or took them to their +officers. The women and children were all stripped of their +clothes, and many died from cold and want of sustenance. It was +during the months of September and October that these atrocities +were perpetrated. The heavy rain had inundated the country, and the +poor prisoners were obliged to lie naked and unsheltered on the +damp ground.</p> +<blockquote> +<DIV CLASS="s0">[* 1. Byjonauth, the Rajah's accountant.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">2. Gijraj Sing, Rajpoot.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">3. Sheopersaud.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">4. Rampersaud.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">5. Jhow Lal.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">6. Guyadut.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">7. Duyram.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">8. Budaree Chobee.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">9. Mungul Sing, Rajpoot.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">10. Seodeen Sing, ditto.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">11. Akber Sing.</DIV> +<DIV CLASS="s1">12. Bustee, a farmer. ]</DIV> +</blockquote> +<p>Apreel Sing, a respectable Jagheerdar of Bondee, was tortured +till he consented to sell his two daughters, and pay the money; and +a great many respectable females, who were taken from Bondee to +Busuntpoor, have never been heard of since. Whether they perished +or were sold their friends have never been able to discover. The +sipahees and other persons, employed to torture, got money from +their victims or their friends, who ventured to approach, or from +the pitying peasantry around; and all laughed and joked at the +screams of the sufferers. Several times, during the two months, +Rughbur Sing paid off heavy arrears, due to his personal servants, +by drafts on his agents for prisoners, to be placed at the disposal +of the payee, ten and twenty at a time. It is worthy of remark, +that an old Subadar of one of our regiments of Native Infantry, who +was then at home in furlough, happened to pass Busuntpoor with his +family, on his way to Guya, on a pilgrimage. He and his family had +saved what was to them a large sum, to be spent in offerings, for +the safe passage of his deceased relatives through purgatory. On +witnessing the sufferings of the poor prisoners at Busuntpoor, he +and his family offered all they had for a certain number of women +and children, who were made over to them. He took them to their +homes, and returned to his own, saying, that he hoped God would +forgive them for the sake of the relief which they had afforded to +sufferers.</p> +<p>In the latter end of October, Beharee Lal took off all the force +that could be spared, to attack the Rajah of Bhinga, and plunder +his estate in the same manner; and Kurum Hoseyn took another to +plunder Koelee, Murdunpoor, Budrolee, and some other villages of +the Bondee estate, which had suffered least in the last attack. He +collected two thousand plough-bullocks, and sold them for little to +Nuzur Allee and Sufder Allee, who commanded detachments under him. +He soon after made an attack upon Sookha and other villages, in the +vicinity of Busuntpoor, and collected between twenty and thirty +thousand head of cattle; but, on his way back, he was attacked by a +party of twenty brave men (under a landholder named Nabee Buksh, +whom he wished to seize), and driven back to his camp at +Busuntpoor, with the loss of all his booty. He attempted no more +enterprises after this check. The tortures ceased, and ten days +after he ran off, on hearing that Rughbur Sing had been deprived of +his charge by orders from Lucknow. At this time one hundred and +fifty prisoners remained at Busuntpoor, and they were released by +Incha Sing, the successor and uncle of Rughbur Sing.</p> +<p>The Akhbar Naveeses, so far from admonishing the perpetrators of +these atrocities, were some of them among the most active promoters +of them. Jorakhun, the news-writer at Bondee, got one anna for +every prisoner brought in; and from two to three rupees for every +prisoner released. He got every day subsistence for ten men from +Kurum Hoseyn. All the news-writers in the neighbourhood got a share +of the booty in bullocks, cows, and other animals. Two chuprassies +are said to have come from Government, and remained at Busuntpoor +for nearly the whole two months, while these tortures were being +inflicted, without making any report of them. When the order for +dismissing Rughbur Sing came from the Durbar, Maharaj Sing went +off, saying, that he would soon smother all complaints, in the +usual way, at Lucknow.</p> +<p>In September 1847, Rughbur Sing's agents, with a considerable +force, encamped at Parbatee-tolah, in the Gonda district, and made +a sudden attack upon the fine town of Khurgoopoor. After plundering +the town, the troops seized forty of the most respectable merchants +and shopkeepers of the place, and made them over to Rughbur Sing's +agents, at the rate agreed upon, of so much a head, as the +perquisites of the soldiers; and these agents confined and tortured +them till they each paid the ransom demanded, and rated according +to their supposed means. The troops did the same by Bisumberpoor, +Bellehree Pundit, Pyaree, Peepree, and many other towns and +villages in the same district of Gonda. A trooper and his son, who +tried to save the honour of their family, by defending the entrance +to their house, were cut down and killed at Khurgapoor; and in +Bisumberpoor one of the soldiers, with his sword, cut off the arm +of a respectable old woman, in order the more easily to get her +gold bracelets. The poor woman died a few hours afterwards. The +only relative of the poor old woman who could have assisted her was +seized, with forty other respectable persons, and taken off to the +camp at Parbatee-tola, where they were all tortured till they paid +the ransom demanded, and a gratuity, in addition, to the soldiers +who had seized them. One of the persons died under the tortures +inflicted upon him.</p> +<p>In the Gungwal district similar atrocities were committed by +Rughbur Sing's agents and their soldiers. These agents were Gouree +Shunkur and Seorutun Sing. The district formed the estate of Rajah +Sreeput Sing, who resided with his family in the fort of Gungwal. +The former Nazim, Suraj-od Dowlah, had attacked this fort on some +frivolous pretence; and, having taken it by surprise, sacked the +place and plundered the Rajah and his family of all they had. The +Rajah died soon after of mortification, at the dishonour he and his +family had suffered, and was succeeded by his son, Seetul Persaud +Sing, the present Rajah, who was now plundered again, and driven an +exile into the Nepaul hills. The estate was now taken possession of +by the agents, Goureeshunker and Seorutun Sing. Seorutun Sing +seized a Brahmin who was travelling with his wife and brother, and, +on the pretence that he must be a relation of the fugitive Rajah, +had him murdered, and his head struck off on the spot. The wife +took the head of her murdered husband in her arms, wrapped it up in +cloth, and, attended by his brother, walked with it a distance of +fifty miles to Ajoodheea, where Rughbur Sing was then engaged in +religious ceremonies. The poor woman placed the head before him, +and demanded justice on her husband's murderers. He coolly ordered +the head to be thrown into the river, and the woman and her +brother-in-law to be driven from his presence. Many other +respectable persons were seized and tortured on similar pretext of +being related to, or having served or assisted, the fugitive Rajah. +Moistened gunpowder was smeared thickly over the beards of the men, +and when dry set fire to; and any friend or relatives who presumed +to show signs of pity was seized and tortured, till he or she paid +a ransom. All the people in the country around, who had moveable +property of any kind, were plundered by these two atrocious agents, +and tortured till they paid all that they could beg and borrow. +Many respectable families were dishonoured in the persons of wives, +sisters, or daughters, and almost all the towns and villages around +became deserted.</p> +<p>In Rajah Nirput Sing's estate of Pyagpoor, the same atrocities +were committed. Rajah Rughbur Sing seized upon this estate as soon +as he entered upon his charge in 1846, and put it under the +management of his own agents; and, after extorting from the tenants +more than was justly due, according to engagement, he attacked the +Rajah's house by surprise, and plundered it of property to the +value of fifteen thousand rupees. The Rajah, however, contrived to +make his escape with his family. He had nothing with him to subsist +upon, and in 1847 he was invited back on solemn pledges of personal +security; and, from great distress, was induced again to undertake +the management of his own estate, at an exorbitant rate of +assessment.</p> +<p>In spite of this engagement, Goureeshunker, when the tenants had +become lulled into security by the hope of remaining under their +own chief, suddenly, with his troops, seized upon all he could +catch, plundered their houses, and tortured them till they paid all +that they could prevail upon their relatives and friends to lend +them. Eighteen hundred of their plough-bullocks were seized and +sold by him, together with many of their wives and daughters. While +under torture, Seetaram, a respectable Brahmin, of Kandookoeea, put +an end to his existence, to avoid further sufferings and dishonour. +Sucheet, another respectable Brahmin, of Pagaree, did the same by +opening a vein in his thigh. A cloth steeped in oil was bound round +the hands of those who appeared able, but unwilling, to pay +ransoms, and set fire to, so as to burn like a torch. In these +tortures, Lala Beharee Lal, Rughbur Sing's deputy, was the chief +agent. "I found," says Captain Orr, "the estate of Pyagpoor in a +desolate condition; village after village presenting nothing but +bare walls—the finest arable lands lying waste, and no sign +of cultivation was anywhere to be seen. Even the present Nazim, +Mahommed Hussan, after conciliating and inviting in the Rajah on +further solemn assurances of personal security, seized him and all +his family, and kept them confined in prison for several months, +till they paid him an exorbitant ransom. The poorer classes told +me, that it was impossible for them to plough their fields, since +all their plough-bullocks had been seized and sold by the Nazim's +agents. Great numbers in this and the adjoining estates have +subsisted entirely upon wild fruits, and some species of aquatic +plants, since they were ruined by these atrocities."</p> +<p>This picture is not at all overdrawn. In passing through the +estate, and communing with the few wretched people who remain, I +find all that Captain Orr stated in his report to be strictly +correct.</p> +<p>In the Hurhurpoor district similar atrocities were committed by +Rughbur Sing and his agents. He confided the management to his +agent, Goureeshunker. In 1846 he made his settlement of the land +revenue, at an exorbitant rate, with the tallookdar, Chinghy Sing; +and, in the following year, he extorted from him an increase to +this rate of twenty-five thousand rupees. He was, in consequence, +obliged to fly; but he was soon invited back on the usual solemn +assurances for his personal security, and induced to take on +himself the management of the estate. But he was no sooner settled +in his house than he was again attacked at night and plundered. One +of his attendants was killed, and another wounded; and all the +respectable tenants and servants who had ventured to assemble +around him on his return were seized and tortured till they paid +ransoms. No less than two thousand and five hundred bullocks from +this estate were seized and sold, or starved to death. A great many +women were seized and tortured till they paid ransoms like the men; +and many of them have never since been seen or heard of. Some +perished in confinement of hunger and cold, having been stripped of +their clothes, and exposed at night to the open air on the damp +ground, while others threw themselves into wells and destroyed +themselves after their release, rather than return to their +families after the exposure and dishonour they had suffered.</p> +<p>In the Bahraetch district, the same atrocities were practised by +Rughbur Sing and his agents. Here also Goureeshunker was the chief +agent employed, but the few people who remained were so terrified, +that Captain Orr could get but little detailed information of +particular cases. The present Nazim had been one of Rughbur Sing's +agents in all these atrocities, and the people apprehended that he +was in office merely as his "locum tenens;" and that Rughbur Sing +would soon purchase his restoration to power, as he boasted that he +should. The estate of the Rajah of Bumunee Paer was plundered in +the same manner; and Rughbur Sing's agents seized, drove off, and +sold two thousand bullocks, and cut down and sold or destroyed five +hundred and five mhowa-trees, which had, for generations, formed +the strongest local ties of the cultivators, and their best +dependence in seasons of drought.</p> +<p>In the Churda estate, in the Tarae forest, the same sufferings +were inflicted on the people by the same agents, Goureeshunker and +Beharee Lal. They seized Mudar Buksh, the manager, and made him +over to Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn, who had him beaten to death. The +estate of the Rajah of Bhinga was treated in the same way. Beharee +Lal attacked the town with a large force, plundered all the houses +in it, and all the people of their clothes and ornaments. They +seized all the plough-bullocks and other cattle, and had them +driven off and sold. The women were all seized and driven off in +crowds to the camp of Rughbur Sing at Parbatee-tolah. Many of them +who were far gone in pregnancy perished on the road, from fatigue +and harsh treatment The estate of the Rajah of Ruhooa was treated +in the same manner; and the Rajah, to avoid torture and disgrace, +fled with his family to the jungles. In July 1846, being in great +distress, he was induced to come back on the most solemn assurances +from Rughbur Sing of personal security for himself, family, and +attendants. He left the Rajah his <i>nankar</i> lands for his +subsistence, pledging himself to exact no rents or revenues from +them; but put the estate under the management of his own agents, +Lala Omed Rae and others. He at the same time pledged himself not +to exact from any of the poor Rajah's tenants higher rates than +those stipulated for in the engagements then made. But he +immediately after saddled the Rajah with the payment of five +hundred armed men, on the pretence that they were necessary to +protect him, and aid him in the management of these <i>nankar</i> +lands. In May 1847, when the harvests had been gathered, and he had +exacted from the tenants and cultivators the rates stipulated, +Goureeshunker was put into the management. He seized all the +tenants and cultivators by a sudden and simultaneous attack upon +their several villages, and extorted from them a payment of fifty +thousand rupees more. Not satisfied with this, Goureeshunker seized +the Rajah's chief manager, Mungul Pershad, tied him up to a tree, +and had him beaten to death. Many of the Rajah's tenants and +servants were beaten to death in the same manner; and no less than +forty villages were attacked and plundered. A good many +respectable females were seized and compelled to make up the +ransoms of their husbands and fathers who were under torture. Many +of the females who had been seized perished from the cruel +treatment and from want of food. Two thousand head of cattle, +chiefly plough-bullocks, were seized and sold from this estate.</p> +<p>I have passed through all the districts here named, save two, +Churda and Bhinga, and I can say, that everything I saw and heard +tended to confirm the truth of what has here been told. Rughbur +Sing and the agents employed by him were, by all I saw, considered +more as terrible demons who delighted in blood and murder than as +men endowed with any feelings of sympathy for their +fellow-creatures; and the government, which employed such men in +the management of districts with uncontrolled power, seemed to be +utterly detested and abhorred.</p> +<p>It will naturally be asked, whether the circumstances described +were ever reported to the Oude Government or to the British +Resident; and whether they did anything to punish the guilty and +afford redress and relief to the sufferers. The following are the +reports which were made to the Oude Durbar by the news-writers, +employed in the several districts, and communicated to the Resident +and his Assistant, by the Residency news-writer, in his daily +reports, which are read out to them every morning.</p> +<p><i>July</i> 10, 1847.—Report from Bondee states, that +Rajaram, Rughbur Sing's collector of Mirzapoor and other villages +in that estate, had attacked and plundered Mirzapoor, and carried +off sixty head of cattle.</p> +<p><i>August</i> 12, 1847.—Report from Bondee states, that the +estates of Bondee and Tiperha, which yielded one hundred and fifty +thousand rupees a-year, had become so desolated by the oppression +of Beharee Lal and Kurum Hoseyn, the agents of Rughbur Sing, that +they could not possibly yield anything for the ensuing year; that +Kurum Hoseyn had seized all the cattle and other property of the +peasantry, sold them and appropriated the money to his own use, and +had so beaten the landholders and cultivators, that many of them +had died. Order by the Durbar, that these two agents be deterred +from such acts of oppression, fined five thousand rupees, and made +to release the remaining prisoners, and restore the property taken. +Nothing whatever was done!</p> +<p><i>August</i> 14, 1847.—Report from Bondee states, that +although the landholders and cultivators of this estate had paid +all that was due, according to engagements, Beharee Lal and Kurum +Hoseyn were having them flogged and tortured every day to extort +more; selling off all their stock and other property, and selecting +all the good bullocks and cows and sending them to their own +houses. Order by the Durbar, that the minister punish the +oppressors, and cause their property to be given back to the +oppressed. The minister ordered his deputy, Ramchurn, to see this +done. He did nothing whatever!</p> +<p><i>September</i> 6, 1847.—Report from Gonda states, that +all the lands from Bondee and Pyagpoor had been left waste from the +oppression of Rughbur Sing. Order by the Durbar, that the minister +hasten to get the lands tilled, as the season was passing away. +Nothing whatever was done!</p> +<p><i>September</i> 24, 1847.—Report from the same place +states, that Rughbur Sing had seized no less than eighteen thousand +bullocks, from the villages of the Bondee estate, collected them at +Neemapoor, and ordered his agents to get them all sold off as fast +as possible; and that the cultivators could till none of the lands +in consequence. Order by the Durbar, that the minister put a stop +to all this oppression. Nothing whatever was done!</p> +<p><i>September</i> 24, 1847.—Report from the same place +states, that Kurum Hoseyn had seized Ahlad Sing, the malgoozar of +Hurkapoor in Bondee, and had red-hot ramrods thrust into his flesh, +on account of a balance due, and then had him put upon an ass and +paraded through the streets. Order by the Durbar, that the minister +see to this. Nothing whatever was done!</p> +<p><i>August</i> 2, 1847.—Report from Gonda states, that the +troops under Beharee Lal were robbing all the females of the +country of their ornaments; and that Beharee Lal neither did nor +said anything to prevent them. Order by the Durbar, that Rughbur +Sing be directed to restrain his soldiers and restore the +ornaments. Nothing whatever was done!</p> +<p><i>September</i> 6, 1847—Report from the same place +states, that Luchman Naraen, malgoozar of Bhurduree in Gonda, had +paid all the rents due, according to his engagements; that Beharee +Lal had, nevertheless, sent a force of three hundred men, who +attacked his house, plundered it of all that it contained, and took +off five thousand seven hundred and thirty-one maunds of stored +grain. Order by the Durbar, that the minister punish and restrain +the oppressors, and cause all the property to be restored. Nothing +whatever was done in the matter!</p> +<p><i>October</i> 2, 1847.—Report from Gonda states, that +Jafir Allee and Hemraj Sing, Rughbur Sing's agents, had, with a +body of sixteen hundred troops, attacked the town of Khurgapoor in +Gonda, plundered it, and attacked and plundered five villages in +the vicinity, and seized Sudasook and thirty other merchants and +shopkeepers of Khurgapoor, Chungul Sing, the farmer of that place, +Kaleechurn, a writer, and Benee, the agent of the Gonda Rajah, and +no less than one hundred landholders and cultivators. Order by the +Durbar: Let the minister seize all the offenders, and release and +satisfy all the sufferers. Nothing whatever was done in the +matter.</p> +<p><i>October</i> 5, 1847.—Report from Gonda states, that +Rughbur Sing's troops had seized and brought off from Gonda to +Nawabgunge, two hundred men and women, and shut up the road where +they were confined, that no one might pass near them—that three or +four of the women were pregnant, and near their confinement, and +suffered much from harsh treatment and want of food. Order by the +Durbar: Let the minister grant redress, and send a suzawal to see +that the sufferers are released. A suzawal was sent, it appears, +but he remained a quiet spectator of the atrocities, having +received something for doing so.</p> +<p><i>September</i> 1, 1847.—Report from Hissampoor states, +that Byjonauth Sing, agent of Rughbur Sing, in Hissampoor, had +seized all the plough-bullocks and cows he could find, sent the +best to his own home, and made the rest over to Wazeer Allee, +Canongoe, to be sold. Order by the Durbar, that Rughbur Sing be +directed to restore all that has been taken, and collect the +revenue with more moderation. Nothing whatever was done.</p> +<p><i>September</i> 11, 1847.—Report from Bahraetch states, +that the estate of Aleenugger in Hissampoor, which yielded eighteen +thousand rupees a-year, had become so deserted from the oppressions +of Rughbur Sing, that it could no longer yield anything. Order by +the Durbar, that Rughbar Sing be directed to restore the tillage, +or hold himself responsible for the King's revenue!</p> +<p><i>July</i> 28, 1847.—Report from Gonda states, that +Goureeshunker, the collector of Gungwal and Pyagpoor, had, by order +of Beharee Lal, attacked the village of Ruhooa, and seized and +carried off sixty-four cultivators, and confined them in his camp. +No order whatever was passed by the Durbar.</p> +<p><i>September</i> 7, 1847.—From Nawabgunge in Gonda +reports, that Beharee Lal's soldiers were then engaged in sacking +that town, and carrying off the property. Order by the Durbar. Let +the minister see that the property be restored and wrongs +redressed. Nothing whatever was done.</p> +<p><i>September</i> 18, 1847.—Report from Bahraetch states, +that Cheyn Sing, the tallookdar of Bahmanee Paer, had fled into the +British territory, but returned to his fort; that Beharee Lal heard +of his return and sent two thousand men to seize him; that the +tallookdar had only sixty men, but held out for three hours, killed +ten of the King's soldiers, and then evacuated the fort and fled; +that Beharee Lal's soldiers had collected two thousand bullocks +from the estate, and brought them all off to his camp. Order by the +Durbar, that the minister give stringent orders in this case. +Nothing whatever was done.</p> +<p><i>October</i> 2, 1847.—Report from Seerora states, that +Mahommed Hussan (the present Nazim), one of Rughbur Sing's +collectors, with one thousand horse and foot and one gun, had come +to the hamlet of Sondun Lal, and the village of Seerora, attacked +and plundered these places, and seized and taken off one hundred +men and women, and two hundred bullocks, killed two hundred +Rajpoots in a fight, and then gone back to his camp at +Bahoreegunge. Order by the Durbar, that the minister seize and send +the oppressors to Lucknow, and restore the property to its proper +owners. The minister did nothing of the kind; and soon after made +this oppressor the governor of these districts.</p> +<p><i>September</i> 20, 1847.—Report from Radowlee states, +that armed men belonging to Kurum Hoseyn, escorting one thousand +selected bullocks, sent by Rughbar Sing, had come to Radowlee, on +their way to his fort of Shahgunge. Order by the Durbar: Let the +minister see to this affair. Nothing was done.</p> +<p>On the 28th September 1847 an order was addressed by the Durbar +to Rughbur Sing, that his agent, Kurum Hoseyn, appeared to have +attacked the house of Seodeen, though he had paid all that was due +by him to the State, according to his engagements, and plundered it +of property to the value of eighteen thousand rupees, and seized +and confined all his relations—that he must cause all the +property to be restored, and obtain acquittances from the +sufferers. Rughbur Sing took no notice whatever of this order.</p> +<p>On the 2nd of October 1847, the Resident, Colonel Richmond, +wrote to the King, acquainting him, that he had heard, that Rughbur +Sing had seized and sold all the ploughs and bullocks in the +Bahraetch district, and, seized and sold also five hundred men, +women, and children of the landholders and cultivators; that he +regrets all this and prays that his Majesty will cause inquiries to +be made; and, should the charges prove true, cause the articles +taken, or their value, to be restored, and the men, women, and +children to be released. On the 25th of October 1847, the Resident +again addressed the King, stating, that he had heard, that, on the +2nd of October, Jafir Allee and Maharaj Sing, agents of Rughbur +Sing, with eleven hundred soldiers, had attacked and plundered the +town of Khurgapoor and five villages in its neighbourhood, and +seized and taken off Ramdeen Sudasook, and thirty merchants, +shopkeepers and other respectable persons, also Junglee, the farmer +of that town, Kaleechurn Mutsudee, Dabey Pershad, the Rajah's +manager, and one hundred landholders and cultivators; and praying +that orders be given for inquiry and redress. Nothing whatever was +done; but on the 30th of October, the King replied to these +letters, and to one written to him by the Resident on the 31st of +August 1847, transmitting a list of unanswered letters. His Majesty +stated, that he had sent orders to Rughbur Sing and to his brother +Maun Sing, in all the cases referred to by the Resident; but that +they were contumacious servants, as he had before described them to +the Resident to be; and had taken no notice whatever of his +orders!</p> +<p><i>August</i> 20, 1846.—Report from Bahraetch states, that +Goureeshunkur, the agent of Rughbur Sing, in Bahraetch, had taken +four persons from among the many whom he had in confinement on +account of balances, had them suspended to trees, and cruelly +flogged, and then had their hands wrapped up in thick cloth, +steeped in oil, and set fire to till they burned like torches; and +that he sat listening to their screams and cries for mercy with +indifference. Order by the King: Let the minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, +be furnished with a copy of this report, and let him send out three +troopers, as suzawuls, to bring in Goureeshunkur and the four men +whose hands had been burnt, and let him employ Mekhlis Hoseyn, to +inquire into the affair, and report the result. Nothing was +done.</p> +<p>On the 29th of August, the Resident, Mr. Davidson, addressed a +letter to the King stating, that he had before represented the +cruelties which Rughbur Sing was inflicting upon the people of his +district, but had heard of no redress having been afforded in any +case; that he had received another report on the same subject, and +now forwards it to show what atrocities his agent, Goureeshunkur, +was committing in Bahraetch; that in no other country could the +servants of the sovereign commit such cruel outrages upon his +subjects; that he had been wrapping up the bodies of the King's +subjects in oilcloths, and setting, fire to them as to torches; +that he could not do all this without the knowledge and sanction of +his master, Rughbur Sing; and the Resident prays, that he may be +punished, and that his punishment may be intimated to him, the +Resident. Nothing was ever done, nor was any answer given to this +letter, till it was, on the 30th of August 1847, acknowledged with +the many others contained in the list sent to the King, in his +letter of the 31st August 1847, by the then Resident, Colonel +Richmond.</p> +<p>No report appears to have reached either the Durbar or the +Resident, of the atrocious proceedings of Rughbur Sing's agents at +Busuntpoor, where so many persons perished from torture, +starvation, and exposure; nor was any notice taken of them till I +took charge of my office in January 1849. Incha Sing had offered +for the contract of the two districts four lacs less than Rughbur +Sing had pledged himself to pay, and obtained it, and quietly +superseded his nephew, with whom he was on cordial good terms. +Rughbur Sing went into the British territory, to evade all demands +for balances, and reside for +an interval, with the full assurance that he would be able to +purchase a restoration to favour and power in Oude, unless the +Resident should think it worth while to oppose him, which my +predecessor did not.* I had his agents arrested, and charges sent +in against them, with all the proofs accumulated, by Captain Orr; +but they all soon purchased their way out, and no one was punished. +At my suggestion the King proclaimed Rughbur Sing as an outlaw, and +offered three thousand rupees for his arrest, if he did not appear +within three months. He never appeared, but continued to carry on +his negociations for restoration to power at Lucknow, through the +very agents whom he had employed in the scenes above described, +Beharee Lal, Goureeshunker, Kurum Hoseyn, Maharaj Sing, &c.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Incha Sing absconded before the end of the season, and has +never returned to Oude. Mahommed Hussan got the contract on a +reduction of two hundred and thirty-one thousand rupees, below the +rates which Incha Sing bound himself to pay. But in 1850, he +consented to an increase of three hundred and ninety-nine thousand, +with, I believe, the deliberate intention to raise the funds for +the payment by the murder of Ramdut Pandee, and the confiscation of +his estate.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Amjud Allee Shah, who was something of a man of business, died +13th February 1847, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the +present King, who knows nothing of, and cares nothing whatever +about, business. His minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, who had some +character of his own, was removed some three or four months after, +and succeeded by the present minister, Allee Nakee Khan, who has +none.</p> +<p>The following table of the actual payments into the treasury, +from these two districts of Gonda-Bahraetch, for four years from +1845, will serve to show the fiscal effects of such atrocities as +were permitted to be perpetrated in them for a brief period of two +years:—</p> +<pre> +For 1845, under Wajid Allee . 11,65,132 5 3 +For 1846, under Rughbur Sing . 14,01,623 7 6 +For 1847, under ditto . 10,27,898 4 6 +For 1848, under Incha Sing . . 6,05,492 0 3 +</pre> +<p>But what table can show the sufferings of the people, and the +feelings of hatred and abhorrence of the Government and its +officers, to which they gave rise! Not one of the agents, employed +in the atrocities above described, was ever punished. The people +see that all the members of the Government are accessaries, either +before or after the fact, in all these dreadful cruelties and +outrages, and, that the more of them a public officer commits, the +more secure is he of protection and favour at Court. Their hatred +and abhorrence of the individual, in consequence, extend to and +embrace the whole of the Government, and would extend also to the +British Government, by whom that of Oude is supported, did they not +see how earnestly the British Resident strives to alleviate their +sufferings, and make the Oude sovereign and minister do their duty +towards them; and how much all British officers sympathise with +their sufferings as they pass through the country.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Beharee Lal is now (June 1851) employed in a confidential +situation, in the office of the deputy minister. Goureeshunker is a +Tusseeldar, or native collector, in the same district of Bahraetch, +under the new contractor, Mann Sing. Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn holds a +similar office in some other district. Maharaj Sing, and the rest, +all hold, I believe, situations of equal emolument and +respectability.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Almost all the khalsa lands of the Hissampoor purgunnah belonged +to the different branches of a very ancient and respectable family +of Syuds. Their lands have, as already stated, been almost all +transferred to powerful tallookdars, and absorbed by them in their +estates, by the usual process. It is said, and I believe truly, +that Hadee Allee Khan tried to induce the head of the Syud family +to take his daughter in marriage for his eldest son, as he was also +a Syud, (lineal descendant of the prophet.) The old Syud was too +proud to consent to this; and he and all his relations and +connection were ruined in consequence. The son, to whom Hadee Allee +wished to unite his daughter, still lives on his lands, but in +poverty and fear. The people say that family pride is more +inveterate among the aristocracy of the country than that of the +city; and had the old man lived at Lucknow, he would probably have +given his son, and saved his family and estate.</p> +<p>Captain Hardwick, while out shooting on the 10th, saw a dead man +hanging by the heels in a mango-tree, close to the road. He was one +of a gang of notorious robbers who had attacked a neighbouring +village belonging to some Brahmins. They killed two, and caught a +third member of the gang, and hung him up by the heels to die. He +was the brother-in-law of the leader of the gang, Nunda Pandee. +There he still hangs, and the greater part of my camp took a look +at him in passing.</p> +<pre> +Tallookdars of Bahraetch-Government Land Revenue according + to the Estimate of this Year. +___________________________________________________________________ +Names of Villages Government Present Condition + Demand +___________________________________________________________________ +Bandee . . . . . 65,000 Almost waste +Ruhooa . . . . . 20,000 Ditto +Nanpara . . . . . 1,50,000 Falling off +Gungwal . . . . . 26,000 Much out of tillage +Pyagpoor . . . . . 59,000 Ditto +Ekona . . . . . . 1,80,000 Ditto +Bulrampoor . . . . 1,50,000 Well tilled +Toolseepoor . . . . 1,05,000 Ditto +Atrola . . . . . 80,000 Much out of tillage +Munkapoor . . . . 35,000 Ditto +Bahmanee Paer . . . 12,000 Ditto +___________________________________________________________________ +Gowras alias Chehdwara +Paruspoor. . . . . 14,000 Well tilled +Aruta . . . . . . 18,000 Ditto +Shahpoor . . . . . 30,000 Ditto +Dhunawa . . . . . 42,000 Ditto +Paska . . . . . . 20,000 Ditto +Kumeear . . . . . 48,000 Ditto +___________________________________________________________________ +Churda . . . . . 62,000 Falling off +<b>___________________________________________________________________</b> + + + Gonda Pergunnah. +___________________________________________________________________ +Desumberpoor. . . . 95,000 Rajah Davey Buksh, in + good order. +Bhinga. . . . . . 64,000 Recovering. +Akkerpoor. . . . . 46,015 In good order under + Ramdut Pandee. +Sagha Chunda. . . . 1,20,729 Ramdut Pandee, in good + order. +Birwa . . . . . . 24,000 A little out of tillage. +<b>___________________________________________________________________</b> +</pre> +<p><i>December</i> 12, 1849.—Gungwal, thirteen miles. The +road lay through the estate of Pyagpoor to within a mile of +Gungwal. Little cultivation was to be seen the whole way, and what +we could see was bad. Little variety of crops, and the tillage +slovenly, and without manure or irrigation. The tallookdar was +ruined by Rughbur Sing, and is not on terms with the present Nazim, +and he did not appear. The estate of Gungwal is not better +cultivated than that of Pyagpoor; nor better peopled—both may +be considered as mere wastes, and their assessments as merely +nominal. The tallookdar did not appear. Both were ruined by the +rapacious Nazim and his atrocious agents, Goureeshunker, Beharee +Lal, Kurum Hoseyn, and others.</p> +<p>The Rajah of Toolseepoor, Dirgraj Sing, has an only son, +Sahibjee, now 17 years of age. The Rajah's old servants, thinking +they could make more out of the boy than out of the prudent father, +first incited him to go off, with all the property he could +collect, to Goruckpoor, where he spent it in ten months of revelry. +The father invited him back two mouths ago, on condition that he +should come alone. When he got within six miles of Toolseepoor, +however, the father found, that three thousand armed followers had +there been assembled by his agents, to aid him in seizing upon him +and the estate. Fearing that his estate might be desolated, and he +himself confined, and perhaps put to death, the Rajah ran off to +his friend, the Rajah of Bulrampore, for protection.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 13, 1849.—Purenda, eleven miles. The first +half of the way, through the lands of Gungwal, showed few signs of +tillage or population; the latter half through, those of Purenda +and other villages of Gonda, held by Ramdut Pandee, showed more of +both. Some nice villages on each side, at a small distance, and +some fine groves of mango-trees. On the road this morning, Omrow +Pooree, a non-commissioned officer of the Gwalior Contingent, whose +family resided in a neighbouring village, came up to me as I passed +along, and prayed me to have the murderer of his father seized and +punished. He described the circumstances of the case, and on +reaching camp, I requested Captain Weston to take the depositions +of the witnesses, and adopt measures for the arrest of the +offenders. Syampooree was the name of the father of the +complainant. He resided in a small hamlet, near the road, called +after himself, as the founder, "Syampooree ka Poorwa," or +Syampooree's Hamlet. He had four sons, all fine, stout men. The +eldest, Omrow Pooree, a corporal in the Gwalior Contingent, Bhurut +Pooree, a private in Captain Barlow's regiment, Ramchurun and +Ramadeen, the two youngest, still at home, assisting their father +in the management of their little estate, which the family had held +for many generations. One day in the beginning of December 1848, a +short, thick-set man passed through the hamlet, accosted Syampooree +and his two sons, as they sat at the door, and asked for some +tobacco, and entered into conversation with them. He pretended that +his cart had been seized by the Nazim's soldiers; and, after +chatting with them for a short time, departed.</p> +<p>The second morning after this, before daylight, Ramadeen, the +youngest son, was warming himself at a fire on a small terrace in +front of the door, when he saw a party of armed men approaching. He +called out, and asked who they were and what they wanted. They told +him that they were Government servants, had traced a thief to the +village, and come to seize him. Four of the party, who carried +torches, now approached the fire and lighted them. Syampooree and +his other son, Ramchurun, hearing the noise, came out, and placed +themselves by the side of Ramadeen. By the light of the torches +they now recognised the short, thick-set man with whom they had +been talking two days before, at the head of a gang of fifteen men, +carrying fire-arms with matches lighted, and five more armed with +swords and shields. The short, thick-set man was Nunda Pandee, the +most notorious robber in the district. He ordered his gang to +search the house: on the father and sons remonstrating, he drew his +sword and cut down Ramchurun. The father and Ramadeen having left +their swords in the house, rushed back to secure them; but Nunda +Pandee, calling out to one of his followers, Bhowaneedeen, to +despatch the son, overtook the father, and at one cut severed his +right arm from his body. He inflicted several other cuts upon him +before the old man could secure his sword with his left arm. Having +got it, he placed the scabbard under his foot, drew forth the +blade, and cut Nunda Pandee across his sword-arm which placed him +<i>hors-de-combat</i>; and rushing out among the assailants, he cut +down two more, when he was shot dead by a third and noted robber, +Goberae. Bhowaneedeen and others of the gang had cut down Ramadeen, +and inflicted several wounds upon him as he lay on the ground. The +gang then plundered the house, and made off with property to the +value of one thousand and fifty rupees, leaving the father and both +sons on the ground. The brave old father died soon after daybreak; +but before he expired he named his assailants.</p> +<p>The two youngest sons were too severely wounded to admit of +their pursuing the murderers of their father, but their brother, +Bhurut Pooree, obtaining leave of absence, returned home, and +traced the leader of the gang, Nunda Pandee, to the house of one of +his relatives in the village of Kurroura, in Pyagpoor, where he had +had his wound sewn up and dressed, and lay concealed. The family +then tried, in vain, to get redress from all the local authorities, +none of whom considered it to be their duty to look after murderers +and robbers of this kind. Captain Weston succeeded in arresting +this atrocious gang-leader, Nunda Pandee, who described to him +minutely many of the numerous enterprises of this kind in which he +had been engaged, and seemed to glory in his profession. He +mentioned that the man whom he had seen suspended in the tree was +his brother-in-law; that he had had two other members of his gang +killed by the villagers on that occasion, but had succeeded in +carrying off their bodies; that Goberae, Bhowaneedeen, and the rest +of his followers were still at large and prosecuting their trade. +Nunda Pandee was by the Resident made over for trial and punishment +to the Durbar; and Goberae and Bhowaneedeen have since been +arrested and made over also. They both acknowledged that they +murdered the Gosaen in the manner above described, May 1851. The +Mahommedan law-officer before whom the case was tried declared, +that he could not, according to law, admit as valid the evidence of +the wife and two sons of the murdered Gosaen, because they were +relatives and prosecutors; and, as the robbers denied before him +that they were the murderers, he could not, or pretended he could +not, legally sentence them to punishment The King was, in +consequence, obliged to take them from his Court, and get them +sentenced to perpetual imprisonment by another Court, not +trammelled by the same law of evidence. This difficulty arises from +<i>blood</i> having its <i>price</i> in money in the country where +the law was made, or the <i>Deeut</i>; any person who had a right +to share in this <i>Deeut</i>, or price of blood, was therefore +held to be an invalid or incompetent witness to the fact.</p> +<p>On the road from Bahraetch to Gungwal we saw very few groves or +fine single trees on either side. The water is close to the +surface, and the soil good, but for the most part flooded during +the rains, and fit only for rice-cultivation. To fit it for the +culture of other autumn crops would require a great outlay in +drainage; and this no one will incur without better security for +the returns than the present government can afford. Ramdut Pandee +is the greatest agricultural capitalist in these parts.</p> +<p>On the 8th of December it had become known all over the city of +Lucknow, that the King had promised Captain Bird that he would +banish Gholam Ruza and his sister, and Kotub Allee, across the +Ganges; and it was entered in the news-writer's report, though +Captain Bird had spoken of it to no one. He was asked by the +minister whether he would excuse the King for not keeping his word +so far, and said he could not. He demanded an audience of the King, +who tried to avoid a meeting by pleading indisposition; but the +first Assistant, being very urgent, he was admitted. He found the +King in a small inner room lying on a cot covered with a ruzae or +quilt.</p> +<p>There were closed doors on the side of the room where the cot +stood, and Captain Bird perceived that persons were behind +listening to the conversation. On the minister advancing to meet +him at the door. Captain Bird declined taking his proffered hand, +and in a loud voice declared—"that he believed that he was mixed +up with the fiddlers, and was afraid of their being removed, or he +would have carried his Majesty's order for their dismissal into +effect." He then advanced to the King, shook him by the hand, +apologized for intruding upon him after his excuse of illness, and +stated—"that his own character was at stake, and he had been +obliged to take this step to save it, and requested that the +minister might be told to retire during the conversation, as he had +already shown his partiality for the characters whom his Majesty +had stigmatized as low, intriguing, and untrustworthy—as ruiners of +his good name and his kingdom, and the cause of ill-feeling between +the British Government and himself. The King expressed a wish that +the minister might remain, that he might have an opportunity to +listen to what Captain Bird had to state, as it appeared to be +against him. Captain Bird replied, that he had no complaint to make +against the minister; that his object in coming was, to claim the +fulfilment of the promise which his Majesty had so solemnly made to +him, to dismiss Gholam Ruza and his sister, and Kotub Allee, and +send them across the Ganges; that he was induced to demand this +audience by the minister's visit of the preceding evening, to ask +him to excuse his Majesty's fulfilling the promise which he had +made; and by the written report given to him that morning by the +news-writer, stating, that his Majesty had changed his mind, and +pardoned the parties."</p> +<p>The King declared that he had never given Captain Bird any such +promise. Captain Bird then repeated to his Majesty the conversation +which had taken place on that occasion. The King seemed to be +staggered; but the minister came to his aid, and said—"that +his Majesty had ascertained from Sadik Allee himself, that Gholam +Ruza was not an accomplice in that affair." Captain Bird +replied—"that the King had told him, that the deception had +been so fully proved, that they were speechless; and that his +Majesty had spit in their faces." The King said "not in Gholam +Ruza's. His sister and Kotub Allee are alone guilty." Captain Bird +urged, that all were alike guilty, and he besought the King to +fulfil his promise, saying,—"that his, Captain Bird's, name +was at stake; that if the parties were not removed, the whole city +would say, that the King had bribed him, and +bought off his promise." The King replied, "This is all nonsense; +do you wish me to swear that Gholam Ruza is innocent, and that I +never gave the promise you mention?" and, calling the minister, he +placed his right hand on his head, and said,—"I swear, as if +this was my son's head, and by God, that I believe Gholam Ruza to +be entirely innocent; and that I never promised to turn him out, or +to send him across the Ganges." Captain Bird then heard a movement +of feet in the next room behind the closed doors. He was horrified; +but returning to the charge, said, "Your Majesty has, at any rate, +acknowledged the guilt of Gholam Ruza's sister, and that of Khotub +Allee; pray fulfil your promise on the guilty." The King +said—"When absent from my sight, they are as far off as +across one hundred rivers. I know they are intriguers, and shall +keep my eyes upon them." Captain Bird said—"I have reported +the circumstances of the case thus far to the Resident. Your +Majesty has made me a participator in the breaking of your word. I +have told Colonel Sleeman you would turn these men out." The King +said—"This case has reference only to my house—it has no +connection with the Government; but if you wish to use force, take +me also by the beard, and pull me from my throne!" Captain Bird +said—"I pray your Majesty to recollect how often, when force +might have been used, under your own sign-manual and seal, on these +fiddlers interfering in State affairs, the Resident has hesitated +to put your written permission for their removal into force; and +now who can be your friend, or save you from any danger, which may +hereafter threaten your life or your well-being? I must, of course, +report all to the Resident." The minister now said—"Yes, +report to the Resident that the King has changed his mind, broken +his word, and will not fulfil his promise; and ask for permission +to employ direct force for the removal of these men: see if he will +give permission." Captain Bird replied, "that any orders he +received from the Resident would certainly be carried, into effect; +but if his Majesty's own acknowledgment of the deceitfulness of +these men, and their intriguing rascality were not sufficient to +induce him to remove them—if the King set so little value on +his promise—a promise now known to the whole city, and which +he must in self-defence now speak openly of, he foresaw the speedy +downfall of the kingdom. Who, he asked, will subject themselves to +be deceived in an endeavour to prop it up by the removal of those +who were living on its heart's blood, or be made liars by reporting +promises never to be fulfilled?" Thus ended this interview.</p> +<p>The next day Sadik Allee had a dress of honour conferred upon +him, and an increase of one hundred rupees a-month made to his +salary; and Gholam Ruza, and his relative the fiddler, Anees-od +Dowla, were seated behind his Majesty in his carriage-and-four, and +paraded through the city, as in full possession of his favour. +After the King had alighted from the carriage at the palace, the +coachman drove the two singers to their apartments in the Mukbura, +seated as before in the khuwas, or hind seat. [On the 25th of May +1850, the King caused the chief singer, Gholam Ruza, his father, +Nathoo, his sister, and her husband, Dummun Khan, Gholam Hyder +Khan, Kotub Allee, his brother, Sahib Allee, and the females of his +family, in all fourteen persons, to be seized and confined in +prison. On the 2nd of June, all but Gholam Ruza and Dummun Khan +were transported across the Ganges into British territory; and, on +the 23rd of July, these two men were transported in the same +manner. The immediate cause of the King's anger was the discovery +that his divorced and banished wife, Surafrazmahal, had actually +come back, and remained concealed for seven days and seven nights +in the palace, in the apartments of the chief singer, Gholam Ruza. +They were all made to disgorge the Company's notes and jewels found +upon them, but the King visited Gholam Ruza the day before his +departure, and treated him with great kindness, and seemed very +sorry to part with him.]</p> +<p>On the 10th, I had written to Captain Bird to mention the +distinction which he appeared to have overlooked in his zeal to get +the fiddlers removed. The offence with which these persons stood +charged in this case was a personal affront to the King, or an +affront to his understanding, and not any interference with the +administration of the Government; and the first Assistant was +requested by the Resident to wait upon his Majesty, merely with a +view to encourage him in his laudable resolution to banish them, +and to offer his aid in doing so should his Majesty manifest any +wish to have it; and not to demand their punishment on the part of +the British Government. In the one case, if the King promised to +punish the offenders and relented and forgave them, we could only +regret his weakness; but in the other, if he promised to punish +them and failed to do so, we should consider it due to the +character of our Government to insist upon the fulfilment of his +promise. On the evening of the 11th I got the above report of his +interview with the King from Captain Bird; and, on the 12th, I +wrote to tell him, that I considered him to have acted very +indiscreetly; that he had brought this vexation and mortification +upon himself by his overweening confidence in his personal +influence over the King; that he ought to have waited for +instructions from me, or at least for a reply from me to his +letter, regarding the former interview at Court; that I could not +now give him the support he required, as I could neither demand +that his requisitions should be complied with, nor tell the King +that I approved of them that he had been authorized by me to act on +his own discretion in any case of great emergency, but this could +not be considered of such a character, for no evil or inconvenience +was to be apprehended from a day or two's delay, since the question +really was, whether his Majesty should have a dozen fiddlers or +only ten.</p> +<p>In the beginning of September 1850, the King became enamoured of +one of his mother's waiting-maids, and demanded her in marriage. +See was his mother's favourite bedfellow, and she would not part +with her. The King became angry, and to soothe him his mother told +him that it was purely out of regard for him and his children that +she refused to part with this young woman; that she had a +"<i>sampun</i>," or the coiled figure of a snake in the hair on the +back of her neck. No man, will purchase a horse with such a mark, +or believe that any family can be safe in which a horse or mare +with such a mark is kept. His mother told him, that if he cohabited +with a woman having such a mark, he and all his children must +perish. The King said that he might probably have, among his many +wives, some with marks of this kind; and that this might account +for his frequent attacks of palpitation of the heart. "No doubt," +said the old Queen Dowager; "we have long thought so; but your +Majesty gets into such a towering passion when we venture to speak +of your wives, that we have been afraid to give expression to our +thoughts and fears." "Perhaps," said the King, "I may owe to this +the death, lately, of my poor son, the heir-apparent." "We have +long thought so," replied his mother. The chief eunuch, Busheer, +was forthwith ordered to inspect the back of the necks of all save +that of the chief consort, the mother of the late and present +heir-apparent. He reported that he had found the <i>fatal mark</i> +upon the necks of no less than eight of the King's wives, +Nishat-mahal, Koorshed-mahal, Sooleeman-mahal, Huzrut-mahal, Dara +Begum, Buree Begum, Chotee Begum, and Huzrut Begum. The chief +priest was summoned, and the divorce, from the whole eight, +pronounced forthwith; and the ladies were ordered to depart with +all that they had saved while in the palace. Some of their friends +suggested to his Majesty, that Mahommedans were but unskilful +judges in such matters, and that a Court of Brahmins should be +assembled, as they had whole volumes devoted exclusively to this +science. The most learned were accordingly collected, and they +declared that though there were marks resembling in some degree the +<i>sampun</i>, it was of no importance; and the evil it threatened +might be averted by singeing the head of the snake with a hot iron. +The ladies were very indignant, and six of them insisted upon +leaving the palace, in virtue of the divorce. Two only consented to +remain, the Buree Begum and Chota Begum.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 14, 1849.—Came on twelve miles to Gonda. +The country well studded with groves and fine single trees; the +soil naturally fertile, and water near the surface. Cultivation +good about Gonda, and about some of the villages along the road it +is not bad; but there is nowhere any sugar-cane to be seen beyond a +small garden patch. The country is so wretchedly stocked with +cattle that little manure is available for tillage.</p> +<p>The Bulrampore Rajah, a lively, sensible, and active young man, +joined me this morning, and rode along by the side of my elephant, +with the capitalist, Ramdut Pandee, the Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, and +old Bukhtawar Sing, the brother of the late Dursun Sing, whom I +have often mentioned in this Diary. Rajah Bukhtawar Sing is the +King's Mohtamin, or Quartermaster-General of the Resident's' camp. +The Rajah of Toolseepore also, who has been ousted by his son from +his estate, joined me last night; but he was not well enough to +ride with me. Dogs, hawks, and panthers attend for sport, but they +afford little or no amusement. Hawking is a very dull and very +cruel sport. A person must become insensible to the sufferings of +the most beautiful and most inoffensive of the brute creation +before he can feel any enjoyment in it. The cruelty lies chiefly in +the mode of feeding the hawks. I have ordered all these hunting +animals to return to Lucknow.</p> +<p>Although the personal character of the Toolseepoor Rajah is not +respected, that of his son is much worse; and the Bulrampoor Rajah +and other large landholders in the neighbourhood would unite and +restore him to the possession of his estate, but the Nazim is held +responsible for their not moving in the matter, in order that the +influential persons about the Court may have the plucking of it at +their leisure. The better to insure this, two companies of one of +the King's regiments have been lately sent out with two guns, to +see that the son is not molested in the possession. The father was +restored to his estate in 1850, and the son fled again to the +Goruckpoor district. He became reconciled to his father some months +after, through the mediation of the magistrate, Mr. Chester, and +returned to Toolseepoor. The father and son, however, distrusted +each other too much to live long together on amicable terms, and +the son has gone off again to Goruckpoor.</p> +<p>The Toolseepoor estate extends along from east to west for about +one hundred miles, in a belt of from nine to twelve miles wide, +upon the southern border of that part of the Oude Tarae forest +which we took from Nepaul in 1815, and made over to the Oude +Government by the treaty of the 11th May 1816, in lieu of the one +crore of rupees which our Government borrowed from Oude for the +conduct of that war. The rent-roll of Toolseepoor is now from two +to three lacs of rupees a-year; but it pays to the Oude Government +a revenue of only one lac and five thousand, over and above +gratuities to influential officers. The estate comprises that of +Bankee, which was held by a Rajah Kunsa. Dan Bahader, the father of +the present Rajah of Toolseepoor, attacked him one night in 1832, +put him and some two hundred and fifty of his followers and family +to death, and absorbed the estate. Mahngoo, the brother of Kunsa, +escaped and sought redress from the Oude Durbar; but he had no +money and could get no redress; and, in despair, he went off to +seek employment in Nepaul, and died soon after. Dan Bahader, +enriched by the pillage of Bankee, came to Lucknow, and purchased +permission to incorporate Bankee with his old estate of +Toolseepoor.</p> +<p>Khyreeghur and Kunchunpoor, on the western border of that +forest, were made over by us to Oude at the same time, as part of +the cession. They had been ceded to our Government by the treaty of +1801, at an estimated value of two hundred and ten thousand, but, +up to 1816, they had never yielded to us fifty thousand rupees +a-year. They had, however, formerly yielded from two to three lacs +of rupees a-year to the Oude Government, and under good management +may do so again; but, at present, Oude draws from them a revenue of +only sixteen thousand, and that with difficulty. The rent-roll, +however, exceeds two hundred thousand, and may, in a few years, +amount to double that sum, as population and tillage are rapidly +extending.</p> +<p>The holders of Khyreegur and Kunchunpoor are always in a state +of resistance against the Oude Government, and cannot be coerced +into the payment of more than their sixteen thousand rupees a-year; +and hundreds of lives have been sacrificed in the collection of +this sum. The climate is so bad that no people from the open +country can venture into it for more than four months in the +year—from the beginning of December to the end of March. The +Oude Government occasionally sends in a body of troops to enforce +the payment of an increased demand during these four months. The +landholders and cultivators retire before them, and they are sure +to be driven out by the pestilence, with great loss of life, in a +few months; and the landholders refuse to pay anything for some +years after, on the ground that all their harvests were destroyed +by the troops. The rest of the Tarae lands ceded had little of +tillage or population at that time, and no government could be less +calculated than that of Oude to make the most of its capabilities. +It had, therefore, in a fiscal point of view, but a poor equivalent +for its crore of rupees; but it gained a great political advantage +in confining the Nepaulese to the hills on its border. Before this +arrangement took place there used to be frequent disputes, and +occasionally serious collisions between the local authorities about +boundaries, which were apt to excite the angry feelings of the +sovereigns of both States, and to render the interposition of the +paramount power indispensable.</p> +<p>It was at Bhinga, on the left bank of the Rabtee River, in the +Gonda district, and eight miles north-east from Bulrampoor, that +Mr. George Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, was murdered +on the night of the 6th May, 1823. He had been the collector of the +land revenue of the Cawnpore district for many years; but, having +taken from the treasury a very large sum of money, and spent it in +lavish hospitality and unsuccessful speculations, he absconded with +his wife and child, and found an asylum with the Rajah of Bhinga, +on the border of the Oude Tarae, where he intended to establish +himself as an indigo planter. Strict search was being made for him +throughout India by the British Government, and his residence at +Bhinga was concealed from the Oude Government by the local +authorities. The Rajah made over to him a portion of land for +tillage, and a suitable place in a mango grove, about a mile from +his fort, to build a house upon. He built one after the +Hindoostanee fashion, with bamboos and grass from the adjoining +jungle. It consisted of a sitting-room, bed-room, and bathing-room, +all in a line, and forming one side of a quadrangle, and facing +inside, with only one small door on the outside, opening into the +bathing-room. The other three sides of the quadrangle consisted of +stables, servants' houses, and out-offices, all facing inside, and +without any entrances on the outside, save on the front side, +facing the dwelling-house, where there was a large entrance.</p> +<br> +<pre> + PLAN OF MR. RAVENSCROFT'S HOUSE. + _____________________________________ ___ + | | | | + | | Bathing| + | Sitting Room. | Bed Room. Room. | + |_______ ________|____ ______|_______| + | | | | + | | | | + | ___ | + | | | | + | | | | | | + |_____| |___| |_______| + | | Cot | | + | | | | + | O S | + | u t | + | t | | a | + | | | b | + |__O__| |___l___| + | f | | e | + | f | | s | + | i | | | + | c | + | e | + | s | | | + | | | | + |_____| |_______| + | | | | + | | + | | Entrance | | + | |___ _____ ____ ____| | + | | | | + | | | | + |________________| |__________________| +</pre> +<br> +<p>The Rajah, Seo Sing, was a worthy old man. He had four sons, +Surubjeet Sing, the eldest, Omrow Sing, Kaleepurkas Sing, and +Jypurkas Sing. The eldest was then married, and about the age of +twenty-five; the other three were still boys. The old man left the +management of the estate to the eldest son, a morose person, who +led a secluded life, and was never seen out of the female +apartments, save twice a-year, on the festival of the hooley and +the anniversary of his marriage. Mr. Ravenscroft had never seen or +held any communion with him, save through his father, brothers, or +servants; but he was in the habit of daily seeing and conversing +with the father and his other sons on the most friendly terms. The +eldest son became alarmed when he saw Mr. Ravenscroft begin to +plant indigo, and prepare to construct vats for the manufacture; +and apprehended that he would go on encroaching till he took the +whole estate from him, unless he was made away with. He therefore +hired a gang of Bhuduk dacoits from the neighbouring forest of the +Oude Tarae to put him to death, after he had been four months at +Bhinga. During this time Mrs. Ravenscroft had gone on one occasion +to Cawnpoor, and on another to Secrora, on business.</p> +<p>Bhinga lies fifty miles north-east from Secrora, where the 20th +Regiment of Native Infantry, under the command of Colonel Patton, +was then cantoned. On the 6th of May 1823, Ensign Platt, of that +corps, had come out to see him. In the evening, the old Rajah and +his second and third sons came to visit Mr. Ravenscroft as usual, +and they sat conversing with the family on the most friendly terms +till nine o'clock, when they took leave, and Mrs. Ravenscroft, with +her child and two female attendants, retired to the sleeping-room +in the house. Ensign Platt went to his small sleeping-tent outside +the quadrangle, under a mango-tree. This tent was just large enough +to admit his small cot, and a few block-tin travelling-boxes, which +he piled away inside, to the right and left of his bed. Mr. +Ravenscroft slept on a cot in the open air, in the quadrangle, a +few paces from the door leading to Mrs. Ravenscroft's +sleeping-apartment. He that night left his arms in the +sitting-room, and Ensign Platt had none with him. Mr. Ravenscroft +was the handsomest and most athletic European gentleman then in +India, and one of the most expert in the use of the sword and +shield.</p> +<p>His servants had been accustomed to stand sentry, by turns, at +the entrance of the quadrangle, and it was his groom Munsa's turn +to take the first watch that night. He was to have been relieved by +the chowkeedar, Bhowaneedeen; but, in the middle of his watch, he +roused the chowkeedar, and told him that he had been taken suddenly +ill, and must go to his house for relief. The chowkeedar told him +that he might go at once, and he would get up and take his place +immediately; but he lay down and soon fell asleep again.</p> +<p>About eleven o'clock the whole quadrangle was filled by a gang +of about sixty dacoits, who set their torches in a blaze, and began +to attack Mr. Ravenscroft with their spears. He sprang up, and +called loudly for his sword and shield, but there was no one to +bring them. He received several spears through his body as he made +for the door of Mrs. Ravenscroft's apartment, calling out to her in +English to fly and save herself and child, and defending himself as +well as he could with his naked arms. Mosahib, a servant who slept +by his cot, got to Mrs. Ravenscroft's room and assisted her to +escape, with her child and two female attendants, through the +bathing-room to the outside. A party had been placed to stab Ensign +Platt with their long spears through the sides of his small tent; +but they passed through and through the block-tin boxes, and roused +without hurting him. He rushed out and attempted to defend himself +by seizing the spears of his assailants; but he received several of +them through his arms. He made for the entrance to the quadrangle, +and there, by the blaze of the torches, saw Mr. Ravenscroft still +endeavouring to defend himself, but covered with blood, which was +streaming from his wounds and mouth.</p> +<p>On seeing Ensign Platt at the entrance, he staggered towards +him, but the dacoits made a rush at Ensign Platt with their spears +at the same time. He saved himself by springing over a thick and +thorny hedge on one side of the quadrangle, and ran round behind to +the small door leading into the bathing-room, which he reached in +time to assist Mrs. Ravenscroft to escape, as the dacoits were +forcing their way through the screen into her bed-room from the +sitting-room. As soon as he saw her under the shade of the trees, +beyond the blaze of the torches, he left her and her child, and the +two female attendants, to the care of Mosahib, and went round to +the entrance in search of her husband. He had got to a tree, +outside the entrance, into which Deena, Ensign Platt's servant, had +climbed to save himself as soon as he saw his master attacked, and +was leaning against it; but, on seeing Ensign Platt, he again +staggered towards him, saying faintly <i>bus, bus</i>—enough, +enough. These were the last words he was heard to utter, and must +have referred to the escape of his wife and child, of which he had +become conscious. By this time the gang had made off with the +little booty they found. On attacking Mr. Ravenscroft at first, +some of them were heard to say, "You have run from Cawnpoor to come +and seize upon the estate of Bhinga, but we will settle you." Mrs. +Ravenscroft, her infant, and female attendants, remained concealed +under the shade of the trees, and her husband was now taken to her +with eighteen spear wounds through his body. The Rajah and his two +young sons soon after made their appearance, and in the evening the +survivors were all taken by the old man to a spacious building, +close outside the fort, where they received every possible +attention; but the eldest son never made his appearance. Out of the +twenty-nine men who composed the party when the attack commenced, +seven had been killed and eighteen wounded. Mr. Ravenscroft died +during the night of the 7th, after great suffering. He retained his +consciousness till near the last; but the blood continued to flow +from his mouth, and he could articulate nothing. On the morning of +the 8th, he was buried in the grove, and Ensign Platt read the +funeral service over his grave. Mrs. Ravenscroft and her child were +taken to Colonel Patton, at Secrora, and soon after sent by him to +Lucknow.</p> +<p>On the 10th, he reported the circumstances of this murder to the +Resident, Mr. Ricketts; and sent him the narratives of Mosahib and +Deena; and his report, with translations of these narratives, was +submitted by the Resident to Government on the 12th of that month. +But in these narratives no mention whatever was made of a British +officer having been present at the murder and the burial of Mr. +Ravenscroft. This suppression arose, no doubt, from the +apprehension that Government might be displeased to find that the +military authorities at Secrora had become aware of Mr. +Ravenscroft's residence at Bhinga without reporting the +circumstance to Government; and still more so to find, that he had +been there visited by a British officer, when search was being made +for him throughout India.</p> +<p>In acknowledging the receipt of the Resident's letter on the +23rd of May, the Secretary, Mr. George Swinton, observes, that the +Governor-General in Council concludes, that he shall receive a more +full and satisfactory report on the subject from Colonel Patton +than that to which his letter had given cover, since he considered +that report to be very imperfect; that one of the narrators, +Mosahib, states, that he himself conducted Mrs. Ravenscroft and her +child to a neighbouring village, and yet he brought no message +whatever from that lady to Colonel Patton at Secrora; that none of +the wounded people or servants of the deceased, except Deena, +appear to have found their way to Sacrora, though four days had +elapsed from the date of the murder to that of the despatch of the +report; that the body seemed to have been hastily interred by the +people of the village, without any notice having been sent to the +officer commanding the troops at Secrora; that such an atrocious +outrage as that described in these narratives, on the person of a +subject and servant of the British Government, demanded the +exertion of every effort to ascertain the real facts of the case by +local inquiry; yet it did not appear that any person had been +despatched to the spot to verify the evidence of the two men +examined by Colonel Patton, or to clear up the doubts to which all +these circumstances must naturally have given rise; nor did it +appear that the defects in Colonel Patton's report had occurred to +the Resident, or that he had directed any further inquiry to be +made.</p> +<p>The Resident was, therefore, directed to instruct Colonel +Patton, to depute one or more officers to the place where the +murder was said to be perpetrated, with orders to hold an inquiry +on the spot in communication with the King of Oude's officers, to +take the evidence of the wounded men, and that of any other persons +who might have been witnesses to any part of the transaction, and +to the burial of Mr. Ravenscroft; and to examine the grave in which +the body of the deceased was said to have been deposited; and +further, to call upon Colonel Patton to state whether any +information had previously reached Secrora of Mr. Ravenscroft's +actually residing at Bhinga, or at any other place within the +dominions of the King of Oude. "His Lordship in Council was," Mr. +Swinton says, "satisfied, from the known humanity of Colonel +Patton's character, that every possible aid and comfort had been +extended to Mrs. Ravenscroft and her child; and the information +which that lady and her attendants must have it in their power to +give, could not fail to place the whole affair in its proper +light." Extracts from this letter were sent by the Resident to +Colonel Patton, on the 2nd of June, with a request that he would +adopt immediate measures to carry the orders of Government into +effect; and reply to the question whether any information of Mr. +Ravenscroft's residing at Bhinga had previously reached him.</p> +<p>A committee of British officers was assembled at Bhinga on the +11th June, and their proceedings were transmitted to the Resident +on the 18th of that month; but the committee, for some reasons +stated in the report, did not examine "the grave in which the body +of the deceased was said to have been deposited." Though in this +committee Ensign Platt stated that he was present when the murder +was perpetrated; that he attended the deceased till he died the +next night, and performed the funeral ceremonies over the body on +the morning of the 8th; still he seemed to narrate the +circumstances of the event with some reserve, while there was a +good deal of discrepancy in the evidence of the other +eye-witnesses, as recorded in the report, seemingly from the dread +of compromising Ensign Platt.</p> +<p>The Resident did not, therefore, think that Government would be +satisfied with the result of this inquiry; and, on the 20th of June +he directed Colonel Patton to reassemble the committee at Bhinga, +and require it to hold an inquest on the body, and take the +depositions of all the witnesses on oath. On the same day the +Resident reported to Government what he had done. The second +committee proceeded to Bhinga, and, on the 13th of July, Colonel +Patton transmitted its report to the Resident, who submitted it to +Government on the 17th of that month. The committee had taken the +evidence of the witnesses on oath, and held an inquest on the body; +but, in doing so, it had been necessary to dig through the tomb +which Mrs. Ravenscroft had, in the interval, caused to be erected +over the remains of her husband; and, at the suggestion of Colonel +Patton, this tomb was rebuilt and improved at the cost of +Government, who were perfectly satisfied with the result.</p> +<p>But in its reply, dated the 31st July, Government very justly +remarks, that all the unnecessary trouble which had attended this +investigation, as well as the very painful step of having the body +disinterred, which the Resident found himself compelled to adopt in +obedience to its orders, arose from a want of those obvious +precautions in the first instance which ought to have suggested +themselves to Colonel Patton. Had he made the requisite inquiries +at Secrora, he must have learnt that an English officer belonging +to his own regiment, who had been present at the interment, had +been wounded when Mr. Ravenscroft was murdered, and, for a time, +rendered unfit for duty. The facts since deposed to on oath by +Ensign Platt might have been elicited, and his testimony, if +necessary, might have been confirmed by the evidence of the widow +of the deceased; and had such conclusive evidence been submitted to +Government in the first instance, the doubts excited by the +extraordinary circumstances of the whole affair would never have +existed. When ordered on the inquiry to Bhinga, had Ensign Platt at +once declared at Secrora that he could there afford all the +information required as to the fact of the murder and interment of +the body, the necessity of further inquiry on the spot would have +been obviated. He had apparently been deterred from doing this by +the apprehension of compromising both himself and his commanding +officer. Colonel Patton had no knowledge of Mr. Ravenscroft being +at Bhinga, though he had heard a rumour of his being somewhere in +the Oude territory; and, in his application for a few days' leave, +Ensign Platt made no mention of him or of his intention to visit +him. This is stated in a subsequent letter from Colonel Patton to +the Resident, dated 27th of August 1823.</p> +<p>The opinion that the Rajah had nothing whatever to do with the +murder, and that the gang was secretly hired for the purpose by his +eldest son, Surubjeet, has been confirmed by time, and is now +universal among the people of these parts. He died soon after of +dropsy, and the people believe that the disease was caused by the +crime. He left an only son, Krishun Dutt Sing. The Rajah, Seo Sing, +survived his eldest son some years; and, on his death, he was +succeeded by Krishun Dutt Sing, who now leads precisely the same +secluded life that his father led, and leaves the management of the +Bhinga estate entirely to his only surviving uncle, Kaleepurkas +Sing, the youngest of the two boys who visited Mr. Ravenscroft on +the evening of the murder. The other three sons of the old Rajah +are dead. The actual perpetrators of the murder were never punished +or discovered. Mrs. Ravenscroft afterwards became united in +marriage to the Resident at the time, Mr. Mordaunt Ricketts, and +still lives. Her child, a boy, was drowned at the Lucknow Residency +some time after his mother's marriage with the Resident. He had +been shut up by his mother in a bathing-room for some fault; and, +looking into a bathing-tub at his image in the water, he lost his +balance, fell in, and was drowned. When the servants went to let +him out they found him quite dead.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt3" id="Chapt3">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Legendary tale of breach of Faith—Kulhuns tribe of +Rajpoots—Murder of the Banker, Ramdut Pandee, by the Nazim of +Bahraetch—Recrossing the Ghagra river—Sultanpoor +district, State of Commandants of troops become sureties for the +payment of land revenue—Estate of Muneearpoor and the Lady +Sogura—Murder of Hurpaul Sing, Gurgbunsee, of +Kupragow—Family of Rajahs Bukhtawar and Dursun +Sing—Their <i>bynama</i> Lands—Law of +Primogeniture—Its object and effect—Rajah Ghalib +Jung—Good effects of protection to Tenantry—Disputes +about Boundaries—Our army a safety-valve for Oude—Rapid +decay of Landed Aristocracy in our Territories—Local ties in +groves, wells, &c.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 15, 1849.-Wuzeergunge. On the way this morning, +we passed Koorassa, which is said once to have been the capital of +a formidable Rajah, the head of the Kulhuns tribe of Rajpoots. The +villages which we see along the road seem better, and better +peopled and provided with cattle. The soil not naturally very +fertile, but yields fine returns under good culture, manure, and +irrigation. Water everywhere very near the surface. The place is +called after the then <i>Nawab Wuzeer</i>, Asuf-od Dowlah, who +built a country-seat here with all appurtenances of mosque, courts, +dwelling-houses, &c., on the verge of a fine lake, formed in +the old bed of the Ghagra river, with tillage and verdure extending +down to the water's edge. The garden-wall, which surrounds a large +space of ground, well provided with fruit and ornamental trees, is +built of burnt bricks, and still entire. The late minister, +Ameen-od Dowlah, persuaded his master, Amjad Allee Shah, to give +this garden and the lands around, with which it had been endowed, +to his moonshee, Baker Allee Khan, who now resides at Fyzabad, and +subsists upon the rents which he derives from them, and which are +said to be about twelve hundred rupees a-year.</p> +<p>The Bulrampoor Rajah, Ramdut Pandee, the banker, and Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing, rode with me this morning. The Rajah of Bulrampoor +is an intelligent and pleasing young man. He was a child when Mr. +Ravenscroft was killed, but said he had heard, that the Bhinga +chief had suffered for the share which he had had in the murder; +his body swelled, and he died within a month or two. "If men's +bodies swelled for murder, my friend," I said, "we should have no +end of swelled bodies in Oude, and among the rest, that of Prethee +Put's, of Paska." "Their bodies all swell, sooner, or later," said +old Bukhtawar Sing, "when they commit such atrocious crimes, and +Prethee Puts will begin to swell when he finds that you are +inquiring into his." "I am afraid, my friends, that the propensity +to commit them has become inveterate. One man hears that another +has obtained lands or wealth by the murder of his father or +brother, and does not rest till he has attempted to get the same by +the murder of his, for he sees no man punished for such crimes." +"It is not all nor many of our clan" (Rajpoots), said the Rajah of +Bulrampoor, "that can or will do this: we never unite our sons or +daughters in marriage with the family of one who is so stained with +crimes. Prethee Put and all who do as he has done, must seek an +union with families of inferior caste." I asked him whether the +people, in the Tarae forest, were still afraid to point out tigers +to sportsmen. "I was lately out with a party after a tiger," he +said, "which had killed a cowherd, but his companions refused to +point out any trace of him, saying, that their relatives' spirit +must be now riding upon his head, to guide him from all danger, and +we should have no chance of shooting him. We did shoot him, +however," said the Rajah, exultingly, "and they were all, +afterwards, very glad of it. The tigers in the Tarae do not often +kill men, sir, for they find plenty of deer and cattle to +eat."—"Can you tell me, Rajah Sahib," said I, "why it is that +among the Arabs, the lion is called 'the father of cultivation,' +'<i>abol hurs</i>, or <i>abo haris</i>.'" "No," replied the Rajah; +"it is an odd name for a beast that feeds on nothing but the flesh +of deer, cattle, and men." "It is, I suppose, Rajah Sahib," I +remarked, "because he feeds upon the deer, which are the greatest +enemies of their young crops."</p> +<p>The Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor, and all the merchants +and respectable landholders in these parts assure me, that all the +large colonies of Bhuduks, or gang robbers by hereditary +profession, who had, for so many generations, up to A.D. 1840, been +located in the Oude Terae forest, have entirely disappeared under +the operation of the "Special Police," of the Thuggee and Dacoitee +Department, aided and supported by the Oude Government; and that +not one family of them can now be found anywhere in Oude. They have +not been driven out as formerly, to return as soon as the temporary +pressure ceased, but hunted down and punished, or made to blend +with the rest of society in service or at honest labour.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 16, 1849.—Nawabgunge, eight miles, over a +plain of the same good soil, but not much better cultivated. The +people tell me, that garden tillage is now almost unknown in these +districts; first, because kachies or gardeners (here called moraes) +having been robbed, ruined, and driven into exile by Rughbur Sing, +cannot be induced to return to and reside in places, where they +would have so little chance of reaping the fruits of their labour; +and, secondly, because there are no people left who can afford to +purchase their garden produce. They tell me also, that the best +classes of ordinary cultivators, the Koormies and Lodhees, have +been almost all driven out of the district from the same cause. The +facts are manifest—there are no gardeners, and but few +Koormies and Lodhees left; and there is, in consequence, little +good tillage of any kind, and still less of garden cultivation.</p> +<p>The Rajah of Bulrampoor and Ramdut Pandee, the banker, rode with +me, and related the popular tradition regarding the head of the +Kulhuns family of Rajpoots, Achul Sing, who, about a century and a +quarter ago, reigned over the district intervening between Gonda +and Wuzeer Gunge, and resided at his capital of Koorassa. The Rajah +had a dispute with one of his landholders, whom he could not get +into his power. He requested Rutun Pandee, the banker, to mediate a +reconciliation, and invite the landholder to an amicable adjustment +of accounts, on a pledge of personal security. The banker +consented, but made the Rajah swear by the <i>River Sarjoo</i>, +which flowed near the town, that he should be received with +courtesy, and escorted back safely. The landholder relied on the +banker's pledge and came; but the Rajah no sooner got him into his +power, than he caused him to be put to death. The banker could not +consent to live under the dishonour of a violated pledge; and, +abstaining from food, died in twenty-one days, invoking the +vengeance of the <i>River Sarjoo</i>, on the head of the perfidious +Prince. In his last hours the banker was visited by one of the +Rajah's wives, who was then pregnant, and implored him to desist +from his purpose in mercy to the child in her womb; but she was +told by the dying man, that he could not consent to survive the +dishonour brought upon him by her perjured husband; and that she +had better quit the place and save herself and child, since the +incensed river Sarjoo would certainly not spare any one who +remained with the Rajah. She did so. The banker died, and his death +was followed by a sudden rise of the river and tempest. The town was +submerged, and the Rajah with all who remained with him perished. +The ruins of the old town are said to be occasionally still +visible, though at a great depth under the water in the old bed of +the Sarjoo, which forms a fine lake, near the present village of +Koorassa, midway between Gonda and Wuzeer Gunge.</p> +<p>The pregnant wife fled, and gave birth to a son, whose +descendant is now the head of the Kulhuns Rajpoots, and the Rajah +of Bahmanee Paer, a district on the eastern border of Oude towards +Goruckpoor. But, it is a remarkable fact, that the male descendants +have been all blind from their birth, or, at least, the reigning +portion of them, and the present Rajah is said to have two blind +sons. This is popularly considered to be one of the effects of the +Rajah's violated pledge to the banker. A handmaid of the Rajah, +Achul Sing, is said to have fled at the same time, and given birth +to a son, from whom are descended the Kulhuns tallookdars of the +Chehdwara, or Gowaris district, already noticed. The descendants of +Rutun Pandee are said still to hold rent-free lands, under Achul +Sing's descendant, in Bahmanee Paer; and the Pandee is worshipped +throughout the districts as a saint or martyr. He has a shrine in +every village, at which offerings are made on all occasions of +marriage, and blessings invoked for the bride and bridegroom, from +the spirit of one who set so much value on his plighted faith while +on earth. The two branches of the Kulhuns family above mentioned, +propitiate the spirit of the deceased Pandee by offerings; but +there is a branch of the same family at Mohlee, in the Goruckpoor +district, who do not. Though Hindoos, they adopt some Mussulman +customs, and make offerings to the old Mussulman saint, at +Bahraetch, in order to counteract the influence of the Pandee's +spirit.</p> +<p>Such popular traditions, arising from singular coincidences of +circumstances, have often a salutary effect on society, and seem to +be created by its wants and wishes; but rivers have, of late years, +become so much less prompt in the vindication of their honour, that +little reliance is placed, upon the oaths taken in their names by +the Prince, his officers or his landowners in Oude.</p> +<p>Nawabgunge, Munkapoor, and Bahmanee transferred to the British +Government, with the other lands, under the treaty of 1801; and +retransferred to Oude, by the treaty of the 11th of May 1816, in +exchange for Handeea, alias Kewae, a slip of land extending along +the left bank of the Ganges, between Allahabad and Benares.</p> +<pre> + Rent Roll. Kankur. Govt. demand +Nawabgunge, Wuzeergunge,.} l,08,000 32,000 76,000 + Mahadewa . . . . .} +Munkapoor . . . . . 40,000 12,000 28,000 +Bahmanee Paer . . . . 12,000 3,000 9,000 +</pre> +<p>The landholders and cultivators complain sadly of the change of +sovereigns; and the tillage and population have greatly diminished +under the Oude Government since 1816, but more especially, since +the monster, Rughbur Sing got the government. Here Ramdut Pandee, +the Rajah of Bulrampoor, and the Nazim of the district, have taken +leave of me, this being my last stage in their district. Ramdut +Pandee holds two estates in this district, for which he pays an +annual revenue to Government of 1,66,744 13 3.* He holds, at the +same time, a small estate in our district of Goruckpoor, where he +resides and keeps his family, till he obtains solemn written +pledges, confirmed on oath, for their security, not only from the +local authority of the day, but from all the commandants of corps +and establishments, comprising the military force employed under +him. These pledges include all his clients, who may have occasion +to visit or travel with him, as the Rajah of Bulrampoor is now +doing. These pledges require to be renewed on every change in the +local authorities and in the military officers employed under them. +He is one of the most substantial and respectable of the +agricultural capitalists of Oude, and the highest of his rank and +class in this district. He every year stands security for the +punctual payment of the revenues due, according to existing +engagements, by the principal landholders of the district, to the +extent of from six to eight lacs of rupees; and for this he gets a +certain per centage, varying with the character and capability of +the landholders. Some are of doubtful ability, others of doubtful +character, and he rates his risks and per centage accordingly. He +does much good, and is more generally esteemed than any other man +in the district; but he has, no doubt, enlarged his own landed +possessions occasionally, by taking advantage of the necessities of +his clients, and his influence over the local authorities of +government The lands he does get, however, he improves by +protecting and aiding his tenants, and inviting and fostering a +better class of cultivators, He is looked up to with respect and +confidence by almost all the large landholders of the district, for +his pledge for the punctual payment of the revenues saves their +estates from the terrible effects of a visit from the Nazim and his +disorderly and licentious troops; and this pledge they can always +obtain, when necessary, by a fair assurance of adherence to their +engagements.</p> +<blockquote> +<pre> +[* The estate of Ramdut Pandee, for this year, 1849, comprises + Sirgha, Chunda, &c. . . . 1,20,729 11 0 + Akberpoor, &c. . . . . . 46,015 2 3 + Total . . 1,66,744 13 3 ] +</pre></blockquote> +<p>On the 8th of November 1850, Ramdut Pandee lent the Nazim eighty +thousand rupees on his bond, after paying all that was due to the +State for the season, by him and all his clients, and on the 16th +of that month he went to Gonda, where the Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, +was encamped with his force, to take leave preparatory to his going +to bathe at Ajoodheea, on the last day of the month of Kartick, as +was his invariable custom. He was accompanied by the Rajah of +Bulrampoor, and they encamped separately in two mango-groves near +to each other, and about a mile and a half from the Nazim's camp. +About nine at night the Nazim sent two messengers, with silver +sticks, to invite and escort them to his tent. They set out +immediately, leaving all their armed followers in their camps, and +taking only a few personal attendants and palankeen bearers. No +person is permitted to take arms into the Nazim's tent; nor does +any landholder or merchant of Oude enter his tent without the +pledges for personal security above mentioned. Ramdut Pandee and +the Rajah entered with only a few personal servants, leaving all +their other attendants outside the outer curtain. This curtain +surrounded the tent at a distance of only a few yards from it, and +the tent was pitched in the centre. They were received with all due +ceremony, and in the same friendly manner as usual. The Rajah had +no business to talk about, while the Nazim and banker had; and, +after a short conversation, he took leave to return to his tents +and break his fast, which he had kept that day for some religious +purpose. He left in the tent the Nazim, his deputy, Jafir Allee, +and his nephew and son-in-law, Allee Hoseyn, sitting together on +the carpet, on the right, all armed, and Ramdut sitting unarmed, on +the left, with a Brahmin lad, Jowahir, standing at the door, with +the banker's paundan and a handkerchief. Kurunjoo, a second person, +with the banker's shoes, and a third attendant of his standing +outside the tent door.</p> +<p>The Nazim and Ramdut talked for some time together, seemingly on +the most friendly and cordial terms; but the Nazim, at last, asked +him for a further loan of money, and further securities for +landholders of doubtful character, before he went to bathe. The +banker told him, that he could lend him no more money till he came +back from bathing, as he had lent him eighty thousand rupees only +eight days before; and, that he could not increase his pledges of +security without further consultation with the landholders, as he +had not yet recovered more than four out of the seven lacs of +rupees which he had been obliged to advance to the Treasury, on the +securities given for them during the last year. He then took leave +and rose to depart. The Nazim turned and made some sign to his +deputy, Jafir Allee, who rose, presented his gun and shot Ramdut +through the right side close under the arm-pit. Exclaiming "Ram! +Ram!"—God! God!—the banker fell; and the Nazim, seizing +and drawing the sword which lay on the carpet before him, cut the +falling banker across the forehead. His nephew and deputy drew +theirs; and together they inflicted no less than twenty-two cuts +upon the body of Ramdut.</p> +<p>The banker's three attendants, seeing their master thus shot +down and hacked to pieces, called out for help; but one of the +three ruffians cut Jowahir, the Brahmin lad, across the shoulder, +with his sword, and all ran off and sought shelter across the +border in the British territory. The Nazim and his attendants then +buried the body hastily near the tent, and ordered the troops and +artillery to advance towards and fire into the two camps. They did +so, and the Bulrampoor Rajah had only just reached his tents when +the shot came pouring in upon them from the Nazim's guns. He +galloped off as fast as he could towards the British border, about +twenty miles distant, attended only by a few mounted followers, +some of whom he sent off to Bulrampoor, to bring his family as fast +as possible across the border to him. The rest he ordered to follow +him. His followers and those of the murdered banker fled before the +Nazim's forces, which had been concentrated for this atrocious +purpose, and both their camps were plundered. Before the Rajah +fled, however, the murdered banker's son-in-law, who had been left +in the camp, ran to him with a small casket, containing Ramdut's +seals, the bond for the eighty thousand rupees, and the written +pledges given by the Nazim and commanding officers of corps, for +the banker's and the Rajah's personal security. He mounted him upon +one of his horses, and took both him and the casket off to the +British territory.</p> +<p>It was now about midnight, and the Nazim took his forces to the +towns and villages upon the banker's estate, in which his family +and relatives resided, and in which he kept the greater part of his +moveable property. He sacked and plundered them all without regard +to the connection or relationship of the inhabitants with the +murdered banker. The property taken from the inhabitants of these +towns and villages is estimated at from ten to twelve lacs of +rupees. As many as could escape fled for shelter across the border, +into the British territory. The banker's brother, Kishen Dutt, who +resided in the British territory, came over, collected all he could +of his brother's followers, attacked the Amil's forces, killed and +wounded some forty or fifty of his men, and captured two of his +guns. The body of the banker was discovered two days after, and +disinterred by his family and friends, who counted the twenty-two +wounds that had been inflicted upon it by the three assassins, and +had it burned with due ceremonies.</p> +<p>The Nazim's agent at Court, on the 18th of November, submitted +to the minister his master's report of this affair, in which it was +stated, that the banker was a defaulter on account of his own +estate, and those of the other landholders for whom he had given +security—that he, the Nazim, had earnestly urged him to some +adjustment of his accounts, but all in vain—that the banker +had disregarded all his demands and remonstrances, and had with him +five hundred armed followers, one of whom had fired his pistol at +him, the Nazim, and killed one of his men—that they had all +then joined in an attack upon the Nazim and his men, and that, in +defending themselves, they had killed the banker. On the 19th, +another report, dated the 16th, reached the minister from the +Nazim's camp, stating, that the banker had come to his tent at ten +at night, with his armed followers, and had an interview [with] +him—that as the banker rose to depart, the Nazim told him +that he must not go without some settlement of his accounts; and a +dispute followed, in which the banker was killed, and two of the +Nazim's followers were severely wounded-that so great was the +confusion that the Durbar news-reporters could not approach to get +information.</p> +<p>On the 20th, a third report reached the minister, stating, that +the Rajah of Bulrampoor had come with the banker to visit the +Nazim, but had taken leave and departed before the collision took +place—that the Nazim urged the necessity of an immediate +settlement of accounts, but the banker refused to make any, grossly +abused the Nazim, and, at last, presented his pistol and fired at +him; and thereby wounded two of his people—that he was, in +consequence, killed by the Nazim's people, who joined the banker's +own people in the plunder of his camp.</p> +<p>On receiving this last report, the minister, by order of his +Majesty, presented to the agent of the Nazim a dress of honour of +fourteen pieces, such as is given to the highest officers for the +most important services; and ordered him to send it to his master, +to mark the sense his sovereign entertained of his gallant conduct +and valuable services, in crushing so great <i>a rebel and +oppressor</i>, and to assure him of a long-continued tenure of +office.</p> +<p>By the interposition of the British Resident and the aid of the +magistrate of Goruckpoor, Mr. Chester, the real truth was elicited, +the Nazim was dismissed from office, and committed for trial, +before the highest judicial Court at Lucknow. He at first ran off +to Goruckpoor, taking with him, besides his own, two elephants +belonging to the Rajah of Gonda, with property on them to the value +of fifty thousand rupees, which he overtook in his flight. The +Rajah had sent off these elephants with his valuables, on hearing +of the assassination of the banker, thinking that the Nazim would +secure impunity for this murder, as Hakeem Mehndee had for that of +Amur Sing, and be tempted to extend his operations. Finding the +district of Goruckpoor unsafe, the Nazim came back and surrendered +himself at Lucknow. Jafir Allee was afterwards seized in Lucknow. +There is, however, no chance of either being punished, since many +influential persons about the Court have shared in the booty, and +become accessaries interested in their escape. Moreover, the Nazim +is a Mahommedan, a Syud, and a Sheeah. No Sheeah could be sentenced +to death, for the murder, even of a Soonnee, at Lucknow, much less +for that of a Hindoo. If a Hindoo murders a Hindoo, and consents to +become a Mussulman, he cannot be so sentenced; and if he consents +to become so after sentence has been passed, it cannot be carried +into execution. Such is the law, and such the every-day +practice.</p> +<p>The elephants were recovered and restored through the +interposition of the Resident, but none of the property of the +Rajah or the banker has been recovered. May 18, 1851.—The family of +the banker has obtained a renewal of the lease of their, two +estates, on agreeing to pay an increase of forty thousand rupees +a-year.</p> +<pre> + +Sirgha Chunda . . . . 1,20,729 11 0 + Increase . . . . 30,000 0 0 + _______________ 1,50,729 11 0 +Akberpoor . . . . . 46,015 2 3 + Increase. . . . . 10,000 0 0 + _______________ 56,015 2 3 + _______________ +Total annual demand . . . . . . . 2,06,744 13 3 + <b>_______________</b> +</pre> +<p>They bold the Nazim's bond for the eighty thousand rupees, +borrowed only eight days before his murder.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 17, 1849.—Five miles to the left bank of +the Ghagra, whence crossed over to Fyzabad, on platformed boats, +prepared for the purpose by the Oude authorities. Our tents are in +one of the large mango-groves, which are numerous on the right bank +of the river, but scanty on the opposite bank. From the time we +crossed this river at Byram-ghaut on the 5th, till we recrossed it +this morning, we were moving in the jurisdiction of the Nazim of +the Gonda and Bahraetch district. After recrossing the Ghagra we +came within that of the Nazim of Sultanpoor, Aga Allee, who was +appointed to it this year, not as a contractor, but manager, under +the Durbar. The districts under contractors are called +<i>ijara</i>, or farmed districts; those under the management of +non-contracting servants of Government are called <i>amanee</i>, or +districts under the <i>amanut</i>, or trust of Government officers. +The morning was fine, the sky clear, and the ground covered with +hoar frost. It was, pleasing to see so large a camp, passing +without noise, inconvenience, or disorder of any kind in so large a +river.</p> +<p>The platformed boats were numerous, and so were the pier-heads +prepared on both sides, for the convenience of embarking and +landing. Carriages, horses, palankeens, camels and troops, all +passed without the slightest difficulty. The elephants were +preparing to cross, some in boats and some by swimming, as might +seem to them best. Some refuse to swim, and others to enter boats, +and some refuse to do either; but the fault is generally with their +drivers. On the present occasion, two or three remained behind, one +plunged into the stream from his boat, in the middle of the river, +with his driver on his back, and both disappeared for a time, but +neither was hurt. Those that remained on the left bank, got tired +of their solitude, and were at last coaxed over, either in boats +or in the water.</p> +<p>The Sarjoo rejoins the Ghagra a little above Fyzabad, and the +united stream takes the old name of the Sarjoo. This is the name +the river bears, till it emerges from the Tarae forest, when the +large body takes that of the Ghagra, and the small stream, which it +throws off, or which perhaps flows in the old bed, retains that of +the Sarjoo. The large branch absorbs the Kooreeala, Chouka, and +other small streams, on its way to rejoin the smaller. Some +distance below Fyzabad, the river takes the name of <i>Dewa</i>; +and uniting, afterwards, with the Gunduck, flows into the Ganges. +Fyzabad is three miles above Ajoodheea, on the same bank of the +river. It was founded by the first rulers of the reigning family, +and called for some time <i>Bungalow</i>, from a bungalow which +they built on the verge of the stream. Asuf-od Dowlah disliked +living near his mother, after he came to the throne, and he settled +at Lucknow, then a small village on the right bank of the Goomtee +river. This village, in the course of eighty years, grown into a +city, containing nearly a million of souls. Fyzabad has declined +almost in the same proportion.</p> +<p>The Nazim has six regiments, and part of a seventh, on duty +under him, making, nominally, six thousand fighting men, but that +he cannot, he tells me, muster two thousand; and out of the two +thousand, not five hundred would, he says be ready to fight on +emergency. All the commandants of corps reside at Court, knowing +nothing whatever of their duties, and never seeing their regiments. +They are mere children, or Court favourites, worse than children. +He has, nominally, forty-two guns, of various calibre; but he, with +great difficulty, collected bullocks enough to draw the three small +guns he brought with him from Sultanpoor, to salute the Resident, +on his entering his district. I looked at them in the evening. They +were seventy-four in number, but none of them were in a serviceable +condition, and the greater part were small, merely skin and bone. +He was obliged to purchase powder in the bazaar for the salutes; +and said, that when he entered his charge two months ago, the usual +salute of seven guns, for himself, could not be fired for want of +powder, and he was obliged to send to the bazaar to purchase what +was required. The bazaar-powder used by the Oude troops is about +one-third of the strength of the powder used by our troops. His +authority is despised by all the tallookdars of the district, many +of whom refuse to pay any rent, defy the Government, and plunder +the country, as all their rents are insufficient to pay the armed +bands which they keep up. All his numerous applications to Court, +for more and better troops and establishments, are disregarded, and +he is helpless. He cannot collect the revenue, or coerce the +refractory landholders and robbers, who prey upon the country.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The Nazim for 1850-51, got both Captain Magness's and +Captain Banbury's regiments.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He says that the two companies and two guns, which were sent out +at the Resident's urgent recommendation, to take possession of +Shahgunge, and prevent the two brothers, Maun Sing and Rughbur +Sing, from disturbing the peace of the country, in their contests +with each other, joined Maun Sing, as partisan; to oppose his +brother; and that Maun Sing has taken for himself all the +<i>bynamah</i> lands, from which his brother, Rughbur Sing, has +been ousted, under the favour of the minister. He tells me also, +that Beebee Sogura, the lady who holds the estate of Muneearpoor, +and pays fifty thousand rupees a-year to the Government, was seized +by Wajid Allee, his predecessor, before he made over charge of the +district to him, and made over to a body of troops, on condition, +that she should enter into engagement to pay to them the ten +months' arrears of pay due to them, out of the rents of the ensuing +year; and that they should give him receipts for the full amount of +these arrears of pay at once, to be forwarded to the Durbar, that +he might get credit for the amount in his accounts for last +year—that she has paid them fifteen thousand rupees, but can +collect no more from her tenants, as the crops are all being cut or +destroyed by the troops, and she is in close confinement, and +treated with cruel indignity. The rent-roll of her estate is, it is +said, equal to one hundred thousand rupees a year.</p> +<p>This was a common practice among governors of districts at the +close of last year; and thus they got credit, on account, for large +sums, pretended to have been paid out of the revenues of last year; +but, in reality, to be paid out of the revenues of the ensuing +year. But the collections are left to be made by the troops, for +whose arrears of pay the revenue has been assigned, and they +generally destroy or extort double what they are entitled to from +their unhappy debtors. This practice of assigning revenues due, or +to be due, by landholders, for the arrears of pay due to the +troops, is the source of much evil; and is had recourse to only +when contractors and other collectors of revenue are unable to +enforce payment in any other way; or require to make it appear that +they have collected more than they really have; and to saddle the +revenue of the ensuing year with the burthens properly incident +upon those of the past. The commandant of the troops commonly takes +possession of the lands, upon the rents, or revenues, of which the +payments have been assigned, and appropriates the whole produce to +himself and his soldiers, without regard to the rights of +landholders, farmers, cultivators, capitalists, or any other class +of persons, who may have invested their capital and labour in the +lands, or depend upon the crops for their subsistence. The troops, +too, are rendered unfit for service by such arrangements, since all +their time is taken up in the more congenial duty of looking after +the estate, till they have desolated it. The officers and soldiers +are converted into manorial under-stewards of the worst possible +description. They are available for no other duty till they have +paid themselves all that may have been due or may become due to +them during the time of their stay, and credit to Government but a +small portion of what they exact from the landholders and +cultivators, or consume or destroy as food, fodder, and fuel.</p> +<p>This system, injurious alike to the sovereign, the troops, and +the people, is becoming every season more and more common in Oude; +and must, in a few years, embrace nearly the whole of the +land-revenue of the country. It is denominated <i>kubz</i>, or +contract, and is of two kinds, the "<i>lakulame kubz</i>," or +pledge to collect and pay a certain sum, for which the estate is +held to be liable; and "<i>wuslee kubz</i>," or pledge to pay to +the collector or troops the precise sum which the commandant may be +able to collect from the estate put under him. In the first, the +commandant who takes the <i>kubz</i> must pay to the Government +collector or the troops the full sum for which the estate is held +to be liable, whether he be able to collect it or not, and his +<i>kubz</i> is valid at the Treasury, as so much money paid to the +troops. In the second, it is valid only as a pledge, to collect as +much as he can, and to pay what he collects to the Government +collector, or the troops he commands. The collector, however, +commonly understands that he has shifted off the burthen of payment +to the troops—to the extent of the sum named—from his +own shoulders to those of the commandant of the troops; and the +troops understand, that unless they collect this sum they will +never get it, or be obliged to screw it out of their commandant; +and they go to the work <i>con amore</i>. If they can't collect it +from the sale of all the crops of the season, they seize and sell +all the stock and property of all kinds to be found on the estate; +and if this will not suffice, they will not scruple to seize and +sell the women and children. The collector, whose tenure of office +seldom extends beyond the season, cares little as to the mode as +long as he gets the money, and feels quite sure that the sovereign +and his Court will care just as little, and ask no questions, +should the troops sell every living thing to be found on the +estate.</p> +<p>The history, for the last few years, of the estate of +Muneearpoor, involves that of the estate of Kupragow and Seheepoor, +held by the family of the late Hurpaul Sing, and may be interesting +as illustrative of the state of society in Oude. Hurpaul Sing's +family is shown in the accompanying note.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Purotee Sing had two sons, Gunga Persaud and Nihal Sing. +Gunga Persaud had one son, Seosewak, who had three sons, Seoumber +Sing, Hobdar Sing, and Hurpaul Sing. Seoumber Sing had one son, +Ramsurroop Sing, the present head of the family, who holds the fort +and estate of Kupradehee. Hobdar Sing had one son, who died young. +Hurpaul Sing died young, Nihal Sing had no son, but left a widow, +who holds his share of one-half of the estate, and resides at +Seheepoor.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the year A.D. 1821, after the death of Purotee Sing, his +second son, Nihal Sing, held one-half of the estate, and resided in +Seheepoor, and the family of his eldest son, Gunga Persaud, held +the other half, and resided in Kupragow. The whole paid a revenue +to Government of between six and seven hundred rupees a-year, and +yielded a rent-roll of something more than double that sum. The +neighbouring estate of Muneearpoor, yielding a rent-roll of about +three hundred and fifty thousand rupees a-year, was held by Roshun +Zuman Khan, in whose family it had been for many generations. He +had an only brother, Busawan Khan, who died, leaving a widow, +Bussoo, and a daughter, the Beebee, or Lady, Sogura. Roshun Zuman +Khan also died, leaving a widow Rahamanee, who succeeded to the +estate, but soon died, and left it to the Lady Sogura and her +mother. They made Nihal Sing, Gurgbunsee, of Seheepoor, manager of +their affairs. From the time that he entered upon the management, +Nihil Sing began to increase the number of his followers from his +own clan, the Gurgbunsies; and, having now become powerful enough, +he turned out his mistress, and took possession of her estate, in +collusion with the local authorities.</p> +<p>Rajah Dursun Sing, who then, 1836, held the contract for the +district, wished to take advantage of the occasion, to seize upon +the estate for himself, and a quarrel, in consequence, took place +between him and Nihal Sing. Unable, as a public servant of the +State, to lead his own troops against him, Dursun Sing instigated +Baboo Bureear Sing, of Bhetee, a powerful tallookdar, to attack +Nihal Sing at night, with all the armed followers he could muster, +and, in the fight, Nihal Sing was killed. Hurpaul Sing, his nephew, +applied for aid to the Durbar, and Seodeen Sing was sent, with a +considerable force, to aid him against Bureear Sing. When they were +ready for the attack, Dursun Sing sent a reinforcement of troops, +secretly, to Bureear Sing, which so frightened Seodeen Sing, that +he retired from the conflict.</p> +<p>The Gurgbunsee family had, however, by this time added a great +part of the Muneearpoor estate to their own, and many other estates +belonging to their weaker neighbours; and, by the plunder of +villages, and robbery on the highways, become very powerful. Dursun +Sing was superseded in the contract, in 1837, by the widow of Hadee +Allee Khan; and Hurpaul recovered possession of the Muneearpoor +estate, which he still held in the name of the <i>Lady Sogura</i>. +In 1843, she managed to get the estate transferred from the +jurisdiction of the contractor for Sultanpoor, to that of the +Hozoor Tehseel, and held it till 1845, when Maun Sing, who had +succeeded to the contract for the district, on the death of his +father, Dursun Sing, in 1844, managed through his uncle, Bukhtawar +Sing, to get the estate restored to his jurisdiction. Knowing that +his object was to absorb her estate, as he and his father had done +so many others, she went off to Lucknow to seek protection; but +Maun Sing seized upon all her nankar and seer lands, and put the +estate under the management of his own officers. The Lady Sogura, +unable to get any one to plead her cause at Court, in opposition to +the powerful influence, of Bukhtawur Sing, returned to Muneearpoor. +Maun Sing, after he had collected the greater part of the revenue +for 1846, made over the estate to Hurpaul and Seoumber Sing, who +put the lady into confinement, and plundered her of all she had +left.</p> +<p>Feeling now secure in the possession of the Muneearpoor estate, +Hurpaul and Seoumber Sing left a small guard to secure the lady, +and went off, with the rest of their forces, to seize upon the +estate of Birsingpoor, in the purgunnah of Dehra, belonging to the +widow of Mahdoo Sing, the tallookdar. She summoned to her aid +Roostum Sa and other Rajkomar landholders, friends of her late +husband. A fight ensued, in which Seoumber Sing and his brother, +Hobdar Sing were killed. Hurpaul Sing fled and returned to his fort +of Kupragow. The Lady Sogura escaped, and presented herself again +to the Court of Lucknow, under better auspices; and orders were +sent to Maun Sing, and all the military authorities, to restore her +to the possession of her estate, and seize or destroy Hurpaul Sing. +In alarm Hurpaul Sing then released the mother of the Lady Sogura, +and prepared to fly.</p> +<p>Maun Sing sent confidential persons to him to say, that he had +been ordered by the Court of Lucknow to confer upon him a dress of +honour or condolence, on the death of his two lamented brothers, +and should do so in person the next day. Hurpaul Sing was +considered one of the bravest men in Oude, but he was then sick on +his bed, and unable to move. He received the message without +suspicion, being anxious for some small interval of repose; and +willing to believe that common interests and pursuits had united +him and Maun Sing in something like bonds of friendship.</p> +<p>Maun Sing came in the afternoon, and rested under a banyan-tree, +which stood opposite the gateway of the fort. He apologized for not +entering the fort, on the ground, that it might lead to some +collision between their followers, or that his friend might not +wish any of the King's servants, who attended with the dress of +honour, to enter his fortress. Hurpaul Sing left all his followers +inside the gate, and was brought out to Maun Sing in a litter, +unable to sit up without support. The two friends embraced and +conversed together with seeming cordiality till long after sunset, +when Maun Sing, after investing his friend with the dress of +honour, took leave and mounted his horse. This was the concerted +signal for his followers to despatch his sick friend, Hurpaul. As +he cantered off, at the sound of his kettle-drum and the other +instruments of music, used by the Nazims of districts, his armed +followers, who had by degrees gathered round the tree, without +awakening any suspicion, seized the sick man, dragged him on the +ground, a distance of about thirty paces, and then put him to +death. He was first shot through the chest, and then stabbed with +spears, cut to pieces with swords, and left on the ground. They +were fired upon from the fort, while engaged in this foul murder, +but all escaped unhurt. Maun Sing had sworn by the holy Ganges, and +still more holy head of Mahadeo, that his friend should suffer no +personal hurt in this interview; and the credulous and no less +cruel and rapacious Gurgbunsies were lulled into security. The +three persons who murdered Hurpaul, were Nujeeb Khan, who has left +Mann Sing's service, Benee Sing, who still serves him, and Jeskurun +Sing, who has since died. Sadik Hoseyn and many others aided them +in dragging their victim to the place where he was murdered, but +the wounds which killed him were inflicted by the above-named +persons.</p> +<p>The family fled, the fort was seized and plundered of all that +could be found, and the estate seized and put under the management +of Government officers. Maun Sing had collected half the revenues +of 1847, when he was superseded in the contract by Wajid Allee +Khan, who re-established the Lady Sogura in the possession of all +that remained of her estate. He, at the same time, reinstated the +family of Hurpaul Sing, in the possession of their now large +estate—that is, the widow of Nihal Sing, to Seheepoor, +comprising one-half; and Ramsurroop Sing, the son of Seoumber Sing, +to Kupragow, comprising the other half.* The rent-roll of the whole +is now estimated at 1,29,000 a-year; and the <i>nankar</i>, or +recognized allowance for the holders, is 73,000, leaving the +Government demand at 56,000, of which they hardly ever pay +one-half, or one-quarter, being inveterate robbers and rebels. +Wajid Allee Khan had been commissioned, by the Durbar, to restore +the Lady Sogura to her patrimonial estate, and he brought her with +him from Lucknow for the purpose; but he soon after made over a +part of the estate to his friend, Bakir Allee, of Esoulee, and +another part to Ramsurroop, the son of Seoumber Sing, for a +suitable consideration, and left only one-half to the Lady Sogura. +This she at first refused to take, but he promised to restore the +whole the next year, when he saw she was resolved to return again +to her friends at Lucknow, and she consented to take the offered +half on condition of a large remission of the Government demand +upon it. When the season of collections came, however, he would +make no remission for the half he had permitted her to retain, or +give her any share in the perquisites of the half he had made over +to others; nor would he give her credit for any portion of the +collections, which had been anticipated by Maun Sing. He made her +pledge the whole rents of her estate to Hoseyn Allee Khan, the +commandant of a squadron of cavalry, on detached duty, under him. +Unable to conduct the management under all these outrages and +exactions, she begged to have the estate put under Government +officers. Her friends at Court got an order issued for her being +restored to the possession of the whole estate, having credit for +the whole amount collected by Maun Sing, and a remission in the +revenue equal to all that Government allowed to the proprietors of +such estates.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* In May 1851, the Nazim besieged Ramsurroop, in Kupragow, with +a very large force, including Bunbury's and Magness's Regiments and +Artillery. After the loss of many lives from fighting, and more +from cholera, on both sides, Ramsurroop marched out with all his +garrison and guns at night, and passed, unmolested, through that +part of the line where the non-fighting corps were posted.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Wajid Allee Khan disregarded the order, and made over or sold +Naraenpoor and other villages belonging to the estate, to Rughbur +Sing, the atrocious brother of Maun Sing, who sent his myrmidons to +take possession. They killed the Lady Sogura's two agents in the +management, plundered her of all she had of property, and all the +rents which she had up to that time collected, for payment to +Government; and took possession of Naraenpoor and the other +villages, sold to their master by Wajid Allee. Wajid Allee soon +after came with a large force, seized the lady and carried her off +to his camp, put all her officers and attendants into confinement, +and refused all access to her. When she became ill, and appeared +likely to sink under the treatment she received, he made her enter +into written engagements to pay to the troops, in liquidation of +their arrears of pay, all that he pretended that she owed to the +State. He prevailed upon Ghuffoor Beg, who commanded the artillery, +to take these her pledges, and give him, Wajid Allee, corresponding +receipts for the amount, for transmission to the Treasury; and then +made her over a prisoner to him. Ghuffoor Beg took possession of +the lady and the estate, kept her in close confinement, and +employed his artillery-men in making the collections in their own +way, by appropriating all the harvests to themselves.</p> +<p>Wajid Allee was superseded in October 1849, by Aga Allee, who, +on entering on his charge, directed that martial-law should cease +in Muneearpoor; but Ghuffoor Beg and his artillery-men were too +strong for the governor, and refused to give up the possession of +so nice an estate. When I approached the estate in my tour, +Ghuffoor Beg took the lady off to Chundoly, where she was treated +with all manner of indignity and cruelty by the artillery. The +estate was going to utter ruin under their ignorant and reckless +management, and the Nazim, Aga Allee, prayed me to interpose and +save it, and protect the poor Lady Sogura. I represented the +hardship of the case to the Durbar, but with little hope of any +success, under the present government, who say, that if the troops +are not allowed to pay themselves in this way, they shall have to +pay them all the arrears for which the estate is pledged, not one +rupee of which is reduced by the collections they make. If they +were to hold the estate for twenty years, they would not allow it +to appear that any portion of the arrears had been paid off. The +estate is a noble one, and, in spite of all the usurpations and +disorders from which it has lately suffered, was capable last year +of yielding to Government a revenue of fifty thousand rupees +a-year, after providing liberally for all the requirements of the +poor Lady Sogura and her family, or a rent-roll of one hundred +thousand rupees a-year.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 19, 1849.—Shahgunge, distance twelve +miles. This town is surrounded by a mud wall, forty feet thick, and +a ditch three miles round, built thirty years ago, and now much out +of repair. It belongs to the family of Rajah Bukhtawar Sing. The +wall, thirty feet high, was built of the mud taken from the ditch, +in which there is now some six or seven feet of water. The wall has +twenty-four bastions for guns, but there is no platform, or road +for guns, round it on the inside. A number of respectable merchants +and tradesmen reside in this town, where they are better protected +than in any other town in Oude. It contains a population of between +twenty and thirty thousand persons. They put thatch over the mud +walls during the rains to preserve them. The fortifications and +dwelling-houses together are said to have cost the family above ten +lacs of rupees. There are some fourteen old guns in the fort. Though +it would be difficult to shell a garrison out of a fort of this +extent, it would not be difficult to take it. No garrison, +sufficient to defend all parts of so extended a wall, could be +maintained by the holder; and it would be easy to fill the ditch +and scale the walls. Besides, the family is so very unpopular among +the military classes around, whose lands they have seized upon, +that thousands would come to the aid of any government force +brought to crush them, and overwhelm the garrison. They keep their +position only by the purchase of Court favour, and have the respect +and attachment of only the better sort of cultivators, who are not +of the military classes, and could be of little use to them in a +collision with their sovereign. The family by which it is held has +long been very influential at Court, where it has been represented +by Bukhtawar Sing, whose brother, Dursun Sing, was the most +powerful subject that Oude has had since the time of Almas Allee +Khan. They live, however, in the midst of hundreds of sturdy +Rajpoots, whom they have deprived of their lands, and who would, as +I have said, rise against them were they to be at any time opposed +to the Government The country over which we have passed this +morning is well studded with groves, and well cultivated; and the +peasantry seemed contented and prosperous. The greater part of the +road lay through the lands acquired, as already described, by this +family. Though they have acquired the property in the land by abuse +of authority, collusion and violence, from its rightful owners, +they keep their faith with the cultivators, effectually protect +them from thieves, robbers, the violence of their neighbours, and, +above all, from the ravages of the King's troops; and they +encourage the settlement of the better or more skilful and +industrious classes of cultivators in their villages, such as +Kachies, Koormies, and Lodhies. They came out from numerous +villages, and in considerable bodies, to salute me, and expressed +themselves well satisfied with their condition, and the security +they enjoyed under their present landholders. We came through the +village of Puleea, and Rajah Bukhtawar Sing seemed to have great +pleasure in showing me the house in which he was born, seventy-five +years ago, under a fine tamarind-tree that is still in vigour. The +history of this family is that of many others in the Oude +territory.</p> +<p>The father of Bukhtawar Sing, Porunder, was the son of Mungul, a +Brahmin, who resided in Bhojpoor, on the right bank of the Ganges, +a little below Buxar. The son, Porunder, was united in marriage to +the daughter of Sudhae Misser, a respectable Brahmin, who resided +in Puleea, and held a share of the lands. He persuaded his +son-in-law to take up his residence in the same village. Prouder +had five sons born to him in this village:— 1. Rajah Bukhtawar +Sing, my Quartermaster-General. 2. Pursun Sing, died without issue. +3. Rajah Dursun Sing, died 1844, leaving three sons. 4. Incha Sing +lives, and has two sons. 5. Davey Sing died, leaving two sons.</p> +<p>The eldest son was a trooper in the Honourable Company's 8th +Regiment of Light Cavalry; and while still a very young man, and +home on furlough, he attracted the attention of Saadnt Allee Khan, +the sovereign of Oude, whom he attended on a sporting excursion. He +was very tall, and exceedingly handsome; and, on one occasion, +saved his sovereign's life from the sword of an assassin. He became +one of Saadut Alee's favourite orderlies, and rose to the command +of a squadron. In a fine picture of Saadut Allee and his Court on +the occasion of a Durbar, at which the Resident, Colonel Scott, and +his suite were present, Bukhtawar Sing is represented in the dress +he wore as an orderly cavalry officer. This picture is still +preserved at Lucknow. His brothers, Dursun, Incha, and Davey Sing +became, one after the other, orderlies in the same manner, under +the influence of Bukhtawar Sing, during the reign of Saadnt Allee, +and his son, Ghazee-od Deen. Dursan Sing got the command of a +regiment of Nujeebs in 1814, and Incha Sing and Davey Sing rose in +favour and rank, both civil and military.</p> +<p>Bhudursa and five other villages were held in proprietary right +by the members of a family of Syuds. They enjoyed Bhudursa rent +free, and still hold it; but the other five villages (Kyl, Mahdono, +Tindooa, Teroo, and Pursun) were bestowed, in jagheer, upon another +Syud, a Court favourite, Khoda Buksh, in 1814. He fell into +disfavour in 1816, and all these and other villages were let, in +1817, to Dursun Sing, in farm, at 60,000 rupees a-year. The +bestowal of an estate in jagheer, or farm, ought not to interfere +with the rights of the proprietors of the lands comprised in it, as +the sovereign transfers merely his own territorial rights, not +theirs; but Dursun Sing, before the year 1820, had, by +rack-renting, lending on mortgage, and other fraudulent or violent +means, deprived all the Syud proprietors of their lands in the +other five villages. They were, however, still left in possession +of Bhudursa. He pursued the same system, as far as possible, in the +other districts, which were, from time to time, placed under him, +as contractor for the revenue. He held the contract for Sultanpoor +and other districts, altogether yielding fifty-nine lacs of rupees +a-year, in 1827; and it was then that he first bethought himself of +securing his family permanently in the possession of the lands he +had seized, or might seize upon, by <i>bynamahs</i>, or deeds of +sale, from the old proprietors.</p> +<p>He imposed upon the lands he coveted, rates which he knew they +could never pay; took all the property of the proprietors for rent, +or for the wages of the mounted and foot soldiers, whom he placed +over them, or quartered upon their villages, to enforce his +demands; seized any neighbouring banker or capitalist whom he could +lay hold of, and by confinement and harsh treatment, made him stand +security for the suffering proprietors, for sums they never owed; +and when these proprietors were made to appear to be irretrievably +involved in debt to the State and to individuals, and had no hope +of release from prison by any other means, they consented to sign +the <i>bynamahs</i>, or sale deeds for lands, which their families +had possessed for centuries. Those of the capitalists who had no +friends at Court were made to pay the money, for which they had +been forced to pledge themselves; and those who had such friends, +got the sums which they had engaged to pay, represented as +irrecoverable balances due by proprietors, and struck off. The +proprietors themselves, plundered of all they had in the world, and +without any hope of redress, left the country, or took service +under our Government, or that of Oude, or descended to the rank of +day-labourers or cultivators in other estates.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Estates held by the family under <i>bynamahs</i> or sale +deeds:</p> +<pre> + 1. Puchumrath . . . . . . . . . 1,13,000 + 2. Howelee . . . . . . . . . . 45,000 + 3. Mogulsee, including Hindoo Sing's + estate of Shapoor, obtained by + fraud and violence . . . . . . 28,000 + 4. Bhurteepoor and Laltapoor . . . . 30,000 + 5. Rudowlee . . . . . . . . . 12,000 + Turolee in Huldeemow. . . . . . 17,000 + 6. Bahraetch in Sagonputtee . . . . 4,000 + 7. Gosaengunge . . . . . . . . 3,000 + ________ + Total Company's Rupees . . . 2,52,000 + <b>________</b> +</pre> +<p>Dursun Sing's contracts, for the land revenue, of districts, +amounted from 1827 to 1830, to 59,00,000 rupees a year. From 1830 +to 1836, to 58,00,000. In 1836 to 46,100,000. In 1837 to 47,00,000. +He continued to hold the whole or greater part of these districts +up to September 1843.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>There were four brothers, the sons of a Canoongo, of Fyzabad; +first, Birj Lal; second, Lala; third, Humeer Sing, a corporal in +one of our Regiments of Native Infantry; fourth, Hunooman Persaud; +fifth, Gunga Persaud. The family held-eight villages, in hereditary +right, with a rent-roll of 6,000, of which they paid 3,000 to +Government, and took 3,000 for themselves. While Dursun Sing was +dying, in 1844, his eldest son, Ramadeen, tried to get possession +of this estate. He seized and confined, in the usual way, Gunga +Persaud, the Canoongo, and kept him with harsh treatment, for 1844; +and when his brother the corporal complained, in the usual way, +through the Resident, Gunga Persaud was released, and he attended +the Residents Court, as his brother's attorney, till 1847, when the +family recovered possession of the estate. But in 1846, when Dursun +Sing's son saw that the case was going against him, he made their +local agent, Davey Persaud, plunder all the eight villages of all +the stock in cattle, grain, &c., that they contained, and all +the people, of whatever property they possessed.</p> +<p>Dursun Sing's family now pay to the Oude Government, a revenue +of 1,88,000 rupees a-year, for their <i>bynamah</i> estates, which +were acquired by them in the manner described. The rent-roll, +recognized in the Exchequer, is 2,56,000; and the <i>nankar</i> +68,000; but the real rent-roll is much greater-perhaps double. The +village of Tendooa, in Mehdona, belonged, in hereditary right, to +Soorujbulee Sing and Rugonauth Sing, Rajpoots, whom the family of +Dursun Sing wished to coerce, in the usual mode, into signing a +<i>bynamah</i>, or deed of sale. They refused, and some of the +family are said to have been in confinement in consequence, since +the year A.D. 1844. When Gunga Persaud, the Canoongo, was confined +by Dursun Sing's family, on account of his own estate, they +extorted from him, on the pretence of his being security for the +punctual payment of what might be demanded from these two men, +Soorujbulee' and Rugonauth, the sum of 4,000 rupees. One of the +eight villages, held by the Canoongoes, named Aboo Surae, Ghalib +Jung, alias Dursun Sing, another Court favourite, is now trying to +take by violence, for himself, following the practice of his +namesake. He has possessed himself of many by the same means, +keeping the troops he commands upon them at exercise and +target-practice, till he drives both cultivators and proprietors +out, or shoots them.</p> +<p>This Rajah, Ghalib Jung, is now a great favourite with the +minister, and no man manifests a stronger disposition to make his +influence subservient to his own interest and that of his family. +By fraud and violence, and collusion with the officers who have +charge of districts and require his aid at Court, he seizes upon +the best lands of his weaker neighbours, in the same manner as his +namesake, Rajah Dursun Sing, used to do; and of the money which he +receives for contracts of various kinds, he appropriates by far the +greater part to himself. He is often sent out, with a considerable +force, to adjust disputes between landholders and local +authorities, and he decides in favour of the party most able and +willing to pay, under the assurance that, if called to account, he +will be able to clear himself, by giving a share of what he gets to +those who send and support him. He commands a large body of mounted +and foot police, and he is often ordered to go and send detachments +in pursuit of daring offenders, particularly those who have given +offence to the British authorities. In such cases he generally +succeeds in arresting and bringing in some of the offenders; but he +as often seizes the landholders and others who may have given them +shelter, intentionally or otherwise; and, after extorting from them +as much as they can be made to pay, lets them go. He is not, of +course, very particular as to the quantity or quality of the +evidence forthcoming to prove that a person able to pay has +intentionally screened the offenders from justice.</p> +<p>Rajah Ghalib Jung was the superintendent of the City Police, and +commandant of a Brigade of Infantry, and a prime favourite of the +King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, for two years, up to November 1835. He +had many other employments, was always in attendance upon the King, +and was much liked by him, because he saw his orders carried into +immediate effect, without any regard to the rank or sufferings of +the persons whom they were to affect. For these two years he was +one of the most intimate companions of his sovereign, in his +festivities and most private debaucheries. He became cordially +detested throughout the city for his reckless severity, and still +more throughout the Court, for the fearless manner in which he +spoke to the King of the malversation and peculations of the +minister and all the Court favourites who were not in his interest. +He thwarted the imbecile old minister, Roshun-od Dowlah, in +everything; and never lost an opportunity of turning him into +ridicule, and showing his contempt for him.</p> +<p>The King had become very fond of a smart young lad, by name +Duljeet, who had been brought up from his infancy by the minister, +but now served the King as his most confidential personal +attendant. He was paid handsomely by the minister for all the +services he rendered him, and deeply interested in keeping him in +power and unfettered, and he watched eagerly for an opportunity to +remove the man who thwarted him. <i>Mucka</i>, the King's head +tailor, was equally anxious, for his own interests, to get rid of +the favourite, and so was <i>Gunga Khowas</i>, a boatman, another +personal servant and favourite of the King. These three men soon +interested in their cause some of the most influential ladies of +the palace, and all sought with avidity the opportunity to effect +their object. Ghalib Jung was the person, or one of the persons, +through whom the King invited females, noted for either their +beauty or their accomplishments, and he was told to bring a +celebrated dancing-girl, named Mogaree. She did not appear, and the +King became impatient, and at last asked Dhuneea Mehree the reason. +She had often been employed in a similar office, and was jealous of +Ghalib Jung's rivalry. She told his Majesty, that he had obstructed +his pleasures on this as on many other occasions, and taken the +lady into his own keeping. All the other favourites told him the +same thing, and it is generally believed that the charge was true; +indeed the girl herself afterwards confessed it. The King, however, +"bided his time," in the hope of finding some other ground of +revenging himself upon the favourite, without the necessity of +making him appear in public as his rival.</p> +<p>On the 7th of October, 1835, the King was conversing with Ghalib +Jung, in one of his private apartments, on affairs of state. +Several crowns stood on the table for the King's inspection. They +had been prepared under Mucka, the tailor's, inspection, from +materials purchased by him. He always charged the King ten times +the price of the articles which he was ordered to provide, and +Ghalib Jung thought the occasion favourable to expose his +misconduct to his master. He took up one of the crowns, put his +left hand into it, and, turning it round on his finger, pointed out +the flimsy nature of the materials with which it had been made. His +left finger slipped through the silk on the crown, whether +accidentally, or designedly, to prove the flimsy nature of the silk +and exasperate the King, is not known; but on seeing the finger +pass through the crown, his Majesty left the room without saying a +word. Soon after several attendants came in, surrounded Ghalib +Jung, and commanded him to remain till further orders. In this +state they remained for about two hours, when other attendants came +in, struck off his turban on the floor, and had it kicked out of +the room by sweepers.</p> +<p>They then dragged out Ghalib Jung, and thrust him into prison. +The next day heavy iron fetters were put upon his legs, and upon +those of three of his principal followers, who were imprisoned +along with him; and his mother, father, wife, and daughters were +made prisoners in their own houses; and all the property of the +family that could be found was confiscated. On the third day, while +still in irons, Ghalib Jung and his three followers were tied up +and flogged severely, to make them point out any hidden treasure +that they might have. That night the King got drunk, and, before +many persons, ordered the minister to have Ghalib Jung's right hand +and nose cut off forthwith. The minister, who prayed forgiveness +and forbearance, was abused and again commanded, but again +entreated his Majesty to pause, and prayed for a private audience. +It was granted, and the minister told his Majesty that the British +Government would probably interpose if the order were carried into +effect.</p> +<p>The King then retired to rest, but the next morning had Ghalib +Jung and his three followers again tied up and flogged. Six or +seven days after, all Ghalib Jung's attendants were taken from him, +and no person was permitted to enter the room where he lay in +irons, and he could in consequence get neither food nor drink of +any kind. On the 19th of October, the King ordered all the females +of Ghalib Jung's family to be brought on foot from their houses to +the palace by force, and publicly declared that they should all on +the next day have their hair shaved off, be stripped naked, and in +that state turned out into the street. After giving these orders, +the King went to bed, and the females were all brought, as ordered, +to the palace; but the sympathies of the King's own servants were +excited by the sufferings of these unoffending females, and they +disobeyed the order for their being made to walk on foot through +the streets, and brought them in covered litters.</p> +<p>The Resident, apprehending that these poor females might be +further disgraced, and Ghalib Jung starved to death, determined to +interpose, and demanded an interview, while the King was still in +bed. The King was sorely vexed, and sent the minister to the +Resident to request that he would not give himself the trouble to +come, if his object was to relieve Ghalib Jung's family, as he +would forthwith order the females to be taken to their homes. The +minister had not been to the Resident for ten or twelve days, or +from the first or second day after the fall of the favourite. He +prayed that the Resident would not speak harshly to the King on the +subject of the treatment Ghalib Jung and his family had received, +lest he, the minister, should himself suffer. The Resident insisted +upon an audience. He found the King sullen and doggedly silent. The +minister was present, and spoke for his master. He denied, what was +known to be true, that the prisoner had been kept for two days and +two nights' without food or drink; but admitted that he had been +tied up and flogged severely, and that the females of his family +were still there, but he promised to send them back. He said that +it was necessary to confiscate the property of the prisoner, since +he owed large sums to the State. The females were all sent back to +their homes, and Ghalib Jung was permitted, to have four of his own +servants in attendance upon him.</p> +<p>The Resident reported all these things to Government, who +entirely approved of his proceedings; and desired that he would +tell his Majesty that such savage and atrocious proceedings would +ruin his reputation, and, if persisted in, bring on consequences +most injurious to himself. When the Resident, at the audience above +described, remonstrated with the King for not calling upon his +officers periodically to render their accounts, instead of letting +them run on for indefinite periods, and then confining them and +confiscating their property, he replied—"What you state is +most true, and you may be assured that I will in future make every +one account to me every three months for the money he has received, +and never again show favour to any one."</p> +<p>Rajah Dursun Sing, the great revenue contractor, and at that +time the most powerful of the King's subjects beyond the precincts +of the Court, had, like the minister himself, been often thwarted +by Ghalib Jung when in power; and, after the interposition of the +Resident, he applied to have him put into his power. The King and +minister were pleased at the thought of making their victim suffer +beyond the immediate supervision of a vigilant Resident, and the +minister made him over to the Rajah for a <i>consideration</i>, it +is said, of three lacs of rupees; and at the same time assured the +Resident that this was the only safe way to rescue him from the +further vengeance of an exasperated King; that Rajah Dursun Sing +was a friend of his, and would provide him and his family and +attendants with ample accommodation and comfort. The Rajah had him +put into an iron cage, and sent to his fort at Shahgunge, where, +report says, he had snakes and scorpions put into the cage to +torment and destroy him, but that Ghalib Jung had "a charmed life," +and escaped their poison. The object is said to have been to +torment and destroy him without leaving upon his body any marks of +violence.</p> +<p>On the death of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, Ghalib Jung was released +from confinement, on the payment, it is said, of four lacs of +rupees, in Government securities, and a promise of three lacs more +if restored to office. He went to reside at Cawnpore, in British +territory; but, on the dismissal of the minister, Roshun-od Dowlah, +three months after, and the appointment of Hakeem Mehndee to his +place, Ghalib Jung was restored to his place. The promise of the +three lacs was communicated to the new King, Mahommed Allee Shah, +by Roshun-od Dowlah himself, while in confinement; and it is said +that Ghalib Jung paid one-half, or one hundred and fifty +thousand.</p> +<p>Ghalib Jung had, in many other ways, abused the privileges of +intimate companionship which he enjoyed with his master, as better +servants under better and more guarded masters will do; and the +King, having discovered this, had for some time resolved to take +advantage of the first fair occasion to discharge him. The people +of Lucknow liked their King, with all his faults—and they +were many—and hated the favourite as much for the injury +which he did to his master's reputation, as for the insults and +injuries inflicted by him on themselves. But when the unoffending +females of the favourite were dragged from their privacy to the +palace, to be disgraced, the feelings of the whole city were +shocked, and expressed in tones which alarmed the minister as much +as the Resident's interposition alarmed the King. They had no +sympathy for the fallen favourite, but a very deep one for the +ladies and children of his family, who could have no share in his +guilt, whatever it might be.</p> +<p>Ghalib Jung was raised, from a very humble grade, by Ghazee-od +Deen Hyder, and about the year 1825 he had become as great a +favourite with him as he afterwards became with his son, Nuseer-od +Deen Hyder, and he abused his master's favour in the same manner. +The minister, Aga Meer, finding his interference and vulgar +insolence intolerable, took advantage one day of the King's anger +against him, had him degraded, seized, and sent off forthwith to +one of his creatures, Taj-od Deen Hoseyn, then in charge of the +Sultanpoor district, where he was soon reduced almost to death's +door by harsh treatment and want of food, and made to disgorge all +the wealth he had accumulated. Four years after the death of +Ghazee-od Deen and the accession of his son, Nuseer-od Deen, Ghalib +Jung was, in the year 1831, again appointed to a place of trust at +Court by the minister, Hakeem Mehndee, who managed to keep him in +order during the two years that he held the reins of +government.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Ghalib Jung died on the 1st of May 1851, at Lucknow, aged +about 80 years.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>December</i> 20, 1849.—Saleepoor, ten miles. The +country, on both sides of the road, well studded with trees, +hamlets, and villages, and well cultivated and peopled. The +landholders and peasantry seem all happy and secure under their +present masters, the brother and son of the late Dursun Sing. They +are protected by them from thieves and robbers, the attacks of +refractory barons, and, above all, from the ravages of the King's +troops; and the whole face of the country, at this season, is like +that of a rich garden. The whole is under cultivation, and covered +with the greatest possible variety of crops. The people showed us, +as we passed, six kinds of sugar-cane, and told us that they had +many more, one soil agreeing best with one kind, another with +another. The main fault in the cultivation of sugar-cane is here, +as in every other part of India that I have seen, the want of room +and the disregard of cleanliness. They crowd the cane too much, and +never remove the decayed leaves, and sufficient air is never +admitted.</p> +<p>Bukhtawar Sing has always been considered as the head of the +family to whom Shahgunge belongs, but he has always remained at +Court, and left the local management of the estate and the +government of the districts, placed under their charge in contract +or in trust, to his brothers and nephews. Bukhtawar Sing has no +child of his own, but he has adopted Maun Sing, the youngest son of +his brother, Dursun Sing, and he leaves all local duties and +responsibilities to him. He is a small, slight man, but shrewd, +active, and energetic, and as unscrupulous as a man can be. Indeed +old Bukhtawar Sing himself is the only member of the family that +was ever troubled with scruples of any kind whatever; for he is the +only one whose boyhood was not passed in the society of men in the +every-day habit of committing with impunity all kinds of cruelties, +atrocities, and outrages. There is, perhaps, no school in the world +better adapted for training thoroughbred ruffians (men without any +scruple of conscience, sense of honour, or feeling of humanity) +than the camp of a revenue-contractor in Oude. It has been the same +for the last thirty years that I have known it, and must continue +to be the same as long as <i>we maintain, in absolute sway over the +people, a sovereign who never bestows a thought upon them, has no +feeling in common with them, and can never be persuaded that his +high office imposes upon him the obligation to labour to promote +their good, or even to protect them against the outrage and +oppression of his own soldiers and civil officers</i>. All Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing's brothers and nephews were bred up in such camps, +and are thorough-bred ruffians.</p> +<p>They have got the lands which they hold by much fraud and +violence no doubt, but they have done much good to them. They have +invited and established in comfort great numbers of the best +classes of cultivators from other districts, in which they had +ceased to feel secure, and they have protected and encouraged those +whom they found on the land. To establish a new cultivator of the +better class, they require to give him about twenty-five rupees for +a pair of bullocks; for subsistence for himself and family till his +crops ripen, thirty-six more, for a house, wells, &c., thirty +more, or about ninety rupees, which he pays back with or without +interest by degrees. Every village and hamlet is now surrounded by +fine garden cultivation, conducted by the cultivators of the +gardener caste, whom the family has thus established.</p> +<p>The greatest benefit conferred upon the lands which they hold +has been in the suppression of the fearful contests which used to +be perpetual between the small proprietors of the military classes, +among whom the lands had become minutely subdivided by the law of +inheritance, about boundaries and rights to water for irrigation. +Many persons used to be killed every year in these contests, and +their widows and orphans had to be maintained by the survivors. Now +no such dispute leads to any serious conflict. They are all settled +at once by arbitrators, who are guided in their decisions by the +accounts of the Putwaries of villages and Canoongoes of districts. +These men have the detailed accounts of every tenement for the last +hundred years; and, with their assistance, village traditions, and +the advice of their elders, all such boundary disputes and +misunderstandings about rights to water are quickly and amicably +adjusted; and the landlords are strong, and able to enforce +whatever decision is pronounced. They are wealthy, and pay the +Government demand punctually, and have influence at Court to +prevent any attempt at oppression on the part of Government +officers on themselves or their tenants. Not a thief or a robber +can live or depredate among their tenants. The hamlets are, in +consequence, numerous and peopled by peasantry, who seem to live +without fear. They adhere strictly to the terms of their +engagements with their tenants of all grades; and their tenants all +pay their rents punctually, unless calamities of season deprive +them of the means, when due consideration is made by landlords, who +live among them, and know what they suffer and require.</p> +<p>The climate must be good, for the people are strong and +well-made, and without any appearance of disease. Hardly a beggar +of any kind is to be seen along the road. The residence of +religious mendicants seems to be especially discouraged, and we see +no others. It is very pleasing to pass over such lands after going +through such districts as Bahraetch and Gonda, where the signs of +the effects of bad air and water upon men, women, and children are +so sad and numerous; and those of the abuse of power and the +neglect of duty on the part of the Government and its officers are +still more so.</p> +<p>Last evening I sent for the two men above named, who had been +confined for six or seven years, and were said to have been so +because they would not sign the <i>bynamahs</i> required from them +by Mann Sing: their names are Soorujbulee Sing and Rugonath Sing. +They came with the King's wakeel, accompanied by their cousin, +Hunooman Sing, on whose charge they were declared to have been +confined. I found that the village of Tendooa had been held by +their family, in proprietary right, for many generations, and that +they were Chouhan Rajpoots by caste. When Dursun Sing was securing +to himself the lands of the district, those of Tendooa were held in +three equal shares by Soorujbulee and his brothers, Narind and +Rugonath; Hunooman Sing, their cousin; and Seoruttun, their +cousin.</p> +<p>Maun Sing took advantage of a desperate quarrel between them, +and secured Soorujbulee and Rugonath. Narind escaped and joined a +refractory tallookdar, and Seoruttun and Hunooman did the same. +Hunooman Sing was, however, invited back, and intrusted, by Maun +Sing, with the management of the whole estate, on favourable terms. +In revenge for his giving in to the terms of Maun Sing, and serving +him, the absconded co-sharers attacked his house several times, +killed three of his brothers, and many other persons of his family, +and robbed him of almost all he had. This was four years ago. He +complained, and the two brothers were kept more strictly confined +than ever, to save him and the village. Hunooman Sing looked upon +the two prisoners as the murderers of his brothers, though they +were in confinement when they were killed, and had been so for more +than two years, and was very violent against them in my presence. +They were no less violent against him, as the cause of their +continued confinement They protested to me, that they had no +communication whatever with Seoruttun or Narind Sing, but thought +it very likely, that they really did lead the gangs in the attacks +upon the village, to recover their rights. They offered to give +security for their future good behaviour if released; but declared, +that they would rather die than consent to sign a <i>bynamah</i>, +or deed of sale, or any relinquishment whatever of their hereditary +rights as landholders.</p> +<p>Bukhtawar and Maun Sing said,—"That the people of the +village would not be safe, for a moment, if these two brothers were +released, which they would be, on the first occasion of +thanksgiving, if sent to Lucknow; that people who ventured to seize +a thief or robber in Oude must keep him, if they wished to save +themselves from his future depredations, as the Government +authorities would have nothing to do with them."</p> +<p>I ordered the King's wakeel to take these two brothers to the +Chuckladar, and request him to see them released on their +furnishing sufficient security for their future good behaviour, +which they promised to produce.* They were all fine-looking men, +with limbs that would do honour to any climate in the world. These +are the families from which our native regiments are recruited; and +hardly a young recruit offers himself for enlistment, on whose body +marks will not be found of wounds received in these contests, +between landlords themselves, and between them and the officers and +troops of the sovereign. I have never seen enmity more strong and +deadly than that exhibited by contending co-sharers and landholders +of all kinds in Oude. The Rajah of Bulrampoor mentioned a curious +instance of this spirit in a village, now called the <i>Kolowar</i> +village, in the Gonda district, held in copartnership by a family +of the Buchulgotee tribe of Rajpoots. One of them said he should +plant sugar-cane in one of his fields. All consented to this. But +when he pointed out the place where he should have his mill, the +community became divided. A contest ensued, in which all the +able-bodied men were killed, though not single cane had been +planted. The widows and children survived, and still hold the +village, but have been so subdued by poverty that they are the +quietest village community in the district. The village from that +time has gone by the name of <i>Kolowar</i> village, from Koloo, +the sugar-mill, though no sugar-mill was ever worked in the +village, he believed. He says, the villagers cherish the +recollection of this <i>fight</i>; and get very angry when their +neighbours <i>twit</i> them with the folly of it.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* They were released, and have been ever since at large on +security. One of them visited me in April 1851, and said, that as a +point of honour, they should abstain from joining in the fight for +their rights, but felt it very hard to be bound to do so.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In our own districts in Upper India, they often kill each other +in such contests; but more frequently ruin each other in litigation +in our Civil Courts, to the benefit of the native attorneys and +law-officers, who fatten on the misery they create or produce. In +Oude they always decide such questions by recourse to arms, and the +loss of life is no doubt fearful. Still the people generally, or a +great part of them, would prefer to reside in Oude, under all the +risks to which these contests expose them, than in our own +districts, under the evils the people are exposed to from the +uncertainties of our law, the multiplicity and formality of our +Courts, the pride and negligence of those who preside over them, +and the corruption and insolence of those who must be employed to +prosecute or defend a cause in them, and enforce the fulfilment of +a decree when passed.</p> +<p>The members of the landed aristocracy of Oude always speak with +respect of the administration in our territories, but generally end +with remarking on the cost and uncertainty of the law in civil +cases, and the gradual decay, under its operation, of all the +ancient families. A less and less proportion of the annual produce +of their lands is left to them in our periodical settlements of the +land revenue, while family pride makes them expend the same sums in +the marriage of their children, in religious and other festivals, +personal servants, and hereditary retainers. They fall into +balance, incur heavy debts, and estate after estate is put up to +auction, and the proprietors are reduced to poverty. They say, that +four times more of these families have gone to decay in the half of +the territory made over to us in 1801, than in the half reserved by +the Oude sovereign; and this is, I fear, true. They named the +families—I cannot remember them.</p> +<p>In Oude, the law of primogeniture prevails among all the +tallookdars, or principal landholders; and, to a certain extent, +among the middle class of landholders, of the Rajpoot or any other +military class. If one co-sharer of this class has several sons, +his eldest often inherits all the share he leaves, with all the +obligations incident upon it, of maintaining the rest of the +family.</p> +<p>The brothers of Soorujbulee, above named, do not pretend to have +any right of inheritance in the share of the lands he holds; but +they have a prescriptive right to support from him, for themselves +and families, when they require it. This rule of primogeniture is, +however, often broken through during the lifetime of the father, +who, having more of natural affection than family pride, divides +the lands between his sons. After his death they submit to this +division, and take their respective shares, to descend to their +children, by the law of primogeniture, or be again subdivided as +may seem to them best; or they fight it out among themselves, till +the strongest gets all. Among landholders of the smallest class, +whether Hindoos or Mahommedans, the lands are subdivided according +to the ordinary law of inheritance.</p> +<p>Our army and other public establishments form a great +"safety-valve" for Oude, and save it from a vast deal of fighting +for shares in land, and the disorders that always attend it. +Younger brothers enlist in our regiments, or find employment in our +civil establishments, and leave their wives and children under the +protection of the elder brother, who manages the family estate for +the common good. They send the greater part of their pay to him for +their subsistence, and feel assured that he will see that they are +provided for, should they lose their lives in our service. From the +single district of Byswara in Oude, sixteen thousand men were, it +is said, found to be so serving in our army and other +establishments; and from Bunoda, which adjoins it to the east, +fifteen thousand, on an inquiry ordered to be made by Ghazee-od +Deen Hyder some twenty-five years ago.</p> +<p>The family of Dursun Sing, like good landholders in all parts of +Oude, assigned small patches of land to substantial cultivators, +merchants, shopkeepers, and others, whom it is useful to retain in +their estates, for the purpose of planting small groves of mango +and other trees, as local ties. They prepare the well and plant the +trees, and then make over the land to a gardener or other good +cultivator, to be tilled for his own profit, on condition that he +water the trees, and take care to preserve them from frost during +the cold season, and from rats, white ants, and other enemies; and +form terraces round them, where the water lies much on the surface +during the rains, so that it may not reach and injure the bark. The +land yields crops till the trees grow large and cover it with their +shade, by which time they are independent of irrigation, and begin +to bear fruit. The crops do not thrive under the shade of the +trees, and the lands they cover cease to be of any value for +tillage. The stems and foliage of the trees, no doubt, deprive the +crops of the moisture, carbonic gas and ammonia, they require from +the atmosphere. They are, generally, watered from six to ten years. +These groves form a valuable local tie for the cultivators and +other useful tenants. No man dare to molest them or their +descendants, in the possession of their well and grove, without +incurring, at least, the odium of society; and, according to their +notion, the anger of their gods.</p> +<p>The cultivators always point out to them, in asserting their +rights to the lands they hold; and reside and cultivate in the +village, under circumstances that would drive them away, had they +no such ties to retain them. They feel a-great pride in them; and +all good landlords feel the same in having their villages filled +with tenants who have such ties.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 21, 1849.—Bhurteepoor, ten miles, almost +all the way through the estate of Maun Sing. No lands could be +better cultivated than they are all the way, or better studded with +groves and beautiful single trees. The villages and hamlets along +the road are numerous, and filled with cultivators of the gardener +and other good classes, who seem happy and contented. The season +has been favourable, and the crops are all fine, and of great +variety. Sugar-cane abounds, but no mills are, as yet, at work. We +passed through, and by three or four villages, that have been +lately taken from Maun Sing, and made over to farmers by the local +authorities, under instructions from Court; but they are not so +well cultivated, as those which he retains. The cultivators and +inhabitants generally do not appear to enjoy the same protection or +security in the engagements they make. The soil is everywhere good, +the water near the surface, and the climate excellent. The soil is +here called doomuteea, and adapted to all kinds of tillage.</p> +<p>I should mention, with regard to the subdivision of landed +property, that the Rajahs and tallookdars, among whom the law of +primogeniture prevails, consider their estates as principalities, +or <i>reeasuts</i>. When any Rajah, or tallookdar, during his +lifetime, assigns portions of the land to his sons, brothers, or +other members of the family, they are separated from the +<i>reeasut</i>, or principality, and are subdivided as they descend +from generation to generation, by the ordinary Hindoo or Mahommedan +law of inheritance. This is the case with portions of the estate of +the Rajah of Korwar, in the Sultanpoor district, one of the oldest +Hindoo principalities in Oude, which are now held by his cousins, +nephews, &c., near this place, Bhurteepoor.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Sunkur Sing, of Korwar, had four sons: first, Dooneeaput died +without issue; second, Sookraj Sing, whose grandson, Madhoo +Persaud, is now the Rajah; third, Bureear Sing, who got from his +brother lands yielding forty thousand rupees a-year out of the +principality. They are now held by his son, Jydut; fourth, Znbar +Sing, who got from his brother lands yielding nineteen thousand +rupees a-year, which are now held by his son, Moheser Persaud. +Sunkir Sing was the second brother, but his elder brother died +without issue.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Dooneeaput succeeded to the <i>reeasut</i> on the death of his +uncle, the Rajah, who died without issue; and he bestowed portions +of the estate on his brothers, Burear and Zubur Sing, which their +descendants enjoy, but which do not go to the eldest son, by the +law of primogeniture. He was succeeded by his brother, Sookraj, +whose grandson, Madhoo Persaud, now reigns as Rajah, and has the +undivided possession of the lands belonging to this branch. All the +descendants of his grandfather, Sookraj, and their widows and +orphans, have a right to protection and support from him, and to +nothing more. Jydut, who now holds the lands, yielding forty +thousand rupees a-year, called upon me, this morning, and gave me +this history of his family. The Rajah himself is in camp, and came +to visit me this afternoon.</p> +<p>It is interesting and pleasing to see a large, well-controlled +camp, moving in a long line through a narrow road or pathway, over +plains, covered with so rich a variety of crops, and studded with +such magnificent evergreen trees. The solitary mango-tree, in a +field of corn, seems to exult in its position-to grow taller and +spread wider its branches and rich foliage, in situations where +they can be seen to so much advantage. The peepul and bargut trees, +which, when entire, are still more ornamental, are everywhere torn +to pieces and disfigured by the camels and elephants, buffaloes and +bullocks, that feed upon their foliage and tender branches. There +are a great many mhowa, tamarind, and other fine trees, upon which +they do not feed, to assist the mango in giving beauty to the +landscape.</p> +<p>The Korwar Rajah, Madhoo Persaud, a young man of about +twenty-two years of age, came in the evening, and confirmed what +his relative, Jydut, had told me of the rule which required that +his lands should remain undivided with his eldest son, while those +which are held by Jydut, and his other relatives, should be +subdivided among all the sons of the holder. This rule is more +necessary in Oude than elsewhere, to preserve a family and its +estate from the grasp of its neighbours and Government officers. +When there happens to be no heir left to the portion of the estate +which has been cut off, it is re-annexed to the estate; and the +head of the family frequently anticipates the event, by murdering +or imprisoning the heir or incumbent, and seizing upon the lands. +Another Rajah, of the same name, Mahdoo Persaud, of Amethee, in +Salone, has lately seized upon the estate of Shahgur, worth twenty +thousand rupees a-year, which had been cut off from the Amethee +estate, and enjoyed by a collateral branch of the family for +several generations. He holds the proprietor, Bulwunt Sing, in +prison, in irons, and would soon make away with him were the Oude +Government to think it worth while to inquire after him. He has +seized upon another portion, Ramgur, held by another branch of the +family, worth six thousand rupees a-year, and crushed all the +proprietors. This is the way in which estates, once broken up, are +reconsolidated in Oude, under energetic and unscrupulous men. Of +course when they think it worth while to do so, they purchase the +collusion of the local authorities of the day, by promising to pay +the revenues, which the old proprietors paid during their tenure of +office. The other barons do not interfere, unless they happen to be +connected by marriage with the ousted proprietors, or otherwise +specially bound, by interest and honour, to defend them against the +grasp of the head of their family. Many struggles of this kind are +taking place every season in Oude.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt4" id="Chapt4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Recross the Goomtee river—Sultanpoor +Cantonments—Number of persons begging redress of wrongs, and +difficulty of obtaining it in Oude—Apathy of the +Sovereign—Incompetence and unfitness of his +Officers—Sultanpoor, healthy and well suited for +Troops—Chandour, twelve miles distant, no less so—lands +of their weaker neighbours absorbed by the family of Rajah Dursun +Sing, by fraud, violence, and collusion; but greatly +improved—Difficulty attending attempt to restore old +Proprietors—Same absorptions have been going on in all parts +of Oude—and the same difficulty to be everywhere +encountered—Soils in the district, <i>mutteear</i>, +<i>doomutteea</i>, <i>bhoor</i>, <i>oosur</i>—Risk at which +lands are tilled under Landlords opposed to their +Government—Climate of Oude more invigorating than that of +Malwa—Captain Magness's Regiment—Repair of artillery +guns—Supply of grain to its bullocks—Civil +establishment of the Nazim—Wolves—Dread of killing them +among Hindoos—Children preserved by them in their dens, and +nurtured.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 22, 1849.—Sultanpoor, eight miles. +Recrossed the Goomtee river, close under the Cantonments, over a +bridge of boats prepared for the purpose, and encamped on the +parade-ground. The country over which we came was fertile and well +cultivated. For some days we have seen and heard a good many +religions mendicants, both Mahommedans and Hindoos, but still very +few lame, blind, and otherwise helpless persons, asking charity. +The most numerous and distressing class of beggars that importune +me, are those who beg redress for their wrongs, and a remedy for +their grievances,—"their name, indeed, is <i>Legion</i>," and +their wrongs and grievances are altogether without remedy, under +the present government and inveterately vicious system of +administration. It is painful to listen to all these complaints, +and to have to refer the sufferers for redress to authorities who +want both the power and the will to afford it; especially when one +knows that a remedy for almost every evil is hoped for from a visit +such as the poor people are now receiving from the Resident. He is +expected "to wipe the tears from off all faces;" and feels that he +can wipe them from hardly any. The reckless disregard shown by the +depredators of all classes and degrees to the sufferings of their +victims, whatever be the cause of discontent or object of pursuit, +is lamentable. I have every day scores of petitions delivered to me +"with quivering lip and tearful eye," by persons who have been +plundered of all they possessed, had their dearest relatives +murdered or tortured to death, and their habitations burnt to the +ground, by gangs of ruffians, under landlords of high birth and +pretensions, whom they had never wronged or offended; some, merely +because they happened to have property, which the ruffians wished +to take—others, because they presumed to live and labour upon +lands which they coveted, or deserted, and wished to have left +waste. In these attacks, neither age, nor sex, nor condition are +spared. The greater part of the leaders of these gangs of ruffians +are Rajpoot landholders, boasting descent from the sun and moon, or +from the demigods, who figure in the Hindoo religious fictions of +the Poorans. There are, however, a great many Mahommedans at the +head of similar gangs. A landholder of whatever degree, who is +opposed to his government from whatever cause, considers himself in +a state of <i>war</i>', and he considers a state of war to +authorize his doing all those things which he is forbidden to do in +a state of peace.</p> +<p>Unless the sufferer happens to be a native officer or sipahee of +our army, who enjoys the privilege of urging his claims through the +Resident, it is a cruel mockery to refer him for redress to any +existing local authority. One not only feels that it is so, but +sees, that the sufferer thinks that he must know it to be so. No +such authority considers it to be any part of his duty to arrest +evil-doers, and inquire into and redress wrongs suffered by +individuals, or families, or village communities. Should he arrest +such people, he would have to subsist and accommodate them at his +own cost, or to send them to Lucknow, with the assurance that they +would in a few days or a few weeks purchase their way out again, in +spite of the clearest proofs of the murders, robberies, torturings, +dishonourings, house-burning, &c., which they have committed. +No sentence, which any one local authority could pass on such +offenders, would be recognised by any other authority in the State, +as valid or sufficient to justify him in receiving and holding them +in confinement for a single day. The local authorities, therefore, +either leave the wrong-doers unmolested, with the understanding +that they are to abstain from doing any such wrong within their +jurisdictions as may endanger or impede the <i>collection of +revenues</i> during their period of office, or release them with +that understanding after they have squeezed all they can out of +them. The wrong-doers can so abstain, and still be able to +<i>murder, rob, torture, dishonour, and burn</i>, upon a pretty +large scale; and where they are so numerous, and so ready to unite +for purposes "offensive and defensive," and the local authorities +so generally connive at or quietly acquiesce all their misdeeds, +any attempt on the part of an honest or overzealous individual to +put them down would be sure to result in his speedy and utter +ruin!</p> +<p>To refer such sufferers to the authorities at Lucknow would be a +still more cruel mockery. The present sovereign never hears a +complaint or reads a petition or report of any kind. He is entirely +taken up in the pursuit of his personal gratifications. He has no +desire to be thought to take any interest whatever in public +affairs; and is altogether regardless of the duties and +responsibilities of his high office. He lives, exclusively, in the +society of fiddlers, eunuchs, and women: he has done so since his +childhood, and is likely to do so to the last. His disrelish for +any other society has become inveterate: he cannot keep awake in +any other. In spite of average natural capacity, and more than +average facility in the cultivation of light literature, or at +least "<i>de faire des petits vers de sa focon</i>," his +understanding has become so emasculated, that he is altogether +unfit for the conduct of his domestic, much less his public, +affairs. He sees occasionally his prime minister, who takes care to +persuade him that he does all that a King ought to do; and nothing +whatever of any other minister. He holds no communication whatever +with brothers, uncles, cousins, or any of the native gentlemen at +Lucknow, or the landed or official aristocracy of the country. He +sometimes admits a few poets or poetasters to hear and praise his +verses, and commands the unwilling attendance of some of his +relations, to witness and applaud the acting of some of his own +silly comedies, on the penalty of forfeiting their stipends; but +any one who presumes to approach him, even in his rides or drives, +with a petition for justice, is instantly clapped into prison, or +otherwise severely punished.</p> +<p>His father and grandfather, while on the throne, used to see the +members of the royal family and aristocracy of the city in Durbar +once a-day, or three or four times a-week, and have all petitions +and reports read over in their own presence. They dictated the +orders, and their seal was affixed to them in their own presence, +bearing the inscription <i>molahiza shud</i>, "it has been seen." +The seal was then replaced in the casket, which was kept by one +confidential servant, Muzd-od Dowlah, while the key was confided to +another. Documents were thus read and orders passed upon them twice +a-day-once in the morning, and once again in the evening; and, on +such occasions, all heads of departments were present. The present +King continued this system for a short time, but he soon got tired +of it, and made over seal and all to the minister, to do what he +liked with them; and discontinued altogether the short Durbar, or +levees, which his father, grandfather, and all former sovereigns +had held—before they entered on the business of the +day—with the heads of departments and secretaries, and at +which all the members of the royal family and aristocracy of the +city attended, to pay their respects to their sovereign; and soon +ceased altogether to see the heads of departments and secretaries, +to hear orders read, and to ask questions about state affairs.</p> +<p>The minister has become by degrees almost as inaccessible as his +sovereign, to all but his deputies, heads of departments, +secretaries, and Court favourites, whom it is his interest to +conciliate. Though the minister has his own confidential deputies +and secretaries, the same heads of departments are in office as +under the present King's father and grandfather; and, though no +longer permitted to attend upon or see the King, they are still +supposed to submit to the minister, for orders, all reports from +local authorities, intelligence-writers, &c., and all petitions +from sufferers; but, in reality, he sees and hears read very few, +and passes orders upon still less. Any head of a department, +deputy, secretary, or favourite, may receive petitions, to be +submitted to the minister for orders; but it is the special duty of +no one to receive them, nor is any one held responsible for +submitting them for orders. Those only who are in the special +confidence of the minister, or of those about Court, from whom he +has something to hope or something to fear, venture to receive and +submit petitions; and they drive a profitable trade in doing so. A +large portion of those submitted are thrown aside, without any +orders at all; a portion have orders so written as to show that +they are never intended to be carried into effect; a third portion +receive orders that are really intended to be acted upon. But they +are taken to one of the minister's deputies, with whose views or +interests some of them may not square well; and he may detain them +for weeks, months, or years, till the petitioners are worn out with +"hope deferred," or utterly ruined, in vain efforts to purchase the +attention they require. Nothing is more common than for a +peremptory order to be passed for the immediate payment of the +arrears of pension due to a stipendiary member of the royal family, +and for the payment to be deferred for eight, ten, and twelve +months, till he or she consents to give from ten to twenty per +cent., according to his or her necessities, to the deputy, who has +to see the order carried out. A sufferer often, instead of getting +his petition smuggled on to the minister in the mode above +described, bribes a news-writer to insert his case in his report, +to be submitted through the head of the department.</p> +<p>At present the head of the intelligence department assumes the +same latitude, in submitting reports for orders to the minister, +that his subordinates in distant districts assume in framing and +sending them to him; that is, he submits only such as may suit his +views and interests to submit! Where grave charges are sent to him +against substantial men, or men high in office, he comes to an +understanding with their representatives in Lucknow, and submits +the report to the minister only as a <i>dernière resort</i>, +when such representatives cannot be brought to submit to his terms. +If found out, at any time, and threatened, he has his feed +<i>patrons</i> or <i>patronesses</i> "behind the throne, and +greater than the throne itself," to protect him.</p> +<p>The unmeaning orders passed by the minister on reports and +petitions are commonly that <i>so and so</i> is to inquire into the +matter complained of; to see that the offenders are seized and +punished; that the stolen property and usurped lands be restored; +that <i>razeenamas</i>, or acquittances, be sent in by the friends +of persons who have been murdered by the King's officers; that the +men, women, and children, confined and tortured by King's officers, +or by robbers and ruffians, be set at liberty and satisfied; the +said <i>so and so</i> being the infant commander-in-chief, the +King's chamberlain, footman, coachman, chief fiddler, eunuch, +barber, or person uppermost in his thoughts at the time. Similar +orders are passed in his name by his deputies, secretaries, and +favourites upon all the other numerous petitions and reports, which +he sends to them unperused. Not, perhaps, upon one in five does the +minister himself pass any order; and of the orders passed by him, +not one in five, perhaps, is intended to be taken notice of. His +deputies and favourites carry on a profitable trade in all such +reports and petitions: they extort money alike from the wrong-doer +and the wrong-sufferer; and from all local authorities, or their +representatives, for all neglect of duty or abuses, of authority +charged against them.</p> +<p>As to any investigation into the real merits of any case +described in these reports from the news-writers and local +authorities, no such thing has been heard of for several reigns. +The real merits of all such cases are, however, well and generally +known to the people of the districts in which they occur, and +freely discussed by them with suitable remarks on the "darkness +which prevails under the lamp of royalty;" and no less suitable +execrations against the intolerable system which deprives the King +of all feeling of interest in the well-being of his subjects, all +sense of duty towards them, all feeling of responsibility to any +higher power for the manner in which he discharges his high trust +over the millions committed to his care.</p> +<p>As I have said, the King never sees any petition or report: he +hardly ever sees even official notes addressed to him by the +British Resident, and the replies to almost all are written without +his knowledge.* The minister never puts either his seal or +signature to any order that passes, or any document whatsoever, +with his own hand: he merely puts in the date, as the 1st, 5th, or +10th; the month, year, and the order itself are inserted by the +deputies, secretaries, or favourites, to whom the duty is confided. +The reports and petitions submitted for orders often accumulate so +fast in times of great festivity or ceremony, that the minister has +them tied up in bundles, without any orders whatever having been +passed on them, and sent to his deputies for such as they may think +proper to pass, merely inserting his figure 1, 5, or 10, to +indicate the date, on the outermost document of each bundle. If any +orders are inserted by his deputies on the rest, they have only to +insert the same date. There is nothing but the <i>figure</i> to +attest the authenticity of the order; and it would be often +impossible for the minister himself to say whether the figure was +inserted by himself or by any other person. These deputies are the +men who adjust all the nuzuranas, or unauthorized gratuities, to be +paid to the minister.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* On the 17th of October, 1850, Hassan Khan, one of the +<i>khowas</i>, or pages, whose special duty it is to deliver all +papers to the King, fell under his Majesty's displeasure, and his +house was seized and searched. Several of the Resident's official +notes were found unopened among his papers. They had been sent to +the palace as emergent many months before, but never shown to the +King. Such official notes from the Resident are hardly every shown +to the King, nor is he consulted about the orders to be passed upon +them.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>They share largely in all that he gets; and take a great deal, +for which they render him no account. Knowing all that he takes, +and <i>ought not to take</i>, he dares not punish them for their +transgressions; and knowing this, sufferers are afraid to complain +against them. In ordinary times, or under ordinary sovereigns, the +sums paid by revenue authorities in <i>nazuranas</i>, or +gratuities, before they were permitted to enter on their charges, +amounted to, perhaps, ten or fifteen per cent.: under the present +sovereign they amount, I believe, to more than twenty-five per +cent. upon the revenue they are to collect. Of these the minister +and his deputies take the largest part. A portion is paid in +advance, and good bonds are taken for the rest, to be paid within +the year. Of the money collected, more than twenty-five per cent., +on an average, is appropriated by those intrusted with the +disbursements, and by their patrons and patronesses. The sovereign +gets, perhaps, three-fourths of what is collected; and of what is +collected, perhaps two-thirds, on an average, reaches its +legitimate destination; so that one-half of the revenues of Oude +may be considered as taken by officers and Court favourites in +unauthorized gratuities and perquisites. The pay of the troops and +establishments, on duty with the revenue collectors, is deducted by +them, and the surplus only is sent to the Treasury at Lucknow. In +his accounts he receives credit for all sums paid to the troops and +establishments on duty under him. Though the artillery-bullocks get +none of the grain, for which he pays and charges Government, a +greater portion of the whole of what he pays and charges in his +accounts reaches its legitimate destination, perhaps, than of the +whole of what is paid from the Treasury at the capital. On an +average, however, I do not think that more than two-thirds of what +is paid and charged to Government reaches that destination.</p> +<p>I may instance the two regiments, under Thakur Sing, Tirbaydee; +which are always on duty at the palace. It is known that the +officers and sipahees of those regiments do not get more than +one-half of the pay which is issued for them every month from the +Treasury; the other half is absorbed by the commandant and his +patrons at Court. On everything sold in the palace, the vender is +obliged to add one-third to the price, to be paid to the person +through whom it is passed in. Without this, nothing can be sold in +the palace by European or native. Not a single animal in the King's +establishments gets one-third of the food allowed for it, and +charged for; not a building is erected or repaired at less than +three times the actual outlay, two-thirds at least of the money +charged going to the superintendent and his patrons.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 23, 1849.—Halted at Sultanpoor, which is +one of the healthiest stations in India, on the right bank of the +Goomtee river, upon a dry soil, among deep ravines, which drain off +the water rapidly. The bungalows are on the verge, looking down +into the river, upon the level patches of land, dividing the +ravines. The water in the wells is some fifty feet below the +surface, on a level with the stream below. There are no groves +within a mile of the cantonments; and no lakes, marshes, or jungles +within a great many; and the single trees in and near the +cantonments are few. The gardens are small and few; and the water +is sparingly used in irrigating them, as the expense of drawing it +is very great.</p> +<p>There is another good site for a cantonment at Chandour, some +twelve miles up the river, on the opposite bank, and looking down +upon the stream, from the verge, in the same manner. Chandour was +chosen for his cantonments by Rajah Dursun Sing when he had the +contract for the district; and it would be the best place for the +head-quarters of any establishments, that any new arrangements +might require for the administration of the Sultanpoor and +surrounding districts. Secrora would be the best position for the +head-quarters of those required for the administration of the +Gonda-Bahraetch, and other surrounding districts. It is central, +and has always been considered one of the healthiest places in +Oude. It was long a cantonment for one of our regiments of infantry +and some guns, which were, in 1835, withdrawn, and sent to increase +the force at Lucknow, from two to three regiments of infantry. The +regiment and guns at Sultanpoor were taken away in 1837. Secrora +was, for some years after our regiment and guns had been withdrawn, +occupied by a regiment and guns under Captain Barlow, one of the +King of Oude's officers; but it is now altogether deserted. +Sultanpoor has been, ever since 1837, occupied by one of the two +regiments of Oude local Infantry, without any guns or cavalry of +any kind. There was also a regiment of our regular infantry at +Pertabghur, three marches from Sultanpoor, on the road to +Allahabad, with a regiment of our light cavalry. The latter was +withdrawn in 1815 for the Nepaul war, and employed again under us +during the Mahratta war in 1817 and 1818. It was sent back again in +1820; but soon after, in 1821, withdrawn altogether, and we have +since had no cavalry of any kind in Oude. Seetapoor was also +occupied by one of our regular regiments of infantry and some guns +till 1837, when they were withdrawn, and their place supplied by +the second regiment of Oude Local Infantry. Our Government now pays +the two regiments of Oude Local Infantry stationed at Sultanpoor +and Seetapoor; but the places of those stationed at Secrora and +Pertabghur have never been supplied. One additional regiment of +infantry is kept at Lucknow, so that our force in Oude has only +been diminished by one regiment of infantry, one of cavalry, and +eight guns, with a company and half of artillery. To do our duty +<i>honestly</i> by Oude, we ought to restore the regiment of +infantry; and in the place of the corps of light, send one of +irregular cavalry. We ought also to restore the company and half of +artillery and eight guns which have been withdrawn. We draw +annually from the lands ceded to as in 1801, for the protection +which we promised to the King and his people from "all internal and +external enemies," no less than two crores and twelve lacs of +rupees, or two millions sterling a-year; while the Oude Government +draws from the half of its territories which it reserved only +one-half that sum, or one crore of rupees.</p> +<p>Maun Sing is to leave my camp to-day, and return to Shahgunge. +Of the fraud and violence, abuse of power, and collusion with local +authorities, by which he and his father seized upon the lands of so +many hundreds of old proprietors, there can be no doubt; but to +attempt to make the family restore them now, under such a +government, would create great disorder, drive off all the better +classes of cultivators, and desolate the face of the country, which +they have rendered so beautiful by an efficient system of +administration. Many of the most powerful of the landed aristocracy +of Oude have acquired, or augmented, their estates in the same +manner and within the same time; and the same difficulty would +attend the attempt to restore the old proprietors in all parts. A +strong and honest government might overcome all these difficulties, +and restore to every rightful proprietor the land unjustly taken +from him, within a limited period; but it should not attempt to +enforce any adjustment of the accounts of receipts and +disbursements for the intervening period. The old proprietor would +receive back his land in an improved condition, and the usurper +might fairly be considered to have reimbursed himself for all his +outlay. The old proprietor should be required to pledge himself to +respect the rights of all new tenants.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 24, 1849.—Meranpoor, twelve miles. Soil +between this and Sultanpoor neither so fertile nor so well +cultivated, as we found it on the other side of the Goomtee river, +though it is of the same denomination—generally doomut, but +here and there mutear. The term mutear embraces all good +argillaceous earth, from the light brown to the black, humic or +ulmic deposit, found in the beds of tanks and lakes in Oude. The +natives of Oude call the black soil of Malwa and southern India, +and Bundlekund, <i>muteear</i>. This black soil has in its +exhausted state abundance of silicates, sulphates, phosphates, and +carbonates of alumina, potassa, lime, &c., and of organic +acids, combined with the same unorganic substances, to attract and +fix ammonia, and collect and store up moisture, and is exceedingly +fertile and strong.</p> +<p>Both saltpetre and common salt are made by lixiviation from some +of the poor oosur soils; but, from the most barren in Oude, +carbonates of soda, used in making <i>glass</i> and <i>soap</i>, +are taken. The earth is collected from the surface of the most +barren spots and formed into small, shallow, round tanks, a yard in +diameter. Water is then poured in, and the tank filled to the +surface, with an additional supply of the earth, and smoothed over. +This tank is then left exposed to the sun for two days, during the +hottest and driest months of the year. March, April, and May, and +part of June, when the crust, formed on the surface, is taken off. +The process is repeated once; but in the second operation the tank +is formed around and below by the debris of the first tank, which +is filled to the surface, after the water has been poured in, with +the first <i>crust</i> obtained. The second crust is called the +<i>reha</i>, which is carbonate or bicarbonate of soda. This is +formed into small cakes, which are baked to redness in an oven, or +crucible, to expel the moisture and carbonic acid which it +contains. They are then powdered to fine dust, which is placed in +another crucible, and fused to liquid glass, the <i>reha</i> +containing in itself sufficient silica to form the coarse glass +used in making bracelets, &c.</p> +<p>A superabundance of nitrates seem also to impair or destroy +fertility in the soil, and they may arise from the decomposition of +animal or vegetable matter, in a soil containing a superabundance +of porous lime. The atmospheric air and water, contained in the +moist and porous soil, are decomposed. The hydrogen of the water +combines with the nitrogen of the air, and that given off by the +decomposing organic bodies, and forms ammonia. The nitrogen of the +ammonia then takes up the oxygen of the air and water, and becoming +nitric acid, forms nitrates with the lime, potash, soda, &c., +contained in the soil. Without any superabundance of lime in the +soil, however, the same effects may be produced, when there is a +deficiency of decaying vegetable and animal matter, as the oxygen +of the decomposed air and water, having no organic substances to +unite with, may combine with the nitrogen of the ammonia, and form +nitric acid; which, uniting with the lime, potash, soda, &c., +may form the superabounding nitrates destructive of fertility.</p> +<p>This superabundance of reha, or carbonate of soda, which renders +so much of the surface barren, must, I conclude, arise from +deposits of common salt, or chloride of sodium. The water, as it +percolates through these deposits towards the surface, becomes +saturated with their alkaline salts; and, as it reaches the surface +and becomes evaporated in the pure state, it leaves them behind at +or near the surface. On its way to the surface, or at the surface, +the chloride of sodium becomes decomposed by contact with +<i>carbonates of ammonia and potassa—sulphuric and nitric +acids</i>. In a soil well supplied with decaying animal or +vegetable matter, these carbonates or sulphates of soda, as they +rise to the surface, might be formed into nutriment for plants, and +taken up by their roots; or in one well flooded occasionally with +fresh water, any superabundance of the salts or their bases might +be taken up in solution and carried off. The people say, that the +soil in which these carbonates of soda (reha) abound, are more +unmanageable than those in which nitrates abound: they tell me +that, with flooding, irrigating, manuring, and well ploughing, they +can manage to get crops from all but the soils in which this +<i>reha</i> abounds.</p> +<p>The process above described, by which the bracelet makers +extract the carbonates of soda and potash from the earth of the +small, shallow tanks, is precisely the same as that by which they +are brought from the deep bed of earth below and deposited on or +near the surface. In both processes, the water which brings them +near the surface goes off into the atmosphere in a pure state, and +leaves the salts behind. To make soap from the reha, they must +first remove the silex which it contains.</p> +<p>There are no rocks in Oude, and the only form in which lime is +found for building purposes and road-pavements is that of kunkur, +which is a carbonate of lime containing silica, and oxide of iron. +In proportion as it contains the last, the kunkur is more or less +red. That which contains none is of a dirty-white. It is found in +many parts of India in thin layers, or amorphous masses, formed by +compression, upon a stiff clay substratum; but in Oude I have seen +it only in nodules, usually formed on nuclei of flint or other hard +substances. The kingdom of Oude must have once been the bed, or +part of the bed, of a large lake, formed by the diluvial detritus +of the hills of the Himmalaya chain, and, as limestone abounds in +that chain, the bed contains abundance of lime, which is taken up +by the water that percolates through it from the rivers and from +the rains and floods above. The lime thus taken up and held in +solution with carbonic add gas, is deposited around the small +fragments of flint or other hard substances which the waters find +in their way. Where the floods which cover the surface during the +rains come in rivers, flowing from the Himmalaya or other hills +abounding in limestone rocks, they of course contain lime and +carbonic-acid gas, which add to the kunkur nodules formed in the +bed below; but in Oude the rivers seldom overflow to any extent, +and the kunkur is, I believe, formed chiefly from the lime already +existing in the bed.</p> +<p>Doctor O'Shaughnessy, the most eminent chemist now in India, +tells me that there are two marked varieties of kunkur in +India—the red and the white; that the red differs from the +white solely in containing a larger proportion of peroxide of iron; +that the white consists of carbonate of lime, silica, alumina, and +sometimes magnesia and protoxide of iron. He states that he +considers the kunkur to be deposited by calcareous waters, +abounding in infusorial animalculæ; that the waters of the +annual inundation are rich in lime, and that all the facts that +have come under his observation appear to him to indicate that this +is the source of the kunkur deposit, which is seen in a different +form in the Italian travertine, and the crescent nodules of the +Isle of Sheppey and of Bologne.</p> +<p>Doctor O'Shaughnessy further states, that the <i>reha</i> earth, +which I sent to him from Oude, is identical with the <i>sujjee +muttee</i> of Bengal, and contains carbonate of soda and sulphate +of soda as its essential characteristic ingredients, with silicious +clay and oxide of iron. But in Oude, the term "<i>sujjee</i>" is +given to the carbonate and sulphate of soda which remains after the +silex has been removed from the reha. The reha is fused into glass +after the carbonic acid and moisture have been expelled by heat, +and the sujjee is formed into soap, by the addition of lime, fat, +and linseed oil, in the following proportions, I am told:—6 +sujjee, 4 lime, 2½ fat, and 1½ ulsee oil.</p> +<p>The sujjee is formed from the reha by filtration. A tank is +formed on a terrace of cement. In a hole at one corner is a small +tube. Rows of bricks are put down from one end to the other, with +intervals between for the liquor to flow through to the tube. On +these rows a layer of stout reeds is first placed, and over them +another layer composed of the leaves of these reeds. On this bed +the coarse reha earth is placed without being refined by the +process described in the text above. Some coarse common salt +(kharee nimuck) is mixed up with the reha. The tank is then filled +with water, which filters slowly through the earth and passes out +through the tube into pans, whence it is taken to another tank upon +a wider terrace of cement, where it evaporates and leaves the +sujjee deposited. The second tank is commonly made close under the +first, and the liquor flows into it through the tube, rendering +pans unnecessary. It is only in the hot months of March, April, +May, and part of June, till the rains begin to fall, that the reha +and sujjee are formed. During the other nine months, the +<i>Looneas</i>, who provide them, turn their hands to something +else. The <i>reha</i>, deprived of its carbonic acid and moisture +by heat, is fused into glass. Deprived of silex by this process of +filtration, it is formed into sujjee, from which the soap is +made.</p> +<p>On this process of filtration. Doctor O'Shaughnessy observes: +—"I do not clearly understand the use of the common salt, used +in the extraction of soda, in the process you described. But many of +the empirical practices of the natives prove, on investigation, to +square with the most scientific precepts. For example, their +proportions in the manufacture of corrosive sublimate are precisely +identical with those which the <i>atomic theory</i> leads the +European chemist to follow. The filtering apparatus which you +describe is really admirable, and I doubt much whether the best +practical chemist could devise any simpler or cheaper way of +arriving at the object in view."</p> +<p>The country is well provided with mango and other fine trees, +single, and in clusters and groves; but the tillage is slovenly and +scanty, strongly indicative of want of security to life, property, +and industry. No symptom of the residence of gardeners and other +cultivators of the better classes, or irrigation, or the use of +manure in tillage.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 25, 1849.—Nawabgunge, eleven miles. The +soil good, as indicated by the growth of fine trees on each side of +the road as far as we could see over the level plain, and by the +few fields of corn in sight; but the cultivation is deficient and +slovenly. A great part of the road lay through the estate of +Mundone, held by Davey Persaud, the tallookdar; and the few +peasants who stood by the side of the road to watch their fields as +we passed, and see the cavalcade, told me that the deficient +tillage and population arose from his being in opposition to +Government and diligently employed in plundering the country +generally, and his own estates in particular, to reduce the local +authorities to his own terms. The Government demand upon him is +twenty thousand rupees. He paid little last year, and has paid +still less during the present year, on the ground that his estate +yields nothing. This is a common and generally successful practice +among tallookdars, who take to fighting against the Government +whether their cause be just or unjust. These peasants and +cultivators told us that they had taken to the jungles for shelter, +after the last harvest, till the season for sowing again commenced; +remained in the fields, still houseless, during the night, worked +in their fields in fear of their lives during the day; and +apprehended that they should have to take to the jungles again as +soon as their crops were gathered, if they were even permitted to +gather them. They attributed as much blame to their landlord as to +the Nazim, Wajid Allee Khan. He, however, bears a very bad +character, and is said to have designedly thrown a good deal of the +districts under his charge out of tillage in the hope that no other +person would venture to take the contract for it in that condition, +and that he should, in consequence, be invited to retain it on more +favourable terms. He was twelve lacs of rupees in balance when +superseded at the end of the year, in September last, by the +present governor, Aga Allee, who manages the same districts on a +salary of two thousand rupees a-month, without any contract for the +revenues, but with the understanding that he is to collect, or at +least to pay, a certain sum.</p> +<p>The late contractor will no doubt relieve himself from the +burthen of this balance in the usual way. He will be imprisoned for +a time till he pays, or enters into engagements to pay, to the +minister and the influential men at Court, as much as they think he +can be made to pay, in bribes, and some half of that sum into the +Treasury, and have all the rest struck out of the accounts as +irrecoverable—perhaps two lacs in bribes, and one to the Treasury +may secure him an acquittance, and a fair chance of employment +hereafter. His real name is Wajid Allee; but as that is the name of +the King, he is commonly called Ahmud Allee, that the royal ears +may not take offence.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 26, 1849.—Pertabghur, distance eight miles. In +the course of fourteen years, almost all signs of one of the most +healthful and most agreeable cantonments of the Bengal army have +been effaced. Fine crops of corn now cover what were the parades +for cavalry, infantry, and artillery, and the gardens and compounds +of officers' bungalows. The grounds, which were once occupied by +the old cantonments, are now let out to cultivators, immediately +under Government, and they are well cultivated; but the tillage of +the rest of the country we have this morning passed over is scanty +and slovenly. The Rajah of Pertabghur has, for some time, been on +bad terms with the contractors, greatly in arrears, and commonly in +opposition to the Government, having his band of armed followers in +the jungles, and doing nothing but mischief. This is the case with +most of the tallookdars of the country over which I have passed. +Not one in five, or I may say one in ten, attends the viceroys, +because it would not be safe to do so; or pays the demands of +Government punctually, because there is no certainty in them.</p> +<p>I passed down the line of Captain Magness's corps, which is at +present stationed at Pertabghur. It is as well-dressed, and as fine +a looking corps as any infantry regiment in our own native army, +and has always shown itself as good on service. It has eight guns +attached to it, well provided and served. The artillery-men, +drivers, &c., are as well dressed and as fit for their duties +as our own. Stores and ammunition are abundant, but the powder is +execrable. Captain Magness is a good officer. The guns are six +6-pounders, drawn by bullocks; and two gallopers of very small +calibre, drawn by horses. They are not adapted for the duties they +have to perform, which is chiefly against mud-forts and +strongholds; and four 9-pounders, two howitzers, and two mortars +would be better. They are, however, well manned and provided with +bullocks, ammunition and stores. The finest young men in Oude are +glad to take service under Captain Magness; and the standard height +of his men is at present five feet ten inches. He has some few men, +good for nothing, called <i>sufarishies</i>, whom he is obliged to +keep in on account of the persons by whom they are recommended, +eunuchs, fiddlers, and Court favourites, of all kinds. In no +country are there a body of finer looking recruits than Captain +Magness now has at drill. All of the first families in the country, +and of unquestionable courage and fidelity to their salt. He has +four hundred Cavalry, of what is called the <i>body guard</i>, men +well dressed, and of fine appearance. These Cavalry are, however, +likely soon to be taken from him, and made over to some +good-for-nothing Court favourite.* He has about seven hundred men +present with his Infantry corps. His adjutant, Yosuf Khan, speaks +English well, and has travelled a good deal in England, Europe +generally, and Palestine. He is a sensible, unprejudiced man, and +good soldier. Captain Magness attends the Nazim of the district; +but, unfortunately, like all the commandants of corps and public +servants of the State, he is obliged to forage for fodder and fuel. +A foraging party is sent out every day, be where they will, to take +these things gratis, wherever they can find them most conveniently. +Bhoosa, grass and wood are the things which they are authorized to +take, without payment, wherever they can find them; but they, of +course, take a good many other things. The Government allows +nothing to any of its troops or establishments, for these things, +except when they are in Lucknow. The consequence is, that there is +hardly a good cover to any man's house, or sufficient fodder for +the cattle of any village, during the hot season and rains.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* They were soon after taken from Captain Magness and given to +Mr. Johannes; and soon after taken from him, and made over to an +eunuch, who turned out all the good men, to sell their places to +men good for nothing. They mutinied; but the King and minister +supported the eunuch, and the greater part of the men were +discharged and their officers ruined.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>December</i> 27, 1849—Halted at Pertabghur. I had a +visit from many of the persons who were in my service, when I was +here with my regiment thirty years ago, as watchmen, gardeners, +&c. They continue to hold and till the lands, which they or +their fathers then tilled; and the change in them is not so great +as that which has taken place within the same time among my old +native friends, who survive in the Saugor and Nerbudda districts, +where the air is less dry, and the climate less congenial to the +human frame. The natives say that the air and water of Malwa may +produce as good trees and crops as those of Oude, but can never +produce such good soldiers. This, I believe, is quite true. The +Sultanpoor district is included in the Banoda division of Oude; and +the people speak of the <i>water</i> of this division for +<i>tempering</i> soldiers, as we talk of the water of Damascus, for +tempering sword blades. They certainly never seem so happy as when +they are fighting in earnest with swords, spears, and matchlocks. +The <i>water</i> of the Byswara division is considered to be very +little inferior to that of Banoda, and we get our sipahees from +these two divisions almost exclusively.</p> +<p>Captain Magness's corps is, at present, attached to the Nazim of +this district, with its guns, and squadron of horse, as an +auxiliary force. Over and above this force, he has nine regiments +of Nujeebs, detachments of other Corps, Artillery, Pioneers, +&c., amounting, in all, according to the musters and +pay-drafts, to seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight men, +for whom thirty-seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-three +rupees a-month are drawn. Of these, fifteen hundred are dead or +have deserted, or are absent on leave without pay. Their pay is all +appropriated by the commandants of corps or Court favourites. +Fifteen hundred more are in attendance on the commandants of corps, +who reside at the capital, and their friends or other influential +persons about the Court, or engaged in their own trades or affairs, +having been put into the corps by influential persons at Court, to +draw pay, but do no duty. Of the remaining four thousand seven +hundred and seventy-eight, one-third, or one thousand five hundred +and ninety-two, are what is called <i>sufarishies</i>, or men who +are unfit for duty, and have been put in by influential persons at +Court, to appear at muster and draw pay. Of the remaining three +thousand one hundred and eighty-six present, there would be no +chance of getting more than two-thirds, or two thousand one hundred +and twenty-four men to fight on emergency—indeed, the Nazim +would think himself exceedingly lucky if he could get one-third to +do so.</p> +<p>Of the forty-two guns, thirteen are utterly useless on the +ground; and out of the remaining twenty-nine, there are draft +bullocks for only five. But there are no stores or ammunition for +any of them; and the Nazim is obliged to purchase what powder and +ball he may require in the bazaars. None of the gun-carriages have +been repaired for the last twenty years, and the strongest of them +would go to pieces after a few rounds. Very few of them would stand +one round with good powder. Five hundred rupees are allowed for +fitting up the carriage and tumbril of each gun, after certain +intervals of from five to ten years; and this sum has, no doubt, +been drawn over and over for these guns, during the twenty years, +within which they have had no repairs whatever. If the local +governor is permitted to draw this sum, he is sure never to expend +one farthing of it on the gun. If the person in charge of the +ordnance at Lucknow draws it, the guns and tumbrils are sent in to +him, and returned with, at least, a coating of paint and putty, but +seldom with anything else. The two persons in charge of the two +large parks at Lucknow, from which the guns are furnished, Anjum-od +Dowlah, and Ances-od Dowlah, a fiddler, draw the money for the corn +allowed for the draft bullocks, at the rate of three pounds per +diem for each, and distribute, or pretend to distribute it through +the agents of the grain-dealers, with whom they contract for the +supply; and the district officers, under whom these draft bullocks +are employed, are never permitted to interfere. They have nothing +to do but pay for the grain allowed; and the agents, employed to +feed the bullocks, do nothing but appropriate the money for +themselves and their employers. Not a grain of corn do the bullocks +ever get.</p> +<p>The Nazim has charge of the districts of Sultanpoor, Haldeemow, +Pertabghur, Jugdeespoor, and that part of Fyzabad which is not +included in the estate of Bukhtawar Sing, yielding, altogether, +about ten and a half lacs of rupees to Government. He exercises +entire fiscal, judicial, magisterial and police authority over all +these districts. To aid him in all these duties, he has four +deputies—one in each district—upon salaries of one +hundred and fifty rupees each a-month, with certain fees and +perquisites. To inquire into particular cases, over all these +districts, he employs a special deputy, paid out of his own salary. +All the accountants and other writers, employed under him, are +appointed by the deputies and favourites of the minister; and, +considering themselves as their creatures, they pay little regard +to their immediate master, the Nazim. But over and above these men, +from whom he does get some service, he has to pay a good many, from +whom he can get none. He is, before he enters upon his charge, +obliged to insert, in his list of civil functionaries, to be paid +monthly, out of the revenues, a number of writers and officers, of +all descriptions, <i>recommended</i> to him by these deputies and +other influential persons at Court. Of these men he never sees or +knows anything. They are the children, servants, creatures, or +dependents of the persons who recommend them, and draw their pay. +These are called <i>civil sufarishies</i>, and cost the State much +more than the <i>military sufarishies</i>, already +mentioned—perhaps not less than six thousand rupees a-month +in this division alone.</p> +<p>The Nazim is permitted to levy for incidental expenses, only ten +per cent. over and above the Government demand; and required to +send one-half of this sum to Court, for distribution. He is +ostensibly required to limit himself to this sum, and to abstain +from taking the gratuities, usually exacted by the <i>revenue +contractors</i>, for distribution among ministers and other +influential persons at Court. Were he to do so, they would all be +so strongly opposed to the <i>amanee</i>, or trust system of +management, and have it in their power so much to thwart him, in +all his measures and arrangements, that he could never possibly get +on with his duties; and the disputes between them generally results +in a compromise. He takes, in gratuities, something less than his +contracting predecessors took, and shares, what he takes, +liberally, with those whose assistance he requires at Court. These +gratuities, or nuzuranas, never appeared, in the public accounts; +and were a governor, under the <i>amanee</i> system, to demand the +full rates paid to contractors, the more powerful landholders would +refer him to these public accounts, and refuse to pay till he could +assure them of the same equivalents in <i>nanker</i> and other +things, which they were in the habit of receiving from contractors. +These, as a mere trust manager, he may not be able to give; and he +consents to take something less. The landholders know that where +the object is to exact the means to gratify influential persons +about Court, the Nazim would be likely to get good military +support, if driven to extremity, and consent to pay the greater +part of what is demanded. When the trust manager, by his liberal +remittances to Court patrons, gets all the troops he requires, he +exacts the full gratuities, and still higher and more numerous if +strong enough. The corps under Captains Magness, Bunbury, Barlow, +and Subha Sing, are called <i>komukee</i>, or auxiliary regiments; +and they are every season, and sometimes often in the same season, +sold to the highest bidder as a perquisite by the minister. The +services of Captain Magness and Captain Bunbury's corps were +purchased in this way for 1850 and 1851, by Aga Allee, the Nazim of +Sultanpoor, and he has made the most of them. No <i>contractor</i> +ever exacted higher <i>nazuranas</i> or <i>gratuities</i> than he +has, by their aid, this season, though he still holds the district +as a trust manager. Ten, twenty, or thirty thousand rupees are paid +for the use of one of these regiments, according to the exigency of +the occasion, or the time for which it may be required.</p> +<p>The system of government under which Oude suffers during the +reign of the best king is a fearful one; and what must it be under +a sovereign, so indifferent as the present is, to the sufferings of +his people, to his own permanent interests, and to the duties and +responsibilities of his high station? Seeing that our Government +attached much importance to the change, from the <i>contract</i> to +the <i>trust</i> system of management, the present minister is +putting a large portion of the country under that system in the +hope of blinding us. But there is virtually little or no change in +the administration of such districts; the person who has the charge +of a district under it is obliged to pay the same gratuities to +public officers and court favourites, and he exacts the same, or +nearly the same from the landholders; he is under no more check +than the contractor, and the officers and troops under him, abuse +their authority in the same manner, and commit the same outrages +upon the suffering people. Security to life and property is +disregarded in the same manner; he confines himself as exclusively +to the duties of collecting revenue, and is as regardless of +security to life and property, and of fidelity to his engagements, +as the landholders in his jurisdiction. The trust management of a +district differs from that of the contractors, only as the +<i>wusoolee kubaz</i> differs from the <i>lakulamee</i>; though he +does not enter into a formal contract to pay a certain sum, he is +always expected to pay such a sum, and if he does not, he is +obliged to wipe off the balance in the same way, and is kept in +gaol till he does so, in the same way. Indeed, I believe, the +people would commonly rather be under a contractor, than a trust +manager under the Oude Government; and this was the opinion of +Colonel Low, who, of all my predecessors, certainly knew most about +the real state of Oude.</p> +<p>The Nazim of Sultanpoor has authority to entertain such +Tehseeldars and <i>Jumogdars</i> as he may require, for the +collection of the revenue. Of these he has, generally, from fifty +to sixty employed, on salaries varying from fifteen to thirty +rupees a-month each. The Tehseeldar is employed here, as elsewhere, +in the collection of the land revenue, in the usual way; but the +<i>Jumogdar</i> is an officer unknown in our territories. Some are +appointed direct from Court, and some by the Nazims and Amils of +districts. When a landholder has to pay his revenue direct to +Government (as all do, who are included in what is called the +Hozoor Tehseel), and he neglects to do so punctually, a Jumogdar is +appointed. The landholder assembles his tenants, and they enter +into pledges to pay direct to the Jumogdar the rents due by them to +the landholder, under existing engagements, up to a certain time. +This may be the whole, or less than the whole, amount due to +Government by the landholder. If any of them fail to pay what they +promise to the Jumogdar, the landholder is bound to make good the +deficiency at the end of the year. He also binds himself to pay to +Government whatever may be due over and above what the tenants +pledge themselves to pay to the Jumogdar. This transfer of +responsibility, from the landholder to his tenants, is called +"<i>Jumog Lagana</i>," or transfer of the jumma. The assembly of +the tenants, for the purpose of such-adjustment, is called +<i>zunjeer bundee</i>, or linking together. The adjustment thus +made is called the <i>bilabundee</i>. The salary of the Jumogdar is +paid by the landholder, who distributes the burthen of the payment +upon his tenants, at a per centage rate. The Jumogdar takes written +engagements from the tenants; and they are bound not to pay +anything to the landholder till they have paid him (the Jumogdar) +all that they are, by these engagements, bound to pay him. He does +all he can to make them pay punctually; but he is not, properly, +held responsible for any defalcation. Such responsibility rests +with the landlords. Where much difficulty is expected from the +refractory character of the landholder, the officer commanding the +whole, or some part of the troops in the district, is often +appointed the Jumogdar; and the amount which the tenants pledge +themselves to pay to him is debited to him, in the pay of the +troops, under his command.</p> +<p>The Jumogdars, who are appointed by the Nazims and Amils, act in +the same manner with regard to the landlords and tenants, to whom +they are accredited, and are paid in the same manner. There may be +one, or there may be one hundred, Jumogdars in a district, +according to the necessity for their employment, in the collection +of the revenue. They are generally men of character, influence, and +resolution; and often useful to both, or all three parties; but +when they are officers commanding troops, they are often very +burthensome to landlords and tenants. The Jumogdar has only to +receive the sums due, according to existing engagements between the +parties, and to see that no portion of them is paid to any other +person. He has nothing to do with apportioning the demand, or +making the engagements between tenants and landlords, or landlords +and Government officers.</p> +<p>The Canoongoes and Chowdheries in Oude are commonly called +Seghadars, and their duties are the same here as everywhere else in +India.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 28, 1849.—Twelve miles to Hundore, over a +country more undulating and better cultivated than any we have seen +since we recrossed the Goomtee river at Sultanpoor. It all belongs +to the Rajah of Pertabghur, Shumshere Babadur, a Somebunsee, who +resides at Dewlee, some six miles from Pertabghur. His family is +one of the oldest and most respectable in Oude; but his capital of +Pertabghur, where he used to reside till lately, is one of the most +beggarly. He seems to have concentrated there all the beggars in +the country, and there is not a house of any respectable to be +seen. The soil, all the way, has been what they call the doomut, or +doomuteea, which is well adapted to all kinds of tillage, but +naturally less strong than muteear or argillaceous earth, and +yields scanty crops, where it is not well watered and manured.</p> +<p>The Rajah came to my camp in the afternoon, and attended me on +his elephant in the evening when I went round the town, and to his +old mud fort, now in ruins, within which is the old residence of +the family. He does not pay his revenue punctually, nor is he often +prepared to attend the viceroy when required; and it was thought +that he would not come to me. Finding that the Korwar and other +Rajahs and large landholders, who had been long on similar terms +with the local authorities, had come in, paid their respects, and +been left free, he also ventured to my camp. For the last thirty +years the mutual confidence which once subsisted between the +Government authorities and the great landholders of these districts +has been declining, and it ceased altogether under the last +viceroy, Wajid Allee Khan, who appears to have been a man without +any feeling of humanity or sense of honour. No man ever knew what +he would be called upon to pay to Government in the districts under +him; and almost all the respectable landholders prepared to defend +what they had by force of arms; deserted their homes, and took to +the jungles with as many followers as they could collect and +subsist, as soon as he entered on his charge. The atrocities +charged against him, and upon the best possible evidence, are +numerous and great.</p> +<p>The country we have passed through to-day is well studded with +fine trees, among which the mhowa abounds more than usual. The +parasite plant, called the bandha, or Indian mistletoe, ornaments +the finest mhowa and mango trees. It is said to be a disease, which +appears as the tree grows old, and destroys it if not cut away. The +people, who feel much regard for their trees, cut these parasite +plants away; and there is no prejudice against removing them among +Hindoos, though they dare not cut away a peepul-tree which is +destroying their wells, houses, temples, or tombs; nor do they, +with some exceptions, dare to destroy a wolf, though he may have +eaten their own children, or actually have one of them in his +mouth. In all parts of India, Hindoos have a notion that the family +of a man who kills a wolf, or even wounds it, goes soon to utter +ruin; and so also the village within the boundaries of which a wolf +has been killed or wounded. They have no objection to their being +killed by other people away from the villages; on the contrary, are +very glad to have them so destroyed, as long as their blood does +not drop on their premises. Some Rajpoot families in Oude, where so +many children are devoured by wolves, are getting over this +prejudice. The bandha is very ornamental to the fine mhowa and +mango trees, to the branches of which it hangs suspended in +graceful festoons, with a great variety of colours and tints, from +deep scarlet and green to light-red and yellow.</p> +<p>Wolves are numerous in the neighbourhood of Sultanpoor, and, +indeed, all along the banks of the Goomtee river, among the ravines +that intersect them; and a great many children are carried off by +them from towns, villages, and camps. It is exceedingly difficult +to catch them, and hardly any of the Hindoo population, save those +of the very lowest class who live a vagrant life, and bivouac in +the jungles, or in the suburbs of towns and villages, will attempt +to catch or kill them. All other Hindoos have a superstitious dread +of destroying or even injuring them; and a village community within +the boundary of whose lands a drop of wolf's blood has fallen +believes itself doomed to destruction. The class of little vagrant +communities above mentioned, who have no superstitious dread of +destroying any living thing, eat jackalls and all kinds of +reptiles, and catch all kinds of animals, either to feed upon +themselves, or to sell them to those who wish to keep or hunt +them.</p> +<p>But it is remarkable, that they very seldom catch wolves, though +they know all their dens, and could easily dig them out as they dig +out other animals. This is supposed to arise from the profit which +they make by the gold and silver bracelets, necklaces and other +ornaments worn by the children whom the wolves carry to their dens +and devour, and are left at the entrance of their dens. A party of +these men lately brought to our camp alive a very large +hyæna, which was let loose and hunted down by the European +officers and the clerks of my office. One of the officers asked +them whether this was not the reason why they did not bring wolves +to camp, to be hunted down in the same way, since officers would +give more for brutes that ate children, than for such as fed only +on dogs or carrion. They dared not deny, though they were ashamed +or afraid to acknowledge, that it was. I have myself no doubt that +this is the reason, and that they do make a good deal in this way +from the children's ornaments, which they find at the entrance of +wolves' dens. In every part of India, a great number of children +are every day murdered for the sake of their ornaments, and the +fearful examples that come daily to the knowledge of parents, and +the injunctions of the civil authorities are unavailing against +this desire to see their young children decked out in gold and +silver ornaments.</p> +<p>There is now at Sultanpoor a boy who was found alive in a wolf's +den, near Chandour, about ten miles from Sultanpoor, about two +years and a half ago. A trooper, sent by the native governor of the +district to Chandour, to demand payment of some revenue, was +passing along the bank of the river near Chandour about noon, when +he saw a large female wolf leave her den, followed by three whelps +and a little boy. The boy went on all fours, and seemed to be on +the best possible terms with the old dam and the three whelps, and +the mother seemed to guard all four with equal care. They all went +down to the river and drank without perceiving the trooper, who sat +upon his horse watching them. As soon as they were about to turn +back, the trooper pushed on to cut off and secure the boy; but he +ran as fast as the whelps could, and kept up with the old one. The +ground was uneven, and the trooper's horse could not overtake them. +They all entered the den, and the trooper assembled some people +from Chandour with pickaxes, and dug into the den. When they had +dug in about six or eight feet, the old wolf bolted with her three +whelps and the boy. The trooper mounted and pursued, followed by +the fleetest young men of the party; and as the ground over which +they had to fly was more even, he headed them, and turned the +whelps and boy back upon the men on foot, who secured the boy, and +let the old dam and her three cubs go on their way.</p> +<p>They took the boy to the village, but had to tie him, for he was +very restive, and struggled hard to rush into every hole or den +they came near. They tried to make him speak, but could get nothing +from him but an angry growl or snarl. He was kept for several days +at the village, and a large crowd assembled every day to see him. +When a grown-up person came near him, he became alarmed, and tried +to steal away; but when a child came near him, he rushed at it, +with a fierce snarl like that of a dog, and tried to bite it. When +any cooked meat was put before him, he rejected it in disgust; but +when any raw meat was offered, he seized it with avidity, put it on +the ground under his paws, like a dog, and ate it with evident +pleasure. He would not let any one come near him while he was +eating, but he made no objection to a dog coming and sharing his +food with him. The trooper remained with him four or five days, and +then returned to the governor, leaving the boy in charge of the +Rajah of Hasunpoor. He related all that he had seen, and the boy +was soon after sent to the European officer commanding the First +Regiment of Oude Local Infantry at Sultanpoor, Captain Nicholetts, +by order of the Rajah of Hasunpoor, who was at Chandour, and saw +the boy when the trooper first brought him to that village. This +account is taken from the Rajah's own report of what had taken +place.</p> +<p>Captain Nicholetts made him over to the charge of his servants, +who take great care of him, but can never get him to speak a word. +He is very inoffensive, except when teased, Captain Nicholetts +says, and will then growl surlily at the person who teases him. He +had come to eat anything that is thrown to him, but always prefers +raw flesh, which he devours most greedily. He will drink a whole +pitcher of butter-milk when put before him, without seeming to draw +breath. He can never be induced to keep on any kind of clothing, +even in the coldest weather. A quilt stuffed with cotton was given +to him when it became very cold this season, but he tore it to +pieces, and ate a portion of it, cotton and all, with his bread +every day. He is very fond of bones, particularly uncooked ones, +which he masticates apparently with as much ease as meat. He has +eaten half a lamb at a time without any apparent effort, and is +very fond of taking up earth and small stones and eating them. His +features are coarse, and his countenance repulsive; and he is very +filthy in his habits. He continues to be fond of dogs and jackals, +and all other small four-footed animals that come near him; and +always allows them to feed with him if he happens to be eating +when they approach.</p> +<p>Captain Nicholetts, in letters dated the 14th and 19th of +September, 1850, told me that the boy died in the latter end of +August, and that he was never known to laugh or smile. He +understood little of what was said to him, and seemed to take no +notice of what was going on around him. He formed no attachment for +any one, nor did he seem to care for any one. He never played with +any of the children around him, or seemed anxious to do so. When +not hungry he used to sit petting and stroking a pareear or vagrant +dog, which he used to permit to feed out of the same dish with him. +A short time before his death Captain Nicholetts shot this dog, as +he used to eat the greater part of the food given to the boy, who +seemed in consequence to be getting thin. The boy did not seem to +care in the least for the death of the dog. The parents recognised +the boy when he was first found, Captain Nicholetts believes; but +when they found him to be so stupid and insensible, they left him +to subsist upon charity. They have now left Hasunpoor, and the age +of the boy when carried off cannot be ascertained; but he was to +all appearance about nine or ten years of age when found, and he +lived about three years afterwards. He used signs when he wanted +anything, and very few of them except when hungry, and he then +pointed to his mouth. When his food was placed at some distance +from him, he would run to it on all fours like any four-footed +animal; but at other times he would walk upright occasionally. He +shunned human beings of all kinds, and would never willingly remain +near one. To cold, heat, and rain he appeared to be indifferent; +and he seemed to care for nothing but eating. He was very quiet, +and required no kind of restraint after being brought to Captain +Nicholetts. He had lived with Captain Nicholetts' servants about +two years, and was never heard to speak till within a few minutes +of his death, when he put his hands to his head, and said "it +ached," and asked for water: he drank it, and died.</p> +<p>At Chupra, twenty miles east from Sultanpoor, lived a cultivator +with his wife and son, who was then three years of age. In March, +1843, the man went to cut his crop of wheat and pulse, and the +woman took her basket and went with him to glean, leading her son +by the arm. The boy had lately recovered from a severe scald on the +left knee, which he got in the cold weather, from tumbling into the +fire, at which he had been warming himself while his parents were +at work. As the father was reaping and the mother gleaning, the boy +sat upon the grass. A wolf rushed upon him suddenly from behind a +bush, caught him up by the loins, and made off with him towards the +ravines. The father was at a distance at the time, but the mother +followed, screaming as loud an she could for assistance. The people +of the village ran to her aid, but they soon lost sight of the wolf +and his prey.</p> +<p>She heard nothing more of her boy for six years, and had in that +interval lost her husband. At the end of that time, two sipahees +came, in the month of February, 1849, from the town of Singramow, +which is ten miles from Chupra, on the bank of the Khobae rivulet. +While they sat on the border of the jungle, which extended down to +the stream, watching for hogs, which commonly come down to drink at +that time in the morning, they saw there three wolf cubs and a boy +come out from the jungle, and go down together to the stream to +drink. The sipahees watched them till they had drank, and were +about to return, when they rushed towards them. All four ran +towards a den in the ravines. The sipahees followed as fast as they +could; but the three cubs had got in before the sipahees could come +up with them, and the boy was half way in when one of the sipahees +caught him by the hind leg, and drew him back. He seemed very angry +and ferocious, bit at them, and seized in his teeth the barrel of +one of their guns, which they put forward to keep him off, and +shook it. They however secured him, brought him home, and kept him +for twenty days. They could for that time make him eat nothing but +raw flesh, and they fed him upon hares and birds. They found it +difficult to provide him with sufficient food, and took him to the +bazaar in the village of Koeleepoor; and there let him go to be fed +by the charitable people of the place till he might be recognised +and claimed by his parents. One market-day a man from the village +of Chupra happened to see him in the bazaar, and on his return +mentioned the circumstance to his neighbours. The poor cultivator's +widow, on hearing this, asked him to describe the boy more +minutely, when she found that the boy had the mark of a scald on +the left knee, and three marks of the teeth of an animal on each +side of his loins. The widow told him that her boy when taken off +had lately recovered from a scald on the left knee, and was seized +by the loins when the wolf took him off, and that the boy he had +seen must be her lost child.</p> +<p>She went off forthwith to the Koelee bazaar, and, in addition to +the two marks above described, discovered a third mark on his +thigh, with which her child was born. She took him home to her +village, where he was recognised by all her neighbours. She kept +him for two months, and all the sporting landholders in the +neighbourhood sent her game for him to feed upon. He continued to +dip his face in the water to drink, but he sucked in the water, and +did not lap it up like a dog or wolf. His body continued to smell +offensively. When the mother went to her work, the boy always ran +into the jungle, and she could never get him to speak. He followed +his mother for what he could get to eat, but showed no particular +affection for her; and she could never bring herself to feel much +for him; and after two months, finding him of no use to her, and +despairing of even making anything of him, she left him to the +common charity of the village. He soon after learnt to eat bread +when it was given him, and ate whatever else he could get during +the day, but always went off to the jungle at night. He used to +mutter something, but could never be got to articulate any word +distinctly. The front of his knees and elbows had become hardened +from going on all fours with the wolves. If any clothes are put on +him, he takes them off, and commonly tears them to pieces in doing +so. He still prefers raw flesh to cooked, and feeds on carrion +whenever he can get it. The boys of the village are in the habit of +amusing themselves by catching frogs and throwing them to him; and +he catches and eats them. When a bullock dies, and the skin is +removed, he goes and eats it like a village dog. The boy is still +in the village, and this is the description given of him by the +mother herself, who still lives at Chupra. She has never +experienced any return of affection for him, nor has he shown any +such feeling for her. Her story is confirmed by all her neighbours, +and by the head landholders, cultivators, and shopkeepers of the +village.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* In November, 1850, Captain Nicholetts, on leaving the +cantonments of Sultanpoor, where he commanded, ordered this boy to +be sent in to me with his mother, but he got alarmed on the way and +ran to a jungle. He will no doubt find his way back soon if he +lives.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Rajah of Hasunpoor Bundooa mentions, as a fact within his +own knowledge, besides the others, for the truth of which he +vouches, that, in the year 1843, a lad came to the town of +Hasunpoor, who had evidently been brought up by wolves. He seemed +to be twelve years of age when he saw him—was very dark, and +ate flesh, whether cooked or uncooked. He had short hair all over +his body when he first came, but having, for a time, as the Rajah +states, eaten salt with his food, like other human beings, the hair +by degrees disappeared. He could walk, like other men, on his legs, +but could never be taught to speak. He would utter sounds like wild +animals, and could be made to understand signs very well. He used +to sit at a bunneea's shop in the bazaar, but was at last +recognised by his parents, and taken off. What became of him +afterwards he knows not. The Rajah's statement regarding this lad +is confirmed by all the people of the town, but none of them know +what afterwards became of him.</p> +<p>About the year 1843, a shepherd of the village of Ghutkoree, +twelve miles west from the cantonments of Sultanpoor, saw a boy +trotting along upon all fours, by the side of a wolf, one morning, +as he was out with his flock. With great difficulty he caught the +boy, who ran very fast, and brought him home. He fed him for some +time, and tried to make him speak, and associate with men or boys, +but he failed. He continued to be alarmed at the sight of men, but +was brought to Colonel Gray, who commanded the first Oude Local +Infantry, at Sultanpoor. He and Mrs. Gray, and all the officers in +cantonments, saw him often, and kept him for several days. But he +soon after ran off into the jungle, while the shepherd was asleep. +The shepherd, afterwards, went to reside in another village, and I +could not ascertain whether he recovered the boy or not.</p> +<p>Zoolfukar Khan, a respectable landholder of Bankeepoor, in the +estate of Hasunpoor, ten miles east from the Sultahpoor +cantonments, mentions that about eight or nine years ago a trooper +came to the town, with a lad of about nine or ten years of age, +whom he had rescued from wolves among the ravines on the road; that +he knew not what to do with him, and left him to the common charity +of the village; that he ate everything offered to him, including +bread, but before taking it he carefully smelt at it, and always +preferred undressed meat to everything else; that he walked on his +legs like other people when he saw him, though there were evident +signs on his knees and elbows of his having gone, very long, on all +fours; and when asked to run on all fours he used to do so, and +went so fast that no one could overtake him; how long he had been +with the trooper, or how long it took him to learn to walk on his +legs, he knows not. He could not talk, or utter any very articulate +sounds. He understood signs, and heard exceedingly well, and would +assist the cultivators in turning trespassing cattle out of their +fields, when told by signs to do so. Boodhoo, a Brahmin cultivator +of the village, took care of him, and he remained with him for +three months, when he was claimed and taken off by his father, a +shepherd, who said that the boy was six years old when the wolf +took him off at night some four years before; he did not like to +leave Boodhoo, the Brahmin, and the father was obliged to drag him +away. What became of him afterwards he never heard. The lad had no +hair upon his body, nor had he any dislike to wear clothes, while +he saw him. This statement was confirmed by the people of the +village.</p> +<p>About seven years ago a trooper belonging to the King, and in +attendance on Rajah Hurdut Sing of Bondee, alias Bumnotee, on the +left bank of the Ghagra river, in the Bahraetch district, was +passing near a small stream which flows into that river, when he +saw two wolf cubs and a boy drinking in the stream. He had a man +with him on foot, and they managed to seize the boy, who appeared +to be about ten years of age. He took him up on the pummel of his +saddle, but he was so wild and fierce that he tore the trooper's +clothes and bit him severely in several places, though he had tied +his hands together. He brought him to Bondee, where the Rajah had +him tied up in his artillery gun-shed, and gave him raw-flesh to +eat: but he several times cut his ropes and ran off; and after +three months the Rajah got tired of him, and let him go. He was +then taken by a Cashmeeree mimic, or comedian (<i>bhand</i>), who +fed and took care of him for six weeks*; but at the end of that +time he also got tired of him (for his habits were filthy), and let +him go to wander about the Bondee bazaar. He one day ran off with a +joint of meat from a butcher's shop, and soon after upset some +things in the shop of a <i>bunneeah</i>, who let fly an arrow at +him. The arrow penetrated the boy's thigh. At this time Sanaollah, +a Cashmere merchant of Lucknow, was at Bondee, selling some shawl +goods to the Rajah, on the occasion of his brother's marriage. He +had many servants with him, and among them Janoo, a khidmutgar lad, +and an old sipahee, named Ramzan Khan. Janoo took compassion upon +the poor boy, extracted the arrow from his thigh, had his wound +dressed, and prepared a bed for him under the mango-tree, where he +himself lodged, but kept him tied to a tent-pin. He would at that +time eat nothing but raw flesh. To wean him from this, Janoo, with +the consent of his master, gave him rice and pulse to eat. He +rejected them for several days, and ate nothing; but Janoo +persevered, and by degrees made him eat the balls which he prepared +for him: he was fourteen or fifteen days in bringing him to do +this. The odour from his body was very offensive, and Janoo had him +rubbed with mustard-seed soaked in water, after the oil had been +taken from it (<i>khullee</i>), in the hope of removing this smell. +He continued this for some months, and fed him upon rice, pulse, +and flour bread, but the odour did not leave him. He had hardened +marks upon his knees and elbows, from having gone on all fours. In +about six weeks after he had been tied up under the tree, with a +good deal of beating, and rubbing of his joints with oil, he was +made to stand and walk upon his legs like other human beings. He +was never heard to utter more than one articulate sound, and that +was "Aboodeea," the name of the little daughter of the Cashmeer +mimic, who had treated him with kindness, and for whom he had shown +some kind of attachment. In about four months he began to +understand and obey signs. He was by them made to prepare the +hookah, put lighted charcoal upon the tobacco, and bring it to +Janoo, or present it to whomsoever he pointed out.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Transcriber's note—'six weeks' was printed as 'six +months', but is corrected by the author, in Volume ii, in a P.S. to +his letter, dated 20th November, 1852, to Sir James Weir Hogg.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>One night while the boy was lying under the tree, near Janoo, +Janoo saw two wolves come up stealthily, and smell at the boy. They +then touched him, and he got up; and, instead of being frightened, +the boy put his hands upon their heads, and they began to play with +him. They capered around him, and he threw straw and leaves at +them. Janoo tried to drive them off but he could not, and became +much alarmed; and he called out to the sentry over the guns, Meer +Akbur Allee, and told him that the wolves were going to eat the +boy. He replied, "Come away and leave him, or they will eat you +also;" but when he saw them begin to play together, his fears +subsided and he kept quiet. Gaining confidence by degrees, he drove +them away; but, after going a little distance, they returned, and +began to play again with the boy. At last he succeeded in driving +them off altogether. The night after three wolves came, and the boy +and they played together. A few nights after four wolves came, but +at no time did more than four come. They came four or five times, +and Janoo had no longer any fear of them; and he thinks that the +first two that came must have been the two cubs with which the boy +was first found, and that they were prevented from seizing him by +recognising the smell. They licked his face with their tongues as +he put his hands on their heads.</p> +<p>Soon after his master, Sanaollah, returned to Lucknow, and +threatened Janoo to turn him out of his service unless he let go +the boy. He persisted in taking the boy with him, and his master +relented. He had a string tied to his arm, and led him along by it, +and put a bundle of clothes on his head. As they passed a jungle +the boy would throw down the bundle and try to run into the jungle, +but on being beaten, he would put up his hands in supplication, +take up the bundle and go on; but he seemed soon to forget the +beating, and did the same thing at almost every jungle they came +through. By degrees he became quite docile. Janoo was one day, +about three months after their return to Lucknow, sent away by his +master for a day or two on some business, and before his return the +boy had ran off, and he could never find him again. About two +months after the boy had gone, a woman, of the weaver caste, came +with a letter from a relation of the Rajah, Hurdut Sing, to +Sanaollah, stating that she resided in the village of +Chureyrakotra, on his estate, and had had her son, then about four +years of age, taken from her, about five or six years before, by a +wolf; and, from the description which she gave of him, he, the +Rajah's relation, thought he must be the boy whom his servant, +Janoo, took away with him. She said that her boy had two marks upon +him, one on the chest of a boil, and one of something else on the +forehead; and as these marks corresponded precisely with those +found upon the boy, neither she nor they had any doubt that he was +her lost son. She remained for four months with the merchant +Sanaollah, and Janoo, his kidmutghur, at Lucknow; but the boy could +not be found, and she returned home, praying that information might +be sent to her should he be discovered. Sanaollah, Janoo, and +Ramzan Khan, are still at Lucknow, and before me have all three +declared all the circumstances here stated to be strictly true. The +boy was altogether about five months with Sanaollah and his +servants, from the time they got him; and he had been taken about +four months and a half before. The wolf must have had several +litters of whelps during the six or seven years that the boy was +with her. Janoo further adds, that he, after a month or two, +ventured to try a waist-band upon the boy, but he often tore it off +in distress or anger. After he had become reconciled to this, in +about two months, he ventured to put on upon him a vest and a pair +of trousers. He had great difficulty in making him keep them on, +with threats and occasional beatings. He would disencumber himself +of them whenever left alone, but put them on again in alarm when +discovered; and to the last often injured or destroyed them by +rubbing them against trees or posts, like a beast, when any part of +his body itched. This habit he could never break him of.</p> +<p>Rajah Hurdut Sewae, who is now in Lucknow on business, tells me +(28th January, 1851) that the sowar brought the boy to Bondee, and +there kept him for a short time, as long as he remained; but as +soon as he went off, the boy came to him, and he kept him for three +months; that he appeared to him to be twelve years of age; that he +ate raw meat as long as he remained with him, with evident +pleasure, whenever it was offered to him, but would not touch the +bread and other dressed food put before him; that he went on all +fours, but would stand and go awkwardly on two legs when threatened +or made to do so; that he seemed to understand signs, but could not +understand or utter a word; that he seldom attempted to bite any +one, nor did he tear the clothes that he put upon him; that +Sanaollah, the Cashmeeree merchant, used at that time to come to +him often with shawls for sale, and must have taken the boy away +with him, but he does not recollect having given the boy to him. He +says that he never himself sent any letter to Sanaollah with the +mother of the boy, but his brother or some other relation of his +may have written one for her.</p> +<p>It is remarkable that I can discover no well-established +instance of a man who had been nurtured in a wolf's den having been +found. There is, at Lucknow, an old man who was found in the Oude +Tarae, when a lad, by the hut of an old hermit who had died. He is +supposed to have been taken from wolves by this old hermit. The +trooper who found him brought him to the King some forty years ago, +and he has been ever since supported by the King comfortably. He is +still called the "wild man of the woods." He was one day sent to me +at my request, and I talked with him. His features indicate him to +be of the Tharoo tribe, who are found only in that forest. He is +very inoffensive, but speaks little, and that little imperfectly; +and he is still impatient of intercourse with his fellow-men, +particularly with such as are disposed to tease him with questions. +I asked him whether he had any recollection of having been with +wolves. He said "the wolf died long before the hermit;" but he +seemed to recollect nothing more, and there is no mark on his knees +or elbows to indicate that he ever went on all fours. That he was +found as a wild boy in the forest there can be no doubt; but I do +not feel at all sure that he ever lived with wolves. From what I +have seen and heard I should doubt whether any boy who had been +many years with wolves, up to the age of eight or ten, could ever +attain the average intellect of man. I have never heard of a man +who had been spared and nurtured by wolves having been found; and, +as many boys have been recovered from wolves after they had been +many years with them, we must conclude that after a time they +either die from living exclusively on animal food, before they +attain the age of manhood, or are destroyed by the wolves +themselves, or other beasts of prey, in the jungles, from whom they +are unable to escape, like the wolves themselves, from want of the +same speed. The wolf or wolves, by whom they have been spared and +nurtured, must die or be destroyed in a few years, and other wolves +may kill and eat them. Tigers generally feed for two or three days +upon the bullock they kill, and remain all the time, when not +feeding, concealed in the vicinity. If they found such a boy +feeding upon their prey they would certainly kill him, and most +likely eat him. If such a boy passed such a dead body he would +certainly feed upon it. Tigers often spring upon and kill dogs and +wolves thus found feeding upon their prey. They could more 'easily +kill boys, and would certainly be more disposed to eat them. If the +dead body of such a boy were found anywhere in the jungles, or on +the plains, it would excite little interest, where dead bodies are +so often found exposed, and so soon eaten by dogs, jackals, +vultures, &c., and would scarcely ever lead to any particular +inquiry.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt5" id="Chapt5">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Salone district—Rajah Lal Hunmunt Sing of +Dharoopoor—Soil of Oude—Relative fertility of the +<i>mutteear</i> and <i>doomutteea</i>—Either may become +<i>oosur</i>, or barren, from neglect, and is reclaimed, when it +does so, with difficulty—Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge +of an eleemosynary endowment at Salone—Effects of his +curses—Invasion of British Boundary—Military Force with +the Nazim—State and character of this Force—Rae +Bareilly in the Byswara district—Bandha, or +Misletoe—Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor—Law of +Primogeniture—Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo +and Rogonath Sing—Bridge and avenue at Rae +Bareilly—Eligible place for cantonment and civil +establishments—State of the Artillery—Sobha Sing's +regiment—Foraging System—Peasantry follow the fortunes of +their refractory Landlords—No provision for the king's +soldiers, disabled in action, or for the families of those who are +killed—Our sipahees, a privileged class, very troublesome +in the Byswara and Banoda districts—Goorbukshgunge—Man +destroyed by an Elephant—Danger to which keepers of such +animals are exposed—Bys Rajpoots composed of two great +families, Sybunsies and Nyhassas—Their continual contests for +landed possessions—Futteh Bahader—Rogonath +Sing—Mahibollah the robber and estate of Balla—Notion +that Tillockchundee Bys Rajpoots never suffer from the bite of a +snake—Infanticide—Paucity of comfortable +dwelling-houses—The cause—Agricultural +capitalists—Ornaments and apparel of the females of the Bys +clan—Late Nazim Hamid Allee—His father-in-law Fuzl +Allee—First loan from Oude to our Government—Native +gentlemen with independent incomes cannot reside in the +country—Crowd the city, and tend to alienate the Court from +the people.</p> +<br> +<p><i>December</i> 29, 1849.—Ten miles to Rampoor. Midway we +passed over the border of the Sultanpoor district into that of +Salone, whose Amil, Hoseyn Buksh, there met us with his +<i>cortège</i>. Rampoor is the Residence of Rajah Hunmunt +Sing, the tallookdar of the two estates of Dharoopoor and +Kalakunkur, which extend down to and for some miles along the left +bank of the river Ganges. There is a fort in each of these estates, +and he formerly resided in that of Dharoopoor, four miles from our +present encampment. That of Kalakunkur is on the bank of the +Ganges. The lands along, on both sides the road, over which we are +come, are scantily cultivated, but well studded with good trees, +where the soil is good for them. A good deal of it is, however, the +poor oosur soil, the rest muteear, of various degrees of fertility. +The territory of Oude, as I have said above, must once have formed +part of the bed of a lake,* which contained a vast fund of soluble +salts. Through this bed, as the waters flowed off, the rivers from +the northern range of hills, which had before fed the lake, cut +their way to join the larger stream of the Ganges; and the smaller +streams, which have their sources in the dense forest of the Tarae, +which now extends along the southern border of that range, have +since cut their way through this bed in the same manner to the +larger rivers. The waters from these rivers percolate through the +bed; and, as they rise to the surface, by the laws of capillary +attraction, they carry with them these salts in solution. As they +reach the surface in dry weather, they give off by evaporation pure +water; and the salts, which they held in solution, remain behind in +the upper surface. The capillary action goes on; and as the pure +water is taken off in the atmosphere in vapour, other water +impregnated with more salts comes up to supply its place; and the +salts near the surface either accumulate or are supplied to the +roots of the plants, shrubs, or trees, which require them.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Caused, possibly, by the Vendeya range once extending E. N. +E. up to the Himmalaya chain, which runs E. S. E. It now extends up +only to the right bank of the Ganges, at Chunar and Mirzapoor.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Rain-water,* which contains no such salts, falls after the dry +season is over, and washes out of the upper surface a portion of +the salts, which have thus been brought up from below and +accumulated, and either takes them off in floods or carries them +down again to the beds below. Some of these salts, or their bases, +may become superabundant, and render the lands oosur or unfit for +ordinary tillage. There may be a superabundance of those which are +not required, or cannot be taken up by the plants, actually on the +surface, or there may be a superabundance of the whole, from the +plants and rain-water being insufficient to take away such as +require to be removed. These salts are here, as elsewhere, of great +variety; nitrates of ammonia, which, combining with the inorganic +substances—magnesia, lime, soda, potash, alumina, and oxide of +iron—form double salts, and become soluble in water, and fit +food for plants. Or there may be a deficiency of vegetable mould +(humus) or manure to supply, with the aid of carbonic acid, air, +water, and ammonia, the organic acids required to adapt the +inorganic substances to the use of plants.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Rain-water contains small quantities of carbonic acid, +ammonia, atmospheric air, and vegetable or animal matter.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>All are, in due proportion, more or less conducive to the growth +and perfection of the plants, which men and animals require from +the soil: some plants require more of the one, and some more of +another; and some find a superabundance of what they need, where +others find a deficiency, or none at all. The muteear seems to +differ from the doomuteea soil, in containing a greater portion of +those elements which constitute what are called good clay soils. +The inorganic portions of these elements—silicates, +carbonates, sulphates, phosphates, and chlorides of lime, potash, +magnesia, alumina, soda, oxides of iron and manganese—it +derives from the detritus of the granite, gneiss, mica, and +chlorite slate, limestone and sandstone rocks, in which the +Himmalaya chain of mountains so much abounds; and the organic +elements—humates, almates, geates, apoerenates, and +crenates—it derives from the mould, formed from the decay of +animal and vegetable matter. It is more hydroscopic, or capable of +absorbing and retaining moisture, and fixing ammonia than the +doomuteea. It is of a darker colour, and forms more into clods to +retain moisture. I may here mention that the Himmalaya chain does +not abound in volcanic rocks, like the chains of Central and +Southern India; and that the soils, which are formed from its +detritus, contain, in consequence, less phosphoric acid, and is +less adapted to the growth of that numerous class of plants which +cannot live without phosphates. The volcanic rocks form a plateaux +upon the sandstone, of almost all the hills of Central and Southern +India; and the soil, which is formed from their detritus, is +exceedingly fertile, when well combined, as it commonly is, with +the salts and double salts formed by the union of the organic acids +with the inorganic bases of alkalies, earths, and oxides which have +become soluble, and been brought to the surface from below by +capillary attraction. I may also mention, that the basaltic +plateaux upon the sandstone rocks of Central and Southern India are +often surmounted with a deposit, more or less deep, of laterite, or +indurated iron clay, the detritus of which tends to promote +fertility in the soil. I have never myself seen any other deposit +than this iron clay or <i>laterite</i> above the basaltic plateaux. +I believe that this laterite is never found, in any part of the +Himmalaya chain. I have never seen it there, nor have I ever heard +of any one having seen it there. In Bundelkund and other parts of +Central and Southern India, the basaltic plateaux are sometimes +found deposing immediately upon beds of granite.</p> +<p>The doomuteea is of a light-brown colour, soon powders into fine +dust, and requires much more outlay in manure and labour than the +muteear. The oosur soil appears to be formed out of both, by a +superabundance of one or other of the salts or their bases, which +are brought to the surface from the beds below, and not carried off +or taken back into these beds. It is known that salts of ammonia +are injurious to plants, unless combined with organic acids, +supplied to the soil by decayed vegetable or animal matter. This +matter is necessary to combine with, and fix the ammonia in the +soil, and give it out to plants as they require it.</p> +<p>It is possible that nitrates may superabound in the soil from +the oxydizement of the nitrogen of a superfluity of ammonia. The +people say that all land may become <i>oosur</i> from neglect; and +when <i>oosur</i> can never be made to bear crops, after it has +been left long fallow, till it has been flooded with rain-water for +two or three seasons, by means of artificial embankments, and then +well watered, manured, and ploughed. When well tilled in this way, +all but the very worst kinds of <i>oosur</i> are said to bear +tolerable crops. In the midst of a plain of barren oosur land, +which has hardly a tree, shrub, or blade of grass, we find small +<i>oases</i>, or patches of low land, in which accumulated +rain-water lies for several months every year, covered with stout +grasses of different kinds, a sure indication of ability to bear +good crops, under good tillage. From very bad <i>oosur</i> lands, +common salt or saltpetre, or both, are taken by digging out and +washing the earth, and then removing the water by evaporation. The +clods in the muteear soil not only retain moisture, and give it out +slowly as required by the crops, but they give shelter and coolness +to the young and tender shoots of grain and pulse. Of course trees, +shrubs, and plants, of all kind in Oude, as elsewhere, derive +carbonic acid gas and ammonia from the atmosphere, and decompose +them, for their own use, in the same manner.</p> +<p>In treating of the advantages of greater facilities for +irrigation in India, I do not recollect ever having seen any +mention made of that of penetrating by wells into the deep deposits +below of the soluble salts, or their bases, and bringing them to +the surface in the water, for the supply of the plants, shrubs, and +trees we require. People talk of digging for valuable metals, and +thereby "developing resources;" but never talk of digging for the +more valuable solutions of soluble salts, to be combined with the +organic acids already existing in the soil, or provided by man in +manures—and with the carbonic acid, ammonia, and water from +the atmosphere—to supply him with a never-ending succession +of harvests. The practical agriculturists of Oude, however, say, +that brackish water in irrigation is only useful to tobacco and +shama; and where the salts which produce it superabound, rain-water +tanks and fresh-water rivers and canals would, no doubt, be much +better than wells for irrigation. All these waters contain carbonic +acid gas, atmospheric air, and solutions of salts, which form food +for plants, or become so when combined with the organic acids, +supplied by the decayed animal and vegetable matter in the +soil.</p> +<p>Soils which contain salts, which readily give off their water of +crystallization and <i>effloresce</i>, sooner become barren than +those which contain salts that attract moisture from the air, and +deliquesce, as chlorides of calcium and magnesia, carbonates and +acetates of potassa, alumina, &c. Canals flowing over these +deep dry beds, through which little water from the springs below +ever percolates to the surface, are not only of great advantage for +irrigating the crops on the surface, but for supplying water as +they flow along, to penetrate through these deep dry beds; and, as +they rise to the surface by capillary attraction, carrying along +with them the soluble salts which they pick up on their way. In +Oude, as in all the districts that extend along to the north of the +Ganges, and south of the Himmalaya chain, easterly winds prevail, +and bring up moisture from the sea of the Bay of Bengal. All these +districts are, at the same time, abundantly studded with groves of +fine trees and jungle, that attract this moisture to the earth in +rain and dew. Through Goozerat, Malwa, Berar, and Bundelkund, and +all the districts bordering the Nerbudda river, from its mouth to +its sources, westerly winds prevail, and bring up moisture from the +Gulf of Cambay; and these districts are all well studded with +groves, &c., and single trees, which act in the same manner, in +attracting the moisture from the atmosphere to the earth, in rain +and dew. In Rajpootana and Sinde no prevailing wind, I believe, +comes from any sea nearer than the Atlantic ocean; and there are +but few trees to attract to the earth the little moisture that the +atmosphere contains. The rain that falls over these countries is +not, I believe, equal to more than one-third of what falls over the +districts, supplied from the Bay of Bengal, or to one-fourth of +what falls in those supplied from the Gulf of Cambay. Our own +districts of the N. W. Provinces, which intervene between those +north of the Ganges and Rajpootana, have the advantage of rivers +and canals; but their atmosphere is not so well supplied with +moisture from the sea, nor are they so well studded as they ought +to be with trees. The Punjab has still greater advantages from +numerous rivers, flowing from the Himmalaya chain, and is, like +Egypt, in some measure independent of moisture from the atmosphere +as far as tillage is concerned; but both would, no doubt, be +benefited by a greater abundance of trees. They not only tend to +convey to and retain moisture in the soil, and to purify the air +for man, by giving out oxygen and absorbing carbonic acid gas, but +they are fertilizing media, through which the atmosphere conveys to +the soil most of the carbon, and much of the ammonia, without which +no soil can be fertile. It is, I believe, generally admitted that +trees derive most of their carbon from the air through their +leaves, and most of their ammonia from the soil through their +roots; and that when the trees, shrubs, and plants, which form our +coal-measures, adorned the surface of the globe, the atmosphere +must have contained a greater portion of carbonic acid gas than at +present. They decompose the gases, use the carbon, and give back +the oxygen to the atmosphere.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 30, 1849.—Ten miles to Salone, over a +pretty country, well studded with fine trees and well tilled, +except in large patches of oosur land, which occur on both sides of +the road. The soil, doomuteea, with a few short intervals of +muteear. The Rajah of Pertabghur, and other great landholders of +the Sultanpoor division, who had been for some days travelling with +me, and the Nazim and his officers, took leave yesterday. The +Nazim, Aga Allee, is a man of great experience in the convenances +of court and city life, and of some in revenue management, having +long had charge of the estates comprised in the "Hozoor Tehseel," +while he resided at Lucknow. He has good sense and an excellent +temper, and his manners and deportment are courteous and +gentlemanly. The Rajah of Pertabghur is a very stout and fat man, +of average understanding. The rightful heir to the principality was +Seorutun Sing, whom I have mentioned in my <i>Rambles and +Recollections</i>, as a gallant young landholder, fighting for his +right to the succession, while I was cantoned at Pertabghur in +1818. He continued to fight, but in vain, as the revenue +contractors were too strong for him. Gholam Hoseyn, the then Nazim, +kept him down while he lived, and Dursun Sing got him into his +power by fraud, and confined him for three years in gaol.</p> +<p>He died soon after his release, leaving one son. Rajah Dheer +Sing,* who still lives upon the portion of land which his father +inherited. He has taken up the contest for the right bequeathed to +him by his father; and his uncle, Golab Sing, the younger brother +of Seorutun, a brave, shrewd, and energetic man, has been for some +days importuning me for assistance. The nearest relations of the +family told me yesterday, that they were coerced by the Government +authorities into recognising the adoption of the present Rajah, +though it was contrary to all Hindoo law and usage. Hindoos, they +said, never marry into the same gote or family, and they never +ought to adopt one of the relations of their wives, or a son of a +sister, or any descendant in the female line, while there is one of +the male line existing. Seoruttun Sing was the next heir in the +male line; but the Rajah, having married a young girl in his old +age, adopted as his heir to the principality her nearest relative, +the present Rajah, who is of a different <i>gote</i>. The desire to +keep the land in the same family has given rise to singular laws +and usages in all nations in the early stages of civilization, when +industry is confined almost exclusively to agriculture, and land is +almost the only property valued. Among the people of the Himmalaya +hills, as in all Sogdiana, it gave rise to polyandry; and, among +the Israelites and Mahommedans, to the marriage of many brothers in +succession to the same woman.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Rajah Deer Sing died in April 1851, leaving a very young son +under the guardianship of his uncle, Golab Sing.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Rajah of Dharoopoor, who resides at Rampoor, our last +halting-place, holds, as above stated, a tract of land along the +left bank of the Ganges, called the Kalakunkur, in which he has +lately built a mud-fort of reputed strength. He is a very sensible +and active man of pleasing manners. He has two grown-up sons, who +were introduced to me by him yesterday. The Government authorities +complain of his want of punctuality in the payment of his revenue; +and he complains, with much more justice, of the uncertainty in the +rate of the demand on the part of Government and its officers or +Court favourites, and in the character of the viceroys sent to rule +over them; but, above all, of the impossibility of getting a +hearing at Court when they are wronged and oppressed by bad +viceroys. He went twice himself to Lucknow, to complain of grievous +wrongs suffered by him and his tenants from an oppressive viceroy; +but, though he had some good friends at Court, and among them Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing, he was obliged to return without finding access to +the sovereign or his minister, or any one in authority over the +viceroy. He told me that all large landholders, who had any regard +for their character, or desire to retain their estates, and protect +their tenants, were obliged to arm and take to their strongholds or +jungles as their only resource, when bad viceroys were +sent—that if they could be assured that fair demands only +would be made, and that they would have access to authority, when +they required to defend themselves from false charges, and to +complain of the wrong doings of viceroys and their agents, none of +them would be found in resistance against the Government, since all +were anxious to bequeath to their children a good name, as well as +a good estate. He promised punctual payment of his revenues to +Government, and strict obedience in all things, provided that the +contractor did not enhance his demand upon him, as he now seemed +disposed to do, in the shape of gratuities to himself and Court +favourites. "To be safe in Oude" he said, "it is necessary to be +strong, and prepared always to use your strength in resisting +outrage and oppression, on the part of the King's officers."</p> +<p>At Salone resides a holy Mahommedan, Shah Puna Ata, who is +looked up to with great reverence by both Mahommedans and Hindoos, +for the sanctity of his character, and that of his ancestors, who +sat upon the same religions <i>throne</i>, for throne his simple +mattress is considered to be. From the time that the heir is called +to the <i>throne</i>, he never leaves his house, but stays at home +to receive homage, and distribute blessings and food to needy +travellers of all religions. He gets from the King of Oude twelve +villages, rent free, in perpetuity; and they are said to yield him +twenty-five thousand rupees a-year, with which he provides for his +family, and for needy travellers and pilgrims. This eleemosynary +endowment was granted, about sixty years ago, by the then +sovereign, Asuf-od Dowlah. The lands had belonged to a family of +Kumpureea Rajpoots, who were ousted for contumacy or rebellion, I +believe. He was plundered of all he had, to the amount of some +twenty thousand rupees, in 1834, during the reign of Nuseer-on Deen +Hyder, by Ehsan Hoseyn, the Nazim of Byswara and Salone, one of the +sons of Sobhan Allee Khan, the then virtual minister; but some +fifteen days after, he attacked the tallookdar of Bhuderee, and +lost his place in consequence. The popular belief is, that he +became insane in consequence of the holy man's curses, and that his +whole family became ruined from the same cause.</p> +<p>Bhuderee, which lies a few miles to the south of Salone, was +then held by two gallant Rajpoot brothers, Jugmohun Sing and +Bishonath Sing, the sons of Zalim Sing. In the month of October, +A.D. 1832, Dhokul Sing got the contract of the district, and +demanded from Bhuderee an increase of ten thousand rupees in its +revenue. They refused to pay this increase. At the established rate +they had always paid the Government demand punctually, and been +good subjects and excellent landlords. Dhokul Sing was superseded +by Ehsan Hoseyn, in March 1833; and he insisted upon having the +increase of ten thousand. They refused to pay, and Ehsan Hoseyn +besieged and attacked their fort in September. After defending +themselves resolutely for five days, Bishonath Sing consented to +visit Ehsan Hoseyn, in his camp, on a solemn assurance of personal +security; but he no sooner came to his tent than he was seized and +taken to Rae Bareilly, the headquarters, a prisoner, in the suite +of the Nazim. He there remained confined, in irons, under charge of +a wing of a regiment, commanded by Mozim Khan, till February 1834, +when he effected his escape, and went back to Bhuderee. In March, a +large force was collected, with an immense train of artillery, to +aid the Nazim, and he again laid siege to the fort. Having sent off +their families before the siege began, and seeing, in the course of +a few days, that they could not long hold out against so large a +force, the two brothers buried eight out of their ten guns, left +the fort at midnight with the other two, cut their way through the +besiegers, and passed over a plain six miles to Ramchora, on the +left bank of the Ganges, and within the British territory, followed +by the whole of the Nazim's force.</p> +<p>A brisk cannonade was kept up, on both sides, the whole way, and +a great many lives were lost The two brothers thought they should +be safe at Ramchora, under the protection of the British +Government; but the Nazim's force surrounded the place, and kept up +a fire upon it. The brothers contrived, however, to send over the +Ganges the greater part of their followers, under the protection of +their two guns, and the few men retained to defend and serve them. +Jugmohun Sing at last consented to accept the pledge of personal +security tendered by Rajah Seodeen Sing, the commander-in-chief of +the attacking forces; but while he and his brother were on their +way to the camp, with a few armed attendants, the soldiers of the +Nazim, by whom they were escorted, attempted to seize and disarm +them. They resisted and defended themselves. Others came to their +rescue, and the firing recommenced. Jugmohun Sing, and his brother, +Bishonath Sing and all their remaining followers were killed. The +two brothers lost about one hundred and fifty men, and the Nazim +about sixty, in killed. The heads of the two brothers were taken +off, forthwith, and sent to the King. Three villages in the British +territory were plundered by the Oude troops on this occasion. This +violation of our territory the King of Oude was called upon to +punish; and Ehsan Hoseyn was deprived of his charge, and heavily +fined, to pay compensation to our injured subjects.</p> +<p>Roshun-od Dowlah, the minister, was entirely in the hands of +Sobhan Allee Khan; and, as long as he retained office, the family +suffered no other punishment. When he, Roshun-od Dowlah, was +afterwards deprived of office, he went to Cawnpore to reside, and +Sobhan Allee and all his family were obliged to follow his +fortunes. On his dismissal from office, Roshun-od Dowlah was put +into gaol, and not released till he paid twenty-two lacs of rupees +into the Treasury. He had given eight lacs, in our Government +promissory notes, to his wife, and three to his son, and he took +some lacs with him to Cawnpore, all made during the five years he +held office. Sobhan Allee Khan, his deputy, was made to pay into +the Treasury seven lacs, and five in gratuities—all made +during the same five years. Sobhan Allee died last year on a +pilgrimage to Mecca, with the character of one of the ablest and +least scrupulous of men; and his sons continue to reside at +Cawnpore and Allahabad, with the character of having all the bad, +without any of the good, qualities of their father. The widow of +Jugmohun manages the estate; but she has adopted the nearest heir +to her husband, the present Rajah of Bhuderee, a fine, handsome, +and amiable youth, of sixteen years of age, who is now learning +Persian. He was one of the many chiefs who took leave of me +yesterday, and the most prepossessing of all. His adoptive mother, +however, absorbs the estates of her weaker neighbours, by fraud, +violence, and collusion, like other landholders, and the +dispossessed become leaders of gang robbers as in other parts.</p> +<p>The Shah receives something from the local authorities, and +contributions from Mahommedan Princes, in remote parts of India, +such as Bhopal, Seronge, &c. Altogether his income is said to +amount to about fifty thousand rupees a-year. He has letters from +Governors-General of India, Lieutenant-Governors of the +North-Western Provinces and their Secretaries; and from Residents +at the Court of Lucknow, all of a complimentary character. He has +lately declared his eldest son to be his heir to the throne, and is +said to have already put him upon it. I received from him the usual +letter of compliments and welcome, with a present of a tame +antelope, and some fruit and sugar; and I wrote him a reply in the +usual terms. His name is Shah Puna Ata, and his character is held +in high esteem by all classes of the people, of whatever creed, +caste, or grade.</p> +<p>The Bhuderee family give their daughters in marriage to the +Bugheela Rajahs of Rewa and the Powar Rajahs of Ocheyra, who are +considered to be a shade higher in caste than they are among the +Rajpoots. Not long ago they gave one hundred thousand rupees, with +one daughter, to the only son of the Rewa Rajah, as the only +condition on which he would take her. Golab Sing, the brother of +Seoruttun Sing, of Pertabghur, by caste a Sombunsee, is said to +have given lately fifty thousand rupees, with another daughter, to +the same person. Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, who is by caste +a Beseyn Rajpoot, the year before last went to Rewa, accompanied by +some fifty Brahmins, to propose an union between his daughter and +the same son of the Rewa Rajah. A large sum was demanded, but he +pleaded poverty, and at last got the Rajah to consent to take fifty +thousand rupees down, and seventy-five thousand at the last +ceremony of the barat, or fetching home of the bride. When all had +been prepared for this last ceremony, the Rajah of Rewa pleaded the +heat of the weather, and his son would not come to complete it, and +take away his bride. Hunmunt Sing collected one hundred <i>resolute +Brahmins</i>, and proceeded with them to Rewa, where they sat +<i>dhurna</i> at the Rajah's door, without tasting food, and +declared that they would all die there unless the marriage were +completed.</p> +<p>The Rajah did all he could, or could make his people do, to get +rid of them; but at last, afraid that some of the Brahmins would +really die, he consented that his son should go and fetch his +bride, if Hunmunt Sing would pay down twenty-five thousand rupees +more, to defray the cost of the procession, in addition to the +seventy-five thousand. He did so, and his daughter was taken off in +due form. He has another daughter to dispose of in the same way. +The Rewa Rajah has thus taken five or six wives for his son, from +families a shade lower in caste; but the whole that he has got with +them will not be enough to pay one of the Rajpoot families, a shade +higher in caste than he is, in Rajpootana, to take one daughter +from him. It costs him ten or twelve lacs of rupees to induce the +Rajah of Oudeepoor, Joudhpoor, or Jypoor, to take away, as his +bride, a daughter of Rewa. All is a matter of bargain and sale. +Those who have money must pay, in proportion to their means, to +marry their daughters into families a shade higher in caste or +dignity, or to get daughters from them when such families are +reduced to the necessity of selling their daughters to families of +a lower grade.</p> +<p>Among Brahmins it is the same. Take, for example, the Kunojee +Brahmins, among whom there are several shades of caste. The member +of a family a shade higher will not give his son in marriage to a +daughter of a family a shade lower, without receiving a sum in +proportion to its means; nor will he give a daughter in marriage to +such a family till he is so exalted as to be able to disregard the +feelings of his clan, or reduced to such a degree of poverty as +shall seem to his clan sufficient to justify it. This bargain and +sale of sons and daughters prevails, more or less, throughout all +Hindoo society, and is not, even now, altogether unknown among +Christian nations. In Oude, this has led to the stealing of young +girls from our own districts. Some men and women from our districts +make a trade of it. They pretend to be of Rajpoot caste, and +inveigle away girls from their parents, to be united in marriage to +Rajpoots in Oude. They pretend to have brought them with the +consent of their parents, of the same or higher caste, in our +territories, and make large sums by the trade.</p> +<p><i>December</i> 31, 1849.—Eight miles to Sotee, over a +country well studded with trees, and generally well cultivated. The +soil is, all the way, doomuteea. The road, the greater part of the +way, lies in the purgunnah of Nyn, held by Jugunnath Sing, a +Kumpureea Rajpoot, and his nephew, and the collateral branches of +their family. They have a belt of jungle, extending for some twelve +miles along the right bank of the Saee river, and on the right side +of the road, and within from two to six miles from it—in some +parts nearer, and in others more remote. Wild hogs, deer, neelgae, +and wild cattle abound in this jungle, and do great injury to the +crops in its vicinity. The peasantry can kill and eat the hogs and +deer, but dare not kill or wound the wild cattle or neelgae. The +wild cattle are said to be from a stock which strayed or were let +loose in this jungle some centuries ago. They are described as fat, +while the crops are on the ground, and well formed—some black, +some red, some white, and some mixed—and to be as wild and +active as the deer of the same jungle. They are sometimes caught by +being driven into the Saee river; but the young ones are said to +refuse all food, and die soon, if not released. Hindoos soon +release them, from the religious dread that they may die in +confinement. The old ones sometimes live, and are considered +valuable. They are said to be finer in form than the tame cattle of +the country; and from July to March, when grass abounds, and the +country around is covered successively with autumn and spring +crops, more fat and sleek.</p> +<p>The soil is good and strong, and the jungle which covers it very +thick. It is preserved by a family of Kumpureea Rajpoots, whose +whole possessions, in 1814, consisted of nine villages. By degrees +they have driven out or murdered all the other proprietors, and +they now hold no less than one hundred and fifty, for which they +pay little or no revenue to Government. The rents are employed in +keeping up large bands of armed followers and building strongholds, +from which they infest the surrounding country. The family has +become divided into five branches, each branch having a fort or +stronghold in the Nyn jungle, and becoming by degrees subdivided +into smaller branches, who will thrive and become formidable in +proportion as the Government becomes weak. Each branch acts +independently in its depredations and usurpations from weaker +neighbours but all unite when attacked or threatened by the +Government.</p> +<p>Rajah Dursun Sing held the district of Salone from 1827 to 1836, +and during this time he made several successful attacks upon the +Kumpureea Rajpoots of the Nyn jungle; and during his occasional +temporary residence he had a great deal of the jungle around his +force cut down, but he made no permanent arrangement for subduing +them. In 1837, the government of this district was transferred to +Kondon Lal Partak, who established a garrison in the centre of the +jungle, had much of it cut down, and kept the Kumpureea barons +effectually in check. He died in 1838, and Rajahs Dursun Sing and +Buktawar Sing again got the government, and continued the +<i>partaks</i> system for the next five years, up to 1843. They +lost the government for 1844 and 1845, but their successors +followed the same system, to keep the Kumpureeas in order. +Bukhtawar Sing got the government again for 1846 and 1847, and +persevered in this system; but in 1848 the government was made over +to Hamid Allee, a weak and inexperienced man. His deputy, Nourouz +Allee, withdrew the garrison, and left the jungle to the +Kumpureeas, who, in return, assigned to him three or four of their +villages, rent free, in perpetuity, which in Oude means as long as +the grantee may have the power or influence to be useful to the +granters, or to retain the grants. Since that time the Kumpureeas +have recovered all the lands they had lost, restored all the jungle +that had been cut down, and they are now more powerful than ever. +They have strengthened their old forts and built some new, and +added greatly to the number of their armed followers, so that the +governor of the district dares not do anything to coerce them into +the payment of the just demands of Government, or to check their +usurpations and outrages.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* This Nourouz Allee was, 1851, the agent of the Kumpureea +barons of this jungle, at the Durbar, where he has made, in the +usual way, many influential friends, in collusion with whom he has +seized upon many estates in the vicinity of the jungle, and had +them made over to these formidable barons.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The present Nazim has with him two Nujeeb Regiments, one of nine +hundred and fifty-five, and the other of eight hundred and thirty +men; a squadron of horse and fourteen guns. The two corps are +virtually commanded by fiddlers and eunuchs at Court. Of the men +borne on the muster rolls and paid, not one-half are present; of +the number present, not one-half are fit for the duties of +soldiers; and of those fit for such duties, not one-half would +perform them. They get nominally four rupees a-month, liable to +numerous deductions, and they are obliged to provide their own +clothing, arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, except on occasions +of actual fighting, when they are entitled to powder and ball from +the Government officer under whom they are employed. He purchases +powder in the bazaars, or has it sent to him from Lucknow; and, in +either case, it is not more than one-third of the strength used by +our troops. It is made in villages and supplied to contractors, +whose only object is to get the article at the cheapest possible +rate; and that supplied to the most petted corps is altogether +unfit for service.</p> +<p>The arms with which they are expected to provide themselves are +a matchlock and sword. They are often ten or twelve months in +arrears, and obliged to borrow money for their own subsistence and +that of their families, at twenty-four per cent. interest. If they +are disabled, they have little chance of ever recovering the +arrears of pay due to them; and if they are killed, their families +have still less. Even the arms and accoutrements which they have +purchased with their own money are commonly seized by the officers +of Government, and sold for the benefit of the State. Under all +these disadvantages, the Nazim tells me that he thinks it very +doubtful whether any of the men of the two corps would fight at all +on emergency. The cavalry are still worse off, for they have to +subsist their horses, and if any man's horse should be disabled or +killed, he would be at once dismissed with just as little chance of +recovering the arrears of pay due to him. Of the fourteen guns, two +only are in a state fit for service. Bullocks are provided for six +out of fourteen, but they are hardly able to stand from want of +food, much less to draw heavy guns. I looked at them, and found +that they had had no grain for many years, and very little grass or +chaff, since none is allowed by Government for their use, and +little can be got by forage, or plunder, which is the same thing. +One seer and half of grain, or three pounds a-day for each bullock, +is allowed and paid for by Government, but the bullocks never get +any of it. Of the six best guns, for which he has draft bullocks, +the carriage of one went to pieces on the road yesterday, and that +of another went to pieces this-morning in my camp, in firing the +salute, and both guns now lie useless on the ground. He has one +mortar, but only two shells for it; and he has neither powder nor +ball for any of the guns. He was obliged to purchase in the bazaar +the powder required for the salute for the Resident.</p> +<p>The Nazim tells me, that he has entertained at his own cost two +thousand Nujeebs or Seobundies, on the same conditions as those on +which the others serve in the two Regiments, on duty under +him—that is, they are to get four rupees a-month each, and +furnish themselves with food, clothing, a matchlock, sword, +accoutrements, and ammunition, except on occasions of actual +fighting, when he is to provide them with powder and ball from the +bazaar. The minister, he tells me, promised to send him another +Nujeeb corps—the Futteh Jung—from Khyrabad; but he has +heard so bad an account of its discipline, that he might as well be +without it. All the great landholders see the helpless state of the +Nazim, and not only withhold from him the just dues of Government, +but seize upon and appropriate with impunity the estates of the small +proprietors in their neighbourhood.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 1, 1850.—Fourteen miles to Rae Bareilly, +over a plain with more than usual undulation, and the same +doomuteea light soil, tolerably cultivated, and well studded with +trees of the finest kind. The festoons of the bandha hang +gracefully from the branches, with their light green and yellow +leaves, and scarlet flowers, in the dark green foliage of the mango +and mhowa trees in great abundance. I saw them in no other, but +they are sometimes said to be found in the banyan, peepul, and +other trees, with large leaves, though not in the tamarind, babul, +and other trees, with small leaves. I examined those on the mango +and mhowa trees, and they are the same in leaf and flower, and are +said to be the same in whatever tree found. Rae Bareilly is in the +estate of Shunkurpoor, belonging to Rana Benee Madho, a large +landholder. He resides at Shunkurpoor, ten miles from this, and is +strong, and not very scrupulous in the acquisition, by fraud, +violence, and collusion, of the lands of the small proprietors in +the neighbourhood. I asked Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, as he +was riding by my side, this morning, whether he was not a man of +bad character. He said, "No, by no means; he is a man of great +possessions, credit, and influence, and of good repute." "But does +he not rob smaller proprietors of their hereditary lands?" "If," +replied the Rajah, "you estimate men's character in Oude on this +principle, you will find hardly any landholder of any rank with a +good one, for they have all been long doing the same +thing—all have been augmenting their own estates by absorbing +those of smaller proprietors, by what you will call fraud, +violence, and collusion, but they are not thought the worse of for +this by the Government or its officers." Nothing could be more +true. Men who augment their estates in this way, purchase the +acquiescence of temporary local officers, either by gratuities, or +promises of aid, in putting down other powerful and refractory +landholders; or they purchase the patronage of Court favourites, +who get their estates transferred to the "Hozoor Tehseel," and +their transgressions overlooked. Those who augment their resources +in this way, employ them in maintaining armed bands, building +forts, and purchasing cannon, to secure themselves in the +possession, and to resist the Government and its officers, who +might otherwise make them pay in some proportion to their +usurpations.</p> +<p>Benee Madho called upon me after breakfast, and gave me the +little of his history that I desired to hear. He is of the Byans +Rajpoot clan, and his ancestors have been settled in Oude for about +twenty-five generations, as landholders of different grades. The +tallook or estate now belongs to him, and is considered to be a +principality, to descend entire by the law of primogeniture, to the +nearest male heir, unless the lands become divided during his +life-time among his sons. Such a division has already taken place, +as will be seen by the annexed note :*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Abdool-Sing, the tallookdar of Shunkurpoor, had three sons; +first, Doorga Buksh, to whom he gave three shares; second, Chundha +Buksh, to whom he gave two shares; third, Bhowanee Buksh, to whom +he gave one and half share. The three shares of Doorga Buksh +descended to his son, Sheopersaud, who died without issue. Chunda +Buksh left two sons, Ramnaraen and Gor Buksh, Ramnaraen inherited +the three shares of Sheopersaud, as well as the two shares of his +father. He had three sons, Rana Benee Madho, Nirput Sing, and +Jogray Sing; Benee Madho inherited the three shares, and one of the +other two was given to Nirput Sing, and the other to Jogray Sing. +Gorbuksh Sing left one son, Sheopersaud, who gets the one and half +share of Bhowanee Buksh, whose son, Joorawun, died without issue. +Benee Madho is now the head of the family; and he has more than +quadrupled his three shares by absorptions, made in the way above +mentioned.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The three and half shares held by his brothers and cousins are +liable to subdivision by the Hindoo law of inheritance, or the +custom of his family and clan; but his own share must descend +undivided, unless he divides it during his lifetime, or his heirs +divide it during theirs, and consent to descend in the scale of +landholders. He says that, during the five years that Fakeer +Mahommed Khan was Nazim, a quarrel subsisted between him and the +tallookdar of Khujoor Gow, Rugonath Sing, his neighbour; that Sahib +Rae, the deputy of Fakeer Mahommed, who was himself no man of +business, adopted the cause of his enemy, and persuaded his master +to attack and rob him of all he had, turn him out of his estate, +and make it over to Rugonath Sing. He went to Lucknow for redress, +and remained there urging his claims for fourteen months, when he +got an order from the minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, for the estate +being restored to him and transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel. He +recovered his possessions, and the transfer was made; and he has +ever since lived in peace. He might have added that he has been, at +the same time, diligently employed in usurping the possessions of +his weaker neighbours.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Benee Madho and Rugonath Sing have since quarrelled about the +title of Rana. Benee Madho assumed the title, and Rugonath wished +to do the same, but Benee Madho thought this would derogate from +his dignity. They had some fighting, but Rugonath at last gave in, +and Benee Madho purchased, from the Court a recognition of his +exclusive right to the title, which is a new one in Oude. They had +each a force of five thousand brave men, besides numerous +auxiliaries.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On our road, two miles from Rae Bareilly, we passed over a +bridge on the Saee river, built by <i>Reotee Ram</i>, the deputy of +the celebrated eunuch, Almas Allee Khan, some sixty or seventy +years ago. He at the same time planted an avenue of fine trees from +Salone to Rae Bareilly, twenty miles; and from Rae Bareilly to +Dalamow, on the Ganges, south, a distance of fourteen miles more. +Many of the trees are still standing and very fine; but the greater +part have been cut down during the contests that have taken place +between the Government officers and the landholders, or between the +landholders themselves. The troops in attendance upon local +government authorities have, perhaps, been the greatest enemies to +this avenue, for they spare nothing of value, either in exchange or +esteem, that they have the power to take. The Government and its +officers feel no interest in such things, and the family of the +planter has no longer the means to protect the trees or repair the +works.</p> +<p>Rae Bareilly is the head-quarters of the local authorities in +the Byswara district, and is considered to be one of the most +healthy places in Oude. It is near the bank of the small river +Saee, in a fine, open plain of light soil, and must be dry at all +seasons, as the drainage is good; and there are no jheels or +jungles near. It would be an excellent cantonment for a large +force, and position for large civil establishments. The town is a +melancholy ruin, and the people tell me that whatever landholder in +the district quarrels with the local authorities is sure, as his +first enterprise, to sack <i>Rae Bareilly</i>, as there is no +danger in doing it. The inhabitants live so far from each other, +and are separated by such heaps of ruins and deep water-courses, +that they can make no resistance. The high walls and buildings, all +of burnt brick, erected in the time of Shahjehan, are all gone to +ruin. The plain, around the town, is open, level, well cultivated, +and beautifully studded with trees. There is a fine tank of puckah +masonry to the north-west of the town, built by the same Reotee +Ram, and repaired by some member of his family, who holds and keeps +in good order the pretty garden around it. The best place for a +cantonment, courts, &c., is the plain which separates the town +from the river Saee to the south-east: they should extend along +from the town to the bridge over the Saee river. The water of this +river is said to be excellent, though not quite equal to that of +the Ganges. There is good water in most of the wells, but in some +it is said to be brackish. The bridge requires repair.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 2, 1850.—We halted at Rae Bareilly, and I +inspected the bullocks belonging to the guns of Sobha Sing's +regiment and some guns belonging to the Nazim. The bullocks have +been starved, are hardly able to walk, and quite unfit for any +work. Some of the carriages of the guns are broken down, and those +that are still entire are so rotten that they could not bear a +march. This regiment of Sobha Sing's was as good as any of those +commanded by Captains Magness, Bunbury, and Barlow, while commanded +by the late Captain Buckley;* and the native officers and sipahees +trained under him are all still excellent, but they are not well +provided. Like the others, this regiment was to have had guns +permanently attached to it, but the want of Court influence has +prevented this. They now have them only when sent on service from +one or other of the batteries at Lucknow, and the consequence is +that they are good for nothing. Sobha Sing is at Court, in +attendance on the minister; and his adjutant, Bhopaul Sing, a near +relative of the Rajah of Mynpooree, commands: he seems to be a good +soldier, and an honest and respectable man.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Captain Buckley was the son of Colonel Buckley, of the +Honourable Company's service, a good soldier and faithful servant +of the Oude Government. His mother, widow, and son, were left +destitute; but on my earnest recommendation, the King granted the +lad a pension of fifty rupees a-month.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Nazim has with him this one <i>Komukee</i>, or auxiliary +regiment, and half of three regiments of Nujeebs, amounting, +according to the pay abstracts and muster-rolls, to fifteen hundred +men. He has one hundred cavalry and seven guns, of which one only +is fit for use, and for that one he has neither stores nor +ammunition. He was obliged to purchase in the bazaar the powder and +cloth required to make up the cartridges for a salute for the +Resident. Of the fifteen hundred Nujeebs not two-thirds are +present, and of these hardly one-half are efficient: they are paid, +armed, clothed, and provided like the corps of Nujeebs placed under +the other local officers. The tallookdars of the districts have not +as yet presented themselves to the Nazim, but they have sent their +agents, and, with few exceptions, shown a disposition to pay their +revenues. The chief landholder in the district is Rambuksh, of +Dondeea Kherah, a town, with a fort, on the bank of the river +Ganges. He holds five of the purgunnahs as hereditary +possessions:—1, Bhugwuntnuggur; 2, Dondeea Kherah; 3, +Mugraen; 4, Punheen; 5, Ghutumpoor. The present Nazim has put all +five under the management of Government officers, as the only safe +way to get the revenues, as Rambuksh is a bad paymaster. Had he not +been so, as well to his <i>own retainer</i> as to the <i>King's +officers</i>, the Nazim would not have been able to do this. It is +remarked as a singular fact among Rajpoot landholders that Rambuksh +wants courage himself, and is too niggardly to induce others to +fight for him with spirit. The last Nazim, Hamid Allee, a weak and +inexperienced man, dared not venture upon such a measure to enforce +payment of balances.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Rambuksh recovered the management of his estate, and had it +transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel: but he failed in the payment of +the expected gratuities; and in April, 1851, he was attacked by a +large force, and driven across the Ganges, into British territory. +He had gone off on the pretence of a visit to some shrine, and his +followers would not fight. The fort was destroyed, and estate +confiscated. He is still, January, 1851, negotiating for the +purchase of both, and will succeed, as he has plenty of money at +command. The King's troops employed committed all manner of +atrocities upon the poor peasantry: many men were murdered, many +women threw themselves down in wells, after they had been +dishonoured; and all were indiscriminately plundered.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He married the daughter of Fuzl Allee, the prime minister for +fifteen months, during which time he made a fortune of some thirty +or thirty-five lacs of rupees, twelve of which Hamid Allee's wife +got. He was persuaded by Gholam Allee, his deputy, and others, that +he might aspire to be prime minister at Lucknow if he took a few +districts in farm, to establish his character and influence. In the +farm of these districts he has sunk his own fortune and that of his +wife, and is still held to be a defaulter to the amount of some +eighteen lacs, and is now in gaol. This balance he will wipe off in +time in the usual manner: he will beg and borrow to pay a small sum +to the Treasury, and four times the amount in gratuities to the +minister, and other persons, male and female, of influence at +Court. The rest will be struck off as irrecoverable, and he will be +released. He was a man respected at Delhi, as well on account of +his good character as on that of his wealth; but he is here only +pitied as an ambitious fool.</p> +<p>The wakeel, on the part of the King, with the Resident, has been +uniting his efforts to those of Hoseyn Buksh,* the present Nazim of +Salone, to prevail upon Rajah Hunmunt Sing, the tallookdar of +Dharoopoor, to consent to pay an addition of ten or fifteen +thousand rupees to the present demand of one hundred and sixteen +thousand rupees a-year for his estate. He sturdily refused, under +the assurance of the good offices of Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, who has +hitherto supported him. Among other things urged by him to account +for his inability to pay is the obligation he is under to +liquidate, by annual instalments, a balance due to Bukhtawar Sing; +himself, when he held the contract of the district many years ago. +Bukhtawar Sing acknowledges the receipt of the instalments, and +declares that they are justly due; but these payments are, in +reality, nothing more than gratuities, paid for his continued good +offices with the minister and Dewan.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Hoseyn Buksh was killed in March following, by the followers +of a female landholder, whom he was trying to coerce into payment. +He was killed by a cannon shot through the chest, while engaged in +the siege of Shahmow, held by Golab Kour, the widow of Rajah Dirguj +Sing, who had succeeded to the estate, and would not or could not +pay her revenue.</p> +<p>A few days before, Hoseyn Buksh attached the crops of another +tallookdar, Seodut Sing, of Dhunawan, who would pay no revenue. A +body of the King's cavalry was sent to guard the crops, but the +tallookdar drove them off, and killed one and wounded another. +Hoseyn Buksh then sent a regiment, the Futtehaesh, a corps of his +own Seobundies, and six guns, to coerce the tallookdar. Two guns +were mounted on one battery, under the Futtehaesh regiment, and +four on another, under the Seobundies. A crowd of armed peasants +attacked the battery with the two guns, drove back the regiment, +captured the guns, and fired upon the soldiers as they fled. They +then attacked the battery with the four guns, and the Seobundies +fled, taking their guns with them for four miles. In their flight +they had three men killed, and twelve wounded. Hoseyn Buksh, on +hearing this, sent his whole force, under his brother, Allee Buksh, +to avenge the insult. Seodut, thinking he could not prudently hold +out any longer, evacuated his fort during the night, and retired, +and Hoseyn Buksh took possession of the fort, and recovered his two +guns. His successor restored both Seodut and the widow, Golab Kour, +to their estates, on their own terms, after trying in vain to +arrest them.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>While Dursun Sing, and his brother, Bukhtawar, held the contract +of Salone, the estate was put under management, and yielded one +hundred and seventy-four thousand rupees a-year, out of which they +allowed a deduction, on account of nankar, or subsistence, of some +twenty thousand. The Rajah and Bukhtawar Sing urge that this was, +for the most part, paid out of the property left by Byree Saul, to +whom Himmut Sing succeeded; and that the estate can now be made to +yield only one hundred and sixteen thousand, from which is to be +deducted a nankar of forty thousand. They offer him a deduction of +this forty thousand, out of a rent-roll rated at one hundred and +thirty thousand; and threaten him with the vengeance of his Majesty +if he refuses. He looks at their military force and smiles. The +agents of all the tallookdars, who are in attendance on the Nazim, +do the same. They know that they are strong, and see that the +Government is weak, and they cease to respect its rights and +orders. They see at the same time that the Government and its +officers regard less the rights than the strength of the +landholders; and, from fear, favour the strong while they oppress +and crush the weak.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Rajah Hunmunt Sing afterwards brought the contractor to +consent to take the same rate as had been paid to his predecessor; +but he was obliged to pay above six thousand rupees in +gratuities.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>January</i> 3, 1850.—Gorbuksh Gunge, <i>alias</i> Onae, +fourteen miles. The soil of the country over which we came is +chiefly a light doomuteea; but there is a good deal of what they +call bhoor, or soil in which sand superabounds. The greater part +belongs to the estate of Benee Madho, and is admirably cultivated, +and covered with a great variety of crops. The country is better +peopled than any other part that we have seen since we recrossed +the Goomtee. We passed through several villages, the people of +which seemed very happy. But their habitations had the same +wretched appearance—naked mud walls, with invisible mud +coverings. The people told me that they could not venture to use +thatched or tiled roofs, for the King's troops, on duty with the +local authorities, always took them away, when they had any. They +were, they said, well secured from all other enemies by their +landlord. Bhopaul Sing, acting commandant of Sobha Sing's Regiment, +riding with me, said,-"Nothing can be more true than what the +people tell you, sir; but the <i>Koomukee</i> Regiments, of which +mine is one, have tents provided for them, which none of the Nujeeb +and other corps have, and in consequence, these corps never take +the choppers of the peasantry for their accommodations. The +peasantry, however, always suffer more or less even from the +Koomukee corps, sir, for they have to forage for straw, wood, fuel, +bhoosa, &c., like the rest, and to take it wherever they can +find it. When we have occasion to attack, or lay siege to a +stronghold, all the roofs, doors, and windows of the people are, of +course, taken to form scaling-ladders, batteries, &c.; and it +is lamentable, sir, to see the desolation created around, after +even a very short siege."</p> +<p>Rajah Hunmunt Sing and Benee Madho were riding with me, and when +we had passed through a large crowd of seemingly happy peasantry in +one village, I asked Benee Madho (whose tenants they were), whether +they would all have to follow his fortunes if he happened to take +up arms against the Government.</p> +<p>"Assuredly," said he, "they would all be bound in honour to +follow me, or to desert their lands at least."</p> +<p>"And if they did not, I suppose you would deem it a <i>point of +honour</i> to plunder them?"</p> +<p>"That he assuredly would," said Rajah Hunmunt Sing; "and make +them the first victims."</p> +<p>"And if any of them fell fighting on his side, would he think it +a <i>point of honour</i> to-provide for their families?"</p> +<p>"That we all do," said he; "they are always provided for, and +taken the greatest possible care of."</p> +<p>"And if any one is killed in fighting for the King?"</p> +<p>They did not reply to this question, but the adjutant, Bhopaul +Sing, said,—"his family would be left to shift for +themselves,—no one asks a question about them."</p> +<p>"This," observed Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, "is one of the great +sources of the evil that exists in Oude. How can men be expected to +expose their lives when they know that no care will be taken of +their families if they are killed or disabled?"</p> +<p>It is the rule to give a disabled man one month's pay and +dismiss him; and to give the family of any one killed in the +service two months' pay. But, though the King is charged for this, +it is seldom that the wounded man, or the family of the killed, get +any portion of it. On the contrary, the arrears of pay due-which +are at all times great—are never paid to the disabled +sipahee, or the family of the sipahee killed. If issued from the +Treasury, they are appropriated by the commandants and their +friends at Court; and the arms and accoutrements, which the +deceased has purchased with his own money, are commonly sold for +the benefit of the State or its officers.</p> +<p>They mentioned, that the family of the person who planted a +mango-tree, or grove, continued to hold it as their exclusive +property in perpetuity; but, that the person who held the mhowa +trees, was commonly expected to pay to the landlord, where there +was one, and to the Government officers, where there was not, a +duty amounting to from four annas to two rupees a-year for each +tree, according to its fruitfulness—that the proprietor often +sold the fruit of one tree for twenty rupees the season. The fruit +of one mango-tree has, indeed, often been sold for a hundred rupees +the season, where the mangoes are of a quality much esteemed, and +numerous. The groves and fine solitary trees, on the lands we have +to-day passed through, are more numerous than usual; and the +country being undulating and well cultivated, the scenery is +beautiful; but, as everywhere else, it is devoid of all +architectural beauty in works of ornament or utility—not even +a comfortable habitation is anywhere to be seen. The great +landholders live at a distance from the road, and in forts or +strongholds. These are generally surrounded by fences of living +bamboos, which are carefully kept up as the best possible defence +against attacks. The forts are all of mud, and when the walls are +exposed to view they look ugly. The houses of the peasants in the +villages are, for the most part, covered with mud, from which the +water is carried off, by tubes of wood or baked clay, about two +feet long. There are parapets around the roof a foot or two high, +so that it cannot be seen, and a village appears to be a mass of +dead mud walls, which have been robbed of their thatched or tiled +roofs. Most of the tubes used for carrying off the water from the +roofs, are the simple branches of the palm-tree, without their +leaves.</p> +<p>Among the peasantry we saw a great many sipahees, from our +Native Infantry Regiments, who have come home on furlough to their +families. From the estate of Rajah Hunmunt Sing, in the Banoda +district, there are one thousand sipahees in our service. From that +of Benee Madho, in the Byswara district, there are still more. They +told us that they and their families were very happy, and they +seemed to be so; but Hunmunt Sing said, they were a privileged +class, who gave much trouble and annoyance, and were often the +terror of their non-privileged neighbours and co-sharers in the +land. Benee Madho, as I have stated above, sometimes makes use of +his wealth, power, and influence, to rob his weaker neighbours of +their estates. The lands on which we are encamped he got two years +ago from their proprietor, Futteh Bahader, by foreclosing a +mortgage, in which he and others had involved him. The gunge or +bazaar, close to our tents, was established by Gorbuksh, the uncle +of Futteh Bahader, and became a thriving emporium under his +fostering care; but it has gone to utter ruin under his nephew, and +heir, and the mortgagee. The lands around, however, could never +have been better cultivated than they are; nor the cultivators +better protected or encouraged. It rained slightly before sunset +yesterday, and heavily between three and four this morning; but not +so as to prevent our marching.</p> +<p>This morning, a male elephant belonging to Benee Madho killed +one of his attendants near to our camp. He had three attendants, +the driver and two subordinates. The driver remained in camp, while +the two attendants took the elephant to a field of sugar-cane, to +bring home a supply of the cane for his fodder for the day. A third +subordinate had gone on to cut the cane and bind it into bundles. +One of the two was on the neck of the elephant, and another walking +by the side, holding one of the elephant's teeth in his left hand +all the way to the field, and he seemed very quiet. The third +attendant brought the bundles, and the second handed them up to the +first on the back to be stowed away. When they had got up about a +dozen, the elephant made a rush at the third attendant, who was +bringing the bundles, threw him to the ground with his foot, knelt +down upon him, and crushed him to death with his front. The second +attendant ran off as soon as he saw the elephant make a rush at the +third; and the first fell off under the bundles of sugar-cane, as +soon as the elephant knelt down to crush the third to death. When +the elephant rose from the poor man, he did not molest, or manifest +any wish to molest either of the other two, but stood still, +watching the dead body. The first, seeing this, ventured to walk up +to him, to take him by the ear and ask him what he meant. At first +he seemed surly, and shoved the man off, and he became alarmed, and +retired a few paces; but seeing the elephant show no further signs +of anger, he again walked up, and took him by the ear familiarly. +Had he ran or shown any signs of fear, the elephant would, he +thought, have killed him also, for he had killed three men in the +service of his former proprietor, and was now in his annual fit of +madness, or must. Holding the elephant by the ear, he led him to +the first tree, and placed himself on the opposite side to see +whether the animal had become quite sober. Seeing that he had, he +again approached, and put upon his two forelegs the chain fetters, +which they always have with them, suspended to some part of the +body of elephants in this state. He could not venture to command +the elephant to kneel down in the usual way, that he might get upon +his neck; and, ascending the tree, he let himself down from one of +the branches upon his back, where he sat. He then made the animal +walk on in fetters, towards camp, and on the way, met the mahout, +or driver, to whom the second attendant had reported the accident. +The driver came up, and, after the usual volume of abuse on the +elephant, his mother, father, and sundry female relations, he +ordered the attendant to make him sit down that he might get on his +neck. He did so in fear and trembling, and the driver got on his +neck, while the attendant sat on his back, and the elephant took +them to Benee Madho's village, close to my camp, where he was +fastened in chains to a tree, to remain for some months on reduced +allowances, till he should get over his madness. The body of the +poor man was burnt with the usual ceremonies, and the first +attendant told me, that his family would be provided for by Benee +Madho, as a matter of course.</p> +<p>I asked him how he or any other person could be found to attend +a beast of that kind? Pointing to his stomach, he said—"We +poor people are obliged to risk our lives for this, in all manner +of ways; to attend elephants has been always my profession, and +there is no other open to me; and we make up our minds to do +whatever our duties require from us, and trust to Providence." He +told me that when the elephant shoved him off, he thought that in +his anger he might have forgotten him, and called out as loud as he +could,—"What, have you forgotten a service of six years, and do +you intend to kill the man who has fed you so long?" That the beast +seemed to recollect his voice and services, and became, at once, +quiet and docile—"that had he not so called out, and reminded +the animal of his long services, he thought he should have been +killed; that the driver came, armed with a spear, and showed himself +more angry than afraid, as the safest plan in such cases."</p> +<p>Dangerous as the calling of the elephant-driver is, that of the +snake-keepers, in the King's service, seems still greater. He has +two or three very expert men of this kind, whose duty it is to +bring him the snakes, when disposed to look at them, and see the +effects of their poison on animals. They handle the most venomous, +with apparently as much carelessness as other men handle +fighting-cocks or quail. When bitten, as they sometimes are, they +instantly cut into the part, and suck out the poison, or get their +companions to suck it out when they can't reach the part with their +own mouths. But they depend chiefly upon their wonderful dexterity +in warding off the stoops or blows of the snakes, as they twist +them round their necks and limbs with seeming carelessness. While +they are doing so, the eye of the spectator can hardily detect the +<i>stoops</i> of the one and the guards of the other. After playing +in this way with the most venomous snakes, they apply them to the +animals. Elephants have died from their bites in a few +hours—smaller animals sooner. I have never, myself, seen the +experiments, but any one may see them at the palace. Elephants and +the larger animals are too expensive to be often experimented +on.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 4, 1850.—Halted at the village of Onae, +alias Gorbuksh Gunge. It lost the name of Onae, after the +proprietor, Gorbuksh, who had built the Gunge, and made it a great +emporium of trade in corn, cotton cloth, &c.; but is recovering +it again, now that the Gunge has become a ruin, and the family of +the builder has been dispossessed of the lands. I rode out in the +morning to look at the neighbouring village of Doolarae-ka Gurhee, +or the fort of Doolarae, and have some talk with the peasantry, who +are Bys Rajpoots, of one of the most ancient Rajpoot families in +Oude. They told me,—"That their tribe was composed of two +great families, Nyhussas and Synbunsies—that the acknowledged +head of the Synbunsies was, at present, Rugonath Sing, of Kojurgow, +and that Hindpaul, tallookdar of Korree Sudowlee, was the head of +the Nyhussas; that Baboo Rambuksh, tallookdar of Dhondeea Kheera, +had the title of Row, and Dirg Bijee Sing, tallookdar of Morarmow, +that of Rajah—that is, he was the acknowledged Rajah of the +clan, and Baboo Rambuksh, the Row, an inferior grade—that +these families had been always fighting with each other, for the +possession of each others lands, from the time their ancestors came +into Oude, a thousand years ago, except when they were united in +resistance against the common enemy, the governor or ruler of the +country—that one family got weak by the subdivision of the +lands, among many sons or brothers, or by extravagance, or +misfortune, while another became powerful, by keeping the lands +undivided, and by parsimony and prudence; and the strong increased +their possessions by seizing upon the lands of the weak, by +violence, fraud or collusion with the local authorities—that +the same thing had been going on among them for a thousand years, +with some brief intervals, during which the rulers of Oude managed, +by oppression, to unite them all against themselves, or by +prudence, to keep them all to their respective rights and +duties—that Doolarae, who gave his name to the village, by +building the fort, was of the Nyhussa family, and left two sons, +and only two villages, Gurhee and Agoree, out of a very large +estate, the rest having been lost in the contests with the other +families of the tribe—that these two had become minutely +subdivided among their descendants: and Bhugwan Das, Synbunsee of +Simree, four years ago, seized upon the Gurhee, in collusion with +the local authorities; that Thakoor Buksh Nyhussa, talookdar of +Rahwa seized upon Agoree in the same way that the local authorities +designedly assessed these villages at a higher rate than they could +be made to pay, and then, for a bribe, transferred them to the +powerful tallookdars, on account of default."</p> +<p>Gorbuksh Sing, Synbunsee, died some twenty years ago, leaving an +estate, reduced from a greater number to ninety-three villages. His +nephew, Futteh Bahader, a child, was adopted by his widow, who +continued to manage the whole till she died, four years after. The +heir was still a boy; and Rugonath Sing, of Kojurgow, the head of +the Synbunsee family, took advantage of his youth, seized upon the +whole ninety-three villages, and turned him out to beg subsistence +among his relatives. In this he, Rugonath Sing, was, as usual, +acting in collusion with the local authorities of the Government. +He continued to possess the estate for ten years, but to reside in +his fort of Hajeepoor. Koelee Sing, a Guhlote, by caste, and a +zumeendar of Bheeturgow, and its eight dependent villages, which +formed part of the estate of Futteh Bahader, went to Court at +Lucknow, and represented, that Rugonath Sing had no right whatever +to the lands he held, and the Court had better make them over to +him and the other zumeendars, if they did not like to restore them +to their rightful heir. Bheeturgow and its dependent eight +villages, were made over to him; and ten sipahees, from Captain +Hyder Hearsey's Regiment, were sent to establish and support him in +possession. Rugonath attacked them, killed two of the sipahees, and +drove out Koelee Sing. He repaired to Court; and Mahomed Khan was +sent out, as Special Commissioner, with orders to punish Rugonath +Sing. He and Captain Hearsey attacked him in his fort of Hajeepoor, +drove him out, and restored Futteh Bahader, to twenty-four +villages; and re-established Koelee Sing, in Bheeturgow, and the +eight villages dependent upon it. Futteh Bahader was poor, and was +obliged to tender the security of Benee Madho, the wealthy +tallookdar of this place, for the punctual payment of the revenue. +The year before last, when a balance of revenue became due, he, the +deputy, in collusion with Gholam Allee, seized upon all the +twenty-four villages.</p> +<p>Futteh Bahader went to seek redress at Lucknow, but had no money +to pay his way at Court, while Benee Madho had abundance, and used +it freely, to secure the possession of so fine an addition to his +estate. Futteh Bahader, as his last resource, got his uncle, Bustee +Sing, of the 3rd Cavalry, whom he called his father,* to present a +petition for redress to the Resident, in April 1849. Gholam Allee +was ordered to release Futteh Bahader, whom Benee Madho had +confined, and send him to Lucknow. The order was not obeyed, and it +was repeated in December without effect; but his uncle's agent, +Gorbuksh, was diligent at the Residency, and the case was made over +for investigation and decision to the Ameen, Mahomed Hyat. Finding +Futteh Bahader still in confinement, with sundry members of his +family, when I came here yesterday, I ordered him to be made over +to the King's wakeel, in attendance upon me, to be sent to the +Court, to prosecute his claim, and produce proofs of his right. Of +his right there can be no question, and the property of which he +was robbed, in taking possession, and the rents since received, if +duly accounted for, would more than cover any balance due by Futteh +Bahader. When he gave the security of Benee Madho, for the payment +of the revenue, he gave, at the same time, what is called the Jumog +of his villages to him; that is, bound his tenants to pay to him +their rents at the rate they were pledged to pay to him; and the +question pending is, simply, what is fairly due to Benee Madho, +over and above what he may have collected from them. Benee Madho +had before, by the usual process of violence, fraud, and collusion, +taken eighteen of the ninety-three villages, and got one for a +servant; and all the rest had, by the same process, got into the +possession of others; and Futteh Bahader had not an acre left when +his uncle interposed his good offices with the Resident.** The dogs +of the village of Doolarae-kee Gurhee followed us towards camp, and +were troublesome to the horses and my elephant. I asked the +principal zumeendar why they were kept. He said they amused the +children of the village, who took them out after the hares, and by +their aid and that of the sticks with which they armed themselves, +they got a good many; that all they got for food was the last +mouthful of every man's dinner, which no man was sordid enough to +grudge them—that when they wished to describe a very sordid +man, they said—"he would not even throw his last mouthful +(koura) to a dog!"</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* He called Bustee Sing his <i>father</i>, as sipahees can seek +redress through the Resident, for wrongs suffered by no others than +their mothers, fathers, their children, and themselves.]</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote> +<p>[** A punchaet was assembled at Lucknow, to decide the suit +between Benee Madho and Futteh Bahader, at the instance of the +Resident: and they awarded to Benee Madho a balance due on account +of thirty thousand rupees, which Futteh Bahader has to pay before +he can recover possession of his estate.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>January</i> 5, 1851.—Halted at Onae, in consequence of +continued rain, which incommodes us, but delights the landholders +and cultivators, whose crops will greatly benefit by it. The +halting of so large a camp inconveniences them, however, much more +than us; for they are called upon to supply us with wood, grass, +and straw, for which they receive little or no payment; for the +Kings people will not let us pay for these things, and pay too +little themselves. Those who attend us do not plunder along the +road; but the followers of the local authorities, who attend us, +through their respective jurisdictions, do so; and sundry fields of +fine carrots and other vegetables disappear, as under a flight of +locusts along the road. The camp-followers assist them, and as our +train extends from the ground we leave to that to which we are +going, for twelve or fourteen miles, it is impossible, altogether, +to prevent such injuries from so undisciplined a band. The people, +however, say, they suffer much less than they would from one-fourth +of the number under a contractor marching without an European +superior, and I give compensation in flagrant cases. Captain Weston +acts as our Provost Marshal. He leaves the ground an hour or two +after I do, and seizes and severely punishes any one found +trespassing.</p> +<p>In my ride this morning I found that Nyhussa and Synbunsee are +two villages distant about ten miles from our camp, to the +south-east—that all the Byses, who give the name of Byswara +to this large district, are called Tilokchundees, from Tilokchund, +the founder of the family in Oude. He had two sons, <i>Hurhur +Deo</i> and <i>Prethee Chund</i>. Hurhur Deo had two sons, one of +whom, Kurun Rae, established himself in Nyhussa, and the other, +Khem Kurun, in Synbunsee. Their descendants have taken their titles +from their respective villages. Prethee Chund's descendants +established themselves in other parts, and the descendants of both +bear the appellation of Tilokchundee Byses. The Rajahs and Rows are +of the same family, and are so called from their ancestors having, +at some time, had the title of Rajah and Row conferred upon +them.</p> +<p>Rajah Seodursun Sing, of Simrotee, who resides in the village of +Chundapoor upon his estate, four miles east of Bulla, has been with +me for the last five days. He is a strong man, and has been +refractory occasionally; but at present he pays his revenue +punctually, and keeps his estate in good order. He rendered good +service yesterday in the way in which all of his class might, by +good management, be made to aid the government of Oude. A ruffian, +by name Mohiboollah, who had been a trooper in the King of Oude's +service, contrived to get the lease of the estate of Bulla, which +is about twenty miles north-east from our camp; and turning out all +the old landholders and cultivators, he there raised a gang of +robbers, to plunder his neighbours and travellers. He had been only +two months in possession, when he attacked the house of an old +invalid subadar-major of the Honourable Company's service, +(fifty-seventh Native Infantry,) on the 21st of December, 1849, +robbed him of all he had, and confined him and all his family, till +he promised, under good security, to pay, within twenty days, a +ransom of one thousand two hundred rupees more. He had demanded a +good deal more, but hearing that the Resident's camp was +approaching, he consented to take this sum four days ago, and +released all his prisoners. The subadar presented a petition to me, +and, after taking the depositions of the old zumeendars and other +witnesses, I requested the king's wakeel, to send off a company of +Soubha Sing's Regiment, to arrest him and his gang.</p> +<p>They went off from Rae Bareilly on the night of the 1st instant; +but, finding that the subadar-major and his family had been +released the day before, and that the village was full of armed +men, ready to resist, they returned on the evening of the 2nd. On +the 3rd, the whole regiment, with its artillery, and three hundred +auxiliaries, under Rajah Seodursun Sing, left my camp, at Onae, at +midnight, and before daylight surrounded the village. There were +about one hundred and fifty armed men in it; and, after a little +bravado, they all surrendered, and were brought to me. Mohiboollah +had, however, gone off, on the pretence of collecting his rents, +two days before; but his father and brother were among the +prisoners. All who were recognised as having been engaged in the +robbery, were sent off prisoners to Lucknow, and the rest were +disarmed and released.</p> +<p>Among those detained were some notorious robbers, and the gang +would soon have become very formidable but for the accident of my +passing near. He had got the lease of the estate through the +influence of Akber-od Dowlah, one of the Court favourites, for the +sole purpose of converting it into a den of robbers; and, the +better to secure this object, he had got it transferred from the +jurisdiction of the Nazim to the Hozoor Tehseel, over the manager +of which the Court favourite had paramount influence. He was to +share with his client the fruits of his depredations, and, in +return, to secure him impunity for his crimes. Many of his +retainers were among the prisoners brought in to me, having been +present at the distribution of the large booty acquired from the +old subadar, some thirty or forty thousand rupees. The subadar had +resided upon the estate of Seodursun Sing; but having, seven years +ago complained through the Resident of over-exactions for the small +patch of land he held, and got back the grain which had been +attacked for the rent, he was obliged to give it up and reside in +the hamlet he afterwards occupied near Bulla, whose zumeendars +assured him of protection.* He had a large family, and a great deal +of property in money and other valuables concealed under ground. +Mohiboollah first seized and sent off the subadar, and then had +ramrods made red-hot and applied to the bodies of the children till +the females gave him all their ornaments, and pointed out to him +all the hidden treasures: they were then all taken to Bulla and +confined till the subadar had pledged himself to pay the ransom +demanded.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The greater part of this property is understood to have been +confided, in trust, to the old subadar, by some other minion of the +Court, and the chief object of the gang was to get hold of it; as +their patron, Akber-od Dowlah, had become aware that his +fellow-minion had intrusted his wealth to the old subadar, after he +had taken up his residence near Bulla. The estate was made over, in +farm, to Benee Madho, as the best man to cope with Mohiboollah, +should he return and form a new gang.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I requested the King to take the estate from this ruffian and +restore it to its old proprietors, whose family had held it for +several centuries, or bestow it in lease to some other strong and +deserving person.</p> +<p>The Tilokchundee Byses take the daughters of other Rajpoots, who +are a shade lower in caste, in marriage for their sons, but do not +give their daughters in marriage to them in return. They have a +singular notion that no snake ever has destroyed or ever can +destroy one of the family, and seem to take no precautions against +its bite. If bitten by a snake they do not attempt any remedy, nor +could Benee Madho recollect any instance of a Tilokchundee Bysee +having died from a bite. He tells me that some families in every +Rajpoot tribe in Oude destroy their female infants to avoid the +cost of marrying them, though the King prohibited infanticide and +suttee in the year 1833. That infanticide does still prevail among +almost all the Rajpoot tribes in Oude is unquestionable.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 6, 1850.—Yesterday evening we moved to +Omrowa West, [Transcriber's note: this appears to be a misspelling +for Morowa West] a distance of twelve miles, over a plain of bad +oosur soil, scantily cultivated near the road. To the left and +right of the road, at a little distance, there are some fine +villages, thickly peopled, and situated in fine and well-cultivated +soil. The country is well wooded, except in the worst parts of the +soil, where trees do not thrive. We saw a great deal of sugar-cane +in the distance and a few pawn-gardens. The population of the +villages came to the high road to see us pass; and among them were +a great many native officers and sipahees of our Regiments, who are +at their homes on furlough, Government having given a very large +portion of the native army the indulgence of furlough during the +present cold season. They all seemed happy; but, to my discomfort, +a vast number take advantage of this furlough and my movements to +urge their claims against the Government, its officers, and +subjects. Nothing can be more wretched than the appearance of the +buildings in which the people of all grades live in these +villages—mud walls without any appearance of coverings, and +doors and windows worse than I have seen in any other part of +India. Better would not be safe against the King's troops, and +these would certainly not be safe against a slight storm; a good +shower and a smart breeze would level the whole of the villages +with the ground in a few hours. "But," said the people, "the mud +would remain, and we could soon raise up the houses again without +the aid of masons, carpenters, or blacksmiths." It is enough that +they are used to them.</p> +<p>Morowa is a large town, well situated and surrounded with groves +of the finest trees in great variety; and, to the surprise of the +officers with me, they saw a respectable house of burnt brick. It +belongs to the most substantial banker and agricultural capitalist +in these parts, <i>Chundun Lal</i>. These capitalists and their +families are, generally, more safe than others, as their aid is +necessary to the Government and its officers, and no less so to the +landholders, cultivators, and people of all classes. Their wealth +consists in their credit in different parts of India; and he who +has most of it may have little at his house to tempt the robber, +while the Government officers stand generally too much in daily +need of his services and mediation to molest him. A pledge made by +these officers to landholders and cultivators, or to these officers +by such persons, is seldom considered safe or binding till the +respectable banker or capitalist has ratified it by his mediation, +to which all refer with confidence.</p> +<p>He understands the characters and means of all, and will not +venture to ratify any pledge till he is assured of both the +disposition and ability of the party to fulfil it. Chundun Lal is +one of the most respectable of this class in Oude. He resides at +this place, Morowa, but has a good landed estate in our +territories, and banking establishments at Cawnpoor and many other +of our large stations. He is a very sensible, well-informed man, +but not altogether free from the ailing of his class—a +disposition to abuse the confidence of the Government officers; +and, in collusion with them, to augment his possessions in land at +the cost of his weaker neighbours.</p> +<p>I am told here that the Tilokchund Byses, when bitten by a +snake, do sometimes condescend to apply a remedy. They have a +vessel full of water suspended above the head of the sufferer, with +a small tube at the bottom, from which water is poured gently on +the head as long as he can bear it. The vent is then stopped till +the patient is equal to bear more; and this is repeated four or +five times till the sufferer recovers. I have not yet heard of any +one dying under the operation, or from the bite of a snake. I find +no one that has ever heard of a member of this family dying of the +bite of a snake. One of the Rajahs of this family, who called on me +to-day, declared that no member of his family had ever been known +to die of such a bite, and he could account for it only "from their +being descended from Salbahun, the rival and conqueror of +Bickermajeet, of Ojein."</p> +<p>This Salbahun* is said to have been a lineal descendant of the +<i>sake-god!</i> He told me that the females of this family could +never wear cotton cloth of any colour but plain white; that when +they could not afford to wear silk or satin they never wore +anything but the piece of white cotton cloth which formed, in one, +the waistband, petticoat, and mantle, or robe (the dhootee and +loongree), without hemming or needlework of any kind whatever. +Those who can afford to wear silk or satin wear the petticoat and +robe, or mantle of that material, and of any colour. On their +ankles they can wear nothing but silver, and above the ankles, +nothing but gold; and if not, nothing, not even silver, except on +the feet and ankles. No Hindoo of respectability, however high or +wealthy, can wear anything more valuable than silver below the +waist. The Tilokchundee Byses can never condescend to hold the +plough; and if obliged to serve, they enlist in the army or other +public establishments of the Oude or other States.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Salbahun must have been one of the leaders of the Scythian +armies, who conquered India in the reign of Vickramadittea.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The late governor of this district, Hamid Allee Khan, is now, as +I have already stated, in prison, as a great defaulter, at Lucknow. +He was a weak and inexperienced man, and guided entirely by his +deputies, Nourooz Allee and Gholam Allee. Calamities of season and +other causes prevented his collecting one-quarter of the revenue +which he had engaged in his contract to pay. Gholam Allee persuaded +the officers commanding regiments under him to pledge themselves +for the personal security of some of the tallookdars whom he +invited in to discuss the claims of Government, and their ability +to meet them. Four of them came—Hindooput, of Sudowlee, who +called on me this morning; Rugonath Sing, of Khojurgow; Rajah Dirg +Bijee Sing, of Morarmow; and Bhoop Sing, of Pahor. They were all +seized and put into confinement as soon as they appeared, by the +officers who had pledged themselves for their personal safety; and +Gholam Allee went off to Lucknow to boast of his prowess in seizing +them. There he was called upon to pay the balance due, and seeing +no disposition to listen to any excuse on the ground of calamity of +season, he determined to escape across the Ganges. He wrote to +Hamid Allee to suggest that he should do the same, and meet him at +Horha, on the bank of the Ganges, on a certain night.</p> +<p>Hamid Allee sent his family across the Ganges, and prepared to +meet Gholam Allee at the appointed place; but the commandants of +corps, who suspected his intentions, and had not received from him +any pay for their regiments for many months, seized him, and sent +him a prisoner to Lucknow. Gholam Allee, however, effected his +escape across the Ganges, and is now at Delhi. The story of his +having run away with three lacs of Hamid Allee's money is +represented here as a fiction, as the escape had been concerted +between them, and they had sent across the Ganges all that they +could send with that view. This may or may not be the real state of +the case. Hamid Allee, as I have above stated, married a daughter +of Fuzl Allee. Fuzl Allee's aunt, Fyz-on Nissa, had been a great +favourite with the Padshad Begum, the wife of the King, Ghazee-od +Deen, and adoptive mother of his successor, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, +who ascended the throne in 1827. She had been banished from Oude by +Ghazee-od Deen, but on his death she returned secretly to Lucknow; +and, in December of that year, her nephew, Fuzl Allee, who had been +banished with her, returned also, and on the 31st of that month he +was appointed prime minister, in succession to Aga Meer. Hakeem +Mehndee had been invited from Futtehghur to fill the office, and +had come so far as Cawnpoor, when Fyz-on Nissa carried the day with +the Queen Dowager, and he was ordered back. In November, 1828, the +King, at his mother's request, gave him the sum of 21,85,722 1 11, +the residue of the principal of the pension of Shums-od Dowlah, the +King's uncle, who had died. The whole principal amounted to +33,33,333 5 4, but part had been appropriated as a fund to provide +for some members of the King's family.</p> +<p>In February, 1829, Fuzl Allee resigned the office of prime +minister, and was protected by the Government of India, on the +recommendation of the Resident, and saved, from the necessity of +refunding to the State any of the wealth (some thirty-five lacs of +rupees) which he had acquired during his brief period of office. +This was all left to his three daughters and their husbands on his +death, which took place soon after. He was succeeded in office by +Hakeem Mehndee. Shums-od Dowlah's pension of 16,666 10 6 a-month, +was paid out of the interest, at 6 per cent., of the loan of one +crore, eight lacs, and fifty thousand rupees, obtained from the +sovereign of Oude (Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, who succeeded his father +on the 11th of July, 1814,) by Lord Hastings, in October, 1814, for +the Nepaul war. All the interest (six lacs and fifty-one thousand) +was, in the same manner, distributed in stipends to different +members of the family, and the principal has been paid back as the +incumbents have died off. Some few still survive.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The ground, on the north-west side of Morowa, would be good +for a cantonment, as the soil is sandy, and the plain well drained. +Water must lie during the rains on all the other sides, and the +soil has more clay in it.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>January</i> 7, 1850.—To Mirree, twelve miles, over a +plain of light doomuteea soil, sufficiently cultivated, and well +studded with trees. We passed Runjeet-ka Poorwa half-way—once +a large and populous town, but now a small one. The fog was, +however, too thick to admit of my seeing it. From this place to +Lucknow, thirty miles, Seetlah Buksh, a deputy of Almas Allee +Khan's, planted an avenue of the finest kind of trees. We had to +pass through a mile of it, and the trees are in the highest +perfection, and complete on both sides. I am told that there are, +however, many considerable intervals in which they have been +destroyed. The trees must have been planted about sixty years +ago.</p> +<p>I may here remark that no native gentleman from Lucknow, save +such as hold office in districts, and are surrounded by troops, can +with safety reside in the country. He would be either suspected and +destroyed by the great landholders around him, or suspected and +ruined by the Court. Under a better system of government, a great +many of these native gentlemen, who enjoy hereditary incomes, under +the guarantee of the British Government, would build houses in +distant districts, take lands, and reside on them with their +families, wholly or occasionally, and Oude [would] soon be covered +with handsome gentlemen's seats, at once ornamental and useful. +They would tend to give useful employment to the people, and become +bonds of union between the governing and the governed. Under such +an improved system, our guarantees would be of immense advantage to +the whole country of Oude, in diffusing wealth, protection, +education, intelligence, good feeling, and useful and ornamental, +works. At present, these guarantees are not so. They have +concentrated at the capital all who subsist upon them, and +surrounded the Sovereign and his Court with an overgrown +aristocracy, which tends to alienate him more and more from his +people. The people derive no benefit from, and have no feeling or +interest in common with, this city aristocracy, which tends more +and more to hide their Sovereign from their view, and to render him +less and less sensible of his duties and high responsibilities; and +what would be a blessing under a good, becomes an evil under a bad +system, such as that which has prevailed since those guarantees +began.</p> +<p>In this overgrown city there is a perpetual turmoil of +processions, illuminations, and festivities. The Sovereign spends +all that he can get in them, and has not the slightest wish to +perpetuate his name by the construction of any useful or ornamental +work beyond its suburbs. All the members of his family and of the +city aristocracy follow his example, and spend their means in the +same way. Indifferent to the feelings and opinions of the landed +aristocracy and people of the country, with whom they have no +sympathy, they spend all that they can spare for the public in +gratifying the vitiated tastes of the overgrown metropolis. Hardly +any work calculated to benefit or gratify the people of the country +is formed or thought of by the members of the royal family or +aristocracy of Lucknow; and the only one formed by the Sovereign +for many years is, I believe, the metalled road leading from +Lucknow to Cawnpoor, on the Ganges.</p> +<p>One good these guarantees certainly have effected—they +have tended greatly to inspire the people of the city with respect +for the British Government, by whom the incomes of so large and +influential a portion of the community and their dependents are +secured. That respect extends to its public officers and to +Europeans generally; and in the most crowded streets of Lucknow +they are received with deference, courtesy, and kindness, while in +those of Hydrabad, their lives, I believe, are never safe without +an escort from the Resident.</p> +<p>The people of the country respect the British Government, its +officers, and Europeans generally, from other causes. Though the +Resident has not been able to secure any very substantial or +permanent reform in the administration, still he has often +interposed with effect, in individual cases, to relieve suffering +and secure redress for grievous wrongs. The people of the country +see that he never interposes, except for such purposes, and their +only regret is that he interposes so seldom, and that his efforts, +when he does so, should be so often frustrated or disregarded. In +the remotest village or jungle in Oude, as in the most crowded +streets of the capital, an European gentleman is sure to be treated +with affectionate respect; and the humblest European is as sure to +receive protection and kindness, unless be forfeits all claim to it +by his misconduct.</p> +<p>The more sober-minded Mahommedans of Lucknow and elsewhere are +much scandalized at the habit which has grown up among them, in the +cities of India, of commemorating every event, whether of sadness +or of joy, by brilliant illuminations and splendid processions, to +amuse the idle populations of such cities. It is, they say, a +reprehensible departure from the spirit of their creed, and from +the simple tastes of the early Mahommedans, who laid out their +superfluities in the construction of great and durable works of +ornament and utility. Certainly no event can be more sorrowful +among Mahommedans than that which is commemorated in the mohurrum +by illuminations and processions with the Tazeeas; and yet no +illuminations are more brilliant, and no processions more noisy, +costly, and splendid. It is worthy of remark, that Hindoo princes +in Central and Southern India, even of the Brahmin caste, +commemorate this event in the same way; and in no part of India are +these illuminations and processions more brilliant and costly. +Their object is solely to amuse the population of their capitals, +and to gratify the Mahommedan women whom they have under their +protection, and their children, who must all be Mahommedans.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt6" id="Chapt6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Nawabgunge, midway between Cawnpoor and Lucknow—Oosur +soils how produced—Visit from the prime +minister—Rambuksh, of Dhodeeakhera—Hunmunt Sing, of +Dharoopoor—Agricultural capitalists. Sipahees and native +offices of our army—Their furlough, and +petitions—Requirements of Oude to secure good government. The +King's reserved treasury—Charity distributed through the +<i>Mojtahid</i>, or chief justice—Infanticide—Loan of +elephants, horses, and draft bullocks by Oude to Lord Lake in +1804—Clothing for the troops—The Akbery +regiment—Its clothing, &c.,—Trespasses of a great +man's camp in Oude—Russoolabad and Sufeepoor +districts—Buksh Allee, the dome—Budreenath, the contractor +for Sufeepoor—Meeangunge—Division of the Oude Territory +in 1801, in equal shares between Oude and the British +Governments—Almas Allee Khan—His good government—The +passes of Oude—Thieves by hereditary profession, and village +watchmen—Rapacity of the King's troops—Total absence of +all sympathy between the governing and governed—Measures +necessary to render the Oude troops efficient and less mischievous +to the people—Sheikh Hushmut Allee, of Sundeela.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 8, 1850.—Nawabgunge, eleven miles over a +plain, the soil of which, near the road, is generally very poor +oosur. No fruit or ornamental trees, few shrubs, and very little +grass. Here and there, however, even near the road, may be seen a +small patch of land, from which a crop of rice has been taken this +season; and the country is well cultivated all along, up to within +half a mile of the road, on both tides [sides]. Nawabgunge is +situated on the new metalled road, fifty miles long, between +Lucknow and Cawnpoor, and about midway between the two places.* It +was built by the late minister, Nawab Ameen-od Dowlah, while in +office, for the accommodation of travellers, and is named after +him. It is kept up at his expense for the same purpose now that he +has descended to private life. There is a small house for the +accommodation of European gentlemen and ladies, as well as a double +range of buildings, between which the road passes, for ordinary +travellers, and for shopkeepers to supply them.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The term Gunge, signifies a range of buildings at a place of +traffic, for the accommodation of merchants, and all persons +engaged in the purchase and sale of goods and for that of their +goods and of the shopkeepers who supply them.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Some people told me, that even the worst of this oosur soil +might be made to produce fair crops under good tillage; while +others denied the possibility, though all were farmers or +landholders. All, however, agreed that any but the <i>worst</i> +might be made so by good tillage—that is, by flooding the +land by means of artificial embankments, for two or three rainy +seasons, and then cross-ploughing, manuring, and irrigating it +well. All say that the soil hereabouts is liable to become oosur, +if left fallow and neglected for a few years. The oosur, certainly, +seems to prevail most near the high roads, where the peasantry have +been most exposed to the rapacity of the King's troops; and this +tends to confirm the notion that tillage is necessary in certain +soils to check the tendency of the carbonates or nitrates, or their +alkaline bases, to superabundance. The abundance of the chloride of +sodium in the soil, from which the superabounding carbonates of +soda are formed, seems to indicate, unequivocally, that the bed +from which they are brought to the surface by capillary attraction +must at some time have been covered by salt water.</p> +<p>The soil of Scind, which was at one time covered by the sea, +seems to suffer still more generally from the same superabundance +of the carbonates of soda, formed from the <i>chlorides of +sodium</i>, and brought to the surface in the same manner. But in +Scind the evil is greater and more general from the smaller +quantity of rain that falls. Egypt would, no doubt, suffer still +more from the same cause, inasmuch as it has still less rain than +Scind, but for the annual overflowing of the Nile. The greater part +of the deserts which now disfigure the face of the globe in hot +climates arise chiefly from the same causes, and they may become +covered by tillage and population as man becomes wiser, more +social, and more humane.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 9, 1850.—Halted at Nawabgunge. A vast deal +of grain of all sorts has for the last two years passed from +Cawnpoor to Lucknow for sale. The usual current of grain is from +the northern and eastern districts of Oude towards Cawnpoor; but +for these two years it has been from Cawnpoor to these districts. +This is owing to two bad seasons in Oude generally, and much +oppression in the northern and eastern districts, in particular, +and the advantage which the navigation of the Ganges affords to the +towns on its banks on such occasions. The metalled road from +Cawnpoor to Lucknow is covered almost with carts and vehicles of +all kinds. Guards have been established upon it for the protection +of travellers, and life and property are now secure upon it, which +they had not been for many years up to the latter end of 1849. This +road has lately been completed under the superintendence of Lient. +G. Sim of the engineers, and cost above two lacs of rupees.</p> +<p>The minister came out with a very large cortège yesterday +to see and talk with me, and is to stay here to-day. I met him this +morning on his way out to shoot in the lake; and it was amusing to +see his enormous train contrasted with my small one. I told him, to +the amusement of all around, that an English gentleman would rather +get no air or shooting at all than seek them in such a crowd. The +minister was last night to have received the Rajahs and other great +landholders, who had come to my camp, but they told me this morning +that they had some of them waited all night in vain for an +audience; that the money demanded by his followers, of various +sorts and grades, for such a privilege was much more than they +could pay; that to see and talk with a prime minister of Oude was +one of the most difficult and expensive of things. Rajah Hunmunt +Sing, of Dharoopoor, told me that he feared his only alternative +now was a very hard one, either to be utterly ruined by the +contractor of Salone, or to take to his jungles and strongholds and +fight against his Sovereign.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The Rajah was too formidable to be treated lightly, and the +Amil was obliged to give in, and consent to take from him what he +had paid to his predecessor; but to effect this, the Rajah was, +afterwards obliged to go to Lucknow, and pay largely in +gratuities.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Rajah Rambuksh, of Dondhea Kheera, is in the same predicament. +He tells me, that a great part of his estate has been taken from +him by Chundun Lal, of Morowa, the banker already mentioned, in +collusion with the Nazim, Kotab-od Deen, who depends so much on him +as the only capitalist in his district; that he is obliged to +conciliate him by acquiescing in the spoliation of others; that he +has already taken much of his lands by fraud and collusion, and +wishes to take the whole in the same way; that this banker now +holds lands in the district yielding above two lacs of rupees +a-year, can do what he pleases, and is every day aggrandizing +himself and family by the ruin of others. There is some truth in +what Rambuksh states, though he exaggerates a little the wrong +which he himself suffers; and it is lamentable that all power and +influence in Oude, of whatever kind or however acquired, should be +so sure to be abused, to the prejudice of both sovereign and +people. When these great capitalists become landholders, as almost +all do, they are apt to do much mischief in the districts where +their influence lies, for the Government officers can do little in +the collection of the revenue without their aid; and as the +collection of revenue is the only part of their duty to which they +attach much importance, they are ready to acquiesce in any wrong +that they may commit in order to conciliate them. The Nazim of +Byswara, Kotab-od Deen, is an old and infirm man, and very much +dependent upon Chundun Lal, who, in collusion with him, has +certainly deprived many of their hereditary possessions in the +usual way in order to aggrandize his own family. He has, at the +same time, purchased a great deal of land at auction in the +Honourable Company's districts where he has dealings, keeps the +greater part of his wealth, and is prepared to locate his family +when the danger of retaining any of either in Oude becomes +pressing. The risk is always great; but they bind the local +authorities, civil and military, by solemn oaths and written +pledges, for the security of their own persons and property, and +those of their families and clients.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 10, 1850.—At Nawabgunge, detained by rain, +which fell heavily yesterday, with much thunder and lightning, and +has continued to fall all night. It is painful and humiliating to +pass through this part of Oude, where the families of so many +thousands of our sipahees reside, particularly at this time when so +large a portion of them are at their homes on furlough. The Punjab +war having closed, all the corps engaged in it have this year been +sent off to quiet stations in our old provinces, and their places +supplied by others which have taken no share in that or any other +war of late. As a measure of economy, and with a view to indulge +the native officers and sipahees of the corps engaged in that war, +Government has this season given a long furlough to all the native +army of Bengal. Some three hundred and fifty native officers and +sipahees from each regiment are, or are to be, absent on leave this +season. This saves to Government a very large sum in the extra +allowance which is granted to native officers and sipahees, during +their march from one station to another, and in the deductions +which are made from the pay and allowances of those who go on +furlough. During furlough, subadars receive 52 rupees a-month +instead of 67; jemadars 17, instead of 24; havildars 9, instead of +14; naicks 7, instead of 12; and sipahees 5-8, instead of 7.</p> +<p>These native officers and sipahees, with all their gallantry on +service and fidelity to their salt, are the most importunate of +suitors, and certainly among the most untruthful and unscrupulous +in stating the circumstances of their claims, or the grounds of +their complaints. They crowd around me morning and evening when I +venture outside my tent, and keep me employed all day in reading +their petitions. They cannot or will not understand that the +Resident is, or ought to be, only the channel through which their +claims are sent for adjustment through the Court to the Oude +tribunals and local authorities; and that the investigation and +decision must, or ought to, rest with them. They expect that he +will at once himself investigate and decide their claims, or have +them investigated and decided forthwith by the local authorities of +the district through which he is passing; and it is in vain to tell +them that the "<i>law's delay</i>" is as often and as justly +complained of in our own territory as in Oude, whatever may be the +state of its <i>uncertainty</i>.</p> +<p>The wrongs of which they complain are of course such as all men +of their class in Oude are liable to suffer; but no other men in +Oude are so prone to exaggerate the circumstances attending them, +to bring forward prominently all that is favourable to their own +side, and keep back all that is otherwise, and to conceal the +difficulties which must attend the search after the truth, and +those still greater which must attend the enforcement of an award +when made. Their claims are often upon men who have well-garrisoned +forts and large bands of armed followers, who laugh at the King's +officers and troops, and could not be coerced into obedience +without the aid of a large and well-appointed British force. For +the immediate employment of such a force they will not fail to urge +the Resident, though they have, to the commanding officer of their +company and regiment represented the debtor or offender as a man of +no mark, ready to do whatever the Resident or the Oude authorities +may be pleased to order. On one occasion no less than thirty lives +were lost in attempting to enforce an award in favour of a sipahee +of our army.</p> +<p>I have had several visits from my old friend Sheikh Mahboob +Allee, the subadar-major, who is mentioned in my <i>Essay on +Military Discipline</i>. He is now an invalid pensioner in Oude, +and in addition to the lands which his family held before his +transfer to the invalids, he has lately acquired possession of a +nice village, which he claimed in the usual way through the +Resident. He told me that he had possession, but that he found it +very difficult to keep cultivators upon it.</p> +<p>"And why is this, my old friend?" I asked. "Cultivators are +abundant in Oude, and glad always to till lands on which they are +protected and encouraged by moderate rents and a little occasional +aid in seed, grain, and stock, and you are now in circumstances to +afford them both."</p> +<p>"True, sir," said the old subadar, "but the great refractory +landholder, my neighbour, has a large force, and he threatens to +bring it down upon me, and my cultivators are afraid that they and +their families will all be cut up some dark night if they stay with +me."</p> +<p>"But what has your great neighbour to do with your village? Why +do you not make friends with him?"</p> +<p>"Make friends with him, sir!" replied the subadar; "the thing is +impossible."</p> +<p>"And why, subadar sahib?"</p> +<p>"Sir, it was from him that the village was taken by the orders +of the Durbar, through the interposition of the Resident, to be +made over to me, and he vows that he will take it back, whatever +number of lives it may cost him to do so."</p> +<p>"And how long may he and his family have held it?"</p> +<p>"Only thirty or thirty-five years, sir."</p> +<p>"And neither you nor your family have ever held possession of it +for that time?"</p> +<p>"Never, sir; but we always hoped that the favour of the British +Government would some day get it for us."</p> +<p>"And in urging your claim to the village, did you ever tell the +Resident that you had been so long out of possession?"</p> +<p>"No, sir, we said nothing about <i>time</i>"</p> +<p>"You know, subadar sahib, that in all countries a limit is +prescribed in such cases, and at the Residency that limit is six +years; and had the Resident known that your claim was of so old a +date he would never have interposed in your favour, more especially +when his doing so involved the risk of the loss of so many lives, +first in obtaining possession for you, and then keeping you in it." +Cases of this kind are very numerous.</p> +<p>The estate of Rampoor which we lately passed through belonged to +the grandfather of Rajah Hunmunt Sing. His eldest son, Sungram +Sing, died without issue, and the estate devolved on his second +son, Bhow Sing, the father of Rajah Hunmunt Sing. The third brother +separated from the family stock during the life of his father, and +got, as his share, Sursae, Kuttra Bulleepoor, and other villages. +He had five sons: first, Lokee Sing; second, Dirguj Sing; third, +Hul Sing; fourth, Dill Sing; and fifth, Bul Sing, and the estate +was, on his death, subdivided among them. Kuttra Bulleepoor +devolved on Lokee Sing, the eldest, who died without issue; and the +village was subdivided among his four brothers or their +descendants. But Davey Buksh, the grandson, by adoption of the +second brother, Dirguj Sing, unknown to the others, assigned, in +lieu of a debt, the whole village to a Brahmin named Bhyroo +Tewaree, who forthwith got it transferred to Hozoor Tehseel, +through Matadeen, a havildar of the 5th Troop, 7th-Regiment of +Cavalry, who, in an application to the Resident, pretended that the +estate was his own. It is now beyond the jurisdiction of the local +authorities, who could ascertain the truth; and all the rightful +co-sharers have been ever since trying in vain to recover their +rights. The Bramin [Brahmin] and the Havildar, with Sookhal a +trooper in the same regiment, now divide the profits between them, +and laugh at the impotent efforts of the old proprietors to get +redress. Gholam Jeelanee, a shopkeeper of Lucknow, seeing the +profits derived by sipahees, from the abuse of this privilege, +purchased a cavalry uniform—jacket, cap, pantaloon, boots, +shoes, and sword—and on the pretence of being an invalid +trooper of ours, got the signature of the brigadier commanding the +troops in Oude to his numerous petitions, which were sent for +adjustment to the Durbar through the Resident. He followed this +trade profitably for fifteen years. At last he got possession of a +landed estate, to which he had no claim of right. Soon after he +sent a petition to say that the dispossessed proprietor had killed +four of his relations and turned him out. This led to a more strict +inquiry, when all came out. In quoting this case to the Resident, +in a letter dated the 16th of June 1836, the King of Oude observes: +"If a person known to thousands in the city of Lucknow is able, for +fifteen years, to carry on such a trade successfully, how much more +easy must it be for people in the country, not known to any in the +city, to carry it on!"</p> +<p>The Resident communicated to the King of Oude the resolution of +the Honourable the Court of Directors to relieve him from the +payment of the sixteen lacs of rupees a-year for the auxiliary +force; and on the 29th of July 1839, he reported to Government the +great gratification which his Majesty had manifested and expressed +at this opportune relief. But his gratification at this +communication was hardly so great as that which he had manifested +on the 14th of December 1837, when told by the Resident that the +British Government would not insist upon giving to the subjects of +Oude who might enlist into that force the privilege of forwarding +complaints about their village affairs and disputes, through their +military superiors and the Resident; and it appeared to the +Resident, "that this one act of liberality and justice on the part +of the British Government had done more to reconcile the King of +Oude to the late treaty, in which the Oude auxiliary force had +originated, than all that he had said to him during the last three +months as to the prospective advantages which that treaty would +secure to him and his posterity." The King observed: "This kindness +on the part of the British Government has relieved my mind from a +load of disagreeable thoughts." The prime minister, Hakeem Mehndee, +who was present, replied: "All will now go on smoothly. When the +men have to complain to their own Government, they will seldom +complain without just cause, being aware that a false story will +soon be detected by the native local authorities, though it could +not be so by European officers at a distance from the villages; and +that in all cases of real grievances their claims will soon be +fairly and speedily adjusted. If," added he, "the sipahees of this +force had been so placed that they could have enlisted their +officers on their side in making complaints, while such officers +could know nothing whatever of the circumstances beyond what the +sipahees themselves told them, false and groundless complaints +would have become endless, and the vexations thereby caused to +Government and their neighbours would have become intolerable. +These troops," said he, "will now be real soldiers; but if the +privileges enjoyed by the Honourable Company's sipahees had been +conferred upon the seven regiments composing this force, with the +relations and pretended relations of the sipahees, it would have +converted into corrupt traders in village disputes sixteen or +seventeen thousand of the King's subjects, settled in the heart of +the country, privileged to make false accusations of all kinds, and +believed by the people to be supported in these falsehoods by the +British Government." Both the King and the minister requested the +Resident earnestly and repeatedly to express to the +Governor-General their most sincere thanks for having complied with +his Majesty's solicitations on this point.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* See King of Oude's letter to the Governor-General, dated 5th +October, 1837, and Residents letters of the 7th idem and 14th +December, 1837.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This privilege which the native officers and sipahees of our +native army enjoy of petitioning for redress of grievances, through +the Resident, has now been extended to all the regular, irregular, +and local corps of the three Presidencies—that is, to all +corps paid by the British Government, and to all native officers +and sipahees of contingent corps employed in and paid by native +States, who were drafted into them from the regular corps of our +army up to a certain time; and the number cannot be less than fifty +or sixty thousand. But European civil and political functionaries, +in our own provinces and other native States, have almost all some +men from Oude in their offices or establishments, whose claims and +complaints they send for adjustment to the Resident; and it is +difficult for him to satisfy them, that he is not bound to take +them up in the same manner as he takes up those of the native +officers and sipahees of our native army; and he is often induced +to yield to their importunity, and thereby to furnish grounds for +further applications of the same sort. This privilege is not +recognized or named in any treaty, or other engagement with the +Sovereign of Oude; nor does any one now know its origin, for it +cannot be found in any document recorded in the Resident's +office.</p> +<p>If the Resident happens to be an impatient, overbearing man, he +will often frighten the Durbar and its Courts, or local officers, +into a hasty decision, by which the rights of others are sacrificed +for the native officers and sipahees; and if he be at the same time +an unscrupulous man, he will sometimes direct that the sipahee +shall be put in possession of what he claims in order to relieve +himself from his importunity, or that of his commanding officer, +without taking the trouble to inform himself of the grounds on +which the claim is founded. Of all such errors there are unhappily +too many instances recorded in the Resident's office. This privilege +is in the hands of the Resident an instrument of <i>torture</i>, +which it is his duty to apply every day to the Oude Durbar. He may +put on a <I>screw more</I> or a <I>screw less</I>, according to his +temper or his views, or the importunity of officers commanding corps +or companies, and native officers and sipahees in person, which never +cease to oppress him more or less.</p> +<p>The most numerous class of complaints and the most troublesome +is that against the Government of Oude or its officers and +landholders, for enhanced demands of rents; and whenever these +officers or landholders are made to reduce these demands in favour +of the privileged sipahees, they invariably distribute the burthen +in an increased rate upon their neighbours.</p> +<p>Officers who have to pass through Oude in their travels or +sporting excursions have of late years generally complained that +they receive less civility from villages in which our invalid or +furlough sipahees are located than from any others; and that if +they are anywhere treated with actual disrespect, such sipahees are +generally found to be either the perpetrators or instigators. This +complaint is not, I fear, altogether unfounded; and may arise from +the diminished attachment felt by the sipahees for their European +officers in our army, and partly from the privilege of urging their +claims through the Resident, enjoyed by native officers and +sipahees, now ceasing on their being transferred to the invalid +establishment.</p> +<p>But the privilege itself is calculated to create feelings of +dissatisfaction with their European officers, among the honest and +hard-working part of our native army. Such men petition only when +they have just cause; and not one in five of them can obtain what +they demand, and believe to be their just right, under an +administration like that of Oude, whatever efforts the Resident may +make to obtain it for them; and where one is satisfied, four become +discontented; while the dishonest and idle portion of their brother +soldiers, who have no real wrongs to complain of, and feign them +only to get leave of absence, throw all the burthen of their duties +upon them. Others again, by fraud and collusion with those whose +influence they require to urge their claims, often obtain more than +they have any right to; and their unmerited success tends to +increase the dissatisfaction felt by the honest, and more +scrupulous portion of the native officers and sipahees who have +failed to obtain anything.</p> +<p>Government will not do away with the privilege without first +ascertaining the views and wishes of the military authorities. They +are not favourable to the abolition, for though the honest and +hard-working sipahees may say that it is of no use to them, the +idle and unscrupulous, who consider it as a lottery in which they +may sometimes draw a prize, or a means of getting leave of absence +when they are not entitled to it, will tell them that the fidelity +of the whole native army depends upon its being maintained and +extended. I am of opinion, after much consideration, and a good +deal of experience in the political working of the system, that the +abolition of the privilege would be of great advantage to the +native army; and it would certainly relieve the European officers +from much importunity and annoyance which they now suffer from its +enforcement. It is not uncommon for a sipahee of a regiment in +Bombay to obtain leave of absence for several times over for <i>ten +months</i> at a time, on the pretence of having a case pending in +Oude. When his leave is about to expire, he presents a petition to +the Resident, who obtains for him from the Court an order for the +local authorities to settle his claim. This order is sent to the +officer commanding his regiment. The man then makes up a piteous +story of his having spent the whole ten months in prosecuting his +claim in vain, when, in reality, he has been enjoying himself at +home, and had no claim whatever to settle. The next year, or the +year after, he gets another ten months' leave, for the same +purpose, and when it is about to expire, he presents himself to the +Resident, and declares that the local authorities have been +changed, and the new officers pay no regard to the King's orders. +New orders are then got for the new officers, and sent to his +regiment, and the same game is played over again.</p> +<p>Native officers and sipahees, in the privilege of presenting +petitions through the Resident, are now restricted to their own +claims and those of their wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and +daughters. They cannot petition through the Resident for the +redress of wrongs suffered, or pretended to have been suffered, by +any other relations. In consequence, it has become a common custom +with them to lend or sell their names to more remote relations, or +to persons not related to them at all. The petition is made out in +their own name, and the real sufferer or pretended sufferer, who is +to prosecute the claim, is named as the mookteear or attorney. A +great many bad characters have in this way deprived men of lands +which their ancestors had held in undisputed right of property for +many generations or centuries; for the Court, to save themselves +from the importunity of the Residency, has often given orders for +the claimant being put in possession of the lands without due +inquiry or any inquiry at all. The sipahees are, in consequence, +much dreaded by the people among whom they reside; for there really +is no class of men from whom it is more difficult to get the truth +in any case. They have no fear of punishment, because all charges +against them for fraud, falsehood, or violation of the rules laid +down by Government have to be submitted either to a court-martial, +composed of native officers, or to the Governor-General. Both +involve endless trouble, and it would, I fear, be impossible to get +a conviction before a court-martial so composed. No Resident will +ever submit to a Governor-General the scores of flagrant cases that +every month come before him; still less will he worry unoffending +and suffering people by causing them to be summoned to give +evidence before a military court.</p> +<p>In a recent instance (July 1851), a sipahee in a regiment +stationed at Lucknow was charged before a court-martial with three +abuses of the privilege. He required no less than seventy-four +witnesses to be summoned in his defence. The Court had to wait till +what could be got out of the seventy-four appeared, and the man +became an object of sympathy, because he was kept so long in +arrest. He named the first Assistant to the Resident, who has +charge of the Sipahee Petition Department, as a witness; and he was +not, in consequence, permitted to attend the Court on the part of +the Resident, who preferred the charges, though he was never called +or examined by the Court on the part of the defence. The naming +him, and the summoning of so many witnesses were mere <i>ruses</i> +on the part of the sipahee to escape. No person on the part of the +Resident was allowed to attend the Court and see that his witnesses +were examined; nor had he any means of knowing whether they were or +not. He had reason to believe that the most important were not. The +sipahee was of course acquitted, as sipahees charged with such +abuses of the privilege always will be. This man's regiment was at +Lucknow, and near the place where the cause of action arose, his +own village, and the Resident's office. How much more difficult +would it be to get a conviction against a sipahee whose regiment +happens to be many hundred miles off!</p> +<p>The transfer of their lands from the jurisdiction of the local +authorities to that of the Hozoor Tehseel is often the cause of +much suffering to their copartners and neighbours. Their co-sharers +in the land often find much inconvenience from it, and apprehend +that, sooner or later, the influence of the sipahee will enable him +to add their shares to his own. The village so transferred, being +removed from the observation and responsibility of the local +authorities, often becomes a safe refuge for the bad characters of +the district, who thence depredate upon the country around with +impunity. Claims to villages, to which the claimant had really no +right whatever, have been successfully prosecuted by or through +sipahees, for the sole purpose of having them transferred to the +Hozoor Tehseel, and made dens of thieves and highway robbers. The +person in charge of the Hozool Tehseel villages has generally a +good deal of influence at Court, and this he lends to such +claimants, for a consideration, without fear or scruple, as he +feels assured that he shall be able to counteract any +representations on the part of the local authorities of the evils +suffered from the holders and occupants of such villages. He never +pretends to be able to watch over or control the conduct of the +holders and occupiers of the villages under his charge, situated, +as they mostly are, in remote districts. The transfer of such +villages can be justified only in districts that are held in +contract, and even in them it might be easy to provide effectually +for the protection of the holders from over-exactions on the part +of the contractors.</p> +<p>This privilege is attended with infinite difficulty and +perplexity to the Resident and Government; and is at the same time +exceedingly odious to the people and Government of Oude. Officers +commanding regiments and companies have much trouble with such +petitions. Able to hear only one side of any question, they think +that the evils suffered by the sipahees are much greater and more +numerous than they really are, and grant leave to enable them to +prosecute their claims to redress more often than is necessary. Men +who want leave, when they are not otherwise entitled to it, feign +wrongs which they never suffered, or greatly exaggerate such as may +really have been inflicted on them in order to obtain it; or, as I +have stated, lend their names to others and ask leave to prosecute +claims with which they have really nothing whatever to do. The +sipahees and native officers of our army are little better with +than they would be without the privilege; and a great many enlist +or remain in the service solely with the view of better prosecuting +their claims, and resign or desert as soon as they have effected +their purpose, or find that the privilege is no longer necessary. +They make a convenience in this way of our service, and are the +most useless soldiers in our ranks. I am persuaded that we should +have from Oude just as many and as good recruits for our army +without as with this privilege.</p> +<p>The regiments of the Gwalior Contingent get just as good +recruits from Oude as those of the Line, though they do not enjoy +the privilege. I believe that those corps which did not enjoy the +privilege till within the last two years got just as good recruits +from Oude as they now do, since it has been extended to them. Till +1848 the privilege was limited to the native officers and soldiers +of our regular army, and to such as had been drafted from our +regular army into local corps up to a certain date; but in July of +that year the privilege was extended to all corps, regular and +irregular, attached to the Bengal, Madras, and Bombay Presidencies, +which are paid by the British Government. The feelings and opinions +of the Oude Government had not been consulted in the origin of this +privilege, nor were they now consulted in the extension given to +it.</p> +<p>Officers commanding regiments and companies complain that the +sipahees and native officers never get redress, whatever trouble +they take to obtain it for them; and, I believe, they hardly ever +hear a sipahee or native officer acknowledge that he has had +redress. A sipahee one day came to the first Assistant, Captain +Shakespear, clamouring for justice, and declared that not the +slightest notice had been taken of his petition by the Oude +Government or its local authorities. On being questioned, he +admitted that no less than forty persons had been seized and were +in prison on his requisition; but he would not admit that this was +any proof of the slightest notice having been taken of his +complaint. All are worried, and but few benefited by the privilege, +and the advantage of it to the army never can counterbalance all +the disadvantages. Invalid pensioners do not now enjoy the +privilege, but are left to prefer their claims direct to the King's +Courts, like others of the King's subjects, on the ground that they +cannot—like <i>sipahees still serving</i>—plead +distance from their homes; but a large proportion of the sipahees +still serving who have, or pretend to have, claims, obtain leave of +absence from their regiments to prosecute them in person.</p> +<p>The objection once raised by Lord William Bentinck against our +employing troops in support of the Government of Oude against +refractory landholders, is equally valid against our advocacy of +the claims of sipahees to lands. "If," said his Lordship, "British +troops be lent to enforce submission, it seems impossible to avoid +becoming parties to the terms of submission and guarantees of their +observance afterwards on both sides; in which case we should become +mixed up in every detail of the administration." If the sipahee +does not pay punctually the assessment upon the lands which he has +obtained through the Resident, the Oude Government calls upon the +Resident to enforce payment; and if the Oude Government ventures to +add a rupee to the rate demanded for the year, or for any one year, +the sipahee, through the commandant of his corps, and, perhaps, the +Commander-in-Chief and Governor-General, calls upon the Resident to +have the rate reduced, or to explain the grounds upon which it has +been made; or if the sipahee has a dispute with his numerous +co-sharers, the Resident is called upon to settle it. If the King's +troops have trespassed, if the crops have suffered from calamities +of season or marauders, or the village has been robbed, the sipahee +refuses to pay, and demands a remission of the Government demand; +and if he does not get it, appeals in the same manner to the +Resident. If a sipahee be arrested or detained for defalcation, a +demand comes for his immediate release; and if his crops or stock +be distrained for balance, or lands attached, the Resident is +called upon to ascertain and explain the reason why, and obtain +redress. All such distraint is represented as open robbery and +pillage.</p> +<p>It is not at all uncommon for a sipahee to obtain leave of +absence from his regiment three or four times to enable him to +prosecute the same case in person at Lucknow, though he might +prosecute it just as well through an attorney. He often enjoys +himself at his home while his attorney prosecutes his claim, if he +really has any, at Lucknow. The commanding officers of his regiment +and company of course believe all he says regarding the pressing +necessity for his presence at Lucknow; and few of them know that +the cases are derided in the King's Courts, and that the Resident +could not possibly decide them himself if he had five times the +establishment he has and full powers to do so. If the Resident +finds that a sipahee has lent his name to another, and reports his +conduct, he makes out a plausible tale, which his commanding +officer believes to be true; the Commander-in-Chief is referred to; +the case is submitted to the Governor-General, and sometimes to the +Court of Directors, and a voluminous correspondence follows, till +the Resident grows weary, and the sipahee escapes with impunity. In +the mean time, troops of witnesses have been worried to show that +the sipahee has no connection whatever with the estate, or thing +claimed in his name, or with the family to whom his name was lent. +Many a man has, in this way, as above stated, been robbed of an +estate which his family had held for many generations; and many a +village which had been occupied by an honest and industrious +peasantry has been turned into a den of robbers. In flagrant cases +of false claims, the Resident may get the attorney, employed by the +sipahee in prosecuting it, punished by the Durbar, but he can +rarely hope to get the sipahee himself punished.</p> +<p>In a case that occurred shortly before I took charge, a sipahee +complained that a tallookdar had removed him, or his friends, from +their village by over exactions, demanding two thousand eight +hundred rupees a-year instead of eight hundred. An ameen was sent +out to the district to settle the affair. Having some influence at +Court, he got the sipahee put into possession, at the rate of eight +hundred, and obtained from him a pledge to pay to him, the ameen, a +large portion of the <i>two thousand</i> profit! The tallookdar, +being a powerful man, made the contractor reduce his demand upon +his estate, of which the village was a part, in proportion; and the +contractor made the Government give him credit for the whole two +thousand eight hundred, which the estate was well able to pay, in +any other hands, and ought to have paid. The holder continued, I +believe, to pay the ameen, who continued to give him the benefit of +his influence at Court. Cases of this kind are not uncommon. The +Resident is expected by commandants of corps and companies to +secure every native officer and sipahee in the possession of his +estate at a fixed rate, in perpetuity; and as many of their +relations and friends as may contrive to have their claims +presented through the Resident in their names. He is expected to +adjust all disputes that may arise between them and their +co-sharers and neighbours; or between them and their landholders +and Government officers; to examine all their complicated accounts +of collections and balances, fair payments, and secret +gratuities.</p> +<p>Sipahees commonly enter the service under false names, and give +false names to their relatives and places of abodes, in order that +they may not be traced if they desert; or that the truth may not be +discovered if they pretend to be of higher caste than they really +are, or otherwise offend. When they find, in the prosecution of +their claims through the Resident, that this is discovered, they +find an alias for each name, whether of person, place, or thing: +the troubles and perplexities which arise from this privilege are +endless.</p> +<p>The Court of Directors, in a despatch dated the 4th March, 1840, +remarking on a report dated the 29th November, 1838, from the +Resident, Colonel Low, relating to abuses arising from the +interference of the Resident in respect to complaints preferred by +subjects of Oude serving in our army, observes, "that these abuses +appear to be even more flagrant than the Court had previously +believed them to be, and no time ought to be lost in applying an +effectual remedy: cases are not wanting in which complaints and +claims, that are utterly groundless, meet with complete success, +the officers of the Oude Government finding it less troublesome to +comply with the unjust demand than to investigate the case in such +a manner as to satisfy the Resident; and the Oude Government, for +the purpose of getting rid of importunity, reduces the assessment +on the lands of these favoured individuals, making up the loss by +increased exactions from their neighbours." The Court orders the +immediate abolition of the privilege in the case of invalided and +pensioned sipahees, and directs that those still serving in our +army be no longer allowed to complain in respect of all their +relatives, real or pretended, but only in cases in which they +themselves, their parents, wives, or children are actually +interested. "All unfounded complaints, and all false allegations +made in order to render complaints cognizable, ought to be, when +discovered, <i>punishable by our own military authorities, who +ought not to be remiss in inflicting such punishment when justly +incurred</i>." "Under the restrictions which we have enjoined," +continues the Court, "the trial may once more be made whether this +privilege is compatible with good government in Oude, and with the +rightful authority of the King of Oude and his officers. Should the +abuses which have prevailed still continue under the altered +system, the whole subject must be again taken into consideration, +and the Resident is to be required to submit a report on the +operation of the privilege after the expiration of one year."</p> +<p>How the rule with regard to relationship is evaded has been +already stated, and among the numerous instances of this evasion +that have been discovered every year since this order of the +Honourable Court was passed, the offence has never been punished by +any military authority in one. The Resident has no hope, nor the +sipahee any fear, that such an offence will ever be punished by a +court-martial; and the former feels averse to trespass on the time +and attention of the Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief +with such references. He hardly ever submits them till the +necessity is forced upon him by references made to the +Commander-in-Chief, by officers commanding regiments, in behalf of +offenders in whose veracity they are disposed to place too much +confidence.</p> +<p>In one of the cases quoted by Colonel Low in his letter of the +29th November, 1838, Reotee Barn, a sipahee, claimed a village, +which was awarded to him by the Court, without due inquiry, to +avoid further importunity. The owner in possession would not give +it up. A large force was sent to enforce the award; lives were +lost; the real owner was seized and thrown into gaol, and there +died. Reotee Ram had no right whatever to the village, and he could +not retain possession among such a sturdy peasantry. His commanding +officer again appealed to the Commander-in-Chief, and the case was +referred to the Governor-General and to the Honourable the Court of +Directors, and a voluminous correspondence took place. It was +afterwards fully proved, that the sipahee, Reotee Ram, had never +had the slightest ground of claim to the village; and had been +induced to set up one solely at the instigation of an interested +attorney with whom he was to share the profits.</p> +<p>In another case quoted by Colonel Low in that letter, a pay +havildar of the 58th Regiment complained, jointly with his brother +Cheyda, through the Commander-in-Chief, to the Governor-General, in +June 1831, stating, that Rajah Prethee Put had murdered two of his +relations, plundered his house, burnt his title-deeds, cut down +five of his mango-groves, seized seventy-three beegahs of land +belonging to him, of hereditary right, turned all his family out of +the village, including the widows of the two murdered men, and +still held in confinement his relative Teekaram, a sipahee of the +Bombay army. On investigation before the Assistant Resident, +Captain Shakespear, the havildar and Cheyda admitted-first, that +Teekaram had rejoined his regiment before they complained; second, +that of the two murdered men, one had been killed fifty-five years +before, and the other twenty years, and that both had fallen in +affrays between landholders, in which many lives had been lost on +both sides; third, that he had never himself held the lands, and +that his father had been forty years before deprived of them by the +father of Cheyda, who had the best claim to them, and had mortgaged +them to a Brahmin, from whom Prethee Put had taken them for +defalcation; fourth, that it was not his own claim he was urging, +but that of Cheyda, who was not his brother, but the great grandson +of his grandfather's brother, and that he had never been in the +British service; fifth, that the lands had been taken from his +father by Cheyda's father fourteen years before he, the havildar, +entered the British service twenty-eight years ago; sixth, that his +family had lost nothing in the village, by Prethee Put, and that +the persons deprived of their mango-groves were only very distantly +related to him.</p> +<p>Fuzl Allee, a notorious knave, having, in collusion with the +local authorities of the district, taken from Hufeez-ollah the +village of Dewa, which had been held by his family in proprietory +right for many generations, and tried to extort from him a written +resignation of all his rights to the lands, Hufeez-ollah made his +escape, and went to Lucknow to seek redress. During his absence his +relations tried to recover possession, and in the contest one of +Fuzl Allee's followers was killed. Fuzl Allee then prevailed upon +Ihsan Allee, a pay havildar in the 9th Regiment of our Cavalry, who +was in no way whatever connected with the parties, and had no claim +whatever on the lands, to present a petition to the Resident, +charging Hufeez-ollah with having committed a gang-robbery upon his +house, and murdered one of his servants. Hufeez-ollah was seized +and thrown into prison, and the case was made over for trial to +Zakir Allee. No proof whatever having been adduced against him for +four months, Zakir Allee declared him innocent, and applied for his +release; but before his application reached the Durbar, another +petition was presented to the Resident, Colonel Richmond, in the +name of the pay havildar; and the Durbar ordered that the case +should be made over to the Court of Mahommed Hyat, and that the +prisoner should not be released without a settlement and the +previous sanction of the Durbar, as the affair related to the +English.</p> +<p>The prisoner proved that he was at Lucknow at the time of the +affray, and that the lands in dispute had belonged to his family +for many generations. No proof whatever was produced against him, +but by frequently changing the attorneys of the pay havildar, +pretending that he required to attend in person but could not get +leave of absence, and other devices, Fuzl Allee contrived to +postpone the final decision till the 27th of February, 1849, when +Mahommed Hyat acquitted the prisoner, and declared that the pay +havildar had in reality no connection whatever either with the +parties or with the lands; that his name had been used by Fuzl +Allee for his own evil purposes; that he had become very uneasy at +the thought of keeping an innocent man so long in prison merely to +gratify the malice and evil designs of his enemy; and prayed the +Durbar to call upon the prosecutor to prove his charges before the +Minister or other high officer within a certain period, or to +direct the release of the poor man.</p> +<p>On the 16th of January, 1852, the prisoner sent a petition to +the Resident, Colonel Sleeman, to say, that after he had been +acquitted by Mahommed Hyat on the 27th of February, 1849, his +enemy, Fuzl Allee, had contrived to prevail upon the Durbar to have +his case made over to the Court of the Suder-os Sudoor, by whom he +had been a third time acquitted; but that the Durbar dared not +order his release, as the case was one in which British officers +were concerned. He therefore prayed that the Resident would request +the King to order his release, on his giving security for his +appearance when required, as he had been in prison for more than +four years. On the 24th of January, 1852, the Resident requested +the King to have the prisoner immediately released. This was the +first time that the case came to the notice of Colonel Sleeman, +though Hufeez-ollah had been four years in prison, under a +fictitious charge from the pay havildar.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 11, 1850.—At Nawabgunge, detained by rain, +which fell heavily all last night, to the great delight of the +<i>landed interest</i>, and great discomfort of travellers. Nothing +but mud around us—our tents wet through, but standing, and +the ground inside of them dry. Fortunately there has been no strong +wind with the heavy rain, and we console ourselves with the thought +that the small inconvenience which travellers suffer from such rain +at this season is trifling, compared with the advantage which +millions of our fellow-creatures derive from it. This is what I +have heard all native travellers say, however humble or however +great—all sympathise with the landed interests in a country +where industry is limited almost exclusively to the culture of the +soil, and the revenue of the sovereign derived almost exclusively +from the land. After such rains the cold increases—the +spirits rise—the breezes freshen—the crops look +strong—the harvest is retarded—the grain gets more sap +and becomes perfect—the cold season is prolonged, as the +crops remain longer green, and continue to condense the moisture of +the surrounding atmosphere. Without such late rain, the crops ripen +prematurely, the grain becomes shrivelled, and defective both in +quantity and quality. While the rain lasts, however, a large camp +is a wretched scene; for few of the men, women, and children, and +still fewer of the animals it contains, can find any shelter at +all!</p> +<p><i>January</i> 12, 1850.-At Nawabgunge, still detained by rain. +The Minister had ordered out tents for himself and suite on the +8th, but they had not come up, and I was obliged to lend him one of +my best, and some others as they came up, or they would have been +altogether without shelter. When he left them on the 10th, his +attendants cut and took away almost all the ropes, some of the +kanats or outer walls, and some of the carpets. He knew nothing +about it, nor will he ever learn anything till told by me. His +attendants were plundering in all the surrounding villages while he +remained; and my people tried in vain to prevent them, lest they +should themselves be taken for the plunderers. Of all this the +Minister knew nothing. The attendants on the contractors and other +local officers are, if possible, still worse; and throughout the +country the King's officers all plunder, or acquiesce in the +plunder, utterly regardless of the sufferings of the people and the +best interests of their Sovereign. No precaution whatever is taken +to prevent this indiscriminate plunder by the followers of the +local authorities; nor would any one of them think it worth his +while to interpose if he saw the roofs of the houses of a whole +village moving off on the heads of his followers to his camp; or a +fine crop of sugar-cane, wheat, or vegetables cut down for fodder +by them before his face. It is the fashion of the country, and the +Government acquiesces in it.</p> +<p>Among the people no man feels mortified, or apprehends that he +shall stand the worse in the estimation of the Government or its +officers, for being called and proved to be a robber. It is the +trade of every considerable landholder in the country occasionally, +and that of a great many of them perpetually; the murder of men, +women, and children generally attends their depredations. A few +days ago, when requested by the King to apply to officers +commanding stations, and magistrates of bordering districts, for +aid in the arrest of some of the most atrocious of these rebels and +robbers, I told his Majesty, that out of consideration for the poor +people who suffered, I had made a requisition for that aid for the +arrest of three of the worst of them; but that I could make no +further requisition until he did something to remove the impression +now universal over Oude, that those who protected their peasantry +managed their estates well, obeyed the Government in all things, +and paid the revenue punctually, were sure to be oppressed, and +ultimately ruined by the Government and its officers, while those +who did the reverse in all these things were equally sure to be +favoured and courted.</p> +<p>As an instance, I mentioned Gholam Huzrut, who never paid his +revenues, oppressed his peasantry, murdered his neighbours, and +robbed them of their estates, attacked and plundered the towns +around with his large band of robbers, and kept the country in a +perpetual state of disorder; yet, when seized and sent in a +prisoner to Lucknow by Captain Bunbury, he managed to bribe +courtiers, and get orders sent out to the local authorities to have +his son kept in possession of all his ill-gotten lands, and +favoured and protected in all possible ways. I knew that such +orders had been obtained by bribery; and the Minister told me, that +he had ordered nothing more than that the son should have the +little land which had been held of old by the family, and should be +required to give up all that he had usurped. I showed him a copy of +the order issued by his confidential servant, Abid Allee, to all +commanders of troops in the district, which had been obtained for +me for the occasion of the Minister's visit to my camp; and he +seemed much ashamed to see that his subordinates should so abase +the confidence he placed in them. The order was as follows: +—</p> +<p align="center">"<i>To the Officers commanding the Forces in the +District of Sidhore, Nawabgunge, Dewa, &c.</i></p> +<p> "By Order of the Minister.—The King's chuprassies have +been sent to Para to invite in Bhikaree the son of Gholam Huzrut; +and you all are informed that the said Bhikaree is to be honoured +and cherished by the favour of the King; and if any of you should +presume to prevent his coming in, or molest him in the possession +of any of the lands he holds, you will incur the severe displeasure +of his Majesty. You are, on no account, to molest or annoy him in +any way connected with his affairs.</p> +<div class="s3">(Signed) "ABID ALLEE."</div> +<p>The thing necessary in Oude is a system and a machinery that +shall inspire all with a feeling-first, of security in their tenure +in office so long as the duties of it are performed ably and +honestly; second, in their tenure in their lands assessed at +moderate rates, as long as the rents and revenues so assessed are +fully and punctually paid, and the duties of the holders towards +the Government, their tenants, and the public, are faithfully +discharged; third, in the safety of life, person, and property on +the roads and in the towns, villages, and hamlets scattered over +the country. This good can never be effected with the present +system and machinery, whatever be the ability and diligence of the +King, the Minister, and the Resident; be they of the highest +possible order, the good they can effect must be small and +temporary; there can be, under such a system, no stability in any +rule, no feeling of security in any person or thing!</p> +<p>A tribunal, formed under the guarantee of the British +Government, might, possibly—first, form a settlement of the +land revenue of the whole country, and effectually enforce from all +parties, the fulfilment of the conditions it imposed; second, +decide, finally, upon all charges against public +officers—protect the able and honest, and punish all those +who neglect their duties or abuse their authority; third, reform +the military force in all its branches—give it the greatest +possible efficiency, compatible with the outlay—concentrate +it at five or six stations, and protect the people of the country +from its rapacity; fourth, raise and form a police, distinct +altogether from this military force, and efficient for all the +duties required from it; fifth, create and maintain judicial courts +to which all classes might look up with confidence and respect. But +to effect all this it would require to transfer at least +twenty-five lacs of rupees a-year from the pockets of official +absorbants and Court favourites to those of efficient public +officers; and, finally, to set aside the present King, Minister, +and Commander-in-Chief, and take all the executive upon itself.</p> +<p>The expenditure is now about twenty lacs of rupees a-year above +the income, and the excess is paid out of the reserved treasury. +This reserved treasury was first established by Saadut Allee Khan +in A.D. 1801, when he had serious thoughts of resigning the +government of his country into the hands of the Honourable Company, +and retiring into private life. Up to this time he used to drink +hard, and to indulge in other pleasures, which tended to unfit him +for the cares and duties of sovereignty; but, in 1801, he made a +solemn vow at the shrine of Huzrut Abbas at Lucknow to cease from +all such indulgences, and devote all his time and attention to his +public duties. This vow he kept, and no Sovereign of Oude has ever +conducted the Government with so much ability as he did for the +remaining fourteen years of his life. On his death, which took +place on the 12th of July, 1814, he left in this reserved treasury +the sum of fourteen crores of rupees, or fourteen millions +sterling, with all his establishments paid up, and his just debts +liquidated. When he ascended the musnud on the 21st January, 1798, +he found nothing in the Treasury, and the public establishments all +much in arrears.</p> +<p>Out of this reserved treasure, the <i>zukaat</i>, or two and +a-half per cent., is every year paid to the mojtahid for +distribution among the poor of the Sheea sect at Lucknow. No person +of the Sonnee sect is permitted to partake of this charity. Syuds +or lineal descendants of the Prophet are not permitted to take any +part of this charity, except for the <i>bonâ fide</i> payment +of debt due. The mojtahid is, at the same time, the high priest and +the highest judicial functionary in the State. Being a Syud, +neither he nor any member of his family can legally take any part +of this charity for themselves, except for the <i>bonâ +fide</i> purpose of paying debts; but they get over the difficulty +by borrowing large sums before the money is given out, and +appropriate the greater part of the money to the liquidation of +these debts, though they all hold large sums in our Government +securities. To his friends at Court he sends a large share, with a +request that they will do him the favour to undertake the +distribution among the poor of their neighbourhood. To prevent +popular clamour, a small portion of the money given out is actually +distributed among the poor of the Sheea sect at Lucknow; but that +portion is always small.</p> +<p>Saadut Allee's son and successor, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, spent +four crores out of the reserved treasury over and above the whole +income of the State; and when he died, on the 20th of October, +1827, he left ten crores of rupees in that treasury. His son and +successor, Nusseer-od Deen Hyder, spent nine crores and thirty +lacs; and when he died, on the 7th of July, 1837, he left only +seventy lacs in the reserved treasury. His successor, Mahommed +Allee Shah, died on the 16th of May, 1842, leaving in the reserved +treasury thirty-five lacs of rupees, one hundred and twenty-four +thousand gold mohurs, and twenty-four lacs in our Government +securities—total, seventy-eight lacs and eighty-four thousand +rupees. His son and successor, Amjud Allee Shah, died on the 13th +of February, 1847, leaving in the reserved treasury ninety-two lacs +of rupees, one hundred and twenty-four thousand gold-mohurs, and +twenty-four lacs in our Government securities—total, one +crore and thirty-six lacs. His son and successor, his present +Majesty, Wajid Allee Shah, is spending out of this reserved +treasury, over and above the whole income of the country, above +twenty lacs of rupees a-year; and the treasury must soon become +exhausted. His public establishments, and the stipendiary members +of the royal family, are, at the same time, kept greatly in +arrears.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* <i>November</i> 30, 1851.—The gold-mohurs have been all +melted down, and the promissory notes of our Government all, save +four lacs, given away; and of the rupees, I believe, only three +lacs remain; so that the reserved treasury must be entirely +exhausted before the end of 1851; while the establishments and +stipendiary members of the royal family are in arrears for from one +to three years. Fifty lacs of rupees would hardly suffice to pay +off these arrears. The troops on detached duty, in the provinces +with local officers, are not so much in arrears as those in and +about the capital. They are paid out of the revenues as they are +collected, and their receipts sent in to the treasury. For some +good or pleasing services rendered by him to the minister this +year, in the trial of offenders whom that minister wished to +screen, three lacs of rupees have been paid to the mojtahid as +<i>zukaat</i> for distribution to the poor. This has all been +appropriated by the mojtahid, the minister, and Court +favourites.</p> +<p>The State, like individuals, is bound to pay this <i>zukaat</i> +only when it is free from debts of all kinds. The present King's +father was free from debt, and had his establishments always paid +up; and he always paid this charity punctually. The present King is +not bound to pay it, but the high-priest, minister, and Court +favourites are too deeply interested in its payment to permit its +discontinuance; and the king, like a mere child in their hands, +acquiesces in all they propose. The <i>zukaat</i> has, in +consequence, increased as the treasury has become exhausted.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>January</i> 13, 1850.—Russoolabad, twelve miles, over a +country better peopled and cultivated than usual, where the soil +admits of tillage. There is a good deal that requires drainage, and +still more that is too poor to be tilled without great labour and +outlay in irrigation, manure, &c. The villages are, however, +much nearer to each other than in any other part of the country +that we have passed over; and the lands, close around every +village, are well cultivated. The landholders and cultivators told +me, that the heavy rain we have had has done a vast deal of good to +the crops; and, as it has been followed by a clear sky and fine +westerly wind, they have no fear of the blight which might have +followed had the sky continued cloudy, and the winds easterly. +Certainly nothing could look better than the crops of all kinds do +now, and the people are busily engaged in ploughing the land for +sugar-cane, and for the autumn crops of next season.</p> +<p>I had some talk with the head zumeendar of Naraenpoor about +midway. He is of the Ditchit family of Rajpoots, who abound in the +district we have now entered. We passed over the boundary of +Byswara, about three miles from our last encampment, and beyond +that district there are but few Rajpoots of the Bys clan. These +Ditchits give their daughters in marriage to the Bys Rajpoots, but +cannot get any of theirs in return. Gunga Sing, the zumeendar, with +whom I was talking, told me that both the Ditchits and Byses put +their infant daughters to death, and that the practice prevailed +more or less in all families of these and, he believed, all other +clans of Rajpoots in Oude, save the Sengers.* I asked him whether +it prevailed in his own family, and he told me that it did, more or +less, as in all others. I bade him leave me, as I could not hold +converse with a person guilty of such atrocities, and told him that +they would be all punished for them in the next world, if not in +this.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The Sengers are almost the only class of Rajpoots in +Bundelkund, and Boghilcund, Rewa, and the Saugor territories, who +used to put their female infants to death; and here, in Oude, they +are almost the only class who do not.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, who was on his horse beside my elephant, +said, "They are all punished in this world, and will, no doubt, be +punished still more in the next. Scarcely any of the heads of these +landed aristocracy are the legitimate sons of their predecessors; +they are all adopted, or born of women of inferior grade. The heads +of families who commit or tolerate such atrocities become leprous, +blind, deaf or dumb, or are carried off in early life by some +terrible disease. Hardly any of them attain a good old age, nor can +they boast of an untainted line of ancestors like other men. If +they get sons, they commonly die young. They unite themselves to +women of inferior castes for want of daughters in families of their +own ranks, and there is hardly a family among these proud Rajpoots +unstained by such connections.* Even the reptile <i>Pausies</i> +become <i>Rajpoots</i> by giving their daughters to Powars and +other Rajpoot families, when by robbery and murder they have +acquired wealth and landed property. The sister of Gunga Buksh, of +Kasimgunge, was married to the Rajah of Etondeea, a Powar Rajpoot +in Mahona; and the present Rajah—Jode Sing—is her son. +Gunga Buksh is a Pausee, but the family call themselves Rawats, and +are considered to be Rajpoots, since they have acquired landed +possessions by the murder and ruin of the old proprietors. They all +delight in murder and rapine—the curse of God is upon them, +sir, for the murder of their own innocent children!"</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* A great number of girls are purchased and stolen from our +territories, brought into Oude, and sold to Rajpoot families, as +wives for their sons, on the assurance, that they are of the same +or higher caste, and that their parents have been induced to part +with them from poverty. A great many of our native officers and +sipahees, who marry while home on furlough, and are pressed for +time, get such wives. Some of their neighbours are always bribed by +the traders in such girls, to pledge themselves for the purity of +their blood. If they ever find out the imposition, they say nothing +about it.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>"When I was sent out to inquire into the case of Brigadier +Webber, who had been attacked and robbed while travelling in his +palkee, with relays of bearers, from Lucknow to Seetapoor, I +entered a house to make some inquiries, and found the mistress +weeping. I asked the cause, and she told me that she had had four +children, and lost all—that three of them were girls, who had +been put to death in infancy, and the last was a fine boy, who had +just died! I told her that this was a just punishment from God for +the iniquities of her family, and that I would neither wash my +hands nor drink water under her roof. I never do under the roof of +any family in which such a cruel practice prevails. These Rajpoots +are all a bad set, sir. When men murder their own children, how can +they scruple to murder other people? The curse of God is upon them, +sir.</p> +<p>"In the district of Byswara," he continued, "through which we +have just passed, you will find at least fifty thousand men armed +to fight against each other, or their government and its officers: +in such a space, under the Honourable Company's dominion, you would +not find one thousand armed men of the same class. Why is this, but +because you do not allow such crimes to be perpetrated? Why do you +go on acquiring dominion over one country after another with your +handful of European troops and small force of native sipahees, but +because God sees that your rule is just, and that you have an +earnest desire to benefit the people and improve the countries you +take?"</p> +<p>He told me that he had charge of the cattle under Saadut Allee +Khan when Lord Lake took the field at the first siege of Bhurtpoor; +that his master lent his Lordship five hundred elephants, eight +thousand artillery bullocks, and five hundred horses; that two +hundred and fifty of the elephants returned; but whether any of the +bullocks and horses came back or not he could not say.</p> +<p>The country we came over to-day is well studded with groves and +fine single trees, but the soil is generally of the lighter +doomuteea kind, which requires much labour and outlay in water and +manure. The irrigation is all from wells and pools. In the villages +we came through, we saw but few of the sipahees of our army home on +furlough; they are chiefly from the Byswara and Bunoda districts. +We found our tents pitched upon a high and dry spot, with a tight +soil of clay and sand. After the heavy rain we have had, it looked +as if no shower had fallen upon it for an age. The mud walls of the +houses we saw on the road were naked, as usual. The rapacity of the +King's troops is everywhere, directly or indirectly, the cause of +this: and till they are better provided and disciplined the houses +in the towns and villages can never improve.</p> +<p>The commandant, Imdad Hoseyn, of the Akberee or Telinga +Regiment, on duty with the Amil of the Poorwa district, in which +our camp was last pitched, followed me a few miles this morning to +beg that I would try to prevail upon the Durbar to serve out +clothing for his corps. He told me that the last clothing it got +from the Government was on the occasion of Lord Hastings' visit to +Lucknow, some thirty-three years ago, in 1817; that many orders had +been given since that time for new clothing, but there was always +some one about Court to counteract them, from malice or +selfishness; that his father, Zakir Allee, commanded the corps when +it got the last clothing, and he succeeded him many years ago. The +Telinga Regiments are provided with arms, accoutrements, and +clothing by Government. The sipahees formerly got five rupees +a-month, but for only ten months in the year; they now get four +rupees and three and a-half annas a-month for all the twelve +months. 'He is, he says, obliged to take a great many +<i>sufarashies</i>, or men put in by persons of influence at Court, +out of favour, or for the purpose of sharing in their pay; and, +under the deductions and other disadvantages to which they are +liable, he could get no good men to enlist. The corps, in +consequence, has a wretched appearance, and certainly could not be +made formidable to an enemy. The "Akbery" is one of the Telinga +corps of infantry, and was intended to be, in all things, like +those of Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and Magness; but Imdad Hoseyn +told me that they had a certain weight at Court, which secured for +their regiments many advantages necessary to make the corps +efficient, while he had none: that they had occasional intercourse +with the Resident, and were all at Court for some months in the +year to make friends, while he was always detached.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 14, 1850.—Halted at Russoolabad, for our +second set of tents, which did not come up till night, when it was +too late to send them on to our next ground. We have two sets of +sleeping and dining tents—one to go on and the other to +remain during the night—but only one set of office tents. +They are struck in the afternoon, when the office duties of the day +are over, and are ready by the time we reach our ground the next +morning. This is the way in which all public functionaries march in +India. Almost all officers who have revenue charges march through +the districts under their jurisdiction during the cold season, and +so do many political officers who have control over more than one +native principality. I have had charges that require such moving +ever since the year 1822, or for some twenty-eight years; and with +the exception of two intervals of absence on medical certificate in +1826 and 1836, I have been every cold season moving in the way I +describe.</p> +<p>No Resident at the Court of Lucknow ever before moved, over the +country as I am doing to inquire into the condition of the people, +the state of the country, and character of the administration; nor +would it be desirable for them to do so unless trained to civil +business, and able and disposed to commune freely with the people +of all classes. The advantages would hardly counterbalance the +disadvantages. When I apologize to the peasantry for the +unavoidable trespasses of my camp, they always reply +good-humouredly, "The losses we suffer from them are small and +temporary, while the good we hope from your visit is great and +permanent." Would that I could realize the hopes to which my visit +gives rise.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 15, 1850.—To Meeangunge, five miles, over a +plain of good doomuteea soil, well studded with trees; but much of +the land lies waste, and many of the villages and hamlets are +unoccupied and in ruins. We passed the boundary of the Russoolabad +district, about two miles from our last ground, and crossed into +that of Meeangunge or Safeepoor. The Russoolabad district was held +in contract for some years by one of the greatest knaves in Oude, +Buksh Allee, a dome by caste, whose rise to wealth and influence +may be described as illustrative of the manners and customs of the +Lucknow Court and Government. This man and his deputy, Munsab +Allee, reduced a good deal of the land of the district to waste, +and depopulated many of its villages and hamlets by over-exactions +and by an utter disregard of their engagements with the landholders +and cultivators; and they were in league with many atrocious +highway robbers, who plundered and murdered so many travellers +along the high road leading from Lucknow to Cawnpoor, which runs +through the district, that it was deemed unsafe to pass it except +in strong bodies.</p> +<p>When I took charge of my office in January last, they used to +seize every good-looking girl or young woman, passing the roads +with parents and husbands, who were too poor to purchase redress at +Court, and make slaves or concubines of them; and, feeling strong +in the assurance of protection from the fiddlers in the palace, who +are of the same caste—domes—Buksh Allee defied all +authority, and kept those girls and women in his camp and house at +Lucknow, while their parents and husbands, for months and years, in +vain besought all who were likely to have the least influence or +authority to interpose for their release. Some of them came to me +soon after I took charge, and, having collected sufficient proof of +these atrocities, and of some robberies which he had committed or +caused to be committed along the high road, I insisted upon his +being deprived of his charges and punished. He remained for many +months concealed in the city, but was at last seized by some of the +Frontier Police, under the guidance of an excellent officer, +Lieutenant Weston, the Superintendent.</p> +<p>I had prevailed on the King to offer two thousand rupees for his +apprehension, and the two thousand rupees were distributed among +the captors. The girls and young women were released, their parents +and husbands compensated for the sufferings they had endured, and +many of the persons who had been robbed by him and his deputy had +the value of their lost property made good. Great impediments were +thrown in the way of all this by people of influence about Court; +but they were all surmounted by great skill and energy on the part +of Lieutenant Weston and steady perseverance on mine; and Buksh +Allee remained in gaol, treated as a common felon, till all was +effected. All had, in appearance, been done by the King's officers, +but in reality by ours, under his Majesty's sanction, for it was +clear that nothing would be done unless we supervised and guided +their proceedings. The district is now held in contract by a very +respectable man, Mahommed Uskaree, who has taken it for four +years.</p> +<p>The district of Safeepoor, in which we are now encamped, has +been held in contract for five years by Budreenath, a merchant of +Lucknow, who had given security for the former contractor. He could +not fulfil his engagements to Government, and the contract was made +over to him as surety, on condition that he paid the balance. He +has held it ever since, while his younger brother, Kiddernath, has +conducted their mercantile affairs at Lucknow. Budreenath has +always considered the affair as a mercantile speculation, and +thought of nothing but the amount he has to pay to Government and +that which he can squeeze out of the landholders and cultivators. +He is a bad manager; the lands are badly tilled, and the towns, +villages, and hamlets are scantily peopled and most wretched in +appearance.</p> +<p>Near the border, we passed one village, Mahommedpoor, entirely +in ruins. After some search we found a solitary man of the Pausee +tribe, who told us that it had been held for many generations by +the family of Rugonath, a Gouree Rajpoot, who paid for it at an +uniform rate of six hundred rupees a-year. About three years ago +the contractor demanded from him an increased rate, which he could +not pay. Being sorely pressed, he fled to the jungles with the few +of his clan that he could collect, and ordered all the cultivators +to follow his fortunes. They were of a different clan—mostly +Bagheelas—and declined the honour. He urged that, if they +followed him for a season or two, the village would be left +untilled, and yield nothing to the contractor, who would be +constrained to restore him to possession at the rate which his +ancestors had paid; that his family had nothing else to depend +upon, and if they did not desert the land and take to the jungles +and plunder with him, he must, of necessity, plunder them. They had +never done so, and would not do so now. He attacked and plundered +the village three times, killed three men, and drove all the rest +to seek shelter and employment in other villages around. Not a soul +but himself, our informant, was left, and the lands lay waste. +Rogonath Sing rented a little land in the village of Gouree, many +miles off, and in another district, still determined to allow no +man but himself to hold the village or restore its tillage and +population. This, said the Pausee, is the usage of the country, and +the only way in which a landholder can honestly or effectually +defend himself against the contractor, who would never regard his +rights unless he saw that he was prepared to defend them in this +way, and determined to involve all under him in his own ruin, +depopulate his estate, and lay waste his lands.</p> +<p>Meean Almas, after whom this place, Meeangunge, takes his name, +was an eunuch. He had a brother, Rahmut, after whom the town of +Rahmutgunge, which we passed some days ago, took its name. Meean +Almas was the greatest and best man of any note that Oude has +produced. He held for about forty years this and other districts, +yielding to the Oude Government an annual revenue of about eighty +lacs of rupees. During all this time he kept the people secure in +life and property, and as happy as people in such a state of +society can be; and the whole country under his charge was, during +his life-time, a garden. He lived here in a style of great +magnificence, and was often visited by his sovereign, who used +occasionally to spend a month at a time with him at Meeangunge. A +great portion of the lands held by him were among those made over +to the British Government, on the division of the Oude territory, +by the treaty of 1801, concluded between Saadut Allee Khan and the +then Governor-General Lord Wellesley.</p> +<p>The country was then divided into equal shares, according to the +rent-roll at the time. The half made over to the British Government +has been ever since yielding more revenue to us, while that +retained by the sovereign of Oude has been yielding less and less +to him; and ours now yields, in land-revenue, stamp-duty, and the +tax on spirits, two crore and twelve lacs a-year, while the +reserved half now yields to Oude only about one crore, or one crore +and ten lacs. When the cession took place, each half was estimated +at one crore and thirty-three lacs. Under good management the Oude +share might, in a few years, be made equal to ours, and perhaps +better, for the greater part of the lands in our share have been a +good deal impoverished by over-cropping, while those of the Oude +share have been improved by long fallows. Lands of the same natural +quality in Oude, under good tillage, now pay a much higher rate of +rent than they do in our half of the estate.</p> +<p>Almas Allee Khan, at the close of his life, was supposed to have +accumulated immense wealth; but when he died he was found to have +nothing, to the great mortification of his sovereign, who seized +upon all. Large sums of money had been lent by him to the European +merchants at Lucknow, as well as to native merchants all over the +country. When he found his end approaching, he called for all their +bonds and destroyed them. Mr. Ousely and Mr. Paul were said to have +at that time owed to him more than three lacs of rupees each. His +immense income he had expended in useful works, liberal +hospitality, and charity. He systematically kept in check the +tallookdars, or great landholders; fostered the smaller, and +encouraged and protected the better classes of cultivators, such as +Lodhies, Koormies, and Kachies, whom he called and considered his +children. His reign over the large extent of country under his +jurisdiction is considered to have been its golden age. Many of the +districts which he held were among those transferred to the British +Government by the treaty of 1801; and they were estimated at the +revenue which he had paid for them to the Oude Government. This was +much less than any other servant of the Oude Government would have +been made to pay for them; and this accounts, in some measure, for +the now increased rate they yield to us. Others pledged themselves +to pay rates which they never did or could pay; and the nominal +rates in the accounts were always greater than the real rates. He +never pledged himself to pay higher rates than he could and really +did pay.</p> +<p>Now the tallookdars keep the country in a perpetual state of +disturbance, and render life, property, and industry everywhere +insecure. Whenever they quarrel with each other, or with the local +authorities of the Government, from whatever cause, they take to +indiscriminate plunder and murder over all lands not held by men of +the same class; no road, town, village, or hamlet is secure from +their merciless attacks; robbery and murder become their +diversion—their sport; and they think no more of taking the +lives of men, women, and children who never offended them, than +those of deer or wild hogs. They not only rob and murder, but +seize, confine, and torture all whom they seize, and suppose to +have money or credit, till they ransom themselves with all they +have, or can beg or borrow. Hardly a day has passed since I left +Lucknow in which I have not had abundant proof of numerous +atrocities of this kind committed by landholders within the +district through which I was passing, year by year, up to the +present day. The same system is followed by landholders of smaller +degrees and of this military class—some holders of single +villages or co-sharers in a village. This class comprises Rajpoots +of all denominations, Mussulmans, and Pausies. Where one co-sharer +in a village quarrels with another, or with the Government +authorities, on whatever subject, he declares himself in a <i>state +of war</i>, and adopts the same system of indiscriminate plunder +and reckless murder. He first robs the house and murders all he can +of the family of the co-sharer with whom he has quarrelled, or +whose tenement he wishes to seize upon; and then gets together all +he can of the loose characters around, employs them in +indiscriminate plunder, and subsists them upon the booty, without +the slightest apprehension that he shall thereby stand less high in +the estimation of his neighbours, or that of the officers of +Government; on the contrary, he expects, when his <i>pastime</i> is +over, to be at least more feared and courted, and more secure in +the possession of increased lands, held at lower rates.</p> +<p>All this terrible state of disorder arises from the Government +not keeping faith with its subjects, and not making them keep faith +with each other. I one day asked Rajah Hunmunt Sing how it was that +men guilty of such crimes were tolerated in society, and he +answered by quoting the following Hindee couplet:—"Men +reverence the man whose heart is wicked, as they adore and make +offerings to the evil planet, while they let the good pass +unnoticed, or with a simple salute of courtesy."*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* There is another Hindee verse to the same effect. "Man dreads +a crooked thing—the demon Rahoo dares not seize the moon till +he sees her full." They consider the eclipse to be caused by the +demon Rahoo seizing the moon in his mouth.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The contractor for this district, Budreenath, came to call in +the afternoon, though he is suffering much from disease. He bears a +good character with the Government, because he contrives to pay its +demand; but a very bad one among the people, from whom he extorts +the means. He does not adhere to his engagements with the +landholders and cultivators, but exacts, when the crops are ripe, a +higher rate than they had engaged to pay at the commencement of +tillage; and the people suffer not only from what he takes over and +above what is due, but from the depredations of those whom such +proceedings drive into rebellion. Against such persons he is too +weak to protect them; and as soon as the rebels show that they can +reduce his income by plundering and murdering the peasantry, and +all who have property in the towns and villages, he re-establishes +them on their lands on their own terms. He had lately, however, by +great good luck, seized two very atrocious characters of this +description, who had plundered and burnt down several villages, and +murdered some of their inhabitants; and as he knew that they would +be released on the first occasion of thanksgiving at Lucknow, +having the means to bribe Court favourites, he begged my permission +to make them over to Lieutenant Weston, superintendent of the +Frontier Police, as robbers by profession. "If they come back, sir, +they will murder all who have aided in their capture, or given +evidence against them, and no village or road will be safe."</p> +<p>Some shopkeepers in the town complained that the contractor was +in the habit of forcing them to stand sureties for the fulfilment, +on the part of landholders, of any engagements they might make, to +pay him certain sums, or to make over to him certain land produce +at the harvest. This, they said, often involved them in heavy +losses, as the landholders frequently could not, or would not, do +either when the time came, and they were made to pay. This is a +frequent practice throughout Oude. Shopkeepers and merchants who +have property are often compelled by the contractors and other +local officers to give such security for bad or doubtful paymasters +with whom they may happen to have had dealings or intercourse, and +by this means robbed of all they have. All manner of means are +resorted to to compel them: they and their families are seized and +confined, and harshly or disgracefully treated, till they consent +to sign the security bonds. The plea that the bonds had been forced +from them would not avail in any tribunal to which they might +appeal: it would be urged against them that the money was for the +State; and this would be considered as quite sufficient to justify +the Government officer who had robbed them. The brief history which +I propose to give of Buksh Allee, the late contractor for the +Russoolabad district, is as follows:—</p> +<p>Mokuddera Ouleea, one of the consorts of the King, Nuseer-od +Deen Hyder, was the daughter of Mr. George Hopkins Walters, a +half-pay officer of one of the regiments of British Dragoons, who +came to Lucknow as an adventurer. He there united himself (though +not in marriage) to the widow of Mr. Whearty, an English merchant +or shopkeeper of that city, who had recently died, leaving this +widow, who was the daughter of Mr. Culloden, an English merchant of +Lucknow, and one son, now called Ameer Mirza, and one daughter, now +called Shurf-on Nissa. By Mr. Walters this widow had one daughter, +who afterwards became united to the King in marriage (in 1827), +under the title of "Mokuddera Ouleea." Mr. Walters died at Lucknow, +and the widow and two daughters went to reside at Cawnpoor. The +daughters were good-looking, and the mother was disposed to make +the most of their charms, without regard to creed or colour.</p> +<p>Buksh Allee, a dome by caste, who had been by profession a +drummer to a party of dancing-girls, served them as a coachman and +table attendant. At Cawnpoor he cohabited with Mrs. Walters, and +prevailed upon her to take her children back to Lucknow as the best +possible market for them, as he had friends at Court who would be +able to bring them to the notice of the sovereign. They were shown +to the King as soon as he succeeded his father on the throne in +1827. He was captivated with the charms of Miss Walters, though +they were not great, demanded her hand from the mother, and was +soon after united to her in marriage according to the Mahommedan +law. A suitable establishment was provided by the King for her +mother, father-in-law, brother, and sister; and as his Majesty +considered that the manner in which Buksh Allee and her mother had +hitherto lived together was unsuitable to the connection which now +subsisted between them, he caused them to be married in due form +according to the Mahommedan law. The mother and her three children +now changed their creed for that of Islamism, and took Mahommedan +names.</p> +<p>By a deed of engagement with the British Government, hearing +date the 1st of March 1829, the King contributed to the five per +cent loan the sum of sixty-two lacs and forty thousand rupees, the +interest of which, at five per cent., our Government pledged itself +to pay to the four females.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Mulika Zumanee, 10,000; Taj Mahal, 6,000; Mokuddera Ouleea, +6,000; Zeenut-on Nissa, the daughter of Mulika Zumanee, 4,000.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>These pensions were to descend in perpetuity to their heirs, if +they left any; and if they left none, they were to have the power +to bequeath them by will to whomsoever and for what purposes soever +they chose, the British Government reserving to itself the power to +pay to the heirs the principal from which the pensions arose, +instead of continuing the pensions.</p> +<p>The King died in July 1837, and Mokuddera Ouleea went to reside +near her mother and Buksh Allee, taking with her great wealth in +jewels and other things, which she had accumulated during the +King's lifetime. Her sister, Ashrof—<i>alias</i> Shurf-on +Nissa—resided in the same house with her mother and Buksh +Allee. Mokuddera Ouleea had from the time she became estranged from +her husband, the King, led a very profligate life, and she +continued to do the same in her widowhood. On the 14th of September +1839, the mother died; and the sister, Shurf-on Nissa, supplied her +place, as the wife or concubine of Buksh Allee.</p> +<p>Mokuddera Ouleea became pregnant, and on the 9th of November +1840, she was taken very ill from some violent attempt to produce +abortion. She continued insensible and speechless till the evening +of the 12th of that month, when she expired. The house which Buksh +Allee occupied at that time is within the Residency compound, and +had been purchased by Mr. John Culloden, the father of Mrs. +Walters, from Mr. George Prendergast on the 22nd of February 1802. +Mr. Prendergast purchased the house from Mr. S. M. Taylor, an +English merchant at Lucknow, who obtained it from the Nawab +Assuf-od Dowlah, as a residence. The Nawab afterwards, on the 5th +of January 1797, gave him, through the Resident, Mr. J. Lumsden, +permission to sell it to Mr. Prendergast. The remains of Mokuddera +Ouleea were interred within the compound of that house, near those +of her mother, though the King, Mahommed Allee Shah, wished to have +them buried by the side of those of her husband, the late King. The +house is still occupied by Shurf-on Nissa, who succeeded to her +sister's pension and property, under the sanction of the British +Government, and has built, or completed within the enclosure, a +handsome mosque and mausoleum.</p> +<p>On the death of Mr. Walters, Mrs. Whearty made application, +through the house of Colvin and Co., for the arrears of pension or +half-pay due to him up to the time of his death, and for some +provision for herself as his widow; but she was told that unless +she could produce the usual certificate, or proof of her marriage +with him, she could get neither. No proof whatever of the marriage +was forthcoming, and the claim was prosecuted no further. Shurf-on +Nissa, and her brother and his son, continued to live with Buksh +Allee, who, upon the wealth and pension left by Mokuddera Ouleea to +her sister, kept up splendid establishments both at Lucknow and +Cawnpoor.</p> +<p>At the latter place he associated on terms of great intimacy +with the European gentlemen, and is said to have received visits +from the Major-General commanding the Division and his lady. With +the aid of his wealth and the influence of his brother domes (the +singers and fiddlers who surround the throne of his present +Majesty), Buksh Allee secured and held for some years the charge of +this fertile and populous district of Russoolabad, through which +passes the road from Lucknow to Cawnpoor, where, as I have already +stated, he kept up bands of myrmidons to rob and murder travellers, +and commit all kinds of atrocities. This road became, in +consequence, the most unsafe of all the roads in Oude, and hardly a +day passed in which murders and robberies were not perpetrated upon +it. Proof of his participation in these atrocities having been +collected, Buksh Allee was, in October 1849, seized by order of the +Resident, tried before the King's Courts, convicted and sentenced +to imprisonment, and ordered to restore or make good the property +which he was proved to have taken, or caused to be taken, from +travellers. His house had become filled with girls of all ages, +whom he had taken from poor parents, as they passed over this road, +and converted into slaves for his seraglio. They were all restored +to their parents, with suitable compensation; and the Cawnpoor road +has become the most safe, as well as the best, road in Oude.</p> +<p>On the death of Mokuddera Ouleea, a will was sent to the +Resident by her sister, who declared that it had been under her +sister's pillow for a year, and that she had taken it out on +finding her end approaching, and made it over to her, declaring it +to contain her last wishes. By this document pensions were +bequeathed to the persons mentioned in the note below* out of +one-third, and the other two-thirds were bequeathed to her sister +and brother. In submitting this document to Government, the +Resident declared that he believed it to be a forgery; and in reply +he was instructed to ascertain whether the persons named in the +document had any objections to consider Shurf-on Nissa sole heir to +her sister's property and pension. Should they have none to urge, +he was directed to consider her as sole heir, and the pretended +will as of no avail. They all agreed to consider her as sole heir; +and the Resident was directed to make over to her the property, and +pay to her the pension or the principal from which it arose. The +Resident considered the continuance of the pension as the best +arrangement for the present, and of this Government approved.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Buksh Allee, 1,000 rupees per month; Allee Hoseyn, 75; Sooraj +Bhan, 40; Syud Hoseyn, 30; Sheik Hingun, 20; Mirza Allee, 30; Ram +Deen, 12; Meea Sultan, 15; Sudharee, 10; Imam Buksh, 3; Ala Rukhee, +10; Sadoo Begum, 20; Akbar, 15; Mahdee Begum, 30.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Shurf-on Nissa has no recognised children, and her brother and +his reputed son are her sole heirs, so that no injury can arise to +him from the omission, on the part of Government and the Resident, +of all mention of his right as co-sharer in the inheritance. +Neither brother nor sister had really any legal right whatever to +succeed to this pension, for Mokuddera Ouleea was an illegitimate +child, and had no legal heirs according to either English or +Mahommedan law. This fact seems to have been concealed from the +Resident, for he never mentioned it to Government. It was the dread +that this fact would cause the whole pension to be sent to the +shrines in Turkish Arabia, that made them forge the will. All +readily consented to consider Shurf-on Nissa the heir, when they +found that our Government had no objection to consider her as such. +The King wished to have the money to lay out on bridges and roads +in Oude, and the Resident advocated this wish; but our Government, +ignorant of the fact of the illegitimacy of the deceased, and with +the guaranteed bequest of the late King before them, could not +consent to any such arrangement.</p> +<p>Government has long been strongly and justly opposed to all such +guarantees, and the Resident was told on the 14th November 1840, +"that the Governor-General in Council could not consent to grant +the absolute and unqualified pledge of protection which the King +was solicitous of obtaining in favour of four other females; and +directed to state to his Majesty that, although in the instances he +had cited, such guarantees had certainly been afforded in former +times, yet they were always given either under the impression of an +overruling necessity, or in consequence of some acknowledged +claims, or previously existing engagements, the force of which +could not be avoided; that their existence had often operated +practically in the most embarrassing manner, while it constituted a +standing and perpetual infringement of the rights of the Government +of Oude; and that his Lordship in Council was, consequently, +decidedly opposed to the continuance of a system so plainly at +variance with every just principle of policy." The objections of +the British Government to such guarantees are stated in letters +dated 18th February, 28th March, 20th May, 3rd October, and 19th +December 1839, and 11th May 1848.</p> +<p>In a despatch from the Honourable the Court of Directors, dated +4th March 1840, their just disapprobation of such guarantees is +expressed; and reference is made to former strong expressions of +disapprobation. In their despatch of the 28th March 1843, the +Honourable Court again express their disapprobation of such +guarantees; and refer to their letter of the 16th March, in which +they gave positive orders that no such engagement should ever be +concluded without a previous reference to the Court. The argument +that the arrangement did not, in any particular case, add to the +number of guaranteed persons, such persons being already under +guarantee, did not in the opinion of the Court touch the stronger +objection to such a measure, that of the impropriety of our aiding, +especially by the grant of peculiar privileges, the appropriation +of the resources of the State to the advantage of individuals. The +Court expresses a hope that they shall never have occasion to +notice any future violation of their orders as respects such +engagements.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 16, 1850.—We were to have gone this morning +to Ouras, but were obliged to encamp at Burra, eight miles from +Meeangunge, on the left bank of the Saee river, which had been too +much increased by the late rains to admit of our baggage and tents +passing over immediately on anything but elephants. As we have but +few of them, our tents were pitched on this side of the river, that +our things might have the whole day before them to pass over on +carts and camels, as the river subsided. Ouras is three miles from +our camp, and we are to pass through it and go on to Sundeela +to-morrow. There is no bridge, and boats are not procurable on this +small river, which we have to cross and recross several times.</p> +<p>The country from Meeangunge is scantily cultivated, but well +studded with trees, and generally fertile under good tillage. The +soil is the light doomuteea, but here and there very sandy and +poor, running into what is called bhoor. The villages and hamlets +which we could see are few and wretched. We have few native +officers and sipahees in our army from the districts we are now in, +and I am in consequence less oppressed with complaints from this +class of the Oude subjects.</p> +<p>We met, near our tents, a party of soldiers belonging to Rajah +Ghalib Jung, a person already mentioned, and at present +superintendent of police, along the Cawnpoor road, escorting a band +of thieves, who robbed Major Scott some ten months ago on his way, +by dawk, from Lucknow, and an European merchant, two months ago, on +his way, by dawk, from Cawnpoor to Lucknow. They had been seized in +the Sundeela districts, and the greater part of the stolen property +found in their houses. They are of the Pausie tribe, and told me +that thieving was their hereditary trade, and that they had long +followed it on the Cawnpoor road with success. The landholder, who +kept them upon his estate and shared in their booty, was also +seized, but made over to the revenue contractor, who released him +after a few days' imprisonment for a gratuity.</p> +<p>Of these Pausies there are supposed to be about one hundred +thousand families in Oude. They are employed as village watchmen, +but, with few exceptions, are thieves and robbers by hereditary +profession. Many of them adopt poisoning as a trade, and the +numbers who did so were rapidly increasing when Captain Hollings, +the superintendent of the Oude Frontier Police, arrested a great +many of them, and proceeded against them as Thugs by profession, +under Act III. of 1848. His measures have been successfully +followed up by Captain Weston, his successor, and this crime has +been greatly diminished in Oude. It prevails still, however, more +or less, in all parts of India.</p> +<p>These Pausies of Oude generally form the worst part of the gangs +of refractory tallookdars in their indiscriminate plunder. They use +the bow and arrow expertly, and are said to be able to send an +arrow through a man at the distance of one hundred yards. There is +no species of theft or robbery in which they are not experienced +and skilful, and they increase and prosper in proportion as the +disorders in the country grow worse. They serve any refractory +landholder, or enterprising gang-robber, without wages, for the +sake of the booty to be acquired.</p> +<p>Many of the sipahees of the Mobarick Pultun, on detached duty +with the king's wakeel in attendance upon me, were this morning +arrested, while taking off the choppers from the houses of villages +along the road and around my camp, for fuel and fodder, in what +they called the "<i>usual way</i>." The best beams and rafters and +the whole of the straw were fast moving off to my camp; and when +seized, the sipahees seemed much surprised, and asked me what they +were to do, as they had not received any pay for six months, and +the Government expected that they would help themselves to straw +and timber wherever they could most conveniently find it. All were +fined; but the hope to put a stop to this intolerable evil, under +the present system, is a vain one. The evil has the acquiescence +and encouragement of the Government and its functionaries of all +kinds and grades throughout the country. It is distressing to +witness every day such melancholy proofs of how much is done that +ought not to be done, and how much that ought to be done is left +undone, in so fine a country.</p> +<p>A want of sympathy or fellow-feeling between the governing and +governed is common in all parts of India, but in no part that I +have seen is it so marked as in Oude. The officers of the +Government delight in plundering the peasantry, and upon every +local Governor who kills a landholder of any mark, rewards and +honours are instantly bestowed, without the slightest inquiry as to +the cause or mode. They know that no inquiry will be made, and +therefore kill them when they can; no matter how, or for what +cause. The great landholders would kill the local Governors with +just as little scruple, did they not fear that it might make the +British Government interpose and aid in the pursuit after them.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 17, 1850.—Sundeela, about thirteen miles +from our last camp, on the bank of the little River Saee, over a +plain of good doomuteea soil, very fertile, and well cultivated in +the neighbourhood of villages. The greater portion of the plain is, +however, uncultivated, though capable of the best tillage, and +shows more than the usual signs of maladministration. In this +district there are only three tallookdars, and they do not rob or +resist the Government at present. They distrust the Government +authorities, however, and never have any personal intercourse with +them. The waste is entirely owing to the bad character of the +contractors, and the license given to the troops and establishments +under them. The district is now held in <i>amanee</i> tenure, and +under the management of Hoseyn Buksh, who entered into his charge +only six weeks ago. He is without any experience in, or knowledge +of, his duties; he has three regiments of Nujeebs on duty under +him, and all who are present came out to meet me. Anything more +unlike soldiers it would be difficult to conceive. They are feared +only by the honest and industrious. Wherever the Amil goes they go +with him, and are a terrible scourge to the country—by far +the worst that the country suffers under.</p> +<p>The first thing necessary to effect a reform is—to form +out of these disorderly and useless bodies a few efficient +regiments; do away with the purveyance system, on which, they are +now provided with fuel, fodder, carriage, &c.; pay them +liberally and punctually; supply them with good clothing, arms, +accoutrements, and ammunition; and concentrate them at five or six +points in good cantonments, whence they can move quickly to any +part where their services may be required. No more than are +indispensably required should attend the local authorities in their +circuits. All the rest should remain in cantonments till called for +on emergency; and when so called for, they should have all the +conveyance they require, and the supplies provided for +them—the conveyance at fixed rates, and the supplies at the +market price, in good bazaars. For police duties and revenue +collections there should be a sufficient body of men kept up, and +at the disposal of the revenue and police authorities. The military +establishments should be under the control of a different +authority. But all this would be of no avail unless the corps were +under able commanders, relieved from the fear of Court favourites, +and under a Commander-in-Chief who understood his duty and had +influence enough to secure all that the troops required to render +them efficient, and not a child of seven years of age.</p> +<p>Several of the villages of Sundeela are held by Syud zumeendars, +who are peaceable and industrious subjects, and were generally +better protected than others under the influence of Chowdhere, +Sheik Hushmut Allee, of Sundeela, an agricultural capitalist and +landholder, whom no local authority could offend with impunity. His +proper trade was to aid landholders of high and low degree, by +becoming surety for their punctual payment of the Government +demand, and advancing the instalments of that demand himself when +they had not the means, and thereby saving them from the visits of +the local authorities and their rapacious and disorderly troops: +but in an evil hour he ventured to extend his protection a little +further, and, to save them from the oppressions of an unscrupulous +contractor, he undertook to manage the district himself, and make +good all the Government demand upon it. He was unable to pay all +that he had bound himself to pay. His brother was first seized by +the troops and taken to Lucknow. He languished under the discipline +to which he was there subjected, and when on the point of death +from what his friends call a <i>broken heart</i>, and the +Government authorities <i>cholera-morbus</i>, he was released. He +died immediately after his return home, and Hushmut Allee was then +seized and taken to Lucknow, where he is now confined. The people +here lament his absence as a great misfortune to the district, as +he was the only one among them who ever had authority and +influence, united with a fellow-feeling for the people, and a +disposition to promote their welfare and happiness.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Hushmut Allee is still in confinement, but under the troops +at Sundeela, and not at Lucknow. July 20, 1851.]</p> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<p align="center"><small>END OF VOL. 1.</small></p> +<br> +<br> +<a name="Vol2" id="Vol2"></a><br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>A</h3> +<h1>JOURNEY</h1> +<h3>THROUGH THE</h3> +<h1>KINGDOM OF OUDE</h1> +<h3>IN 1849—1850;</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h3>BY DIRECTION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE,<br> +GOVERNOR-GENERAL.</h3> +<h3>WITH PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ANNEXATION<br> +OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA, &c.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.</h3> +<h3>Resident at the Court of Lucknow</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h3><i>IN TWO VOLUMES.</i></h3> +<h3>VOL. II.</h3> +<br> +<a href="#Vol1"><small>VOL. I.</small></a><br> +<h3>LONDON:</h3> +<h3>RICHARD BENTLEY</h3> +<br> +<h5>Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.</h5> +<br> +<h5>1858.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote> +<p>[Transcriber's note: The author's spelling of the names of +places and people vary considerably, even within a single +paragraph. The spelling of place names in the text varies from that +shown on the map. The author's spelling is reproduced as in the +printed text.]</p> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</h2> +<a href="#Chapt2-1">CHAPTER 1.</a> +<p>Sundeela—The large landholders of the +district—Forces with the Amil—Tallookdars, of the +district—Ground suited for cantonments and civil +offices—Places consecrated to worship—Kutteea +Huron—Neem Sarang, traditions regarding—Landholders and +peasantry of Sundeela—Banger and Sandee Palee, strong against +the Government authorities from their union—<i>Nankar</i> and +<i>Seer</i>. Nature and character of—Jungle—Leaves of +the peepul, bur, &c., used as fodder—Want of good houses +and all kinds of public edifices—Infanticide—Sandee +district—Security of tenure in groves—River +Gurra—Hafiz Abdulla, the governor—Runjeet Sing, of +Kutteearee—Thieves in the Banger +district—Infanticide—How to put down the +crime—Palee—Richness of the foliage, and carpeting of +spring-crops—Kunojee Brahmins—Success of the robber's +trade in Oude—Shahabad—Timber taken down the little +river Gurra to the Ganges, from the Tarae forest—Fanaticism +of the Moosulman population of Shahabad; and insolence and impunity +with which they oppress the Hindoos of the town.</p> +<a href="#Chapt2-2">CHAPTER II.</a> +<p>Infanticide—Nekomee Rajpoots—Fallows in Oude created +by disorders—Their cause and effect—Tillage goes on in +the midst of sanguinary conflicts—Runjeet Sing, of +Kutteearee—Mahomdee district—White +Ants—Traditional decrease in the fertility of the Oude +soil—Risks to which cultivators are exposed—Obligations +which these risks impose upon them—Infanticide—The Amil +of Mahomdee's narrow escape—An infant disinterred and +preserved by the father after having been buried +alive—Insecurity of life and property—Beauty of the +surface of the country, and richness of its foliage—Mahomdee +district—State and recent history of—Relative fertility +of British and Oude soil—Native notions of our laws and their +administration—Of the value of evidence in our +Courts—Infanticide—Boys only saved—Girls +destroyed in Oude—The priests who give absolution for the +crime abhorred by the people of all other classes—Lands in +our districts becoming more and more exhausted from +over-cropping—Probable consequences to the Government and +people of India—Political and social error of considering +land private property—Hakeem Mehndee and subsequent managers +of Mahomdee—Frauds on the King in charges for the keep of +animals—Kunojee Brahmins—Unsuccessful attempt to +appropriate the lands of weaker neighbours—Gokurnath, on the +border of the Tarae—The sakhoo or saul trees of the +forest.</p> +<a href="#Chapt2-3">CHAPTER III.</a> +<p>Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe—Dispute between +Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his +relatives—Cultivation along the border of the Tarae +forest—Subdivision of land among the Ahbun +families—Rapacity of the king's troops, and establishments of +all kinds—Climate near the Tarae—Goitres—Not +one-tenth of the cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the +villages peopled—Criterion of good tillage—Ratoon +crops—Manure available—Khyrabad district better peopled +and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the soil +over-cropped—Blight—Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of +Khymara—Ousted by collusion and bribery—Anrod Sing of +Oel, and Lonee Sing—State of Oude forty years ago compared +with its present state—The Nazim of the Khyrabad +district—Trespasses of his followers—Oel +Dhukooa—<i>Khalsa</i> lands absorbed by the Rajpoot +barons—Salarpoor—Sheobuksh Sing of +Kuteysura—<i>Bhulmunsee</i>, or property-tax—Beautiful +groves of Lahurpoor—Residence of the Nazim—Wretched +state of the force with the Nazim—Gratuities paid by officers +in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust—Rajah +Arjun Sing's estate of Dhorehra—Hereditary gang-robbers of +the Oude Tarae suppressed—Mutiny of two of the King's +regiments at Bhitolee—Their rapacity and +oppression—Singers and fiddlers who govern the King—Why +the Amils take all their troops with them when they +move—Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of +Oude Local Infantry—Sipahees not equal to those in Magness's, +Barlow's, and Bunbury's, or in our native regiments of the +line—Why—The prince Momtaz-od Dowlah—Evil effects +of shooting monkeys—Doolaree, <i>alias</i> Mulika +Zumanee—Her history, and that of her son and daughter.</p> +<a href="#Chapt2-4">CHAPTER IV.</a> +<p>Nuseer-od Deen Hyder's death—His repudiation of his son, +Moona Jan, leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od +Dowlah—Contest for the succession between these two +persons—The Resident supports the uncle, and the Padshah +Begum supports the son—The ministers supposed to have +poisoned the King—Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth by +his successor—Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which +Oude was divided into two equal shares—One transferred to the +British Government, one reserved by Oude—Estimated value of +each at the time of treaty—Present value of each—The +sovereign often warned that unless he governs as he ought, the +British Government cannot support him, but must interpose and take +the administration upon itself—All such warnings have been +utterly disregarded—No security to life or property in any +part of Oude—Fifty years of experience has proved, that we +cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its +people—The alternative left appears to be to take the +management upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the +sovereign and royal family of Oude—Probable effects of such a +change on the feelings and interests of the people of Oude.</p> +<a href="#Chapt2-5">CHAPTER V.</a> +<p>Baree-Biswa district—Force with the Nazim, Lal +Bahader—Town of Peernuggur—Dacoitee by Lal and Dhokul +Partuks—Gangs of robbers easily formed out of the loose +characters which abound in Oude—The lands tilled in spite of +all disorders—Delta between the Chouka and Ghagra +rivers—Seed sown and produce yielded on land—Rent and +stock—Nawab Allee, the holder of the Mahmoodabad +estate—Mode of augmenting his estate—Insecurity of +marriage processions—Belt of jungle, fourteen miles west from +the Lucknow cantonments—Gungabuksh Rawat—His attack on +Dewa—The family inveterate robbers—Bhurs, once a +civilized and ruling people in Oude—Extirpated systematically +in the fourteenth century—Depredations of +Passees—Infanticide—How maintained—Want of +influential middle class of merchants and +manufacturers—Suttee—Troops with the Amil—Seizure +of a marriage procession by Imambuksh, a gang +leader—Perquisites and allowances of Passee watchmen over +corn-fields—Their fidelity to trusts—Ahbun Sing, of +Kyampoor, murders his father—Rajah Singjoo of +Soorujpoor—Seodeen, another leader of the same +tribe—Principal gang-leaders of the Dureeabad Rodowlee +district—Jugurnath Chuprassie—Bhooree Khan—How +these gangs escape punishment—Twenty-four belts of jungle +preserved by landholders always, or occasionally, refractory in +Oude—Cover eight hundred and eighty-six square miles of good +land—How such atrocious characters find followers, and +landholders of high degree to screen, shelter, and aid them.</p> +<a href="#Chapt2-6">CHAPTER VI.</a> +<p>Adventures of Maheput Sing of Bhowaneepoor—Advantages of a +good road from Lucknow to Fyzabad—Excellent condition of the +artillery bullocks with the Frontier Police—Get all that +Government allows for them—Bred in the Tarae—Dacoits of +Soorujpoor Bareyla—The Amil connives at all their +depredations, and thrives in consequence—The Amil of the +adjoining districts does not, and ruined in consequence—His +weakness—Seetaram, a capitalist—His account of a +singular <i>Suttee</i>—Bukhtawar Sing's notions of +<i>Suttee</i>, and of the reason why Rajpoot widows seldom become +<i>Suttees</i>—Why local authorities carry about prisoners +with them—Condition of prisoners—No taxes on +mangoe-trees—Cow-dung cheaper than wood for fuel—Shrine +of "Shaikh Salar" at Sutrik—Bridge over the small river +Rete—Recollection of the ascent of a balloon at +Lucknow—End of the pilgrimage.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p><a href="#Private2">Private Correspondence subsequent to the +Journey through the Kingdom of Oude,</a> and relating to the +Annexation of Oude to British India.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>DIARY</h1> +<br> +<br> +<h1>A TOUR THROUGH OUDE</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="10%" align="center"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt2-1" id="Chapt2-1">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Sundeela—The large landholders of the +district—Forces with the Amil—Tallookdars, of the +district—Ground suited for cantonments and civil +offices—Places consecrated to worship—Kutteea +Huron—Neem Sarang, traditions regarding—Landholders and +peasantry of Sundeela—Banger and Sandee Palee, strong against +the Government authorities from their union—<i>Nankar</i> and +<i>Seer</i>. Nature and character of—Jungle—Leaves of +the peepul, bur, &c., used as fodder—Want of good houses +and all kinds of public edifices—Infanticide—Sandee +district—Security of tenure in groves—River +Gurra—Hafiz Abdulla, the governor—Runjeet Sing, of +Kutteearee—Thieves in the Banger +district—Infanticide—How to put down the +crime—Palee—Richness of the foliage, and carpeting of +spring crops—Kunojee Brahmins—Success of the robber's +trade in Oude—Shahabad—Timber taken down the little +river Gurra to the Ganges, from the Tarae forest—Fanaticism +of the Moosulman population of Shahabad; and insolence and impunity +with which they oppress the Hindoos of the town.</p> +<p>The baronial proprietors in the Sundeela district are Murdun +Sing, of Dhurawun, with a rent-roll of 38,000; Gunga Buksh, of +Atwa, with one of 25,000; Chundeeka Buksh, of Birwa, with one of +25,000; and Somere Sing, of Rodamow, with one of 34,000. This is +the rent-roll declared and entered in the accounts; but it is much +below the real one. The Government officers are afraid to measure +their lands, or to make any inquiries on the estates into their +value, lest they should turn robbers and plunder the country, as +they are always prepared to do. They have always a number of armed +and brave retainers, ready to support them in any enterprise, and +can always add to their number on emergency. There is never any +want of loose characters ready to fight for the sake of plunder +alone. A tallookdar, however, when opposed to his government, does +not venture to attack another tallookdar or his tenants. He stands +too much in need of his aid, or at least of his neutrality and +forbearance.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 18, 1850.—Halted at Sundeela. To the north +of the town there is a large uncultivated plain of <i>oosur</i> +land, that would answer for cantonments; but the water lies, for +some time after rain, in many places. The drainage is defective, +but might be made good towards a rivulet to the north and west. +There is another open plain to the west of the town, between the +suburbs and the small village of Ausoo Serae, where the +Trigonometrical Survey has one of its towers. It is about a mile +from east to west, and more from north to south, and well adapted +for the location of troops and civil establishments. The climate is +said to be very good. The town is large and still populous, but the +best families seem to be going to decay, or leaving the place. Many +educated persons from Sundeela in our civil establishments used to +leave their families here; but life and property have become so +very insecure, that they now always take them with them to the +districts in which they are employed, or send them to others. I +observed many good houses of burnt brick and cement, but they are +going fast to decay, and are all surrounded by numerous mud-houses +without coverings, or with coverings of the same material, which +are hidden from view by low parapets. These houses have a wretched +appearance.</p> +<p>The Amil has twelve guns with him; but the bullocks are all so +much out of condition from want of food that they can scarcely +walk; and the Amil was obliged to hire a few plough-bullocks from +the cultivators, to draw out two guns to my camp to fire the +salute. They get no grain, and there is little or no grass anywhere +on the fallow and waste lands, from the want of rain during June, +July, and August. The Amil told me, that he had no stores or +ammunition for the guns; and that their carriages were all gone, or +going, to pieces, and had received no repairs whatever for the last +twelve years. I had in the evening a visit from Rajah Murdun Sing, +of <i>Dharawun</i>, a stout and fat man, who bears a fair +character. He is of the Tilokchundee Bys clan, who cannot +intermarry with each other, as they are all of the sama gote or +family. It would, according to their notions, be incestuous.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 19, 1850.—Hutteeah Hurrun, thirteen miles. +The plain level as usual, and of the loose doomuteea soil, fertile +in natural powers everywhere, and well tilled around the villages, +which are more numerous than in any other part that we have passed +over. The water is everywhere near the surface, and wells are made +at little cost. A well is dug at a cost of from five to ten rupees; +and in the muteear, or argillaceous soil, will last for irrigation +for forty years. To line it with burnt bricks without cement will +cost from one to two hundred rupees; and to add cement will cost a +hundred more. Such lining is necessary in light soil, and still +more so in sandy or <i>bhoor</i>. They frequently line their wells +at little cost with long thick cables, made of straw and twigs, and +twisted round the surface inside. The fields are everywhere +irrigated from wells or pools, and near villages well manured; and +the wheat and other spring crops are excellent. They have been +greatly benefited by the late rains, and in no case injured. The +ground all the way covered with white hoar frost, and the dews +heavy in a cloudless sky. Finer weather I have never known in any +quarter of the world.</p> +<p>This place is held sacred from a tradition, that Ram, after his +expedition against Cylone, came here to bathe in a small tank near +our present camp, in order to wash away the sin of having killed a +<i>Brahmin</i> in the person of Rawun, the monster king of that +island, who had taken away his wife, Seeta. Till he had done so, he +could not venture to revisit his capital, Ajoodheea. There are many +legends regarding the origin of the sanctity of this and the many +other places around, which pilgrims must visit to complete the +<i>pykurma</i>, or holy circuit. The most popular seems to be this. +Twenty-eight thousand sages of great sanctity were deputed, with +the god Indur at their head, on a mission to present an address to +Brimha, as he reposed upon the mountain Kylas, praying that he +would vouchsafe to point out to them the place in Hindoostan most +worthy to be consecrated to religious worship. He took a discus +from the top-knot on his head, and, whirling it in the air, +directed it to proceed in search. After much search it rested at a +place near the river Goomtee, which it deemed to be most fitted for +the purification of one's faith, and which thenceforth took the +name of <i>Neem Sarung</i>, a place of devotion. The twenty-eight +thousand sages followed, and were accompanied by Brimha himself, +attended by the Deotas, or subordinate gods. He then summoned to +the place no less than <i>three crores and half</i>, or thirty +millions and half of <i>teeruts</i>, or angels, who preside each +over his special place of religions worship. All settled down at +places within ten miles of the central point, Neem Sarung; but +their departure does not seem to have impaired the sanctity of the +places whence they came. The angels, or spirits, who presided over +them sent out these offshoots to preside at Neemsar and the +consecrated places around it, as trees send off their grafts +without impairing their own powers and virtues.</p> +<p>Misrik, a few miles from this, and one of the places thus +consecrated, is celebrated as the residence of a very holy sage, +named Dudeej. In a great battle between the Deotas and the Giants, +the Deotas were defeated. They went to implore the aid of the +drowsy god, Brimha, upon his snowy mountain top. He told them to go +to Misrik and arm themselves with the <i>bones</i> of the old sage, +Dudeej. They found Dudeej alive and in excellent health; but they +thought it their duty to explain to him their orders. He told them, +that he should be very proud indeed to have his bones used as arms +in so holy a cause; but he had unfortunately vowed to bathe at all +the sacred shrines in India before he died, and must perform his +vow. Grievously perplexed, the Deotas all went and submitted their +case to their leader, the god Indur. Indur consulted his chaplain, +Brisput, who told him, that there was really no difficulty whatever +in the case—that the angels of all the holy shrines in India +had been established at and around Neemsar by Brimha himself; and +the Deotas had only to take water from all the sacred places over +which they presided, and pour it over the old sage, to get both him +and themselves out of the dilemma. They did so, and the old sage, +expressing himself satisfied, gave up his life. In what mode it was +taken no one can tell me. The Deotas armed themselves with his +bones, attacked the Giants forthwith, and gained an easy and +complete victory. The wisdom of the orders of drowsy old Brimha, in +this case, is as little questioned by the Hindoos of the present +day as that of the orders of drunken old Jupiter was in the case of +Troy, by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Millions, "wise in their +generation," have spent their lives in the reverence of both.</p> +<p>There is hardly any sin that the waters of these dirty little +ponds are not supposed to be capable of washing away; and, over and +above this, they are supposed to improve all the good, and reduce +to order all the bad passions and emotions of those who bathe in +them, by propitiating the aid of the deity, and those who have +influence over him.</p> +<p>A good deal of the land, distant from villages, lies waste, +though capable of good tillage; and from the all pervading cause, +the want of confidence in the Government and its officers, and of +any feeling of security to life, property, and industry. Should +this cause be removed, the whole surface of the country would +become the beautiful garden which the parts well cultivated and +peopled now are. It is all well studded with fine +trees—single and in clusters and groves. The soil is good, +the water near the surface, and to be obtained in any abundance at +little outlay, and the peasantry are industrious, brave, and +robust. Nothing is wanted but good and efficient government, which +might be easily secured. I found many Kunojee Brahmins in the +villages along the road, who tilled their own fields without the +aid of ploughmen; and they told me, that when they had no longer +the means to hire ploughmen, they were permitted to hold their own +ploughs—that is, they were not excommunicated for doing +so.</p> +<p>In passing along, with wheat-fields close by on our left, while +the sun is a little above the horizon on the right, we see a +<i>glory</i> round the shadows of our heads as they extend into the +fields. All see these <i>glories</i> around their own heads, but +cannot see them around those of their neighbours. They stretch out +from the head and shoulders, with gradually-diminished splendour, +to some short distance. This beautiful and interesting appearance +arises from the leaves and stalks of the wheat being thickly +bespangled with dew. The observer's head being in the direct rays +of the sun, as they pass over him to that of his shadow in the +field, he carries the glory with him. Those before and behind him +see the same glory around the shadows of their own heads, but +cannot see it round that of the head of any other person before or +behind; because he is on one or other side of the direct rays which +pass over them. It is best seen when the sky is most clear, and the +dew most heavy. It is not seen over bushy crops such as the arahur, +nor on the grass plains.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 20, 1850.—Beneegunge, eight miles, over a +slightly-undulating plain of light sandy soil, scantily cultivated, +but well studded with fine trees of the best kind. Near villages, +where the land is well watered and manured, the crops are fine and +well varied. All the pools are full from the late rain, and they +are numerous and sufficient to water the whole surface of the +country, with a moderate fall of rain in December or January. If +they are not available, the water is always very near the surface, +and wells can be made for irrigation at a small cost. The many +rivers and rivulets which enter Oude from the Himmalaya chain and +Tarae forest, and flow gently through the country towards the +Ganges, without cutting very deeply into the soil, always keep the +water near the surface, and available in all quarters and in any +quantity for purposes of irrigation. Never was country more +favoured, by nature, or more susceptible of improvement under +judicious management. There is really hardly an acre of land that +is not capable of good culture, or that need be left waste, except +for the sites of towns and villages, and ponds for irrigation, or +that would be left waste under good government. The people +understand tillage well, and are industrious and robust, capable of +any exertion under protection and due encouragement.</p> +<p>The Government has all the revenues to itself, having no public +debt and paying no tribute to any one, while the country receives +from the British Government alone fifty lacs, or half a million +a-year; first, in the incomes of guaranteed pensioners, whose +stipends are the interest of loans received by our Government at +different times from the sovereigns of Oude, as a provision for +their relatives and dependents in perpetuity, and as endowments for +their mausoleums and mosques, and other religious and eleemosynary +establishments; second, in the interest paid for Government +securities held by people residing in Oude; third, in the payment +of pensions to the families of men who have been killed in our +service, and to invalid native officers and sipahees of our army +residing there, fourth, in the savings of others who still serve in +our army, while their families reside in Oude; and those of the +native officers of our civil establishments, whose families remain +at their homes in Oude; fifth, in the interest on a large amount of +our Government securities held by people at Lucknow, who draw the +interest not from the Resident's Treasury, but from the General +Treasury in Calcutta, or the Treasuries of our bordering districts, +in order to conceal their wealth from the King and his officers. +Over and above all this our Government has to send into Oude, to be +expended there, the pay of five regiments of infantry and a company +of artillery, which amounts to some six or seven lacs more. Oude +has so many places of pilgrimage, that it receives more in the +purchase of the food and other necessaries required by the +pilgrims, during their transit and residence, than it sends out +with pilgrims who visit shrines and holy places in other countries. +It requires little from other countries but a few luxuries for the +rich—in shawls from Kashmere and the Punjab, silks, satins, +broad-cloth, muslins, guns, watches, &c. from England.</p> +<p>A great portion of the salt and saltpetre required is raised +within Oude, and so is all the agricultural produce, except in +seasons of drought; and the arms required for the troops are +manufactured in Oude, with the exception of some few cannon and +shells, and the muskets and bayonets for the few disciplined +regiments. The royal family and some of the Mahommedan gentlemen at +Lucknow send money occasionally to the shrines of Mecca, Medina, +Kurbala, and Nujuf Ashruf, in Turkish Arabia; and some Hindoos send +some to Benares and other places of worship, to be distributed in +charity or laid out in useful works in their name. Some of the +large pensions enjoyed by the relatives and dependents of former +sovereigns, under the guarantee of our Government, go in perpetuity +to the shrines in Turkish Arabia, in default of both <i>will</i> and +<i>heir</i>. +When Ghazee-od Deen succeeded his father on the musnud in 1814, +contrary to his expectation and to his father's wish, he gave the +minister about fifty lacs of rupees to be expended in charity at +those shrines, and in canals, saraees, and other works of utility. +Letters, full of expressions of gratitude and descriptions of these +useful works, were often shown to him; but the minister, Aga Meer, +is said to have kept the whole fifty lacs to himself, and got all +these letters written by his private secretaries. Some few Hindoo +and Mahommedan gentlemen, when they have lost their places and +favour at the Oude Court, go and reside at Cawnpoor, and some few +other places in the British territory for greater security; but +generally it may be said, that in spite of all disadvantages +Mahommedan gentlemen from Oude, in whatever country they may serve, +like to leave their families in Oude, and to return and spend what +they acquire among them. They find better society there than in our +own territories, or society more to their tastes; better means for +educating their sons; more splendid processions, festivals, and +other inviting sights, in which they and their families can +participate without cost; more consideration for rank and learning, +and more attractive places for worship and religious observances. +The little town of Karoree, about ten or twelve miles from Lucknow, +has, I believe, more educated men, filling high and lucrative +offices in our civil establishments, than any other town in India +except Calcutta. They owe the greater security which they there +enjoy, compared with other small towns in Oude, chiefly to the +respect in which they are known to be held by the British +Government and its officers, and to the influence of their friends +and relatives who hold office about the Court of Lucknow.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 21, 1849.—Sakin, ten miles north-west. The +country well studded with fine trees, and pretty well cultivated, +but the soil is light from a superabundance of sand; and the crops +are chiefly autumn, except in the immediate vicinity of villages, +and cut in December. The surface on which they stood this season +appears to be waste, except where the stalks of the jowar and +bajara, are left standing for sale and use, as fodder for cattle. +These stalks are called kurbee, and form good fodder for elephants, +bullocks, &c., during the cold, hot, and rainy season. They are +said to keep better when left on the ground, after the heads have +been gathered, than when stacked. The sandy soil, in the vicinity +of villages, produces fine spring crops of all kinds, wheat, gram, +sugarcane, arahur, tobacco, &c., being well manured by drainage +from the villages, and by the dung stored and spread over it; and +that more distant would produce the same, if manured and irrigated +in the same way.</p> +<p>The head men or proprietors of some villages along the road +mentioned, "that the fine state in which we saw them was owing to +their being strong, and able to resist the Government authorities +when disposed, as they generally were, to oppress or rack-rent +them; that the landholders owed their strength to their union, for +all were bound to turn out and afford aid to their neighbour on +hearing the concerted signal of distress; that this league, +'<i>offensive and defensive</i>,' extended all over the Baugur +district, into which we entered about midway between this and our +last stage; and that we should see how much better it was peopled +and cultivated in consequence than the district of Mahomdee, to +which we were going; that the strong only could keep anything under +the Oude Government; and as they could not be strong without union, +all landholders were solemnly pledged to aid each other, <i>to the +death</i>, when oppressed or attacked by the local officers." They +asked Captain Weston, who was some miles behind me, what was the +Resident's object in this tour, whether the Honourable Company's +Government was to be introduced into Oude? He told them that the +object was solely to see the state of the country and condition of +the people, with a view to suggest to the King's Government any +measures that might seem calculated to improve both; and asked them +whether they wished to come under the British rule? They told him, +"that they should like much to have the British rule introduced, if +it could be done without worrying them with its complicated laws +and formal and distant courts of justice, of which they had heard +terrible accounts."</p> +<p>The Nazim of the Tundeeawun or Baugur district met me on his +border, and told me, "that he was too weak to enforce the King's +orders, or to collect his revenues; that he had with him one +efficient company of Captain Bunbury's corps, with one gun in good +repair, and provided with draft-bullocks, in good condition; and +that this was the only force he could rely upon; while the +landholders were strong, and so leagued together for mutual +defence, that, at the sound of a matchlock, or any other concerted +signal, all the men of a dozen large villages would, in an hour, +concentrate upon and defeat the largest force the King's officers +could assemble; that they did so almost every year, and often +frequently within the same year; that he had nominally eight guns +on duty with him, but the carriage of one had already gone to +pieces; and those of the rest had been so long without repair that +they would go to pieces with very little firing, that the +draft-bullocks had not had any grain for many years, and were +hardly able to walk; and he was in consequence obliged to hire +plough-bullocks, to draw the gun required to salute the Resident; +but he had only ten days ago received an order to give them grain +himself, charge for it in his accounts, and hold himself +responsible for their condition; that they had been so starved, +that he was obliged to restrict them to a few ounces a-day at +first, or they would have all died from over-eating." This order +has arisen from my earnest intercession in favour of the artillery +draft-bullocks; but so many are interested in the abuse, that the +order will not be long enforced. Though the grain will, as +heretofore, be paid for from the Treasury, it will, I hear, be +given to the bullocks only while I am out on this tour.</p> +<p>In the evening some cultivators came to complain that they had +been robbed of all their bhoosa (chaff) by a sipahee from my camp. +I found, on inquiry, that the sipahee belonged to Captain Hearsey's +five companies of Frontier Police; that these companies had sixteen +four-bullock hackeries attached to them for the carriage of their +tents and luggage; and that these hackeries had gone to the +village, and taken all that the complainants had laid up for their +own cattle for the season; that such hackeries formerly received +twenty-seven rupees eight annas a-month each, and their owners were +expected to purchase their own fodder; but that this allowance had +for some years been cut down to fourteen rupees a-month, and they +were told <i>to help themselves to fodder wherever they could find +it</i>; that all the hackeries hired by the King and his local +officers, for the use of troops, establishments, &c. had been +reduced at the same rate, from twenty-seven eight annas a-month to +fourteen, and their owners received the same order. All villages +near the roads along which the troops and establishments move are +plundered of their bhoosa, and all those within ten miles of the +place, where they may be detained for a week or fortnight, are +plundered in the same way.</p> +<p>The Telinga corps and Frontier Police are alone provided with +tents and hackeries by Government. The Nujeeb corps are provided +with neither. The Oude Government formerly allowed for each +four-bullock hackery thirty rupees a-month, from which <i>two +rupees and half</i> were deducted for the perquisites of office. +The owners of the hackeries were expected to purchase bhoosa and +other fodder for their bullocks at the market price; but they took +what they required without payment, in <i>collusion with</i> the +officers under whom they were employed, or in <i>spite</i> of them; +and the Oude Government in 1845 cut the allowance down to seventeen +rupees and half, out of which <i>three rupees and half</i> are cut +for perquisites, leaving fourteen rupees for the hackeries: and +their owners and drivers have the free privilege of helping +themselves to bhoosa and other fodder wherever they can find them. +Some fifty or sixty of these hackeries were formerly allowed for +each Telinga corps with guns, now only twenty-two are allowed; and +when they move they must, like Nujeeb corps, seize what more they +require. They are allowed to charge nothing for their extra +carriage, and therefore pay nothing.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 22, 1849.—Tundeeawun, eight miles west. The +country level, and something between doomuteen and muteear, very +good, and in parts well cultivated, particularly in the vicinity of +villages; but a large portion of the surface is covered with +jungle, useful only to robbers and refractory landholders, who +abound in the purgunnah of Bangur. In this respect it is reputed +one of the worst districts in Oude. Within the last few years the +King's troops have been frequently beaten and driven out with loss, +even when commanded by an European officer. The landholders and +armed peasantry of the different villages unite their <i>quotas of +auxiliaries</i>, and concentrate upon them on a concerted signal, +when they are in pursuit of robbers and rebels. Almost every +able-bodied man of every village in Bangur is trained to the use of +arms of one kind or another, and none of the King's troops, save +those who are disciplined and commanded by European officers, will +venture to move against a landholder of this district; and when the +local authorities cannot obtain the aid of such troops, they are +obliged to conciliate the most powerful and unscrupulous by +reductions in the assessment of the lands or additions to their +<i>nankar</i>.</p> +<p>To illustrate the spirit and system of union among the chief +landholders of the Bangur district, I may here mention a few facts +within my own knowledge, and of recent date. Bhugwunt Singh, who +held the estate of Etwa Peepureea, had been for some time in +rebellion against his sovereign; and he had committed many murders +and robberies, and lifted many herds of cattle within our bordering +district of Shajehanpoor; and he had given shelter, on his own +estate, to a good many atrocious criminals, from that and others of +our bordering district. He had, too, aided and screened many gangs +of Budhuks, or dacoits by hereditary profession. The Resident, +Colonel Low, in 1841, directed every possible effort to be made for +the arrest of this formidable offender, and Captain Hollings, the +second in command of the 2nd battalion of Oude local infantry, +sent intelligencers to trace him.</p> +<p>They ascertained that he had, with a few followers, taken up a +position two hundred yards to the north of the village of Ahroree, +in a jungle of palas-trees and brushwood in the Bangur district, +about twenty-eight miles to the south-west of Seetapoor, where that +battalion was cantoned, and about fourteen miles west from Neemkar. +Captain Hollings made his arrangements to surprise this party; and +on the evening of the 3rd of July 1841, he marched from Neemkar at +the head of three companies of that battalion, and a little before +midnight he came within three-quarters of a mile of the rebel's +post. After halting his party for a short time, to enable the +officers and sipahees to throw off all superfluous clothing and +utensils, Captain Hollings moved on to the attack. When the +advanced guard reached the outskirts of the robber's position about +midnight, they were first challenged and then fired upon by the +sentries. The subadar in command of this advance guard fell dead, +and a non-commissioned officer and a sipahee severely wounded.</p> +<p>The whole party now fired in upon the gang and rushed on. One of +the robbers was shot, and the rest all escaped out on the opposite +side of the jungle. The sipahees believing, since the surprise had +been complete, that the robbers must have left all their wealth +behind them, dispersed, as soon as the firing ceased and the +robbers disappeared, to get every man as much as he could. While +thus engaged they were surrounded by the Gohar, (or body of +auxiliaries which these landholders send to each other's aid on the +concerted signal,) and fired in upon from the front, and both right +and left flanks. Taken by surprise, they collected together in +disorder, while the assailants from the front and sides continued +to pour in their fire upon them; and they were obliged to retire in +haste and confusion, closely followed by the auxiliaries, who +gained confidence, and pressed closer as their number increased by +the quotas they received from the villages the detachment had to +pass in their retreat.</p> +<p>All efforts on the part of Captain Hollings to preserve order in +the ranks were vain. His men returned the fire of their pursuers, +but without aim or effect. At the head of the auxiliaries were +Punchum Sing, of Ahroree, and Mirza Akbar Beg, of Deureea; and they +were fast closing in upon the party, and might have destroyed it, +when Girwur Sing, tomandar, came up with a detachment of the +Special Police of the Thuggee and Dacoitee Department. At this time +the three companies were altogether disorganized and disheartened, +as the firing and pursuit had lasted from midnight to daybreak; but +on seeing the Special Police come up and join with spirit in the +defence, they rallied, and the assailants, thinking the +reinforcement more formidable than it really was, lost confidence +and held back. Captain Hollings mounted the fresh horse of the +tomandar, and led his detachment without further loss or +molestation back to Neemkar. His loss had been one subadar, one +havildar, and three sipahees killed; one subadar, two havildars, +one naik, and fourteen sipahees wounded and missing. Captain +Hollings' groom was shot dead, and one of his palankeen-bearers was +wounded. His horse, palankeen, desk, clothes, and all the +superfluous clothing and utensils, which the sipahees had thrown +off preparatory to the attack fell into the hands of the +assailants. Attempts were made to take up and carry off the killed +and wounded; but the detachment was so sorely pressed that they +were obliged to leave both on the ground. The loss would have been +much greater than it was, but for the darkness of the night, which +prevented the assailants from taking good aim; and the detachment +would, in all probability, have been cut to pieces, but for the +timely arrival of the Special Police under Girwur Sing.</p> +<p>Such attacks are usually made upon robber bands about the first +dawn of day; and this attack at midnight was a great error. Had +they not been assailed by the auxiliaries, they could not, in the +darkness, have secured one of the gang. It was known, that at the +first shot from either the assailing or defending party in that +district, all the villages around concentrate their quotas upon the +spot, to fight to the death against the King's troops, whatever +might be their object; and the detachment ought to have been +prepared for such concentration when the firing began, and returned +as quickly as possible from the place when they saw that by staying +they could not succeed in the object.</p> +<p>Four months after, in November, Punchum Sing, of Ahroree, +himself cut off the head of the robber, Bhugwunt Sing, with his own +hand, and sent it to the governor, Furreed-od Deen, with an apology +for having <i>by mistake</i> attacked Captain Hollings' detachment. +The governor sent the head to the King, with a report stating that +he had, at the peril of his life, and after immense toil, hunted +down and destroyed this formidable rebel; and his Majesty, as a +reward for his valuable services, conferred upon Furreed-od Deen a +title and a first-rate dress of honour. Soon after, in the same +month of July 1841, his Majesty the King of Oude's second regiment +of infantry, under the command of a very gallant officer, Captain +W. D. Bunbury, was encamped near the village of Belagraon, when +information was brought that certain convicts, who had escaped from +the gaol at Bareilly, had taken refuge in the village of +Parakurown, about fifty miles to the north-west of his camp. +Captain Bunbury immediately detached three companies, with two +six-pounders, under his brother, Lieutenant A. C. Bunbury, to +arrest them. After halting for a short time at Gopamow, to allow +his men to take breath. Lieutenant Bunbury pushed on, and reached +the place a little before the dawn of day. He demanded the +surrender of the outlaws from the chief of the village, named +Ajrael Sing, a notoriously bad character, who insolently refused to +give them up. A fight commenced, in which one of the convicts, and +some others, were killed; but at last Lieutenant Bunbury succeeded +in securing Arjael Sing himself, with some few of his followers, +and the outlaws.</p> +<p>Hearing the firing of the field-pieces, the surrounding villages +concentrated their quotas of auxiliaries upon the place, and +attacked Lieutenant Bunbury's detachment on all sides. He had taken +possession of the village; but finding it untenable against so +large and increasing a body of assailants, he commenced his +retreat. He had scarcely reached the outskirts when he found +himself surrounded by overwhelming numbers of these auxiliaries, +through whom he was obliged to fight his way for a distance of +fourteen miles to Pahanee. The armed peasantry of every village, on +the right and left of the road as they passed, turned out and +joined the pursuers in their attempt to rescue his prisoners. +Lieutenant Bunbury's conduct of this retreat was most gallant and +judicious; and his men behaved admirably. When the assailants +appeared likely to overwhelm him, he abandoned one of his two guns, +and hastened on, leaving three men lying under them apparently +wounded, and unable to move. On this they pressed on, sword in +hand, to despatch the wounded men, and seize the guns. When the +assailants were within thirty or forty yards of the gun, they +started up, and poured in upon the dense crowd a discharge of grape +with deadly effect. A party then doubled back from the main body of +the detachment, protected the artillery men in limbering up the +gun, and escorting it to the main body, which again resumed its +march. This experiment was repeated several times with success as +they passed other villages, from which further auxiliaries poured +out, till they approached Pahanee, where they found support. In +this retreat Lieutenant Bunbury lost sixty men out of his three +companies, or about one-third of his number; but he retained all +his prisoners. Ajrael Sing soon after died of the wounds he had +received in defending the convicts in his village; and the rest of +the prisoners were all sent to the Oude Durbar. Lieutenant Bunbury +is now in the Honourable Company's Service, and in the 34th +Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry.</p> +<p>On the 23rd of January 1849, Captain Hearsey, of the Oude +Frontier Police, sent his subadar-major, Ramzan Khan, with a party +of one hundred and fifty men of that police, to arrest a notorious +robber, Mendae Sing, and other outlaws, from the Shajehanpoor +district, who had found an asylum in the village of Sahurwa, in the +Mahomdee district, whence they carried on their depredations upon +our villages across the border. The party reached Sahurwa the next +morning a little before sunrise. The subadar-major having posted +his men so as to prevent the escape of the outlaws, demanded their +surrender from the village authorities. They were answered by a +volley of matchlock-balls; and finding the village too strong to be +taken by his small detachment without guns, he withdrew to a more +sheltered position to the westward, and detached a havildar with +fifty men to take possession of a large gateway to the south of the +village. During this movement the villagers continued to fire upon +them; and the quotas of auxiliaries from the surrounding villages, +roused by the firing, came rushing on from all quarters. Seeing no +chance of being able either to take the village or to maintain his +position against such numbers, the subadar-major drew off his +detachment, and proceeded for support to Pahanee, a distance of +twelve miles. He reached that place pursued by the auxiliaries, and +with the loss of one havildar and one sipahee killed, and three +sipahees very severely wounded. There are numerous instances of +this sort in which the King's troops have been attacked and beaten +back, and their prisoners rescued by the landholders of Bangur, and +the adjoining districts of Mahomdee and Sandee Palee. They are +never punished for doing so, as the King is too weak, and the aid +of the British troops, for the purpose, has seldom been given.</p> +<p>It would be of advantage to remove the Regiment of Oude Local +Infantry from Seetapoor to Tundeeawun, where its presence and +services are much more required. The climate is as good, and all +that native soldiers require for food and clothing are cheaper. The +drainage is good; and to the east of the town there is one of the +finest plains for a cantonment that I have ever seen. There are but +few wells, but new ones can be made at a trifling cost; and the +Oude Government would willingly incur the outlay required for these +and for all the public buildings required for the new cantonments, +to secure the advantage of such a change. The cost of the public +buildings would be only 12,000 rupees; and the same sum would have +to be given in compensation for private buildings-total 24,000. The +refractory landholders would soon be reduced to order, and +prevented from any longer making their villages dens of robbers as +they now do; and the jungles around would all soon disappear. These +jungles are not thick, or unhealthy, consisting of the small dhak +or palas tree, with little or no underwood; and the surface they +now occupy would soon be covered with fine spring crops, and +studded with happy village communities, were people encouraged by +an assurance of protection to settle upon it, and apply their +capital and labour to its cultivation. The soil is everywhere of +the finest quality, the drainage is good, and there are no jheels. +A few ponds yield the water required for the irrigation of the +spring crops, during their progress to maturity, from November to +March: they are said all to become dry in the hot season. It is, I +think, capable of being made the finest part of this fine country +of Oude.</p> +<p>It was in contemplation to make the road from Lucknow to +Shajehanpoor and Bareilly pass through this place, Tundeeawun, by +which some thirty miles of distance would be saved, and a good many +small rivers and watercourses avoided. Why this design was given up +I know not; but I believe the only objection was the greater +insecurity of this line from the bad character of the great +landholders of the Bangur and Sandee Palee districts; and the +greater number of thieves and robbers who, in consequence, reside +in them. There has been but little outlay in works of any kind in +the whole line through Seetapore; and when measures have been taken +to render this line more secure, a good road will, I hope, be made +through Tundeeawun. It was once a populous place, but has been +falling off for many years, as the disorders in the district have +increased. The Nazim resides here. The last Nazim, Hoseyn Allee, +who was removed to Khyrabad, at the end of last year, is said to +have given an increase of <i>nankar</i> to the refractory +landholders of this district during that year, to the extent of +forty thousand rupees a-year, to induce them to pay the Government +demand, and desist from plunder. By this means he secured a good +reputation at Court, and the charge of a more profitable and less +troublesome district; and left the difficult task of resuming this +lavish increase of the <i>nankar</i> to his successor, Seonath, the +son of Dilla Ram, who held the contract of the district for some +twenty years up to the time of his death, which took place last +year. Seonath is a highly respectable and amiable man; but he is +very delicate in health, and, in consequence, deficient in the +vigour and energy required to manage so turbulent a district. He +has, however, a deputy in Kidder Nath, a relative, who has all the +ability, vigour, and energy required, if well supported and +encouraged by the Oude Durbar. He was deputy under Dilla Ram for +many years, and the same under Hoseyn Allee last year. He is a man +of great intelligence and experience; and one of the best officers +of the Oude Government that I have yet seen.</p> +<p>There are two kinds of recognised perquisites which landholders +enjoy in Oude and in most other parts of India—the +<i>nankar</i> and the <i>seer</i> land. The <i>nankar</i> is a +portion of the recognised rent-roll acknowledged by the ruler to be +due to the landholder for the risk, cost, and trouble of +management, and for his perquisite as hereditary proprietor of the +soil when the management is confided to another. It may be ten, +twenty, or one hundred percent upon the rent-roll of the estate, +which is recognised in the public accounts, as the holder happens +to be an object of fear or of favour, or otherwise; and the real +rent-roll may be more or less than that which is recognised in the +public accounts. The actual rent which the landholder receives may +increase with improvements, and he may conceal the improvement from +the local authorities, or bribe them to conceal it from Government; +or it may diminish from lands falling out of tillage, or becoming +impoverished by over-cropping, or from a diminution of demand for +land produce; and the landholder may be unable to satisfy the local +authorities of the fact, or to prevail upon them to represent the +circumstance to Government. The amount of the <i>nankar</i> once +recognised remains the same till a new rate is recognised by +Government; but when the Government becomes weak, the local +authorities assume the right to recognise new rents, to suit their +own interest, and pretend that they do so to promote that of their +sovereign.</p> +<p>I may instance the Amil of this district last year. He was weak, +while the landholders were strong. They refused to pay, on the plea +of bad seasons. He could send no money to the Treasury, and was in +danger of losing his place. The man who had to pay a revenue of ten +thousand could not be induced to pay five: he enjoyed an +acknowledged <i>nankar</i> of two thousand upon a recognised +rent-roll of twelve thousand; and, to induce him to pay, he gives +him an increase to this <i>nankar</i> of one thousand, making the +<i>nankar</i> three thousand, and reducing the revenue to nine +thousand. Being determined to render the increase to his +<i>nankar</i> permanent, whether the Government consents or not, +the landholder agrees to pay the ten thousand for the present year. +The collector sends the whole or a part of the one thousand as +gratuities to influential men at Court, and enters it in the public +accounts as irrecoverable balance. The present Amil, finding that +the increase to the <i>nankar</i> has not been acknowledged by +Government, demands the full ten thousand rupees for the present +year. The landholder refuses to pay anything, takes to the jungles, +and declares that he will resist till his permanent right to the +increase be acknowledged.</p> +<p>The Amil has taken the contract at the rate of last year, as the +Government had sanctioned no increase to the <i>nankar</i>, and he +pleads in vain for a remission in the rate, which he pledged +himself to pay, or an increase of means to enforce payment among so +turbulent and refractory a body of landholders. As I have before +mentioned, the Oude Government has this season issued an order to +all revenue collectors to refuse to recognise any increase to the +<i>nankar</i> that has been made since the year A.D. 1814, or +Fusilee 1222, when Saadut Allee died, as none has since that year +received the sanction of Government, though the <i>nankar</i> has +been more than doubled within that period in the manner above +described by local authorities. The increase to the <i>nankar</i>, +and the alienation in rent-free tenure of lands liable to +assessment in 1814 by local authorities and influential persons at +Court, are supposed to amount in all Oude to forty lacs of rupees +a-year. None of them have been formally recognised by the Court, +but a great part of them has been tacitly acquiesced in by the +minister and Dewan for the time being. They cannot enforce the +order for reverting to the <i>nankar</i> of 1814, and if they +attempt to do so the whole country will be in disorder. Indeed, the +minister knows his own weakness too well to think seriously of ever +making such an attempt. The <i>seer</i> lands are those which the +landholders and their families till themselves, or by means of +their servants or hired cultivators. Generally they are not entered +at all in the rent-rolls; and when they are entered, it is at less +rates than are paid for the other lands. The difference between the +no rent, or less rates, and the full rates is part of their +perquisites. These lands are generally shared out among the members +of the family as hereditary possessions.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 23, 1850.—Behta, ten miles, over a plain of +fine muteear soil. The greater part of the surface is, however, +covered by a low palas jungle. The jungle remains, because no one +will venture to lay out his capital in rooting up the trees and +shrubs, and bringing the land under culture where the fruits of his +industry, and his own life and those of his family, would be so +very insecure, and because the powerful landholders around require +the jungles to run to when in arms against the Government officers, +as they commonly are. The land under this jungle is as rich in +natural powers as that in tillage; and nothing can be finer than +the crops in the cultivated parts, particularly in those +immediately around villages. There are numerous large trees in the +jungles, but the fine peepul and banyan trees are torn to pieces +for the use of the elephants and camels of the establishments of +the local officers, and for the cows, bullocks, and buffaloes of +the peasantry. The cows and buffaloes are said to give greater +quantities of milk when fed on the leaves of these trees than when +fed on anything else available in the dry season; but the milk is +said to be of inferior quality. All the cultivated and peopled +parts are beautifully studded with single trees and groves.</p> +<p>No respectable dwelling-house is anywhere to be seen, and the +most substantial landholders live in wretched mud-hovels with +invisible covers. I asked the people why, and was told that they +were always too insecure to lay out anything in improving their +dwelling-houses; and, besides, did not like to have such local +ties, where they were so liable to be driven away by the Government +officers or by the landholders in arms against them, and their +reckless followers. The local officers of Government, of the +highest grade, occupy houses of the same wretched description, for +none of them can be sure of occupying them a year, or of ever +returning to them again when once removed from their present +offices; and they know that neither their successors nor any one +else will ever purchase or pay rent for them. No mosques, +mausoleums, temples, seraees, colleges, courts of justice, or +prisons to be seen in any of the towns or villages. There are a few +Hindoo shrines at the half-dozen places which popular legends have +rendered places of pilgrimage, and a few small tanks and bridges +made in olden times by public officers, when they were more secure +in their tenure of office than they are now. All the fine buildings +raised by former rulers and their officers at the old capital of +Fyzabad are going fast to ruin. The old city of Ajoodhea is a ruin, +with the exception of a few buildings along the bank of the river +raised by wealthy Hindoos in honour of Ram, who once lived and +reigned there, and is believed by all Hindoos to have been an +incarnation of Vishnoo.</p> +<p>I have often mentioned that the artillery draft-bullocks receive +no grain, and are everywhere so poor that they can hardly walk, +much less draw heavy guns and tumbrils. The reason is this, the +most influential men at Court obtain the charge of feeding the +cattle in all the different establishments, and charge for a +certain quantity of grain or other food at the market price for +each animal. They contract for the supply of the cattle with some +grain-merchant of the city, who undertakes to distribute it through +his own agents. The contractor for the supply of the artillery +draft-bullocks sends an agent with those in attendance upon every +collector of the land revenue, and he gives them as little as +possible. The contractor, afraid of making an enemy of the +influential man at Court, who could if he chose deprive him of his +contract or place, never presumes to interfere, and the agent gives +the poor bullocks no grain at all. The collector, or officer in +charge of the district, is, however, obliged every month to pay the +agent of the contractor the full market price of the grain supposed +to be consumed—that is, one seer and half a-day by every +bullock. The same, or some other influential person at Court, +obtains and transfers in the same way the contract for the feeding +of the elephants, horses, camels, bullocks, and other animals kept +at Lucknow for use or amusement, and none of them are in much +better condition than the draft-bullocks of the artillery in the +remote districts—all are starved, or nearly starved, and +objects of pity. Those who are responsible for their being fed are +too strong in Court favour to apprehend any punishment for not +feeding them at all.</p> +<p>In my ride this morning I asked the people of the villages +through and near which we passed whether infanticide prevailed: +they told me that it prevailed amongst almost all the Rajpoot +families of any rank in Oude; that very poor families of those +classes retained their daughters, because they could get something +for them from the families of lower grade, into which they married +them; but that those who were too well off in the world to +condescend to take money for their daughters from lower grades, and +were obliged to incur heavy costs in marrying them into families of +the same or higher grade, seldom allowed their infant daughters to +live.</p> +<p>"It is strange," I observed, "that men, who have to undergo such +heavy penance for killing a cow, even by accident, should have to +undergo none for the murder of their own children, nor to incur any +odium among the circle of society in which they live—not even +among Brahmins and the ministers of their religion."</p> +<p>"They do incur odium, and undergo penance," said Rajah Bukhtawur +Sing; "do they not?" said he to some Brahmins standing near. They +smiled, but hesitated to reply. "They know they do," said the +Rajah, "but are afraid to tell the truth, for they and their +families live in villages belonging to these proud Rajpoot +landholders, and would be liable to be turned out of house and home +were they to tell what they know." One of the Brahmins then said, +"All this is true, sir; but after the murder of every infant the +family considers itself to be an object of displeasure to the +deity, and after the twelfth day they send for the family priest +(Prohut), and, by suitable gratuities, obtain absolution. This is +necessary, whether the family be rich or poor; but when the +absolution is given, nothing more is thought or said about the +matter. The Gour and other Rajpoots who can afford to unite their +daughters in marriage to the sons of Chouhans, Byses, and other +families of higher grade, though they cannot obtain theirs in +return for their sons, commit less murders of this kind than +others; but all the Rajpoot clans commit more or less of them. +Habit has reconciled them to it; but it appears very shocking to us +Brahmins and all other classes. They commonly bury the infants +alive as soon as possible after their birth. We, sir, are helpless, +living as we do among such turbulent and pitiless landholders, and +cannot presume to admonish or remonstrate: our lives would not be +safe for a moment were we to say anything, or seem to notice such +crimes."</p> +<p>I do not think that any landholder of this class, in the Bangur +district, would feel much compunction for the commission of any +crime that did not involve their expulsion from caste, or +degradation in rank. Great crimes do not involve these penalties: +they incur them only by small peccadillos, or offences deemed venal +among other societies. The Government of Oude, as it is at present +constituted, will never be able to put down effectually the great +crimes which now stain almost every acre of land in its dominions. +It is painful to pass over a country abounding so much in what the +evil propensities of our nature incite men to do, when not duly +restrained; and so little in what the good prompt us to perform and +create, when duly protected and encouraged, under good +government.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 24, 1850.—Sandee, fourteen miles, over a +plain of light domuteea soil, which becomes very sandy for the last +four or five miles. The crops are scanty upon the more sandy parts, +except in the vicinity of villages; but there is a little jungle, +and no undue portion of fallow for so light a soil. About five +miles from our last ground, we came through the large and populous +village of Bawun; about three miles further, through another of +nearly the same size, Sungeechamow; and about three miles further +on, through one still larger, Admapoor, which is three miles from +Sandee. Sandee and Nawabgunge join each other, and are on the bank +of the Gurra river, a small stream whose waters are said to be very +wholesome. We passed the boundary of the Bangur district, just +before we entered the village of Sungeechamow, which lies in that +of Sandee.</p> +<p>There is a Hindoo shrine on the right of the road between Sandee +and Admapoor, which is said to be considered very sacred, and +called Barmawust. It is a mere grove, with a few priests, on the +bank of a large lake, which extends close up to Sandee on the +south. The river Gurra flows under the town to the north. The place +is said to be healthy, but could hardly be so, were this lake to +the west or east, instead of the south, whence the wind seldom +blows. This lake must give out more or less of malaria, that would +be taken over the village, for the greater portion of the year, by +the prevailing easterly and westerly winds. I do not think the +place so eligible for a cantonment at Tundeeawun, in point either +of salubrity, position, or soil.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 25, 1850.—Halted at Sandee. The lake on the +south side, mentioned yesterday, abounds in fish, and is covered +with wild fowl; but the fish we got from it yesterday was not good +of its kind. I observed very fine groves of mango-trees close to +Sandee, planted by merchants and shopkeepers of the place. The +oldest are still held by the descendants of those by whom they were +first planted, more than a century ago; and no tax whatever is +imposed upon the trees of any kind, or upon the lands on which they +stand. Many young groves are growing up around, to replace the old +ones as they decay; and the greatest possible security is felt in +the tenure by which they are held by the planter, or his +descendants, though they hold no written lease, or deed of gift; +and have neither written law nor court of justice to secure it to +them. Groves and solitary mango, semul, tamarind, mhowa and other +trees, whose leaves and branches are not required for the food of +elephants and camels, are more secure in Oude than in our own +territories; and the country is, in consequence, much better +provided with them. While they give beauty to the landscape, they +alleviate the effects of droughts to the poorer classes from the +fruit they supply; and droughts are less frequently and less +severely felt in a country so intersected by fine streams, flowing +from the Tarae forest, or down from the perpetual snows of +neighbouring hills, and keeping the water always near the surface. +These trees tend also to render the air healthy, by giving out +oxygen in large quantities during the day, and absorbing carbonic +acid gas. The river Gurra enters the Ganges about twelve miles +below Sandee. Boats take timber on this stream from the Phillibeet +district to Cawnpoor. It passes near the town of Shajehanpoor; and +the village of Palee, twenty miles north-west from Sandee, where we +shall have to recross it.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 26, 1850.—Busora, twelve miles north-west +from Sandee, over a plain of light sandy soil, or bhoor, with some +intervals of oosur. The tillage extends over as much of the surface +as it ought in so light a soil; and the district of Sandee Palee +generally is said to be well cultivated. It has been under the +charge of Hafiz Abdoollah, a very honest and worthy man, for seven +years up to his death, which took place in November last. He is +said never to have broken faith with a landholder; but he was too +weak in means to keep the bad portion under control; and too much +occupied in reading or repeating the <i>Koran</i>, which he knew +all by heart, as his name imports. His son Ameer Gholam Allee, a +lad of only thirteen years of age, has been appointed his +successor. He promises to be like his father in honesty and love of +the holy book.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* He has been since removed, and was in prison as a defaulter, +July 1851.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>About half way we passed the village of Bhanapoor, held by +zumeendars of the <i>Dhaukurree</i> Rajpoot clan, who told me, that +they gave their daughters in marriage to the Rykwars, but more to +the Sombunsie Rajpoots, who abound in the district, and hold the +greater part of the lands; that these Sombunsies have absorbed +almost all the lands of the other classes by degrees, and are now +seizing upon theirs; that the Sombunsies give their daughters in +marriage only to the Rathore and Chouhan Rajpoots, few of whom are +to be found on the Oude side of the Ganges; and, in consequence, +that they take such as they preserve to our districts on the other +side of that river, but murder the greater part rather than +condescend to marry them to men of the other Rajpoot clans whom +they deem to be of inferior grade, or go to the expense of uniting +them in marriage to clans of higher or equal grade in Oude. Some +Sombunsies, who came out to pay their respects from the next +village we passed, told us, that they did not give their daughters +even to the Tilokchundee Bys Rajpoots; but in this they did not +tell the truth.</p> +<p>At the next village, the largest in the parish, Barone, the +chief landholder, Kewul Sing, came out and presented his offering +of a fine fighting-ram. He was armed with his bow, and "quiver full +of arrows," but told me, that he thought a good gun, with pouch and +flask, much better, and he carried the bow and quiver merely +because they were lighter. He was surrounded by almost all the +people of the town, and told me, that the family held in +copartnership fifty-two small villages, immediately around +<i>Barone</i>—that this village had been attacked and burnt +down by Captain Bunbury and his regiment the year before last, +without any other cause that they could understand save that he had +recommended him not to encamp in the grove close by. The fact was, +that none of the family would pay the Government demand, or obey +the old Amil, Hafiz Abdoollah; and it was necessary to make an +example. On being asked whether his family and clan, the +Sombunsies, preserved or destroyed their daughters, he told me, in +the midst of his village community, that he would not deceive me; +that they, one and all, destroyed their infant daughters; but that +one was, occasionally, allowed to live (<i>ek-adh</i>); that the +family was under a taint for twelve days after the murder of an +infant, when the family priest (Prohut) was invited and fed in due +form; that he then declared the absolution complete, and the taint +removed.</p> +<p>The family priest was present, and I asked him what he got on +such occasions? He said, that to remove the taint, or grant +absolution after the murder of a daughter, he got little or no +money; he merely partook of the food prepared for him in due form; +but that, on the birth of a son, he got ten rupees from the +parents. All the assembled villagers bore testimony to the truth of +what the patriarch and the priest told me. They said, that no one +would enter a house in which an infant daughter had been destroyed, +or eat or drink with any member of the family till the Prohut had +granted the absolution, which he did after the expiration of twelve +days, as a matter of course, depending as he did upon the good-will +of the landholders, who were all of the same clan, Sombunsies. Few +other Brahmins will condescend to eat, drink, or associate with +these family and village priests, who take the sins of such +murderers upon their own heads.</p> +<p>The old patriarch rode on with me upon his pony, five miles to +my tents, as if I should not think the worse of him for having +murdered his own daughters, and permitted others to murder theirs. +I told him, that I could hold no converse with men who were guilty +of such crimes; and that the vengeance of God would crush them all, +sooner or latter. For his only excuse he told me, that it was a +practice, derived from a long line of ancestors, wiser and better +than they were; and that it prevailed in almost every Rajpoot +family in the country; that they had, in consequence, become +reconciled to it, and knew not how to do without it. Family pride +is the cause of this terrible evil!</p> +<p>The estate of Kuteearee, on the left-hand side of the road +towards the Ramgunga and Ganges, is held by Runjeet Sing, of the +Kuteear Rajpoot clan. His estate yields to him about one hundred +and twenty thousand rupees a-year, while he is assessed at only +sixteen thousand. While Hakeem Mehndee was in banishment at +Futtehgurh, about fifteen years ago, he became intimate with +Runjeet Sing, of Kuteearee; and when he afterwards became minister, +in 1837, he is said to have obtained for him the King's seal and +signature to a perpetual lease at this rate, from which is deducted +a <i>nankar</i> of four thousand, leaving an actual demand of only +twelve thousand. Were such grants, in perpetuity, respected in +Oude, the ministers and their minions would soon sell the whole of +his Majesty's dominions, and leave him a beggar. He has not yet +been made to pay a higher rate; not, however, out of regard for the +King's pledge, but solely out of that for Runjeet's fort of +Dhunmutpoor, on the bank of the Ganges, his armed bands, and his +seven pieces of cannon. He has been diligently employing all his +surplus rents in improving his defensive means; and, besides his +fort and guns, is said to have a large body of armed and +disciplined men. He has seized upon a great many villages around, +belonging to weaker proprietors: and is every year adding to his +estate in this way. In this the old Amil, Hafiz Abdoollah, +acquiesced, solely because he had not the means nor the energy to +prevent it. He got his estate excluded from the jurisdiction of the +local authorities, and placed in the Huzoor Tuhseel.</p> +<p>Like others of his class, who reside on the border, he has a +village in the British territory to reside in, unmolested, when +charged by the Oude authorities with heavy crimes and balances. He +had been attacked and driven across the Ganges, in 1837, for +contumacy and rebellion; deprived of his estate, and obliged to +reside at Futtehgurh, where he first became acquainted with Hakeem +Mehndee. The Oude Government has often remonstrated against the +protection which this contumacious and atrocious landholder +receives from our subjects and authorities.* Crimes in this +district are not quite so numerous as in Bangur; but they are of no +less atrocious a character. The thieves and robbers of Bangur, when +taken and taxed with being so, say, "of course we are +robbers—if we were not, how should we have been permitted to +reside in Bangur?" All are obliged to fight and plunder with the +landholders, or to rob for them on distant roads, and in distant +villages.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* See the Resident's letter to Government North-Western +Provinces, 3rd August, 1837. The King's letter to the Resident, 7th +April, 1837. The same to the same, 19th May, 1837. Depositions and +urzies. Runjeet Sing was attacked by the King's troops and driven +across the Ganges again in June 1851, and died during the contest, +which is being continued by his son. 1851.—W. H. S.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>My camp has been robbed several times within the time I have +been out, and the property has been traced to villages in the +Sundeela and Bangur districts. In the Sundeela district it can be +recovered when traced with a small force, and the thieves taken; +but in the Bangur district it would require a large military force +well commanded, and a large train of artillery to recover the one +or seize the other.</p> +<p>A respectable landholder of this place, a Sombunsie, tells me, +that the custom of destroying their female infants has prevailed +from the time of the first founder of their race; that a rich man +has to give food to many Brahmins, to get rid of the stain, on the +twelfth or thirteenth day, but that a poor man can get rid of it by +presenting a little food in due form to the village priest; that +they cannot give their daughters in marriage to any Rajpoot +families, save the Rhathores and Chouhans; that the family of their +clan who gave a daughter to any other class of Rajpoots, would be +excluded from caste immediately and for ever; that those who have +property have to give all they have with their daughters to the +Chouhans and Rhathores, and reduce themselves to nothing; and can +take nothing from them in return, as it is a great stain to take +"<i>kuneea dan</i>," or virgin price; from any one; that a +Sombunsie may, however, when reduced to great poverty, take the +"<i>kuneea dan</i>" from the Chouhans and Rhathores for a virgin +daughter without being excommunicated from the clan, but even he +could not give a daughter to any other clan of Rajpoots without +being excluded for ever from caste; that it was a misfortune no +doubt, but it was one that had descended among them from the +remotest antiquity, and could not be got rid of; that mothers wept +and screamed a good deal when their first female infants were torn +from them, but after two or three times giving birth to female +infants, they become quiet and reconciled to the usage, and said, +"do as you like;" that some poor parents of their clan did +certainly give their daughters for large sums to wealthy people of +lower Clans, but lost their caste for ever by so doing; that it was +the dread of sinking, in substance from the loss of property, and +in grade from the loss of caste, that alone led to the murder of +female infants; that the dread prevailed more or less in every +Rajpoot clan, and led to the same thing, but most in the clan that +restricted the giving of daughters in marriage to the smallest +number of clans.</p> +<p>The infant is destroyed in the room where it is born, and there +buried. The floor is then plastered over with cow-dung, and on the +thirteenth day the village or family priest must cook and eat his +food in that room. He is provided with wood, ghee, barley, rice, +and tillee (sesamum). He boils the rice, barley, and sesamum in a +brass vessel, throws the ghee over them when they are dressed, and +eats the whole. This is considered as a <i>hom</i>, or +burnt-offering, and by eating it in that place the priest is +supposed to take the whole <i>hutteea</i> or sin upon himself, and +to cleanse the family from it. I am told that they put the milk of +the mudar shrub "asclepias gigantea," into the mouth of the infant +to destroy it, and cover the mouth with the faeces that first pass +from, the infant's bowels. It soon dies; and after the expiation +the parents again occupy the room, and there receive the visits of +their family and friends, and gossip as usual!</p> +<p>Rajah Bukhtawar Sing tells me, that he has heard the whole +process frequently described in this way by the midwives who have +attended the birth. These midwives are however generally sent out +of the room with the mother when the infant is found to be a girl. +In any law for the effectual prevention of this crime, it would be +necessary to prescribe a severe punishment for the priest, as an +accessary after the fact. The only objection to this is, I think, +that it might deprive the Court of the advantage of an important +witness when required at the trial of the parents, but when +necessary he might be admitted as King's evidence. All the people +here that I talk to on the subject, say that the crime has been put +down in the greater part of the British territories, and that +judicious measures honestly and firmly carried out would put it +down in Oude, and do away with the scruples which one clan of +Rajpoots have to give their daughters in marriage to another. +Unable to murder their daughters, they would be glad to dispose of +them in marriage to all clans of Rajpoots. It might be put down in +Oude, as it was put down by Mr. Willoughby, of Bombay, in the +districts under his charge, by making the abolition one of the +conditions on which all persons of the Rajpoot clans hold their +lands, and strictly enforcing the observance of that condition. The +Government of Oude as now constituted could do nothing whatever +towards putting it down in this or any other way.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 27, 1850.—Palee, eight miles north-west. +The road half way from Sandee to Busora, and half way from Busora +to Palee, passes over a very light, sandy soil—bhoor. I have +already stated that kutcha wells, or wells without burnt brick and +cement, will not last in this sandy soil, while it stands more in +need of irrigation. The road for the last half way of this +morning's stage passes over a good doomuteea soil. The whole +country is however well cultivated, and well studded with fine +trees; and the approach to Palee is at this season very +picturesque. The groves of mango and other fine trees amidst which +the town stands, on the right bank of the Gurra river, appear very +beautiful as one approaches, particularly now that the surrounding +country is covered by so fine a carpet of rich spring crops. The +sun's rays, falling upon such rich masses of foliage, produce an +infinite variety of form, colour, and tint, on which the eye +delights to repose. We intended to have our camp on the other side +of the river, but no good ground could be found for it, without +injury to the crops, within three miles from Palee, and we must +cross it on our way to Shahabad to-morrow.</p> +<p>This small river flows along a little to the right of our march +this morning. About half way we passed a very pretty village, held +and cultivated by families of Kunojee Brahmins, who +<i>condescend</i> to hold and drive their own ploughs. Other +families of this class pride themselves upon never condescending to +drive their own ploughs, and consider themselves in consequence a +shade higher in caste. Other Brahmin families have different shades +or degrees of caste, like the Kunojeeas; but I am not aware that +any family of any other class of Brahmins condescend to hold their +own ploughs. I told them, that "God seemed to favour their +exertions, and bless them with prosperity, for I had not seen a +neater village or village community." They seemed to be all well +pleased with my compliment. At Palee resides Bulbhuder Sing, a +notorious robber, who was lately seized and sent as a felon to +Lucknow. After six months' confinement he bribed himself out, got +possession of the estate which he now holds, and to which he had no +right whatever, and had it excluded from the jurisdiction of the +local authorities, and transferred to the "Hozoor Tuhseel." He has +been ever since diligently employed in converting it into a den of +robbers, and in the usual way seizing upon other people's lands, +stock, and property of all kinds.</p> +<p>Hundreds in Oude are doing the same thing in the same way. +Scores of those who suffer from the depredations of this class of +offenders, complain to me every day; but I can neither afford them +redress, nor hold out any hope of it from any of the Oude +authorities. It is a proverb, "that those who are sentenced to six +years' imprisonment in Oude, are released in six months, and those +who are sentenced to six months, are released in six years." Great +numbers are released every year at Lucknow for +<i>thanksgivings</i>, or <i>propitiation</i>. If the King or any +member of his family becomes sick, prisoners are released, that +they may recover; and when they recover, others are released as a +grateful, and, at the same time, profitable acknowledgment, since +the Government relieves itself from the cost of keeping them; and +its servants appropriate the money paid for their ransom. Those who +are in for long periods are, for the most part, great offenders, +who are the most able and most willing to pay high for their +release; those who are in for short ones are commonly the small +ones, who are the least able and least disposed to give anything. +The great offenders again are those who are most disposed, and most +able, to revenge themselves on such persons as have aided the +Government in their arrest or conviction; and they do all they can +to murder and rob them and their families and relatives, as soon as +they are set at large, in order to deter others from doing the +same. This would be a great evil in any country, but is terrible in +Oude, where no police is maintained for the protection of life and +property. The cases of atrocious murders and robberies which come +before me every day, and are acknowledged by the local authorities, +and neighbours of the sufferers, to have taken place, are +frightful. Such sufferings, for which no redress is to be found, +would soon desolate any part of India less favoured by nature.</p> +<p>In the valley of the Nerbudda, for instance, such sufferings +would render a district desolate for ages. The people, driven off +from an estate, go and settle in another better governed. The grass +grows rankly from the richness of the soil, and the humidity of the +air, and becomes filled with deer and other animals, that are food +for beasts of prey. Tigers, leopards, wolves, wild dogs, &c. +follow, to feed upon them; and they render residence and industry +unsafe. Malaria follows, and destroys what persons the tigers +leave. I have seen extensive tracts of the richest soil and most +picturesque scenery, along the banks of the Nerbudda, which had +been rendered desolate for ages by the misrule of only a few years. +It is the same in the Tarae forest, which separates Oude from +Nepaul. But in the rest of Oude, from the Ganges to this belt of +forest, no such effects follow misrule, however great and +prolonged. Here no grass grows too rankly, few deer fill it, few +tigers, leopards, wolves, or wild dogs come in pursuit of them, and +no malaria is feared. If a landholder takes to rebellion and +plunder, he is followed by all his retainers and clansmen; and +their families, and the cultivators of other classes, feeling no +longer secure, go and till lands on other estates, till they are +invited back. The cowherds and shepherds, who live by the produce +of their cattle and sheep, remain and thrive by the abundance of +pasture lands, from which the rich spring and harvest crops have +disappeared. These cattle and sheep graze over them, and enrich the +soil by restoring to it a portion of those elements of fertility, +of which a long succession of harvests had robbed it. Over and +above what they leave on the grounds, over which they graze, large +stores of manure are collected for future use by the herdsmen, who +now exclusively occupy the villages. The landholder and his +followers, in the meantime, subsist and enrich themselves by the +indiscriminate plunder of the surrounding country; and are at last +invited back by a weak and wearied Government, to reoccupy the +lands, improved by this salutary fallow, at a lower rate of rent, +or no rent at all for some years, and a remission of all balances +for past years, on account of <i>paemalee</i>, or treading down of +crops, during the disorder that has prevailed.</p> +<p>The cultivators return to occupy their old lands, so enriched, +at reduced rates of rent; and, in two or three years, these lands +become again carpeted with a beautiful variety of spring and autumn +crops. The crops, in our districts, on the opposite side of the +river Ganges, bear no comparison with those on the Oude side. The +lands are all overcropped and under-stocked with cattle and sheep +from the want of pasture lands. There is little manure, the water +is too far below the surface to admit of sufficient irrigation, +without greater outlay than the farmers and cultivators can afford; +the rotation of crops is insufficient, and no salutary fallow comes +to the relief of the soil, from the labour of men living and +working under the efficient protection of a strong and able +Government. The difference in the crops is manifest to the +beholder, and shown in the rate of rents paid for the lands where +the price of land produce is the same in both; the same river +conveying the produce of both to and from the same markets.</p> +<p>A Murhutta army, under the Peshwa, Ballajee, invaded the +districts, about the source of the Nerbudda river, about one +hundred and seven years ago, A.D. 1742. They ravaged these +districts as they did all others which they invaded; but they, +like the greater part of the Oude Tarae, remain waste; while the +others, like the rest of Oude, soon recovered and become prosperous +from the circumstances above stated. The soil of some of the +districts, about the source of the Nerbudda, then ravaged, is among +the finest in the world; but the long grass and rich foliage, by +which it is covered, are occupied, like the pampos of South +America, almost exclusively by wild cattle, buffaloes, deer, and +tigers. The district of Mundula, which intervenes between them and +the rich and highly-cultivated district of Jubbulpoor, in the +valley of that river, was populous and well cultivated when we took +possession of it in the year 1817; but it has become almost as +waste under our rule by a more gradual but not less desolating +process. Not considering the diminishing markets for land produce, +our assessments of the land revenue were too high, and the managing +officers never thought the necessity of reduction established, till +the villages were partially or wholly deserted. The farmers and +cultivators all emigrated, by degrees, into the neighbouring +districts of Nagpoor and Rewa, where they had more consideration +and lighter assessments, and the markets for land produce were +improving. The lands of Mundula became waste, and covered with rank +grass filled with deer; tigers followed to feed upon them, and +carried off all the poor peasantry, who remained and attempted to +cultivate small patches; malaria followed and completed the +work.</p> +<p>Like the <i>tharoos</i> of the Oude forest, the Gonds born in +this malaria are the only people who can live in it; and the +ravages of tigers and endemial disease prevent their numbers from +increasing. Those who once emigrate never come back, and population +and tillage have been decreasing ever since we took possession, or +for thirty-three years. The same process has been going on in other +parts of the Nerbudda valley with the same results. In Oude, from +the causes above described, lands of the same denomination and kind +often yield double the rate of rent that they yield in our own +conterminous districts, or districts on the opposite side of the +Ganges, and other rivers that separate our territories from those +of Oude. Under a tolerable Government, Oude would soon become one +of the most beautiful countries in India; but the lands would fall +off, in fertility, as ours do from over-cropping, no doubt.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 28, 1850.—Shahabad, ten miles. We crossed, +close under Palee, the little river Gurra, which continued for some +miles to flow along, in its winding course, close by on our left. +It is here some five or six miles to the south-west of the town. +The soil we have come over is chiefly muteear, or the doomuteea, +tightened by a mixture of clay, or argillaceous earth. Rich crops +of rice are grown on this muteea, which retains its moisture so +much better than the looser doomutea soil.</p> +<p>Half-way we came through a neat village, the lands of which are +subdivided between the members of a large family of Kunojee +Brahmins, who came out to see us pass, and pay their respects. The +cultivation was so fine that I hoped they were of the class who +condescended to hold their own ploughs. I asked them; and they, +with seeming pride, told me that they did not—that they +employed servants to hold their ploughs for them. When I told them +that this was their <i>misfortune</i>, they seemed much amused, but +were all well-behaved and respectful, though they must have thought +my notion very odd.</p> +<p>The little Gurra flows from the Oude Tarae forest by the town of +Phillibheet, where boats are built, to be taken down to Cawnpoor, +on the Ganges, for sale. About four hundred, great and small, are +supposed to be taken down the Gurra every year, in the season of +the rains. They take down the timber of the Tarae forest, rice, and +other things; and all are sold, with their cargoes, at Cawnpoor, or +other places on the Ganges. The timbers are floated along on both +sides of the boats. Palee is a good place for a cantonment, or seat +of public civil establishments, and Shahabad is no less so. The +approach to both, from the south-east, is equally beautiful, from +the rich crops which cover the ground up to the houses, and the +fine groves and majestic single trees which surround them.</p> +<p>Shahabad is a very ancient and large town, occupied chiefly by +Pathan Mussulmans, who are a very turbulent and fanatical set of +fellows. Subsookh Rae, a Hindoo, and the most respectable merchant +in the district, resided here, and for some time consented to +officiate, as the deputy of poor old Hafiz Abdoollah, for the +management of the town, where his influence was great. He had lent +a good deal of money to the heads of some of the Pathan families of +the town, but finding few of them disposed to repay, he was last +year obliged to refuse further loans. They determined to take +advantage of the coming mohurrum festival to revenge the +<i>affront</i> as men commonly do who live among such a fanatical +community. The tazeeas are commonly taken up, and carried in +procession, ten days after the new moon is first seen, at any place +where they are made; but in Oude all go by the day in which the +moon is seen from the capital of Lucknow. As soon as she is seen at +Lucknow, the King issues an order throughout his dominions for the +tazeeas to be taken in procession ten days after. The moon was this +year, in November, first seen on the 30th of the month at Lucknow; +but at Shahabad, where the sky is generally clearer, she had been +seen on the 29th. The men to whom Subsookh Rae had refused farther +loans determined to take advantage of this incident to wreak their +vengeance; and when the deputy promulgated the King's order for the +tazeeas to be taken in procession ten days after the 30th, they +instigated all the Mahommedans of the town to insist upon taking +them out ten days after the 29th, and persuaded them that the order +had been fabricated, or altered, by the malice of their Hindoo +deputy, <i>to insult their religious feelings</i>. They were taken +out accordingly, and having to pass the house of Subsookh Rae, when +their excitement, or spirit of religious fervour, had reached the +highest pitch, they there put them down, broke open the doors, +entered in a crowd, and plundered it of all the property they could +find, amounting to above seventy thousand rupees. Subsookh Rae was +obliged to get out, with his family, at a back door, and run for +his life. He went to Shajehanpoor, in our territory, and put +himself under the protection of the magistrate. Not content with +all this, they built a small miniature mosque at the door with some +loose bricks, so that no one could go either out or in without the +risk of knocking it down, or so injuring this <i>mock mosque</i> as +to rouse, or enable the evil-minded to rouse, the whole Mahommedan +population against the offender. Poor Subsookh Rae has been utterly +ruined, and ever since seeking in vain for redress. The Government +is neither disposed nor able to afford it, and the poor boy who has +now succeeded his learned father in the contract is helpless. The +little mock mosque, of uncemented bricks, still stands as a +monument of the insolence of the Mahommedan population, and the +weakness and apathy of the Oude Government.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt2-2" id="Chapt2-2">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Infanticide—Nekomee Rajpoots—Fallows in Oude created +by disorders—Their cause and effect—Tillage goes on in +the midst of sanguinary conflicts—Runjeet Sing, of +Kutteearee—Mahomdee district—White +Ants—Traditional decrease in the fertility of the Oude +soil—Risks to which cultivators are exposed—Obligations +which these risks impose upon them—Infanticide—The Amil +of Mahomdee's narrow escape—An infant disinterred and +preserved by the father after having been buried +alive—Insecurity of life and property—Beauty of the +surface of the country, and richness of its foliage—Mahomdee +district—State and recent history of—Relative fertility +of British and Oude soil—Native notions of our laws and their +administration—Of the value of evidence in our +Courts—Infanticide—Boys only saved—Girls +destroyed in Oude—The priests who give absolution for the +crime abhorred by the people of all other classes—Lands in +our districts becoming more and more exhausted from +over-cropping—Probable consequences to the Government and +people of India—Political and social error of considering +land private property—Hakeem Mehndee and subsequent managers +of Mahomdee—Frauds on the King in charges for the keep of +animals—Kunojee Brahmins—Unsuccessful attempt to +appropriate the lands of weaker neighbours—Gokurnath, on the +border of the Tarae—The sakhoo or saul trees of the +forest.</p> +<p>Lalta Sing, of the Nikomee Rajpoot tribe, whom I had lately an +opportunity of assisting, for his good services in arresting outlays +[outlaws ?] from our territories, has just been to pay his respects. +Our next encamping ground is to be on his estate of Kurheya and +Para. He tells me that very few families of his tribe now destroy +their female infants; that tradition ascribes the origin of this +evil to the practice of the Mahommedan emperors of Delhi of +demanding daughters in marriage from the Rajpoot princes of the +country; that some of them were too proud to comply with the +demand, and too weak to resist it in any other way than that of +putting all their female infants to death. This is not impossible. +He says that he believes the <i>Dhankuries</i>, whom I have +described above to be really the only tribe of Rajpoots among whom +no family destroys its infant daughters in Oude; that all tribes of +Rajpoots get money with the daughters they take from tribes a shade +lower in caste, to whom they cannot give theirs in return; and pay +money with the daughters they give in marriage to tribes a shade +higher, who will not give their daughters to them in return. The +native collector of Shahabad, a gentlemanly Mahommedan, came out +two miles to pay his respects on my approach, and we met on a large +space of land, lying waste, while all around was covered with rich +crops. I asked, "Pray why is this land left waste?" "It is, sir, +altogether unproductive." "Why is this? It seems to me to be just +as good as the rest around, which produces such fine crops." "It is +called <i>khubtee</i>—slimy, and is said to be altogether +barren." "I assure you, sir," said Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, "that it +is good land, and capable of yielding good crops, under good +tillage, or it would not produce the fine grass you see upon it. +You must not ask men like this about the kinds and qualities of +soils for they really know nothing whatever about them: they are +<i>city gentlemen's sons</i>, who get into high places, and pass +their lives in them without learning anything but how to screw +money out of such as we are, who are born upon the soil, and depend +upon its produce all our lives for subsistence. Ask him, sir, +whether either he or any of his ancestors ever knew anything of the +difference between one soil and another."</p> +<p>The collector acknowledged the truth of what the old man said, +and told me that he really knew nothing about the matter, and had +merely repeated what the people told him. This is true with regard +to the greater part of the local revenue officers employed in Oude. +"One of these city gentlemen, sir," said. Bukhtawar Sing, "when +sent out as a revenue collector, in Saadut Allee's time, was asked +by his assistants what they were to do with a crop of sugar-cane +which had been attached for balances, and was becoming too ripe, +replied, '<i>Cut it down, to be sure, and have it stacked!</i>' He +did not know that sugar-cane must, as soon as cut, be taken to the +mill, or it spoils." "I have heard of another," said the old +Rusaldar Nubbee Buksh, "who, after he entered upon his charge, +asked the people about him to show him the tree on which grew the +fine <i>istamalee</i>* rice which they used at Lucknow." "There is +no question, sir," said Bukhtawar Sing, "that is too absurd, for +these cockney gentlemen to ask when they enter upon such revenue +charges as these. They are the aristocracy of towns and cities, who +are learned enough in books and court ceremonies and intrigues, but +utterly ignorant of country life, rural economy, and agricultural +industry."</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The <i>istamalee</i> rice is rice of fine quality, which has +been kept for some years before used. To be good, rice must be kept +for some years before used, and that only which has been so kept is +called <i>istamalee</i> or <i>useable</i>.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>For a cantonment or civil station, the ground to the north of +Shahabad, on the left-hand side of the road leading to Mahomdee, +seems the best. It is a level plain, of a stiff soil formed of clay +and sand, and not very productive.</p> +<p>The country, from Sandee and Shahabad to the rivers Ganges and +Ramgunga, is one rich sheet of spring cultivation; and the estate +of Kuteearee, above described, is among the richest portions of +this sheet. The portions on which the richest crops now stand +became waste during the disorders which followed the expulsion of +Runjeet Sing, in the usual way, in 1837, and derived the usual +benefit from the salutary fallow. A stranger passing through such a +sheet of rich cultivation, without communing with the people, would +little suspect the fearful crimes that are every year committed +upon it, from the weakness and apathy of the Government, and the +bad faith and bad character of its officers and chief landholders. +The land is tilled in spite of all obstacles, because all depend +upon its produce for subsistence; but there is no indication of the +beneficial interference of the Government for the protection of +life, property, and character, and for the encouragement of +industry and the display of its fruits. The land is ploughed, and +the seed sown, often by stealth at night, in the immediate vicinity +of a sanguinary contest between the Government officers and the +landholders. It is only when the latter are defeated, and take to +the jungles, or the Honourable Company's districts, and commence +their indiscriminate plunder, that the cultivator ceases from his +labours, and the lands are left waste.</p> +<p>Runjeet Sing two or three years ago seized upon the village of +Mulatoo, in his vicinity, to which he had no claim whatever, and he +has forcibly retained it. It had long paid Government ten thousand +a-year, but he has consented to pay only one thousand. Lands +yielding above nine thousand he has cut off from its rent-roll, and +added to those of his hereditary villages on the borders. Last year +he seized upon the village of Nudua, with a rent-roll of fourteen +hundred rupees, and he holds it with a party of soldiers and two +guns. The Amil lately sent out a person with a small force to +demand the Government dues; but they were driven back, as he +pretends that he got it in mortgage from Dumber Sing, who had taken +a short lease of that and other khalsa villages, and absconded as a +defaulter; and that he has purchased the lands from the cultivating +proprietors, and is, therefore, bound to pay no revenue whatever +for them-to the King. All defaulters and offenders who take refuge +on his estate he instigates to plunder, and provides with gangs, on +condition of getting the greater part of the booty. He thinks that +he is sure of shelter in the British territory, should he be driven +from Oude; he feels also sure of aid from other large landholders +of the same class in the neighbourhood.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 30, 1850.—Kurheya Para, twelve miles, over +a plain of excellent muteear soil, a good deal of which-is covered +with jungle. Para is a short distance from Kurheya, and our camp is +midway between the two villages. The boundary of the Sandee Palee +and Mahomdee districts we crossed about four miles from our present +encampment. This district, of Mahomdee was taken in contract by +Hakeem Mehndee, at three lacs and eleven thousand rupees a-year, in +1804 A.D., and in a few years he brought it into full tillage, and +made it yield above seven lacs. It has been falling off ever since +it was taken from him, and now yields only between three and four +lacs. The jungle is studded with large peepul-trees, which are all +shorn of their small branches and leaves. The landholders and +cultivators told me that they were taken off by the cowherds who +grazed their buffaloes, bullocks, and cows in these jungles; that +they formed their chief and, in the cold season, their best food, +as the leaves of the peepul-tree were supposed to give warmth to +the stomach, and to increase the quantity of the milk; that the +cowherds were required to pay nothing for the privilege of grazing +their cattle in these jungles, by the person to whom the lands +belonged, because they enriched the soil with their manure, and all +held small portions of land under tillage, for which they paid +rent; that they had the free use of the peepul-trees in the +jungles, but were not permitted to touch those on the cultivated +lands and in villages.</p> +<p>White ants are so numerous in the argillaceous muteear soil, in +which their food abounds, that it is really dangerous to travel on +an elephant, or <i>swiftly</i> on horseback, over a new road cut or +enlarged through any portion of it that has remained long untilled. +The two fore legs of my elephant went down yesterday morning into a +deep pit made by them, but concealed by the new road, which has +been made over it for the occasion of my visit near Shahabad, and +it was with some difficulty that he extricated them. We have had +several accidents of the same kind since we came out. In cutting a +new road they cut through large ant-hills, and leave no trace of +the edifices or the gulf below them, which the little insects have +made in gathering their food and raising their lofty habitation. +They are not found in the bhoor or oosur soils, and in +comparatively small numbers in the doomuteea or lighter soil, but +they abound In the muteear soil in proportion to its richness. +Cultivation, where the crops are irrigated, destroys them, and the +only danger is in passing over new roads cut through jungle, or +lands that have remained long untilled, or along the sides of old +pathways, from which these land-marks have been removed in hastily +widening them for wheeled carriages.</p> +<p>A Brahmin cultivator, whose cart we had been obliged to press +into our own service for this stage, came along with me almost all +the way. He said, "The spring crops of this season, sir, are no +doubt very fine; but in days of yore, before the curse of <i>Bhurt +Jee</i> (the brother of Ram) came upon the landholders and +cultivators of Oude, they were much finer; when he set out from his +capital of Ajoodheea for the conquest of Cylone, he left the +administration to his brother, Bhurt Jee, who made a liberal +settlement of the land tax. He put a ghurra or pitcher, with a +round bottom, turned upside down, into every half acre (beegha) of +the cultivated land, and required the landholder or cultivator to +leave upon it, as much of the grain produced as the rounded bottom +would retain, which could not be one ten-thousandth part of the +produce; he lived economically, and collected at this rate during +the many years that his brother was absent. But when his brother +returned and approached the boundary of his dominions, he met hosts +of landholders and cultivators clamouring against the <i>rapacity +and oppression</i> of his brother's administration. The humanity of +Ram's disposition was shocked, sir, at all this, and he became +angry with his brother before he heard what he had to say. When +Bhurt had satisfied his brother that he had not taken from them the +thousandth part of what he had a right to take, and Ram had, +indeed, taken from them himself, he <i>sighed</i> at the wickedness +and ingratitude of the agricultural classes of Oude; and the +baneful effects of this sad <i>sigh</i> has been upon us ever +since, sir, in spite of all we can do to avert them. In order to +have the blessing of God upon our labours, it is necessary for us +to fulfil strictly all the responsibilities under which we hold and +till the land; first, to pay punctually the just demands of +Government; second, all the wages of the labour employed; third, +all the charities to the poor; fourth, all the offerings to our +respective tutelary gods; fifth, a special offering to Mahabeer, +alias Hunooman. These payments and offerings, sir, must all be made +before the cultivator can safely take the surplus produce to his +store-room for sale and consumption."</p> +<p>Old Bukhtawar Sing, who was riding by my side, said, "A +conscientious farmer or cultivator, sir, when he finds that his +field yields a great deal more than the usual returns, that is when +it yields twenty instead of the usual return of ten, gives the +whole in charity, lest evil overtake him from his unusual good luck +and inordinate exultation."</p> +<p>I asked the Brahmin cultivator why all these offerings were +required to be made by cultivators in particular? He replied, +"There is, sir, no species of tillage in which the lives of +numerous insects are not sacrificed, and it is to atone for these +numerous murders, and the ingratitude to Bhurt, that cultivators, +in particular, are required to make so many offerings;" and, he +added, "much sin, sir, is no doubt brought upon the land by the +murder of so many female infants. I believe, sir, that all the +tribes of Rajpoots murder them; and I do not think than one in ten +is suffered to live. If the family or village priest did not +consent to eat with the parents after the murder, no such murders +could take place, sir; for none, even of their nearest relatives, +will ever eat with them till the Brahmin has done so."</p> +<p>The bearers of the tonjohn in which I sat, said, "We do not +believe, sir, that one girl in twenty among the Rajpoots is +preserved. Davey Buksh, the Gonda Rajah, is, we believe, the only +one of the Biseyn Rajpoot tribe who preserves his daughters;* his +father did the same, and his sister, who was married to the +Bhudoreea Rajah of Mynpooree, came to see him lately on the +occasion of a pilgrimage to Ajoodheea, on the death of her husband; +of the six Kulhuns families of Chehdwara, two only preserve their +daughters—Surnam Sing of Arta, and Jeskurn of Kumeear; but +whether their sons or successors in the estates will do the same is +uncertain." These bearers are residents of that district.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* There are a great many families of the Biseyn Rajpoots who +never destroy their infant daughters.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I may here remark, that oak-trees in the hills of the Himmelah +chain are disfigured in the same manner, and for the same purpose, +as the peepul and banyan trees are here; their small branches and +leaves are torn off to supply fodder for bullocks and other +animals. The ilex of the hills has not, however, in its nakedness +the majesty of the peepul and banyan of the plains, though neither +of them can be said to be "when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most."</p> +<p><i>January</i> 31, 1850.—Puchgowa, north-east, twelve +miles over a plain of doomuteea soil, a good deal of which is out +of tillage at present. On the road we came through several neat +villages, the best of which was occupied exclusively by the +families of the Kunojeea Brahmin proprietors, and the few persons +of inferior caste who ploughed their lands for them, as they are a +shade too high in caste to admit of their holding their own +ploughs. They are, however, very worthy people, and seemed very +much pleased at being put so much at their ease in a talk with the +great man about their own domestic and rural economy. They told me, +that they did not permit Rajpoots to reside in or have anything to +do with their village.</p> +<p>"Why?" I asked.—"Because, sir, if they once get a footing +among us, they are, sooner or later, sure to turn us all out." +"How?"—"They get lands by little and little at lease, soon +refuse to pay rent, declare the lands to be their own, collect bad +characters for plunder, join the Rajpoots of their own clan in all +the villages around in their enterprises, take to the jungles on +the first occasion, of a dispute, attack, plunder, and burn the +village, murder us and our families, and soon get the estate for +themselves, on their own terms from the local authorities, who are +wearied out by the loss of revenue arising from their depredations; +our safety, sir, depends upon our keeping entirely aloof from +them."</p> +<p>Under a government so weak, the only men who prosper seem to be +these landholders of the military classes who are strong in their +union, clan feeling, courage, and ferocity. The villages here are +numerous though not large, and by far the greater part are occupied +by Rajpoots of the Nikomee tribe.</p> +<p>The Amil of the Mahomdee district, Krishun Sahae, had come out +so far as Para to meet me, and have my camp supplied. He had earned +a good reputation as a native collector of long standing in the +Shajehanpore district, under Mr. Buller; but being ambitious to +rise more rapidly than he could hope to do, under our settled +government, he came to Lucknow with a letter of introduction from +Mr. Buller to the Resident, Colonel Richmond, paid his court to the +Durbur, got appointed Amil of the Mahomdee district, under the +<i>amanee</i> system, paid his nazuranas on his investiture, in +October last, and entered upon his charge. A few days ago it +pleased the minister to appoint to his place Aboo Toorab Khan, the +nephew and son-in-law of Moonowur-ood Dowla; and orders were sent +out immediately, by a camel-messenger, to the commandants of the +corps on duty, with Krishun Sahae, to seize and send him, his +family, and all his relations and dependents, with all his property +to be found upon them, to Lucknow. The wakeel, whom he kept at +Court for such occasions, heard of the order for the supercession +and arrest, and forthwith sent off a note to his master by the +fastest foot-messenger he could get. The camel-messenger found that +the Amil had left Mahomdee, and gone out two stages to Para, to +meet the Resident. He waited to deliver his message to the +commandants and subordinate civil officers of the district, and see +that they secured all the relatives, dependents, and property of +the Amil that could be found. The foot-messenger, more wise, went +on, and delivered his letter to Krishun Sahae; at Para, on the +evening of Tuesday the 29th. He ordered his elephant very quietly, +and mounting, told the driver to take him to a village on the road +to Shajehanpoor.</p> +<p>On reaching the village about midnight, the driver asked him +whither he was going—"I am flying from my enemies," said +Krishun Sahae; "and we must make all haste, or we shall be +overtaken before we reach the boundary." "But," said the driver, +"my house and family are at Lucknow, and the one will be pulled to +the ground and the other put into gaol if I fly with you." Krishun +Sahae drew out a pistol and threatened to shoot him if he did not +drive on as told. They were near a field of sugar-cane, and the +driver hedged away towards it, without the Amil's perceiving his +intention. When they got near the field the elephant dashed in +among the cane to have a feast; and the driver in his seeming +effort to bring him out, fell off and disappeared under the high +cane. The Amil did all he could to get out his elephant, but the +animal felt that he was no longer in danger of severe treatment +from above, and had a very comfortable meal before him in the fine +ripe cane, and would not move. The poor Amil was obliged to +descend, and make all possible haste on foot across the border, +attended by one servant who had accompanied him in his flight. The +driver ran to the village and got the people to join him in the +pursuit of his master, saying that he was making off with a good +deal of the King's money. With an elephant load of the King's money +in prospect, they made all the haste they could; but the poor Amil +got safely over the border into British territory. They found the +elephant dining very comfortably on the sugar-cane. After abusing +the driver and all his female relations for deluding them with the +hope of a rich booty, they permitted him to take the empty elephant +to the new Amil at Mahomdee. News of all this reached my camp last +night.</p> +<p>I omitted to mention that, at Busora on the 27th, a Rajpoot +landholder of the Sombunsie tribe, came to my camp with a petition +regarding a mortgage, and mentioned that he had a daughter, now two +years of age; that when she was born he was out in his fields, and +the females of the family put her into an earthen pot, buried her +in the floor of the apartment, where the mother lay, and lit a fire +over the grave; that he made all haste home as soon as he heard of +the birth of a daughter, removed the fire and earth from the pot, +and took out his child. She was still living, but two of her +fingers which had not been sufficiently covered were a good deal +burnt. He had all possible care taken of her, and she still lives, +and both he and his wife are very fond of her. Finding that his +tale interested me, he went home for the child; but his village was +far off, and he has not been able to overtake me. He had given no +orders to have her preserved, as his wife was confined sooner than +he expected; but the family took it for granted that she was to be +destroyed, and in running home to preserve her he acted on the +impulse of the moment. The practice of destroying female infants is +so general among this tribe, that a family commonly destroys the +daughter as soon as born, when the father is from home, and has +given no special orders about it, taking it to be his wish as a +matter of course.</p> +<p>Several respectable landholders of the Chouhan, Nikomee, and +other tribe of Rajpoots, were talking to me yesterday evening, and +as they were connected by marriage with Rajpoot families of the +same and higher clans in the British territories, I asked them +whether some plan could not be devised to suppress the evil in +Oude, as it had been suppressed there; for the disorders which +prevailed seemed to me to be only a visitation from above for such +an all-pervading sin. They told me that there would be little +difficulty in putting down this system under an honest and strong +Government that would secure rights, enforce duties, and protect +life and property, as in the British territories. Atrocious and +cruel as this crime is in Oude, it is hardly more so than that +which not long ago prevailed in France and other nations of Europe, +of burying their daughters alive in nunneries in order to gratify +the same family pride.</p> +<p>It is painful to me to walk out of my tent of an evening, for I +have every day large crowds seeking redress for grievous wrongs, +for which I see no hope of redress: men and women, who have had +their dearest relatives murdered, their houses burnt down, their +whole property taken away, their lands seized upon, their crops +destroyed by ruffians residing in the same or neighbouring +villages, and actually in the camp of the Amil, without the +slightest fear of being punished or made to surrender any portion +of what they have taken. The Government authorities are too weak, +even to enforce the payment of the Government demand, and have not +the means to seize or punish offenders of any kind, if they have +the inclination. In some districts they not only acquiesce in the +depredations of these gangs of robbers, but act in collusion with +their leaders, in order to get their aid in punishing defaulters or +pretended defaulters, among the landholders. They murder the +landholders, and as many as possible of their families, and as a +reward for their services the local authorities make over their +lands to them at reduced rates.</p> +<p>The Nazim of Sandee Palee told me on taking leave, that he had +only two wings of Nujeeb Regiments with him, one of which was fit +for some service, and in consequence, spread over the district on +detached duties. The other was with him, but out of the five +hundred, for which he had to issue monthly pay, he should not be +able to get ten men to follow him on any emergency. They are +obliged to court and conciliate the strong and reckless who prey +upon the weak and industrious; and in consequence become despised +and detested by the people. I feel like one moving among a people +afflicted with incurable diseases, who crowd around him in hope, +and are sent away in despair. I try to make the local authorities +exert themselves in behalf of the sufferers; but am told that they +have already done their utmost in vain; that if they seize robbers +and murderers and send them to Lucknow, they are sure to purchase +their enlargement and return to wreak their vengeance on them and +on all who have aided them in their arrest and conviction; that if +they attempt to seize one of the larger landholders, who refuses to +pay the Government demand, seizes upon the lands of his weaker +neighbours, and murders and robs them indiscriminately, he removes +across the Ganges, into one of the Honourable Company's districts, +and thence sends his myrmidons to plunder and lay waste the whole +country, till he is invited back by a weak and helpless Government +upon his own terms; that formerly British troops were employed in +support of the local authorities against offenders of this class; +but that of late years all such aid and support have been withdrawn +from the Oude Government, while the offenders find all they require +from the subjects and police authorities of the bordering British +districts.</p> +<p>The country we passed over to-day, between Para and Puchgowa, is +a plain, beautifully studded with groves and fine solitary trees, +in great perfection. The bandha or mistletoe, upon the mhowa and +mango trees, is in full blossom, and adds much to their beauty; the +soil is good, and the surface everywhere capable of tillage, with +little labour or outlay; for the jungle where it prevails the most +is of grass, and the small palas-trees (butea-frondosa) which may +be-easily uprooted. The whole surface of Oude is, indeed, like a +gentleman's park of the most beautiful description, as far as the +surface of the ground and the foliage go. Five years of good +Government would make it one of the most beautiful parterres in +nature. To plant a large grove, as it ought to be, a Hindoo thinks +it necessary to have the following trees:—</p> +<p>The banyan, or burgut; peepul, ficus religiosa; mango; tamarind; +jamun, eugenia jambolana; bele, cratoeva marmelos; pakur, ficus +venosa; mhowa, bassia latifolia; oula, phyllanthus emblica; goolur, +figus glomerata; kytha, feronia elephantum; kuthal, or jack; +moulsaree, mimusops elengi; kuchnar, bauhinea variegata; neem, +melia azadirachta; bere, fizyphus jujuba; horseradish, sahjuna; +sheeshum, dalbergia sisa; toon, adrela toona; and chundun, or +sandal.</p> +<p>Where he can get or afford to plant only a small space, he must +confine himself to the more sacred and generally useful of these +trees; and they are the handsomest in appearance. Nothing can be +more beautiful than one of those groves surrounded by fields +teeming with rich spring crops, as they are at present; and studded +here and there with fine single banyan, peepul, tamarind, mhowa, +and cotton trees, which, in such positions, attain their highest +perfection, as if anxious to display their greatest beauties, where +they can be seen to the most advantage. Each tree has there free +space for its roots, which have the advantage of the water supplied +to the fields around in irrigation, and a free current of air, +whose moisture is condensed upon its leaves and stems by their +cooler temperature, while its carbonic acid and ammonia are +absorbed and appropriated to their exclusive use. Its branches, +unincommoded by the proximity of other trees, spread out freely, +and attain their utmost size and beauty.</p> +<p>I may here mention what are the spring crops which now in a +luxuriance not known for many years, from fine falls of rain in due +season, embellish the surface over which we are passing +:—</p> +<p><i>Spring Crops</i>.—Wheat; barley; gram; arahur, of two kinds +(pulse); musoor (pulse); alsee (linseed); surson (a species of fine +mustard); moong (pulse); peas, of three kinds; mustard; sugar-cane, +of six kinds; koosum (safflower); opium; and palma christi.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 1, 1850.—Mahomdee, eleven miles, over a +level plain of muteear soil of the best quality, well supplied with +groves and single trees of the finest kind; but a good deal of the +land is out of tillage, and covered with the rank grass, called +garur, the roots of which form the fragrant khus, for tatties, in +the hot winds; and dhak (butea frondosa) jungle. Several villages, +through and near which we passed, belong to Brahmin zumeendars, who +were driven away last year by the rapacity of the contractor, +Mahomed Hoseyn, a senseless oppressor, who was this year superseded +by a very good officer and worthy man, who was driven out with +disgrace, as described yesterday, while engaged in inviting back +the absconded cultivators to these deserted villages, and providing +them with the means of bringing their lands again into tillage. +Hoseyn Allee had seized and sold all their plough-bullocks, and +other agricultural stock, between the autumn and spring harvests, +together with all the spring crops, as they became ripe, to make +good the increased rate of revenue demanded; and they were all +turned out beggars, to seek subsistence among their relatives and +friends, in our bordering district of Shajehanpoor. The rank grass +and jungle are full of neelgae and deer of all kinds; and the +cowherds, who remain to graze their cattle on the wide plains, left +waste, find it very difficult to preserve their small fields of +corn from their trespass. They are said to come in herds of +hundreds around these fields during the night, and to be frequently +followed by tigers, several of which were killed last year, by +Captain Hearsey, of the Frontier Police. Waste lands, more distant +from the great Tarae forest, are free from tigers.</p> +<p>I had a long talk with the Brahmin communities of two of these +villages, who had been lately invited back from the Shajehanpoor +district, by Krishun Sahae, and resettled on their lands. They are +a mild, sensible, and most respectable body, whom a sensible ruler +would do all in his power to protect and encourage; but these are +the class; of landholders and cultivators whom the reckless +governors of districts, under the Oude Government, most grievously +oppress. They told me—"that nothing could be better than the +administration of the Shajehanpoor district by the present +collector and magistrate, Mr. Buller, whom all classes loved and +respected; that the whole surface of the country was under tillage, +and the poorest had as much protection as the highest in the land; +that the whole district was, indeed, a garden." "But the returns, +are they equal to those from your lands in Oude?"—"Nothing +like it, sir; they are not half as good; nor can the cultivator +afford to pay half the rate that we pay when left to till our lands +in peace." "And why is this?"—"Because, sir, ours is +sometimes left waste to recover its powers, as you now see all the +land around you, while theirs has no rest" "But do they not +alternate their crops, to relieve the soil?"—"Yes, sir, but +this is not enough: ours receive manure from the herds of cattle +and deer that graze upon it while fallow: and we have greater +stores of manure than they have, to throw over it when we return +and resume our labours. We alternate our crops, at the same time, +as much as they do; and plough and cross-plough our lands more." +"And where would you rather live—there, protected as the +people are from all violence, or here, exposed as you are to all +manner of outrage and extortion."—"We would rather live here, +sir, if we could; and we were glad to come back." "And why? There +the landholders and cultivators are sure that no man will be +permitted to exact a higher rate of rent or revenue than that which +they voluntarily bind themselves to pay during the period of a long +lease; while here you are never sure that the terms of your lease +will be respected for a single season."—"That is all true, +sir, but we cannot understand the '<i>aen</i> and <i>kanoon</i>' +(the rules and regulations), nor should we ever do so; for we found +that our relations, who had been settled there for many +generations, were just as ignorant of them as ourselves. Your +Courts of justice (adawluts) are the things we most dread, sir; and +we are glad to escape from them as soon as we can, in spite of all +the evils we are exposed to on our return to the place of our +birth. It is not the fault of the European gentlemen who preside +over them, for they are anxious to do, and have justice done, to +all; but, in spite of all their efforts, the wrong-doer often +escapes, and the sufferer is as often punished."</p> +<p>"The truth, sir, is seldom told in these Courts. There they +think of nothing but the number of witnesses, as if all were alike; +here, sir, we look to the quality. When a man suffers wrong, the +wrong-doer is summoned before the elders, or most respectable men +of his village or clan; and if he denies the charge and refuses +redress, he is told to bathe, put his hand upon the peepul-tree, +and declare aloud his innocence. If he refuses, he is commanded to +restore what he has taken, or make suitable reparation for the +injury he has done; and if he refuses to do this, he is punished by +the odium of all, and his life becomes miserable. A man dares not, +sir, put his hand upon that sacred tree and deny the +truth—the gods sit in it and know all things; and the +offender dreads their vengeance. In your adawluts, sir, men do not +tell the truth so often as they do among their own tribes, or +village communities—they perjure themselves in all manner of +ways, without shame or dread; and there are so many men about these +Courts, who understand the 'rules and regulations,' and are so much +interested in making truth appear to be falsehood, and falsehood +truth, that no man feels sure that right will prevail in them in +any case. The guilty think they have just as good a chance of +escape as the innocent. Our relations and friends told us, that all +this confusion of right and wrong, which bewildered them, arose +from the multiplicity of the 'rules and regulations,' which threw +all the power into the hands of bad men, and left the European +gentlemen helpless!"</p> +<p>"But you know that the crime of murdering female infants, which +pervades the whole territory of Oude, and brings the curse of God +upon it, has been suppressed in the British territory, in spite of +these '<i>aens and kanoons?</i>'"—"True, sir, it has been put +down in your bordering districts; but the Rajpoot families who +reside in them manage to escape your vigilance, and keep up the +evil practice. They intermarry with Rajpoot families in Oude, and +the female infants, born of the daughters they give in marriage to +Oude families, are destroyed in Oude without fear or concealment; +while the daughters they receive in marriage, from Oude families, +are sent over the border into Oude, when near their confinement, on +the pretence of visiting their relations. If they give birth to +boys, they bring them back with them into your districts; but if +they give birth to girls, they are destroyed in the same manner, +and no questions are ever asked about them." "Do you ever eat or +drink with Rajpoot parents who destroy their female +infants?"—"Never, sir! we are Brahmins, but we can take water +in a brass vessel from the hands of a Rajpoot, and we do so when +his family is unstained with this crime; but nothing would ever +tempt us to drink water from the hands of one who permitted his +daughters to be murdered." "Do you ever eat with the village or +family priest who has given absolution to parents who have +permitted their daughters to be murdered, by eating in the room +where the murder has been perpetrated?"—"Never, sir; we abhor +him as a participator in the crime; and nothing would ever induce +one of us to eat or associate with him: he takes all the sin upon +his own head by doing so, and is considered by us as an outcast +from the tribe, and accursed! It is they who keep up this fearful +usage. Tigers and wolves cherish their offspring, and are better +than these Rajpoots, who out of family or clan pride, destroy +theirs. As soon as their wives give birth to sons, they fire off +guns, give largely in charity, make offerings to shrines, and +rejoice in all manner of ways; but when they give birth to poor +girls, they bury them alive without pity, and a dead silence +prevails in the house; it is no wonder, sir, that you say that the +curse of God is upon the land in which such sins prevail!"</p> +<p>The quality of testimony, no doubt, like that of every other +commodity, deteriorates under a system, which renders the good of +no more value in exchange than the bad. The formality of our Courts +here, as everywhere else, tends to impair, more or less, the +quality of what they receive. The simplicity of Courts, composed of +little village communities and elders, tends, on the contrary, to +improve the quality of the testimony they get; and in India, it is +found to be best in the isolated hamlets of hills and forests, +where men may be made to do almost anything rather than <i>tell a +lie</i>. A Marhatta pandit, in the valley of the Nerbudda, once +told me, that it was almost impossible to teach a wild Gond of the +hills and jungles the <i>occasional</i> value of a lie! It is the +same with the Tharoos and Booksas, who are, almost exclusively the +cultivators of the Oude Tarae forest, and with the peasantry of the +Himmalaya chain of mountains, before they have come much in contact +with people of the plains, and become subject to the jurisdiction +of our Courts. These Courts are, everywhere, our <i>weak point</i> +in the estimation of our subjects; and they should be, everywhere, +simplified to meet the wants and wishes of so simple a people.</p> +<p>That the lands, under the settled Government of the Honourable +East India Company, are becoming more and more deteriorated by +overcropping is certain; and an Indian statesman will naturally +inquire, what will be the probable consequence to the people and +the Government? To the people, the consequence must be, a rise in +the price of land produce, proportioned to the increased cost of +producing and bringing to market what is required for consumption. +The price in the market must always be sufficient to cover the cost +of producing, and bringing what is required from the poorest and +most distant lands to which that market is at any time obliged to +have recourse for supply; and as these lands deteriorate in their +powers of fertility, recourse must be had to lands more distant, or +more cost must be incurred in manure, irrigation, &c., to make +these, already had recourse to, to produce the same quantity, or +both. The price in the market must rise to meet the increased +outlay required, or that outlay will not be made; and the market +cannot be supplied.</p> +<p>As men have to pay more for the Land produce they require, they +will have less to lay out in other things; and as they cannot do +without the land produce, they must be satisfied with less of other +things, till their incomes increase to meet the necessity for +increased outlay. People will get this increase in proportion as +their labour, services, talents, or acquirements are more or less +indispensable to the society; and the price of other things will +diminish, as the cost of producing and bringing them to market +diminishes, with improvements in manufactures, and in the +facilities of transport. No very serious injury to the people of +our territories is, therefore, to be apprehended from the +inevitable deterioration in the natural powers of the soil, under +our settled Government, which gives so much security to life, +property, and character, and so much encouragement to industry.</p> +<p>The consequence to the Government will be less serious than +might at first appear. Under a system of limited settlements of the +land-revenue, such as prevail over all our dominions, except in +Bengal, the Government is in reality the landlord; and our +land-revenue is in reality land-rent.* We alienate a portion of +that rent for limited periods in favour of those with whom we make +such settlements, and take all the rest ourselves. On an average, +perhaps, our Government takes one-sixth of the gross produce of the +land; and the persons, with whom the settlements are made, take +another sixth. The net rent, which the Government and they divide +equally between them, may be taken, on an average, at one-third of +the gross produce of the land. The cultivator would, I believe, +always be glad to take and cultivate land, on an average, on +condition of giving one-third of the gross produce, or the value of +one-third, to be divided between the Government and its lessee; and +the lessee will always consider himself fortunate if he gets +one-half of this third, to cover the risk and cost of +management.</p> +<p>* I believe our Government committed a great <i>political</i> +and <i>social</i> error, when it declared all the land to be the +property of the lessees: and all questions regarding it to be +cognizable by Judicial Courts. It would have been better for the +people, as well as the Government, had all such questions been left +to the Fiscal and Revenue Courts. There is the same regular series +of these Courts, from the Tuhseeldar to the Revenue Sudder Board, +as of the Judicial Courts, from the Moonsiff to the Judicial Sudder +Board; and they are all composed of the same class of persons, with +the same character and motives to honest exertion. Why force men to +run the gauntlet through both series? It tends to make the +Government to be considered as a rapacious tax-gatherer, instead of +a liberal landlord, which it really is; and to foster the growth of +a host of native pettifogging attorneys, to devour, like white +ants, the substance of the landholders of all classes and +grades.</p> +<p>Where the soil of a particular village in a district +deteriorates, an immediate reduction in the assessment must be +given, or the lands will be deserted. If the Government does not +consent to such a reduction, the lessee must sustain the whole +burthen, for he cannot shift it off upon the cultivators, without +driving them from the lands. The lessee may sustain the whole +burthen for one or two years; but if the officers of Government +attempt to make him sustain it longer, they drive him after his +cultivators, and the land is left waste. I have seen numerous +estates of villages and some districts made waste by such attempts +in India. I have seen land in such estates, which, when +unexhausted, yielded, on an average, twelve returns of the seed, +without either manure or irrigation, and paid a rent of twenty +shillings an acre, become so exhausted by overcropping in a few +years as to yield only three or four returns, and unable to pay +four shillings an acre—indeed, unable to pay any rent at all. +The cultivator, by degrees, ceases to sow the more exhausting and +profitable crops, and is at last obliged to have recourse to +manure, or desert his land altogether; but no manure will enable +him to get the same quantity of produce as he got before, while +what he gets sells at the same rate in the market. He can, +therefore, no longer pay the same rate of rent to Government and +its lessee. He has got a less quantity of produce, and it has cost +him much more to raise it, while it continues to sell at the same +price in the market.</p> +<p>But when the lands of a whole country, or a large extent of +country, deteriorate in the same manner, and all cultivators are +obliged to do the same thing, the price of land produce must rise +in the markets, so as to pay the additional costs of supply. All +but the poorest and most distant to which these markets must have +recourse for supply, at any particular time, will pay rent, and pay +it at a rate proportioned to their greater fertility or nearer +proximity to the markets. Such Markets must pay for land produce a +price sufficient to cover the costs of producing and bringing it +from the poorest and most distant lands, to which they are obliged +at any particular time to have recourse for supply. All land +produce of the same quality must, at the same time and place, sell +in the market at the same price; and all that is over and above the +cost of producing and bringing it to market will go to the +proprietors of the land, that is, to the Government and its +lessees. The poorest and most distant land, to which any market may +have recourse at any particular time, may pay no rent, because the +price is no more than sufficient to pay the cost of producing and +bringing their supply to that market; but all that is less poor and +distant will pay rent, because the price which their produce brings +in that market will be more than sufficient to pay the cost of +producing and bringing their supply to that market.</p> +<p>The increase in the price of land produce which must take place, +as the lands become generally exhausted by overcropping, will, +probably, prevent any great falling off in the money rate of rents +and revenues, from the land in our Indian possessions; and with the +improvements in manufactures, and in the facilities of transport, +which must tend to reduce the price of other articles, that money +will purchase more of them in the market; and the establishments +which have to be maintained out of these rents and revenues may not +become more costly. Government and its lessees may have the same +incomes in money, and the greater price, they and their +establishments are obliged to pay for land produce may be +compensated by the lesser price they will have to pay for other +things.</p> +<p>As facilities for irrigation are extended and improved in wells +and canals, new elements of fertility will be supplied to the +surface, in the soluble salts contained in their waters. The +well-waters will bring these salts from great depths, and the +canal-waters will collect them as they flow along, or percolate +through, the earth; and as they rise, by capillary attraction, they +will convey them to the surface, where they are required for +tillage. The atmosphere, in water, ammonia, and carbonic-acid gas +will continue to supply plants with the oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, +and carbon which they require from it; and judicious selection and +supply of manure will provide the soil with those elements in which +it happens to be deficient. Peace, security, instruction, and a due +encouragement to industry, will, it may be hoped, secure to the +people all that they require from our Government, and to our +Government all that it can fairly require from the people.</p> +<p>The soil of Mahomdee is as fine as that of any part of Oude that +I have seen; and the soil of Oude, generally, is equal to the best +that I have seen in any part of India. It is all of the kinds above +described—muteear (argillaceous), doomuteea (light), bhoor +(sandy), and oosur (barren), as far as I have seen. In some parts, +the muteear is more productive than in others, and the same may be +said of all the other denominations of soil. In the poorer parts of +the muteear, the stiff clay, devoid of decayed vegetable and animal +matter, seems to superabound, as the sand does in the lightest or +poorer portions of the soil, called doomuteea, which runs into +bhoor. The oosur, or soil rendered unproductive by a superabundance +of substances not suitable to the growth of plants, seems to be +common to both kinds. In all soils, except the oosur, fine trees +grow, and good crops are produced under good tillage; but in the +muteear, the outlay to produce them is the least. It is an error to +suppose that a soil, even of pure sand, must be absolutely barren. +Quartz-sand commonly contains some of the inorganic substances +necessary to plants—silica, lime, potash, alumina, oxide of +iron, magnesia, &c.—and they are rendered soluble, and +fit for the use of plants by atmospheric air and water, impregnated +with carbonic-acid gas, as all water is more or less. The only +thing required from the hand of man, besides water, to render them +cultivable, is vegetable or animal substances, to supply them, as +they decay or decompose, with organic acids.</p> +<p>The late Hakeem Mehndee, took the contract of the Mahomdee +district, as already stated, in the year A.D. 1804, when it was in +its present bad state, at 3,11,000 rupees a-year; and he held it +till the year 1819, or for sixteen years. He had been employed in +the Azimgurh district, under Boo Allee Hakeem, the contractor; and +during the negotiations for the transfer of that district, with the +other territories to the British Government, which took place in +1801; he lost his place, and returned to Lucknow, where he paid his +court to the then Dewan, or Chancellor of the Exchequer, who +offered him the contract of the Mahomdee district, at three lacs +and eleven thousand rupees a-year, on condition of his depositing +in the Treasury a security bond for thirty-two thousand rupees. +There had been a liaison between him and a beautiful dancing-girl, +named Peeajoo, who had saved a good deal of money. She advanced the +money, and Hakeem Mehndee deposited the bond, and got the contract. +The greater part of the district was then, as now, a waste; and did +not yield more than enough to cover the Government demand, +gratuities to courtiers, and cost of management. The Hakeem +remained to support his influence at Court, while his brother, +Hadee Allee Khan, resided at Mahomdee, and managed the district. +The Hakeem and his fair friend were married, and lived happily +together till her death, which took place before that of her +husband, while she was on a pilgrimage to Mecca. While she lived, +he married no other woman; but on her death he took to himself +another, who survived him; but he had no child by either. His vast +property was left to Monowur-od Dowlah, the only son of his +brother, Hadee Allee Khan, and to his widow and dependents. The +district improved rapidly under the care of the two brothers; and, +in a few years, yielded them about seven lacs of rupees a-year. The +Government demand increased with the rent-roll to the extent of +four lacs of rupees a-year. This left a large income for Hakeem +Mehndee and his family, who had made the district a garden, and +gained the universal respect and affection of the people.</p> +<p>In the year 1807, Hakeem Mehndee added, to the contract of +Mahomdee, that of the adjoining district of Khyrabad, at five lacs +of rupees a-year, making his contract nine lacs. In 1816, he added +the contract for the Bahraetch district, at seven lacs and +seventy-five thousand; but he resigned this in 1819, after having +held it for two years, with no great credit to himself. In 1819, he +lost the contract for Mahomdee and Khyrabad, from the jealousy of +the prime minister, Aga Meer. In April 1818, the Governor-General +the Marquess of Hastings passed through his district of Khyrabad, +on his way to the Tarae forest, on a sporting excursion, after the +Marhatta war. Hakeem Mehndee attended him during this excursion, +and the Governor-General was so much pleased with his attentions, +courteous manners, and sporting propensities, and treated him with +so much consideration and kindness, that the minister took the +alarm, and determined to get rid of so formidable a rival. He in +consequence made the most of the charge preferred against him, of +the murder of Amur Sing; and demanded an increase of five lacs of +rupees a-year, or fourteen lacs of rupees a-year, instead of nine. +This Hakeem Mehndee would not consent to give; and Shekh Imam Buksh +was, in 1819, sent to supersede him, as a temporary +arrangement.</p> +<p>In 1820, Poorun Dhun, and Govurdhun Dass, merchants of Lucknow, +took the contract of the two districts at twelve lacs of rupees +a-year, or an increase of three lacs; and from that time, under a +system of rack-renting, these districts have been falling off. +Mahomdee is now in a worse state than Khyrabad, because it has had +the bad luck to get a worse set of contractors. Hakeem Mehndee +retired with his family, first to Shajehanpoor, and then to +Futtehgurh, on the Ganges, and resided there, with his family, till +June 1830, when he was invited back by Nusseer-do Deen Hyder, to +assume the office of prime minister. He held the office till August +1832, when he was removed by the intrigues of the Kumboos, Taj-od +Deen Hoseyn, and Sobhan Allee Khan, who persuaded the King that he +was trying to get him removed from the throne, by reporting to the +British Government the murder of some females, which had, it is +said, actually taken place in the palace. Hakeem Mehndee was +invited from his retirement by Mahomed Allee Shah, and again +appointed minister in 1837; but he died three months after, on the +24th of December, 1837.</p> +<p>During the thirty years which have elapsed since Hakeem Mehndee +lost the contract of Mahomdee, there have been no less than +seventeen governors, fifteen of whom have been contractors; and the +district has gradually declined from what it was, when he left it, +to what it was when he took it—that is from a rent-roll of +seven lacs of rupees a-year, under which all the people were happy +and prosperous, to one of three, under which all the people are +wretched. The manager, Krishun Sahae, who has been treated as +already described, would, in a few years, have made it what it was +when the Hakeem left it, had he been made to feel secure in his +tenure of office, and properly encouraged and supported. He had, in +the three months he had charge, invited back from our bordering +districts hundreds of the best classes of landholders and +cultivators, who had been driven off by the rapacity of his +predecessor, re-established them in their villages and set them to +work in good spirit, to restore the lands which had lain waste from +the time they deserted them; and induced hundreds to convert to +sugar-cane cultivation the lands which they had destined for +humbler crops, in the assurance, of the security which they were to +enjoy under his rule. The one class tells me, they must suspend all +labours upon the waste lands till they can learn the character of +his successor; and the other, that they must content themselves +with the humbler crops till they can see whether the richer and +more costly ones will be safe from his grasp, or that of the +agents, whom he may employ to manage the district for him. No man +is safe for a moment under such a Government, either in his person, +his character, his office, or his possession; and with such a +feeling of insecurity among all classes, it is impossible for a +country to prosper.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Krishun Sahae has been restored, but does not feel secure in +his tenure of office.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I may here mention one among the numerous causes of the decline +of the district. The contract for it was held for a year and half, +in A.D. 1847-48, by Ahmed Allee. Feeling insecure in his tenure of +office, he wanted to make as much as possible out of things as they +were, and resumed Guhooa, a small rent-free village, yielding four +hundred rupees a-year, held by Bahadur Sing, the tallookdar of +Peepareea, who resides at Pursur. He had recourse to the usual mode +of indiscriminate murder and plunder, to reduce Ahmed Allee to +terms. At the same time, he resumed the small village of Kombee, +yielding three hundred rupees a-year, held rent-free by Bhoder +Sing, tallookdar of Magdapoor, who resided in Koombee; and, in +consequence, he united his band of marauders to that of Bahadur +Sing; and together they plundered and burnt to the ground some +dozen villages, and laid waste the purgunnah of Peepareea, which +had yielded to Government twenty-five thousand rupees a-year, and +contained the sites of one hundred and eight villages, of which, +however, only twenty-five were occupied.</p> +<p>During the greater part of the time that these depredations were +going on, the two rebels resided in our bordering district of +Shajehanpoor, whence they directed the whole. Urgent remonstrances +were addressed to the magistrate of that district, but he required +judicial proof of their participation in the crimes, that were +committed by their followers, upon the innocent and unoffending +peasantry; and no proof that the contractor could furnish being +deemed sufficient, he was obliged to consent to restore the +rent-free villages. The lands they made waste, still remain so, and +pay no revenue to Government.</p> +<p>Saadut Allee Khan (who died in 1814), when sovereign of Oude, +was fond of this place, and used to reside here for many months +every year. He made a garden, about a mile to the east of the town, +upon a fine open plain of good soil, and planted an avenue of fine +trees all the way. The trees are now in perfection, but the garden +has been neglected; and the bungalow in the centre, in which he +resided, is an entire ruin. He kept a large establishment of men +and cattle, for which sixty thousand rupees a-year were regularly +charged in the accounts of the manager of the district, through his +reign and those of Ghazee-od Deen, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, Mahomed +Allee Shah, and Amjud Allee Shah, and the first year of the reign +of his present Majesty, Wajid Allee Shah; though, with the +exception of two bullocks and two gardeners, the cattle had all +disappeared, and the servants been all discharged some thirty years +before.</p> +<p>In October last, when six guns were required from the great park +of artillery at Lucknow, to be sent out on detached duty with the +Gungoor Regiment, an inspection of the draft-bullocks took place, +and it was found, that the Court favourite who had charge of the +park had made away with no less than one thousand seven hundred and +thirty of them, and only twenty could be found to take the guns. He +had been charging for the food of these one thousand seven hundred +and thirty for a long series of years. On mentioning this fact to a +late minister, he told me of two facts within his own knowledge, +illustrative of these sort of charges. This same Court favourite, +in the reign of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, in 1835, received charge of +sixteen bullocks, of surpassing beauty, which had been presented to +the King, and he was allowed to draw, from the Treasury, a rupee +a-day, for the food of each bullock.</p> +<p>In the reign of Mahomed Allee Shah, his prudent successor, a +muster of all the bullocks was called for, and Ghalib Jung, to whom +the muster was intrusted, to spite the favourite, called for these +sixteen bullocks. The favourite had disposed of them, though, he +continued to draw the allowance; and, to supply their place, he +sent to the bazaar and seized sixteen of the bullocks which had +that day brought corn to market. They were presented to Ghalib Jung +for muster. He pretended to be very angry, declared that it was +disgraceful to keep such poor creatures on the King's +establishment, and still more so to charge a rupee a-day for the +food of each, and ordered them to be sold forthwith by auction. +Soon after they had been sold, the poor men to whom they belonged +came up to claim them, but could never get either the bullocks or +their price, nor could the favourite ever be persuaded to refund +any portion of the money he had drawn for the sixteen he had +sold.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The favourite, in both these cases, was Anjum-od Dowlah.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the early part of the reign of Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, a fine +dog from the Himmalaya Hills was presented to him, and made over to +the charge of one of the favourites, who drew a rupee a-day for his +food. Soon after his Majesty became ill and very irritable, and one +day complained much of this dog's barking. He was told that the +only way to silence a dog of this description was to give him a +seer of conserve of roses to eat every day, and a bottle of +rose-water to drink. His Majesty ordered them to be given +forthwith, and his repose was never after disturbed by the dog's +barking. A rupee a-day continued to be drawn for these things for +the dog for the rest of the long reign of Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, and +through that of his successor, Nuseer-od Deen, which lasted for ten +years, and ended in 1837, though the animal had died soon after the +order for these things was given, or in 1816, and he believed it +continued to be drawn up to the present day.</p> +<p>The cantonment at Mahomdee stands between this garden of Saadut +Allee's and the town, and this is the best site for any civil or +military establishments that may be required at Mahomdee. The +Nazims usually reside in the fort in the town.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 2, 1850.—Halted at Mahomdee. The spring +crops around the town are very fine, and the place is considered to +be very healthy. There is, however, some peculiarity in the soil, +opposed to the growth of the poppy. The cultivators tell me that +they have often tried it; that it is stunted in growth, whatever +care be taken of it, and yields but little juice, and that of bad +quality, though it attains perfection in the Shahabad and other +districts around. The doomuteea soil is here esteemed better than +the muteear, though it requires more labour in the tillage. It is +said that <i>mote</i> and <i>mash</i>, two pulses, do not thrive in +the muteear soil so well as in the doomuteea.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 3, 1850.—Poknapoor, eight miles. We +crossed the Goomtee about midway, over a bridge of boats that had +been prepared for us. The boats came up the river thus far for +timber, and were detained for the occasion. The stream is here +narrow, and said to flow from a basin (the phoola talao) in the +Tarae forest, some fifty miles to the north, at Madhoo Tanda. There +is some tillage on the verge of the stream on the other side; but +from the river to our tents, four miles, there is none. The country +is level and well studded with groves and fine single trees, bur, +peepul, mhowa, mango, &c., but covered with rank grass.</p> +<p>Near the river is a belt of the sakhoo and other forest trees, +with underwood, in which tigers lodge and prey upon the deer, which +cover the grass plain, and frequently upon the bullocks, which are +grazed upon it in great numbers. Several bullocks have been killed +and eaten by them within the last few days; and an old fakeer, who +has for some months taken up his lodging on this side the river +under a peepul-tree, in a straw hut just big enough to hold him, +told us that he frequently saw them come down to drink in the +stream near his lodging. We saw a great many deer in passing, but +no tigers. The soil near the river is sandy, and the ground uneven, +but still cultivable; and on this side of the sandy belt it is all +level and of the best kind of doomuteea. Our tents are in a fine +grove of mango-trees, in the midst of a waste, but level and +extensive, plain of this soil, not a rood of which is unfit for the +plough or incapable of yielding crops of the finest quality. It is +capable of being made, in two or three years, a beautiful +garden.</p> +<p>The single trees, which are scattered all over it, have been +shorn of their leaves and small branches by the cowherds for their +cattle, but they would all soon clothe themselves again under +protection. The groves are sufficiently numerous to furnish sites +for the villages and hamlets required. All the large sakhoo-trees +have been cut down and taken away on the ground we have come over, +which is too near the river for them to be permitted to attain full +size. Not an acre or a foot of the land is oosur, or unfit for +tillage. Poknapoor is in the estate of Etowa, which forms part of +the pergunnah of Peepareea, to which Bahadur Sing, the person above +described, lays claim. He holds a few villages round his residence +at Pursur; but the pergunnah is under the management of a +Government officer, under the Amil of Mahomdee. The Rajah, Syud +Ashruf Allee Khan, of Mahomdee, claims a kind of suzerainty over +all the district, and over this pergunnah of Peepareea among the +rest. From all the villages tilled and peopled he is permitted to +levy an income for himself at the rate of two rupees a-village. +This the people pay with some reluctance, though they recognise his +right.</p> +<p>The zumeendars of Poknapoor are Kunojee Brahmins, who tell me +that they can do almost everything in husbandry save holding their +own ploughs: they can drive their own harrows and carts, reap their +own crops, and winnow and tread out their own corn; but if they +once condescend to <i>hold their own ploughs</i> they sink in +grade, and have to pay twice as much as they now pay for wives for +their sons from the same families, and take half of what they now +take for their daughters from the same families, into which they +now marry them. They have, they say, been settled in these +pergunnahs, north-east of the Goomtee River, for fifty-two +generations as farmers and cultivators; and their relatives, who +still remain at Aslamabad, a village one koss south-east of +Mahomdee, which was the first abode of the tribe in Oude, have been +settled there for no less than eighty-four generations. They form +village communities, dividing the lands among the several members, +and paying over and above the Government demand a liberal allowance +to the head of the village and of the family settled in it, to +maintain his respectability and to cover the risk and cost of +management, either in kind, in money, or in an extra share of the +land.</p> +<p>The lands of Poknapoor are all divided into two equal shares, +one held by <i>Dewan</i> and the other by <i>Ramnath</i>, who were +both among the people with whom I conversed. Teekaram, who has a +share in Dewan's half, mentioned that about thirteen years ago the +Amil, Khwaja Mahmood, wanted to increase the rate of the Government +demand on the village from the four hundred, which they had long +paid, to four hundred and fifty; that they refused to pay, and +Hindoo Sing, the Rajpoot tallookdar of Rehreea, one koss east of +Poknapoor, offered to take the lease at four hundred and fifty, and +got it. They refused to pay, and he, at the head of his gang of +armed followers, attacked, plundered, and burnt down the village, +and killed his, Teekaram's, brother Girdharee, with his two sons, +and inflicted three severe cuts of a sabre on the right arm of his +wife, who is now a widow among them. Hindoo Sing's object was to +make this village a permanent addition to his estate; but, to his +surprise, the Durbar took serious notice of the outrage, and he +fled into the Shajehanpoor district, where he was seized by the +magistrate, Mr. Buller, and made over to the Oude authorities for +trial. He purchased his escape from them in the usual way; but soon +after offered to surrender to the collector, Aboo Torab Khan, on +condition of pardon for all past offences.</p> +<p>The collector begged the Brahmins to consent to pardon him for +the murders, on condition of getting from Hindoo Sing some fifty +beeghas of land, out of his share in Rehreea. They said they would +not consent to take five times the quantity of the land among such +a turbulent set; but should be glad to get a smaller quantity, +rent-free, in their own village, for the widow of Girdharee. The +collector gave them twenty-five beeghas, or ten acres, in +Poknapoor; and this land Teekaram still holds, and out of the +produce supports the poor widow. A razenamah, or pardon, was given +by the family, and Hindoo Sing has ever since lived in peace upon +his estate, The lease of the village was restored to the Brahmin +family, at the reduced rate of two hundred and fifty, but soon +after raised to four hundred, and again reduced to two hundred and +fifty, after the devastation of Bahadur Sing and Bhoder Sing.</p> +<p>These industrious and unoffending Brahmins say that since these +Rajpoot landholders came among them, many generations ago, there +has never been any peace in the district, except during the time +that Hakeem Mehndee held the contract, when the whole plain that +now lies waste became a beautiful <i>chummun</i> (parterre); that +since his removal, as before his appointment, all has been +confusion; that the Rajpoot landholders are always quarrelling +either among themselves or with the local Government authorities; +and, whatever be the nature or the cause of quarrel, they always +plunder and murder, indiscriminately, the unoffending communities +of the villages around, in order to reduce these authorities to +their terms; that when these Rajpoot landholders leave them in +peace, the contractors seize the opportunity to increase the +Government demand, and bring among them the King's troops, who +plunder them just as much as the rebel landholders, though they do +not often murder them in the same reckless manner. They told me +that the hundreds of their relatives who had gone off during the +disorders and taken lands, or found employment in our bordering +districts, would be glad to return to their own lands, groves, and +trees, in Oude, if they saw the slightest chance of protection, and +the country would soon become again the beautiful parterre which +Hakeem Mehndee left it thirty years ago, instead of the wilderness +in which they were now so wretched; that they ventured to cultivate +small patches here and there, not far from each other, but were +obliged to raise small platforms, upon high poles, in every field, +and sit upon them all night, calling out to each other, in a loud +voice, to keep up their spirits, and frighten off the deer which +swarmed upon the grass plain, and would destroy the whole of the +crops in one night, if left unprotected; that they were obliged to +collect large piles of wood around each platform, and keep them +burning all night, to prevent the tigers from carrying off the men +who sat upon them; that their lives were wretched amidst this +continual dread of man and beast, but the soil and climate were +good, and the trees and groves planted by their forefathers were +still standing and dear to them; and they hoped, now that the +Resident had come among them, to receive, at no distant day, the +protection they required. This alone is required to render this the +most beautiful portion of Oude, and Oude the most beautiful portion +of India.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 4, 1850.—Gokurnath, thirteen miles, +north-east, over a level plain of the same fine muteear soil, here +and there running into doomuteea and bhoor, but in no case into +oosur. The first two miles over the grass plain, and the next four +through a belt of forest trees, with rank grass and underwood, +abounding in game of all kinds, and infested by tigers. Bullocks +are often taken by them, but men seldom. The sal (<i>alias</i> +sakhoo) trees are here stunted, gnarled, and ugly, while in the +Tarae forest they are straight, lofty, and beautiful. The reason +is, that beyond the forest their leaves are stripped off and sold +for <i>plates</i>. They are carried to distant towns, and stored up +for long periods, to form breakfast and dinner plates, and the +people in the country use hardly anything else. Plates are formed +of them by sewing them together, when required; and they become as +pliable as leather, even after being kept for a year or more, by +having a little water sprinkled over them. They are long, wide, and +tough, and well suited to the purpose. All kinds of food are put +upon them, and served up to the family and guests. The cattle do +not eat them, as they do leaves of the peepul, bur, neem, &c. +The sakhoo, when not preserved, is cut down, when young, for beams, +rafters, &c., required in building. In the Tarae forest, the +proprietors of the lands on which they stand preserve them till +they attain maturity, for sale to the people of the plains; and +they are taken down the Ghagra and other rivers that flow through +the forest to the Ganges, and vast numbers are sold in the Calcutta +market. The fine tall sakhoos in the Tarae forest are called +"sayer"; the knotted, stunted, and crooked shakoos, beyond the +forest, are called "khohurs." There are but few teak (or sagwun) +trees in this part of the Tarae forest. The country is everywhere +studded with the same fine groves and single trees, and requires +only tillage to become a garden. From the belt of jungle to our +camp at Gokurnath, seven miles, the road runs over an open grass +plain, with here and there a field of corn. The sites of villages +are numerous, but few of them are occupied at present. All are said +to have been in a flourishing state, and filled by a happy +peasantry, when Hakeem Mehndee lost the government. Since that time +these villages and hamlets have diminished by degrees, in +proportion as the rapacity of the contractors and the turbulence of +the Rajpoot landholders have increased.</p> +<p>The first village we passed through, after emerging from the +belt of jungle, was Pureylee, which is held and occupied by a large +family of cultivating proprietors of the Koormee caste. Up to the +year 1847, it had for many years been in a good condition, and paid +a revenue of two thousand rupees a-year to Government. In that year +Ahmud Allee, the collector, demanded a thousand more. They could +not pay this, and he sold all their bullocks and other stock to +make up the demand; the lands became waste as usual; and Lonee +Sing, of Mitholee, offered the next contractor one thousand rupees +a-year for the lease, and got it. The village has now been +permanently absorbed in his estate, in the usual way; and, as the +Koormees are a peaceful body, they have quietly acquiesced in the +arrangement, and get all the aid they require from their new +landlord. Before this time they had held their lands, as +proprietors, directly under Government. From allodial* proprietors +they are become feudal tenants under a powerful Rajpoot chief.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* By allodial, I mean, lands held in proprietary right, +immediately under the crown, but liable to the land-tax.]</p> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt2-3" id="Chapt2-3">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe—Dispute between +Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his +relatives—Cultivation along the border of the Tarae +forest—Subdivision of land among the Ahbun +families—Rapacity of the king's troops, and establishments of +all kinds—Climate near the Tarae—Goitres—Not +one-tenth of the cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the +villages peopled—Criterion of good tillage—Ratoon +crops—Manure available—Khyrabad district better peopled +and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the soil +over-cropped—Blight—Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of +Khymara—Ousted by collusion and bribery—Anrod Sing of +Oel, and Lonee Sing—State of Oude forty years ago compared +with its present state—The Nazim of the Khyrabad +district—Trespasses of his followers—Oel +Dhukooa—<i>Khalsa</i> lands absorbed by the Rajpoot +barons—Salarpoor—Sheobuksh Sing of +Kuteysura—<i>Bhulmunsee</i>, or property-tax—Beautiful +groves of Lahurpoor—Residence of the Nazim—Wretched +state of the force with the Nazim—Gratuities paid by officers +in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust—Rajah +Arjun Sing's estate of Dhorehra—Hereditary gang-robbers of +the Oude Tarae suppressed—Mutiny of two of the King's +regiments at Bhitolee—Their rapacity and +oppression—Singers and fiddlers who govern the King—Why +the Amils take all their troops with them when they +move—Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of +Oude Local Infantry—Sipahees not equal to those in Magness's, +Barlow's, and Bunbury's, or in our native regiments of the +line—Why—The prince Momtaz-od Dowlah—Evil effects +of shooting monkeys—Doolaree, <i>alias</i> Mulika +Zumanee—Her history, and that of her son and daughter.</p> +<p>Lonee Sing, who visited me yesterday afternoon with a +respectable train, has, in this and other ways less creditable, +increased his estate of <i>Mitholee</i> from a rent-roll of forty +to one of one hundred and fifty thousand rupees a-year, out of +which he pays fifty thousand to Government, and he is considered +one of its best subjects. He is, as above stated, of the Ahbun +Rajpoot clan, and a shrewd and energetic man. The estate was +divided into six shares. It had formed one under Rajah Davey Sing, +whose only brother, Bhujun Sing, lived united with him, and took +what he chose to give him for his own subsistence and that of his +family. Davey Sing died without issue, leaving the whole estate to +his brother, Bhujun Sing, who had two sons, Dul Sing and Maun Sing, +among whom he divided the estate.* Dul Sing had six sons, but Maun +Sing had none. He, however, adopted Bhowanee Sing, to whom he left +his portion of the estate. Dul Sing's share became subdivided among +his six sons; but Khunjun Sing, the son of his eldest son, when he +became head of the family, got together a large force, with some +guns, and made use of it in the usual way by seizing upon the lands +of his weaker neighbours. He attacked his nephew, Bhowanee Sing, +and took all his lands; and got, on one pretence or another, the +greater part of those of his other relatives.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* <i>Mitholee</i> contains the sites of one thousand four +hundred and eighty-six villages, only one-third of which are now +occupied.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He died without issue, leaving his possessions and military +force to Lonee Sing, his brother, who continued to pursue the same +course. In 1847 he, with one thousand armed men and five guns, +attacked his cousin, Monnoo Sing, of Mohlee, the head of the family +of the fourth son of Dul Sing, killed four and wounded two persons; +and, in collusion with the local governor, seized upon all his +estate. Redress was sought for in vain; and as I was passing near, +Monnoo Sing and his brother Chotee Sing came to me at Mahomdee to +complain. Monnoo Sing remained behind sick at Mahomdee; but Chotee +Sing followed me on. He rode on horseback behind my elephant, and I +made him give me the history of his family as I went along, and +told him to prepare for me a genealogical table, and an account of +the mode in which Lonee Sing had usurped the different estates of +the other members of the family. This he gave to me on the road +between Poknapoor and Gokurnath by one of his belted attendants, +who, after handing it up to me on the elephant, ran along under the +nose of Rajah Bukhtawur Sing's fine chestnut horse without saying a +word.</p> +<p>I asked the Rajah whether he knew Lonee Sing? "Yes," said he; +"everybody knows him: he is one of the ablest, best, and most +substantial men in Oude; and he keeps his estate in excellent +order, and is respected by all people."—"Except his own +relations," said the belted attendant; "these he robs of all they +have, and nobody interposes to protect them, because he has become +wealthy, and they have become poor!" "My good fellow," said the +Rajah, "he has only taken what they knew not how to hold, and with +the sanction of the King's servants."—"Yes," replied the man, +"he has got the sanction of the King's servants, no doubt, and any +one who can pay for it may get that now-a-days to rob others of the +King's subjects. Has not Lonee Sing robbed all his cousins of their +estates, and added them to his own, and thereby got the means of +bribing the King's servants to let him do what he likes?" "What," +said the Rajah, with some asperity, "should you, a mere soldier, +know about State affairs? Do you suppose that all the members of +any family can be equal? Must there not be a head to all families +to keep the rest in order? Nothing goes on well in families or +governments where all are equal, and there is no head to guide; and +the head must have the means to guide the rest."—"True," said +the belted attendant, "all can't be equal in the rule of States; +but in questions of private right, between individuals and +subjects, the case is different; and the ruler should give to every +one his due, and prevent the strong from robbing the weak. I have +five fingers in my hand: they serve me, and I treat them all alike. +I do not let one destroy or molest the other." "I tell you," said +the Rajah, with increasing asperity, "that there must be heads of +families as well as heads of States, or all would be confusion; and +Lonee Sing is right in all that he has done. Don't you see what a +state his district is in, now that he has taken the management of +the whole upon himself? I dare say all the waste that we see around +us has arisen from the want of such heads of families."—"You +know," said the man, "that this waste has been caused by the +oppression of the King's officers, and their disorderly and useless +troops, and the strong striving to deprive the weak of their +rights."</p> +<p>"You know nothing about these matters," said the Rajah, still +more angrily. "The wise and strong are everywhere striving to +subdue the weak and ignorant, in order that they may manage what +they hold better than they can. Don't you see how the British +Government are going on, taking country after country year after +year, in order to manage them better than they were managed under +others? and don't you see how these countries thrive under their +strong and just Government? Do you think that God would permit them +to go on as they do unless he thought that it was for the good of +the people who come under their rule?" Turning to me, the Rajah +continued: "When I was one day riding over the country with Colonel +Low, the then Resident, as I now ride with you, sir, he said, with +a sigh, 'In this country of Oude what darkness prevails! No one +seems to respect the right of another; and every one appears to be +grasping at the possessions of his neighbour, without any fear of +God or the King'—'True, sir,' said I; 'but do you not see +that it is the necessary order of things, and must be ordained by +Providence? Is not your Government going on taking country after +country, and benefiting all it takes? And will not Providence +prosper their undertakings as long as they do so? The moment they +come to a stand, all will be confusion. Sovereigns cannot stand +still, sir; the moment <i>their bellies are full</i> (their +ambition ceases), they and the countries they govern retrograde. No +sovereign in India, sir, that has any regard for himself or his +country, can with safety sit down and say that <i>his belly is +full</i> (that he has no further ambition of conquest): he must go +on to the last.'"*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The Rajah's reasoning was drawn from the practice in Oude, of +seizing upon the possessions of weaker neighbours, by means of +gangs of robbers. The man who does this, becomes the slave of his +gangs, as the imperial robber, who seizes upon smaller states by +means of his victorious armies, becomes their slave, and, +ultimately, their victim, The history of India is nothing more than +the biography of such men, and the Rajah has read no other.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The poor belted attendant of Chotee Sing was confounded with the +logic and eloquence of the old Rajah, and said nothing more; and +Chotee Sing himself kept quietly behind on his horse, with his ears +well wrapped up in warm cloth, as the morning was very cold, and he +was not well. He looked very grave, and evidently thought the Rajah +had outlived his understanding. But the fact is that the Rajah has, +by his influence at Court, taken all the lands held by his two +elder nephews, Rughbur Sing and Ramadeen, and made them over to +their youngest brother, Maun Sing, whom he has adopted, made his +heir, and the head of the family. He has, in consequence, for the +present a strong fellow-feeling with Lonee Sing; and, in all this +oration at least, "his wishes were father to his thoughts."</p> +<p>The sharpest retort that I remember ever having had myself was +given to me by a sturdy and honest old landholder of the middle +class, whom I had known for a quarter of a century on the bank of +the Nerbudda, in 1843. During the insurrection in the Saugor and +Nerbudda territories, which commenced in 1842, I was sent down by +the Governor-General Lord Ellenborough to ascertain if possible the +causes which had led to it. I conversed freely with the +landholders, and people of all classes in the valley, who had been +plundered by the landed aristocracy of the jungles on the borders, +and had one afternoon some fifty in my tent seated on the carpet. +After a good deal of talk about the depredations of the jungle +barons upon the people of the cultivated plains, and remonstrance +at the want of support on their part to the Government officers, I +said to Umrao Sing, one of the most sturdy and honest among them, +"Why did you withhold from the local officers the information which +you must have had of the movements and positions of the rebels and +their followers, who were laying the country waste? In no part of +India have the farmers and cultivators been more favoured in light +assessments and protection to life and property; but there are some +men who never can be satisfied; give them what you will, they will +always be craving after more."—"True, sir," said Umrao Sing, +looking me steadily in the face, and with the greatest possible +gravity, "there are some people who never can be satisfied, give +them what you will. Give them the whole of Hindoostan, and they +will go off to Kabul to take more!"</p> +<p>There was a pause, during which all looked very grave, for they +thought that the old man had exceeded the bounds of the privilege +he had long enjoyed of expressing his thoughts freely to European +gentlemen; and Umrao Sing continued: "The fact is, sir, that after +you had, by good government, made us all happy and prosperous, and +proud to display the wealth we had acquired on our persons, and in +our houses and villages, you withdrew all your troops from among +us, and left us a prey to the wild barons of the hills and jungles +on our borders, whose families had risen to wealth, distinction, +and large landed possessions under former misrule and disorder, and +who are always longing for the return of such disorders, that they +may have some chance of recovering the consequence and influence +which they have lost under a settled and strong Government: they +saw that your troops had been taken off for distant conquests, and +heard of nothing but defeats and disasters, and readily persuaded +themselves that your rule was at an end; for what could men, born +and bred in the jungles, know of your resources to retrieve such +disasters?</p> +<p>"After the Mahratta war, in 1817, you prohibited the people of +your newly-acquired districts from carrying arms, not dreaming that +the only persons who would obey or regard your order were the +peaceful landholders and peasantry of the plains, who were +satisfied with your Government, and anxious for its duration, but +exposed to the envy and hatred of the Gond and Lodhee chiefs, who +occupied the hills and jungles on their borders.</p> +<p>"When they came down upon us, you had no means left to protect +us; and having no longer any arms or any experience of the use of +them, after a quarter of a century of peace, we were unable to +defend our villages, our houses, or our families; if we attempted +to defend them, we and our families were killed; if we did not, we +were robbed and threatened with death, if we gave you information +to their prejudice. We saw that they could carry their threats into +execution, for your local officers had not the means to protect us +from their vengeance, and we suffered in silence; but you must not +infer from this that we were tired of your rule, or pleased with +their depredations; all here can testify that we longed for the +return of your strength and their downfal. It is true, however," +added he, "that the new European officers placed over us did not +treat us with the same courtesy and consideration as the old ones, +or seem to entertain the same kindly feeling towards us; and our +communion with them was less free and cordial."</p> +<p>All approved of my old friend's speech, and declared that he had +given expression to the thoughts and feelings of all present, and +of all the people of the plains, who lived happily under our rule, +and prayed earnestly for its duration. The portion of the estate of +Mitholee, held by Lonee Sing, now contains the sites of six hundred +and four villages, about one-half of which are occupied; four +hundred and eighty-four of these lie in the Mahomdee district, and +one hundred and twenty in that of Khyrabad. The number and names of +the villages are still kept up in the accounts.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 5, 1850.—Kurrunpoor Mirtaha, ten miles +over a plain of fine muteear soil, scantily cultivated, but bearing +excellent spring crops where it is so. Not far from our last camp +at Gokurnath, we entered a belt of jungle three miles wide, +consisting chiefly of stunted, knotty, and crooked sakhoo trees, +with underwood and rank chopper grass. This belt of jungle is the +same we passed through, as above described, between Poknapoor and +Gokurnath. It runs from the great forest to the north, a long way +down south-east, into the Khyrabad district. From this belt to our +present ground, six miles, the road passes over a fine plain, +nine-tenths of which is covered with this grass, but studded with +mango-groves and fine single trees. The forest runs along to the +north of our road—which lay east—from one to three +miles distant, and looked very like a continued mango-grove. The +level plain of rich soil extends up through the forest to the foot +of the hills, and is all the way capable of the finest cultivation. +Here and there the soil runs into light doomuteea; and in some few +parts even into bhoor, in proportion as the sand abounds; but +generally the soil is the fine muteear, and very fertile. The whole +plain is said to have been in cultivation thirty years ago, when +Hakeem Mehndee held the contract; but the tillage has been falling +off ever since, under the bad or oppressive management of +successive contractors.</p> +<p>The estate through which we have been passing is called +Bharwara, and contains the sites of nine hundred and eighty-nine +villages, about one-tenth of which are now occupied. The +landholders are all of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe; but a great part of +them have become Musulmans. They live together, however, though of +different creeds, in tolerable harmony; and eat together on +occasions of ceremony, though not from the same dishes. No member +of the tribe ever forfeited his inheritance by changing his creed. +Nor did any one of them, I believe, ever change his creed, except +to retain his inheritance, liberty, or life, threatened by despotic +and unscrupulous rulers. They dine on the same floor, but there is +a line marked off to separate those of the party who are Hindoos +from those who are Musulmans. The Musulmans have Mahommedan names, +and the Hindoos Hindoo names; but both still go by the common +patronymic name of Ahbuns. The Musulmans marry into Musulman +families, and the Hindoos into Hindoo families of the highest +castes, Chouhans, Rathores, Rykwars, Janwars, &c. Of course all +the children are of the same religion and caste as their parents. +They tell me that the conversion of their ancestors was effected by +force, under a prince or chief called "Kala Pahar." This must have +been Mahommed Firmally, <i>alias</i> Kala Pahar—to whom his +uncle Bheilole, King of Delhi, left the district of Bahraetch as a +separate inheritance a short time before his death, which took +place A.D. 1488. This conversion seems to have had the effect of +doing away with the murder of female infants in the Ahbun families +who are still Hindoos; for they could not get the Musulman portion +of the tribe to associate with them if they continued it.</p> +<p>The estate of Bharwara is divided into four parts, Hydrabad, +Hurunpoor, Aleegunge, and Sekunderabad. Each division is subdivided +into parts, each held by a separate branch of the family; and the +subdivision of these parts is still going on, as the heads of the +several branches of the family die, and leave more than one son. +The present head of the Ahbun family is Mahommed Hussan Khan, a +Musulman, who resides in his fort in the village of Julalpoor, near +the road over which we passed. The small fort is concealed within, +and protected by a nice bamboo-fence that grows round it. He holds +twelve villages rent free, as <i>nankar</i>, and pays revenue for +all the rest that compose his share of the great estate. The heads +of families who hold the other shares enjoy in the same manner one +or more villages rent free, as <i>nankar</i>. These are all well +cultivated, and contain a great many cultivators of the best +classes, such as Koormees, Lodhies, and Kachies.</p> +<p>We passed through one of them, Kamole, and I had a good deal of +talk with the people, who were engaged in pressing out the juice of +sugar-cane. They told me that the juice was excellent, and that the +syrup made from it was carried to the district of Shajehanpoor, in +the British territory, to be made into sugar. Mahommed Hussan Khan +came up, as I was talking with the people, and joined in the +conversation. All seemed to be delighted with the opportunity of +entering so freely into conversation with a British Resident who +understood farming, and seemed to take so much interest in their +pursuits. I congratulated the people on being able to keep so many +of their houses well covered with grass-choppers; but they told me, +"that it was with infinite difficulty they could keep them, or +anything else they had, from the grasp of the local authorities and +the troops and camp-followers who attended them, and desolated the +country like a flock of locusts; that they are not only plundered +but taxed by them—first, the sipahees take their choppers, +beams, and rafters off their houses—then the people in charge +of artillery bullocks and other cattle take all their stores of +bhoosa, straw, &c., and threaten to turn the cattle loose on +their fields, if not paid a gratuity—the people who have to +collect fuel for the camp (bildars) take all their stores of wood, +and doors and windows also, if not paid for their +redemption—then the people in charge of elephants and camels +threaten to denude of their leaves and small branches all the +peepul, burgut, and other trees most sacred and dear to them, near +their homes, unless paid for their forbearance; and—though +last, not least—men, women, and children are seized, not only +to carry the plunder and other burthens gratis for sipahees and +servants of all kinds and grades, and camp-followers, but to be +robbed of their clothes, and made to pay ransoms to get back, while +all the plough-bullocks are put in requisition to draw the guns +which the King's bullocks are unable to draw themselves. In short, +that the approach of King's servants is dreaded as one of the +greatest calamities that can befal them."</p> +<p>I should here mention, that all the Telinga regiments, fourteen +in number, are allowed tents and hackeries to carry them. The way +in which the bullocks of such carts are provided with fodder has +been already mentioned; but no tents or conveyance of any kind are +allowed for the Nujeeb corps, thirty-two in number. Whenever they +move (and they are almost always moving), they seize whatever +conveyance and shelter they require from the people of the country +around. Each battalion, even in its ordinary incomplete state, +requires four hundred or five hundred porters, besides carts, +bullocks, horses, ponies, &c. Men, women, and children, of all +classes, are seized, and made to carry the baggage, arms, +accoutrements, and cages of pet birds, belonging to the officers +and sipahees of these corps. They are stripped of their clothes, +confined, and starved from the time they are seized; and as it is +difficult to catch people to relieve them along the road, they are +commonly taken on two or three stages. If they run away, they +forfeit all their clothes which remain in the hands of the +sipahees; and a great many die along the road of fatigue, hunger, +and exposure to the sun. Numerous cruel instances of this have been +urged by me on the notice of the King, but without any good effect. +The line of march of one of these corps is like the road to the +temple of Juggurnaut! When the corps is about to move, detachments +are sent out to seize conveyance of all kinds; and for one cart +required and taken, fifty are seized, and released for a donation +in proportion to their value, the respectability of the +proprietors, and the necessity for their employment at home at the +time. The sums thus extorted by detachments they share with their +officers, or they would never be again sent on such lucrative +service.</p> +<p>It appears that in this part of Oude the people have not for +many years suffered so much from the depredations of the refractory +landholders as in other parts; and that the desolate state of the +district arises chiefly from the other three great evils that +afflict Oude—the rack-renting of the contractors; the +divisions they create and foster among landholders; and the +depredations of the troops and camp-followers who attend them. But +the estate has become much subdivided, and the shareholders from +this cause, and the oppression of the contractors, have become poor +and weak; and the neighbouring landholders of the Janwar and other +Rajpoot tribes have taken advantage of their weakness to seize upon +a great many of their best villages. Out of Kurumpoor, within the +last nine years, Anorud Sing, of Oel, a Janwar Rajpoot, in +collusion with local authorities, has taken twelve; and Umrao Sing, +of Mahewa, of the same tribe, has taken eighteen, making twenty +villages from the Kurumpoor division. These landholders reside in +the Khyrabad district, which adjoins that of Mahomdee, near our +present camp.</p> +<p>The people everywhere praise the climate—they appear +robust and energetic, and no sickness prevails, though many of the +villages are very near the forest. The land on which the forest +stands contains, in the ruins of well-built towns and fortresses, +unquestionable signs of having once been well cultivated and +thickly peopled: and it would soon become so again under good +government. There is nothing in the soil to produce sickness; and, +I believe, the same soil prevails up through the forest to the +hills. Sickness would, no doubt, prevail for some years, till the +underwood and all the putrid leaves should be removed. The water +that stagnates over them, and percolates through the soil into the +wells, from which the people drink, and the exhalations which arise +from them and taint the air, confined by the dense mass of forest +trees, underwood, and high grass, are, I believe, the chief cause +of the diseases which prevail in this belt of jungle.</p> +<p>It is however remarkable, that there are two unhealthy seasons +in the year in this forest—one at the latter end of the rains +in August, September, and October, and the other before the rains +begin to fall in the latter part of April, the whole of May, and +part of June. The diseases in the latter are, I believe, more +commonly fatal than they are in the former; and are considered by +the people to arise solely from the poisonous quality of the water, +which is often found in wells to be covered with a thin crust of +petrolium. Diseases of the same character prevail at the same two +seasons in the jungles, above the sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun +rivers, and are ascribed by the people to the same +causes—those which take place after the rains, to bad air; +and those which take place immediately before the rains, after the +cold and dry seasons, to bad water. The same petrolium, or liquid +bitumen, is found floating on the spring waters in the hot season, +when the most fatal diseases break out in the jungles, about the +sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun, as in the Oude Tarae; and, in +both places, the natives appear to me to be right in attributing +them to the water; but whether the poisonous quality of the water +be imparted to it by bitumen from below, or by the putrid leaves of +the forest trees from above, is uncertain; the people drink from +the bituminous spring waters at this season, as well as from +stagnant pools in the beds of small rivers, which have ceased to +flow during part of the Cold, and the whole of the hot, season. +These pools become filled with the leaves of the forest trees which +hang over them.</p> +<p>The bitumen, in all the jungles to which I refer, arises, I +believe, from the <i>coal measures</i>, pressed down by the +overlying masses of sandstone strata, common to both the Himmalaya +chain of mountains over the Tarae forest, and the Vendeya and +Sathpoor ranges of hills at the sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun +rivers. It is, however, possible that the water of these stagnant +pools, tainted by the putrid leaves, may impart its poison through +the medium of the air in exhalations; and I have known European +officers, who were never conscious of having drunk either of the +waters above described, take the fever (owl) in the month of May in +the Tarae, and in a few hours become raving mad. These tainted +waters may possibly act in both ways—directly, and through +the medium of the air.</p> +<p>While on the subject of the causes or sources of disease, I may +mention two which do not appear to me to have been sufficiently +considered and provided against in India. First, when a new +cantonment is formed and occupied in haste, during or after a +campaign, terraces are formed of the new earth dug up on the spot +to elevate the dwellings of officers and soldiers from the ground, +which may possibly become flooded in the rains; and over the piles +of fresh earth officers commonly form wooden floors for their rooms +to secure them from the damp, new earth. Between this earth and the +wooden floor a small space of a foot or two is commonly left. The +new earth, thus thrown up from places that may not have been dug or +ploughed for ages, absorbs rapidly the oxygen from the air above, +and gives out carbonic acid, nitrogen and hydrogen gases, which +render the air above unfit for men to breathe. This noxious air +accumulates in the space below the wooden floor, and, passing +through the crevices, is breathed by the officers and soldiers as +they sleep.</p> +<p>Between the two campaigns against Nepal in 1814 and 1815, the +brigade in which my regiment served formed such a cantonment at +Nathpoor, on the right bank of the river Coosee. The land which +these cantonments occupied had been covered with a fine sward on +which cattle grazed for ages, and was exceedingly rich in decayed +vegetable and animal matter. The place had been long remarked for +its salubrity by the indigo-planters and merchants of all kinds who +resided there; and on the ground which my regiment occupied there +was a fine pucka-house, which the officer commanding the brigade +and some of his staff occupied. In the rains the whole plain, being +very flat, was often covered with water, and thousands of cattle +grazed upon it during the cold and hot seasons. The officers all +built small bungalows for themselves on the plan above described; +and the medical officers all thought that they had, in doing so, +taken all possible precautions. The men were provided with huts, as +much as possible on the same plan. These dwellings were all ready +before the rains set in, and officers and soldiers were in the +finest state of health and spirits.</p> +<p>In the middle and latter part of the rains, officers and men +began to suffer from a violent fever, which soon rendered the +European officers and soldiers delirious, and prostrated the native +officers and sipahees; so that three hundred of my own regiment, +consisting of about seven hundred, were obliged to be sent to their +homes on sick leave. The greater number of those who remained +continued to suffer, and a great many died. Of about ten European +officers present with my regiment, seven had the fever, and five +died of it, almost all in a state of delirium. I was myself one of +the two who survived, and I was for many days delirious.</p> +<p>Of the medical officers of the brigade, the only one, I believe, +who escaped the fever was Adam Napier, who, with his wife and +children, occupied apartments in the brigadier's large pucka-house. +Not a person who resided in that house was attacked by the fever. +There was another pucka-house a little way from the cantonments, +close to the bank of the river, occupied by an indigo-planter, a +Mr. Ross. No one in that house suffered. The fever was confined to +those who occupied the houses and huts which I have described. All +the brigade suffered much, but my regiment, then the first +battalion of the 12th Regiment, and now the 12th Regiment, suffered +most; and it was stationed on the soil which had remained longest +unturned and untilled on what had been considered a park round the +pucka-house, in which the brigadier resided. I believe that I am +right in attributing this sickness exclusively to the circumstances +which I have mentioned; and I am afraid that, during the +thirty-five years that have since elapsed, similar circumstances +have continued to produce similar results. I am myself persuaded, +that had the sward remained unbroken, and the houses and huts been +raised upon it, over wooden platforms placed upon it, to secure +officers and men from the damp ground, there would have been little +or no sickness in that brigade.</p> +<p>The second of the two causes or sources of disease, to which I +refer, is the insufficient room which is allowed for the +accommodation of our European troops in India. Within the room +assigned for the non-commissioned officers and soldiers, they soon +exhaust the atmosphere around of its oxygen or vital air, while +they expire or exhale carbonic acid, nitrogen and hydrogen gases, +which render it altogether unfit to sustain animal life; and death +or disease must soon overtake those who inhale or inspire it.</p> +<p>I may illustrate this by a fact within my own observation. In +1817, a flank battalion of six hundred European soldiers was formed +at Allahabad, where I then was with my regiment to escort the +Governor-General the Marquess of Hastings. With these six hundred +soldiers there were thirty-two European officers. The soldiers and +non-commissioned officers were put into the barracks in the fort, +where they had not sufficient room. The commissioned officers +resided in bungalows in the cantonments, or in tents on the open +plain. The men were effectually prevented from exposing themselves +to the sun, and from indulging in any kind of intemperance, and +every possible care was taken of them. The commissioned officers +lived as they liked, denied themselves no indulgence, and were +driving about all day, and every day, in sun and rain, to visit +each other and their friends. A fever, similar to that above +described, broke out among the soldiers and non-commissioned +officers in the fort, and great numbers died. Of the six hundred, +only sixteen escaped the fever. When too late, they were removed +from the fort into tents on the plain. From that day the deaths +diminished, and the sick began to recover. Of the thirty-two +commissioned officers, only one, I think, was ever sick at all, and +his sickness was of a kind altogether different; and, it is +impossible to resist the conclusion, that the non-commissioned +officers and soldiers got their disease from want of sufficient +room, and, consequently, of sufficient pure air to breathe. +Subsequent experience has, I believe, tended to confirm the +conclusion; and, I may safely say, that more European soldiers have +died from a disregard of it, than from all the wars that we have +had within the thirty-three years that have since elapsed. The +cause is still in operation, and continues to produce the same +fatal results, and will continue to do so till we change the system +of accommodating our European troops in India.</p> +<p>The buildings in which they are lodged should all have thatched +or tiled roofs, through which the hot and impure air, which has +been already breathed, may pass, and be replaced within by the pure +air of the atmosphere around, instead of roofs of pucka-masonry +which confine this air to be breathed over again by the people +within; and double or quadruple the space now allowed to each man +should be given. At the cost now incurred in providing them with +this insufficient room, under roofs of pucka-masonry, they could be +provided with four times the space, under roofs of thatch and +tiles, which would be so much more safe and suitable.</p> +<p>The state of the Bharwara district may be illustrated by that of +one of its four divisions or mahals, Alleegunge. In the last year +of Hakeem Mehudee's role (1818), this division was assessed at one +hundred and thirty-eight thousand rupees, with the full consent of +the people, who were all thriving and happy. The assessment was, +indeed, made by the heads of the principal Ahbun families of the +district, with Mahommed Hussan Khan as chief assessor. One hundred +and thirty-two thousand were collected, and six thousand were +remitted in consequence of a partial failure of the crops. Last +year, by force and violence, the landholders of this division were +made to agree to an assessment upon the lands in tillage of ten +thousand and five hundred rupees, of which not six thousand can be +collected. The other three divisions are in the same state. Not +one-tenth of the land is in tillage, nor are one-tenth of the +villages peopled. The soil is really the finest that I have seen in +India; and I have seen no part of India in which so small a portion +of the surface is unfit for tillage. The moisture rises to the +surface just as it is required; and a tolerable crop is got by a +poor man who cannot afford to keep a plough, and merely burns down +the grass and digs the surface with his spade, or pickaxe, before +he sows the seed. Generally, however, the tillage, in the portion +cultivated, is very good. The surface is ploughed and +cross-ploughed from six to twenty, or even thirty, times in the +season; and the harrow and roller are often applied till every clod +is pulverized to dust.</p> +<p>The test of first-rate preparation for the seed is that a +ghurra, or earthen pitcher, full of water, let fall upon the field +from a man's head, shall not break. The clods in the muteear soil +are so pulverised only in the fields that are to be irrigated, or +to the surface of which moisture rises from below as the weather +becomes warm. The people say that it does so rise when required in +land even a good way from the forest, and that the clods are, in +consequence, not necessary to retain it. This is the only part of +India in which I have known the people take ratoon, or second crops +of sugar-cane from the same roots; and the farmers and cultivators +tell me that the second crop is almost as good as the first. The +fields in tillage are well supplied with manure, which is very +abundant where so large a portion of the surface is waste; and +affords such fine pasture. They are also well watered, for the +water is near the surface, and in the tight muteear soil a kutcha +well, or well without masonry, will stand good for twenty seasons. +To make pucka-wells, or wells lined with burnt bricks and cement, +would be costly. Each well of this kind costs about one hundred +rupees. The kutcha-wells, which are lined with nothing, or with +thick ropes of twigs and straw, cost only from five to ten rupees. +The people tell me that oppression and poverty have made them less +fastidious than they were formerly; that formerly it was considered +disgraceful to plough with buffaloes, or to use them in carts, but +they are now in common use for both purposes; that vast numbers of +the Kunojee Brahmins and others, who could not formerly drive their +own ploughs, drive them now; and that all will in time condescend +to do so, as the penalties of higher payments with and for +daughters in marriage cease to be exacted from men whose +necessities have become so pressing.</p> +<p><i>March</i> 6, 1850. **—Halted at Kurunpoor, where the +gentlemen of my camp shot some floricans, hares, partridges, and a +porcupine along the bank of the small river Ole, which flows along +from north-west to south-east within three miles of Kurunpoor.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[** Transcriber's Note: The diary date jumps from the previous +entry of <i>February</i> 5, 1850, at Kurrunpoor. This is a mistake +in the date, as at the start of Chapter V the diary jumps back to +<i>February</i> 14, 1850.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>March</i> 7, 1850.—Teekur, twelve miles. The road, for +three miles, lay through grass jungle to the border of the Khyrabad +district, whence the plain is covered with cultivation, well +studded with trees, clusters of bamboos, and well peopled with +villages, all indicating better management. A great many fields are +reduced to the fine dust above described to receive the sugar-cane, +which is planted in February. The soil is muteear, but has in many +parts become impaired by over-cropping. The people told me that the +crops were not so rich as they ought to be, from the want of +manure, which is much felt here, where there is so little pasture +for cattle. The wheat has almost everywhere received an orange tint +from the geerwa, or blight, which covers the leaves, but, happily, +has not as yet settled upon the stalks to feed on the sap. This +blight, the cultivators say, arises from the late and heavy rain +they have had, and the easterly wind that prevailed for a few days. +The geerwa is a red fungus, which, when it adheres to the stems, +thrusts its roots through the pores of the epidermis and robs the +grain of the sap as it ascends. When easterly winds and sultry +weather prevail, the pores of the epidermis appear to be more +opened and exposed to the inroads of these fungi than at other +times. If the wind continue westerly for a fortnight more, little +injury may be sustained; but should easterly winds and sultry +weather prevail, the greater part may be lost. "We cultivators and +landholders," said Bukhtawur Sing, "are always in dread of +something, and can never feel quite easy: if little rain falls, we +complain of the want of more; if a good deal comes down, we are in +dread of this blight, and never dare to congratulate ourselves on +the prospect of good returns." To the justice and wisdom of this +observation all assented.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Westerly winds and cold weather prevailed and the blight did +little apparent injury to the crops; but the wheat crops, +generally, over Oude and the adjoining districts, was shrivelled +and deficient in substance. It had "run to stalk" from the excess +of rain.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The landholders of this purgunnah are chiefly Janwar Rajpoots. +Kymara, a fine village, through which we passed, about five miles +from Kurunpoor, is the residence of the present head of this +family, Rajah Ajeet Sing. He has a small fort close by, in which he +is now preparing to defend himself against the King's forces. The +poor old man came out with all his village community to meet and +talk with me, in the hope that I might interpose to protect him. He +is weak in mind and body, has no son, and, having lately lost his +only brother and declared heir to the estate, his cousins and more +distant relations are scrambling for the inheritance. The usual +means of violence, collusion, and intrigue have been had recourse +to. The estate is in the Huzoor Tuhseel, and not under the +jurisdiction of the contractor of Khyrabad. The old man seemed +care-worn and very wretched, and told me that the contractor, whom +I should meet at Teekur, had only yesterday received orders from +Court to use all his means to oust him from possession, and make +over the estate to his cousin, Jodha Sing, who had lately left him +in consequence of a dispute, after having, since the death of his +brother, aided him in the management of the estate; that he had +always paid his revenues to the King punctually, and last year he +owed a balance of only one hundred and sixty rupees, when <i>Anrod +Sing</i>, his distant relative, wanted him to declare his younger +brother, Dirj Bijee Sing, his heir to the estate, in lieu of Jodha +Sing.</p> +<p>This he refused to do, and Anrod Sing came, with a force of two +thousand armed men, supported by a detachment from Captain Barlow's +regiment, and laid siege to his fort, on the pretence that he was +required to give security for the more punctual payment of the +revenue. To defend himself, he was obliged to call in the aid of +his clan and neighbours, and expend all that he had or could +borrow, and, at last, constrained to accept Anrod Sing's security, +for no merchants would lend money to a poor man in a state of +siege. Anrod Sing had now gone off to Lucknow, and bribed the +person in charge of the Huzoor Tuhseel, Gholam Ruza Khan, one of +the most corrupt men in the corrupt Court of Lucknow, to get an +order issued by the Minister to have him turned out, and the estate +made over to Jhoda Sing, from whom he would soon get it on pretence +of accumulated balances, and make it over, in perpetuity, to his +brother, Dirj Bijee Sing. In this attempt, the old man said, a good +many lives must be lost and crops destroyed, for his friends would +not let him fall without a struggle.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The old man has been attacked and turned out with the loss of +some lives, in spite of the Resident's remonstrance, and the estate +has been made over to Jodha Sing, on the security for the payment +of the revenue of Anrod Sing. Jodha Sing is, naturally, of weak +intellect; and Anrod Sing will soon have him turned out as an +incompetent defaulter, and get the estate for himself, or for his +younger brother. Luckily <i>Anrod Sing</i> and <i>Lonee Sing</i>, +of Mitholee, are at daggers-drawn about some villages, which Anrod +Sing has seized, and to which Lonee Sing thinks he has a better +right. Their dread of each other will be useful to the Government +and the people.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>As soon as we left the poor old man, Bukhtawur Sing said, "This, +sir, is the way in which Government officers manage to control and +subdue these sturdy Rajpoot landholders. While they remain united, +as in the Bangur district, they can do nothing with them, and let +them keep their estates on their own terms; but the moment a +quarrel takes place between them they take advantage of it: they +adopt the cause of the strongest, and support him in his +aggressions upon the other members of his family or clan till all +become weak by division and disorder, and submit. Forty or fifty +years ago, sir, when I used to move about the country on circuit +with Saadut Allee Khan, the then sovereign, as I now move with you, +there were many Rajpoot landholders in Oude stronger than any that +defy the Government now; but they dared not then hold their heads +so high as they do now. The local officers employed by him were men +of ability, experience, and character, totally unlike those now +employed. Each had a wing of one of the Honourable Company's +regiments and some good guns with him, and was ready and able to +enforce his master's orders and the payment of his just demands; +but, since his death, the local officers have been falling off in +character and strength, while the Rajpoot landholders have risen in +pride and power. The aid of the British troops has, by degrees, +been altogether withdrawn, and the landholders of this class +despise the Oude Government, and many of them resist its troops +whenever they attempt to enforce the payment of even its most +moderate demands. The revenues of the State fall off as the armed +bands of these landholders increase, and families who, in his time, +kept up only fifty armed men, have now five hundred, or even a +thousand or two thousand, and spend what they owe to Government in +maintaining them. To pay such bands they withhold the just demands +of the State, rob their weaker neighbours of their possessions, and +plunder travellers on the highway, and men of substance, wherever +they can find them.</p> +<p>"When Saadut Allee made over one-half of his dominions to the +British Government in 1801, he was bound to reduce his military +force and rely altogether upon the support of your Government. He +did so; but the force he retained, though small, was good; and +while that support was afforded things went on well—he was a +wise man, and made the most of the means he had. Since that time, +sir, the Oude force has been increased four-fold, as your aid has +been withdrawn; but the whole is not equal to the fourth part which +served under Saadut Allee. You see how insignificant it everywhere +is, and how much it is despised even by the third-class Rajpoot +landholders. You see, also, how they everywhere prey upon the +people, and are dreaded and detested by them: the only estates free +from their inroads are those under the 'Huzoor Tuhseel,' into which +the Amils and their disorderly hosts dare not enter. If the +landholders could be made to feel that they would not be permitted +to seize other men's possessions, nor other men to seize theirs, as +long as they obeyed the Government and paid its just dues, they +would disband these armed followers, and the King might soon reduce +his. He will never make them worth anything; there are too many +worthless, but influential persons about the Court, interested in +keeping up all kinds of abuses, to permit this. These abuses are +the chief source of their incomes: they rob the officers and +sipahees, and even the draft-bullocks; and you everywhere see how +the poor animals are starved by them."</p> +<p>Within a mile of the camp I met the Nazim, Hoseyn Allee Khan, +who told me that Rajah Goorbuksh Sing, of Ramnuggur Dhumeree, had +fulfilled all the engagements entered into before me at Byramghat, +on the Ghagra, on the 6th of December, and was no longer opposed to +the Government; and that the only large landholder in his district +who remained so at present was Seobuksh Sing, of Kateysura, a +strong fort, mounted with seven guns, near the road over which I am +to pass the day after tomorrow, between Oel and Lahurpoor. As he +came up on his little elephant along the road, I saw half-a-dozen +of his men, mounted on camels, trotting along through a fine field +of wheat, now in ear, with as much unconcern as if they had been +upon a fine sward to which they could do no harm. I saw one of my +people in advance make a sign to them, on which they made for the +road as fast as they could. I asked the Nazim how he could permit +such trespass. He told me, "That he did not see them, and unless +his eye was always upon them he could not prevent their doing +mischief, for they were the King's servants, who never seemed happy +unless they were trespassing upon some of his Majesty's subjects." +Nothing, certainly, seems to delight them so much as the trespasses +of all kinds which they do commit upon them.</p> +<p><i>March</i> 8, 1850.—Oel, five miles, over a plain of the +same fine muteear soil, beautifully cultivated and studded with +trees, intermixed with numerous clusters of the graceful bamboo. A +great-grandson of the monster Nadir Shah, of Persia, Ruza Kolee +Khan, who commands a battalion in the King of Oude's service, rode +by me, and I asked him whether he ever saw such a cultivated +country in Persia. "Never," said he: "Persia is a hilly country, +and there is no tillage like this in any part of it. I left Persia, +with my father, twenty-two years ago, when I was twenty-two years +of age, and I have still a very distinct recollection of what it +was then. There is no country in the world, sir," said the Nazim, +"like Hindoostan, when it enjoys the blessings of a good +government. The purgunnah of Kheree, in which we now are, is all +held by the heads of three families of Janwar Rajpoots: Rajah Ajub +Sing, of Kymara; Anrod Sing, of Oel; and Umrao Sing, of Mahewa. +There are only sixty-six villages of Khalsa, or Crown lands left, +yielding twenty-one thousand rupees a-year. The rest have been all +absorbed by the heads of these Rajpoot families.</p> +<pre> + Villages. Jumma. + Kymara . . . 82 . . 13,486 0 0 + Oel . . . . 170 . . 54,790 0 0 + Mahewa . . . 70 . . 20,835 0 0 + ___ _____________ + 322 . . 89,111 0 0 + Khalsa . . . 66 . . 21,881 0 0 + ___ _______________ + 388 . . 1,10,992 0 0 + ___ _______________ +</pre> +<p>"These heads of families have each a fort, surrounded by a +strong fence of bamboos, and mounted with good guns; and the King +cannot get so large a revenue from them as he did thirty years ago, +in the time of Hakeem Mehndee, though their lands are as well +tilled now as they were then, and yield more rent to their holders. +They spend it all in keeping up large armed bands to resist the +Government; but they certainly take care of their cultivators and +tenants of all kinds, and no man dares molest them.</p> +<p>"But," said Bukhtawur Sing, "this beautiful scene would all be +changed were they encouraged or permitted to contend with each +other for the possession of the lands. I yesterday saw a great +number of the merchants of Kymara following the Resident's camp; +and, on asking them why, they told me that the order from Court +obtained by Gholam Ruza for you (the Nazim) to assist the Oel +chief, Anrod Sing, in despoiling Rajah Ajub Sing of his estate, had +driven out all who had no fields of corn or other local ties to +detain them, and had anything to lose by remaining. The chief and +his retainers were repairing their fort, and preparing to fight for +their possessions to the last; and if you take your disorderly +force against them according to orders, the crops now in the ground +will be all destroyed, and the numerous fields now prepared to +receive sugar-cane and the autumn seed will be left waste: they +will make reprisals upon Oel; others of their clan will join in the +strife; and this district will be what that of Bharwara, which we +have just left, now is. The merchants are in the right, sir, to +make off: no property in such a scene is ever safe. There is no +property, sir, like that in the Honourable Company's paper: it is +the only property that we can enjoy in peace. You feel no anxiety +about it. It doubles itself in fifteen or sixteen years; and you go +on from generation to generation enjoying your five per cent., and +neither fearing nor annoying anybody."</p> +<p>The two villages of Oel and Dhukwa adjoin each other, and form a +large town; but the dwelling-houses have a wretched appearance, +consisting of naked mud walls, with but a few more grass-choppers +than are usually found upon them in Oude towns. There is a +good-looking temple, dedicated to Mahadeo, in the centre of the +town, and the houses are close upon the ditch of the fort, which +has its bamboo-fence inside its ditch and outer mud walls. I have +written to the Durbar to recommend that the order for the attack +upon Rajah Ajub Sing be countermanded, and more pacific measures +adopted for the settlement of the claims of the Exchequer and Anrod +Sing upon poor old Ajub Sing.</p> +<p>The Kanoongoes of this place tell me that the dispute has arisen +from a desire, on the part of the old man's wife, to set aside the +just claim of Jodha Sing, the old man's nephew, to the inheritance, +in favour of a lad whom she has adopted and brought up, by name +Teeka Sing, in whose name the estate is now managed by a servant; +that Jodha Sing is the rightful heir, and managed the estate well +for his uncle, after the death of his brother, till lately, when +his aunt persuaded his uncle to break with him, which he did with +reluctance; that Jodha Sing now lives in retirement at his village +of Barkerwa; that Anrod Sing's design upon the inheritance for his +younger brother, Dirj Bijee Sing, is unjust; and that he is, in +consequence, obliged to prosecute it on the pretence of recovering +money due, and supporting the claim of Jodha Sing, and in collusion +with the officers of Government; that Gholam Ruza, who has charge +of the Huzoor Tuhseel, is ready to adopt the cause of any one who +will pay him; and that Anrod Sing is now at Lucknow paying his +court to him, and getting these iniquitous orders issued.</p> +<p>Oel was transferred to the Huzoor Tuhseel in 1834, Kymara in +1836, and Mahewa in 1839. These Rajpoot landholders do not often +seize upon the lands of a relative at once, but get them by degrees +by fraud and collusion with Government officers, so that they may +share the odium with them. They instigate these officers to demand +more than the lands can pay; offer the enhanced rate, and get the +lands at once; or get a mortgage, run up the account, and foreclose +by their aid. They no sooner get the estate than they reduce the +Government demand, by collusion or violence, to less than what the +former proprietor had paid.</p> +<p><i>March</i> 9, 1850.—Lahurpoor, twelve miles, over a +plain of doomuteea soil, well studded with groves and single trees, +but not so fully cultivated the last half way as the first. For the +first halfway the road lies through the estate of Anrod Sing, of +Oel; but for the last it runs through that of Seobuksh Sing, a Gour +Rajpoot, who has a fort near the town of Kuteysura, five miles from +Lahurpoor, and seven from Oel. It is of mud, and has a ditch all +round, and a bamboo-fence inside the outer walls. It is of great +extent, but not formidable against well-provided troops. The +greater part of the houses in the town are in ruins, and Seobuksh +has the reputation of being a reckless and improvident landholder. +He is said not only to take from his tenants higher rates of rent +than he ought, but to extort from them very often a <i>property +tax</i>, highly and capriciously rated. This is what the people +call the <i>bhalmansae</i>, of which they have a very great +abhorrence. "You are a <i>bhala manus</i>" (a gentleman, or man of +substance), he says to his tenant, "and must have property worth at +least a thousand rupees. I want money sadly, and must have +one-fifth: give me two hundred rupees." This is what the people +call "<i>bhalmansae</i>," or rating a man according to his +substance; and to say that a landlord or governor does this, is to +say that he is a reckless oppressor, who has no regard to +obligations or to consequences.</p> +<p>There are manifest signs of the present landholder, Seobuksh +Sing, being of this character; but others, not less manifest, of +his grandfather having been a better man, in the fine groves which +surround Lahurpoor, and the villages between this place and +Kuteysura, all of which are included in his estate. These groves +were, for the most part, planted during the life of his grandfather +by men of substance, who were left free to-dispose of their +property as they thought best.</p> +<p>All the native gentlemen who rode with me remarked on the beauty +of the approach to Lahurpoor, in which a rich carpet of spring +crops covers the surface up to the groves, and extends along under +the trees which have been recently planted. There are many young +groves about the place, planted by men who have acquired property +by trade, and by the savings out of the salaries and perquisites of +office at Lahurpoor, which is the residence of the Nazim, or local +governor, during several months in the year; and the landlord, +Seobuksh, cannot venture to exact his <i>property-tax</i> from +them. The air and water are much praised, and the general good +health of the troops, civil establishments, and residents of all +classes, show that the climate must be good. The position, too, is +well chosen with reference to the districts, and the character of +the people under the control of the governor of the Khyrabad +district.</p> +<p>The estate of Seobuksh is very extensive. The soil is all good +and the plain level, so that every part of it is capable of +tillage. Rutun Sing, the father of Seobuksh, is said to have been a +greater rack-renter, rebel, and robber than his son is, and +together they have injured the estate a good deal, and reduced it +from a rent-roll of one hundred thousand to one of forty. Its +rent-roll is now estimated in the public accounts at 54,640, out of +which is deducted a <i>nankar</i> of 17,587, leaving a Government +demand of only 37,053. This he can't pay; and he has shut himself +up sullenly in his mud fort, where the Nazim dares not attack him. +He is levying contributions from the surrounding villages, but has +not yet plundered or burnt down any. He was lately in prison, for +two years; but released on the security of Rajah Lonee Sing, of +Mitholee, whose wife is his wife's sister. He, however, says that +he was pledged to produce him when required, not before the +<i>present Nazim</i>, but his <i>predecessor</i>; and that he is no +longer bound by this pledge. This reasoning would, of course, have +no weight with the Government authorities, nor would it be had +recourse to were Lonee Sing less strong. Each has a strong fort and +a band of steady men. The Nazim has not the means to attack +Seobuksh, and dares not attack Lonee Sing, as his estate of Pyla is +in the "Huzoor Tuhseel," and under the protection of Court +favourites, who are well paid by him.</p> +<p>Lonee Sing's estate of Mitholee is in the Mahomdee district, and +under the jurisdiction of the Amil; and it is only the portion, +consisting of one hundred and four recently-acquired villages, +which he holds in the Pyla estate, in the Khyrabad district, that +has been made over to the Huzoor Tuhseel.* He offered an increased +rate for these villages to the then Amil, Bhowood Dowlah, in the +year A.D. 1840. It was accepted, and he attacked, plundered, and +murdered a good many of the old proprietors, and established such a +dread among them, that he now manages them with little difficulty. +Basdeo held fourteen of these villages under mortgage, and sixteen +more under lease. He had his brother, maternal uncle, and a servant +killed by Lonee Sing, and is now reduced to beggary. Lonee Sing +took the lease in March, 1840, and commenced this attack in +May.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Anrod Sing holds twenty-eight villages in the Pyla estate, +acquired in the same way as those held by Lonee Sing.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Nazim had with him, of infantry, 1. Futteh Aesh Nujeebs. 2. +Wuzeree, ditto. 3. Zuffur, Mobaruk Telinga. 4. Futteh Jung ditto; +Ruza Kolee Khan. 5. Captain Barlow's ditto. Eleven guns. But, being +unable to get any duty from the three regiments first named, he +offered to dispense with the two first, on condition that the +command of the third should be placed at his disposal for his son +or nephew.</p> +<p>This request was complied with; and, on paying a fee of five +thousand rupees, he got the dress of investiture, and offered it to +Lieutenant Orr, a very gallant officer, the second in command of +Captain Barlow's corps, as the only way to render the corps so +efficient as he required it to be. The Durbar took away the two +regiments; but, as soon as they heard that Lieutenant Orr was to +command the third, they appointed Fidda Hoseyn, brother of the +ruffian Mahommed Hoseyn, who had held the district of Mahomdee, and +done so much mischief to it. Fidda Hoseyn, of course, paid a high +sum for the command to be exacted from his subordinates, or the +people of the district in which it might be employed; and the +regiment has remained worse than useless. Of the eleven guns, five +are useless on the ground, and without bullocks. The bullocks for +the other six are present, but too weak to draw anything. They had +had no grain for many years; but within the last month they have +had one-half seer each per day out of the one seer and half paid +for by Government. There is no ammunition, stores, or anything else +for the guns, and the best of the carriages are liable to fall to +pieces with the first discharge. They are not allowed to repair +them, but must send them in to get them changed for others when +useless. The Durbar knows that if they allow the local officers to +charge for the repair of guns, heavy charges will be made, and no +gun ever repaired; and the local officers know that if they send in +a gun to be repaired at Lucknow, they will get in exchange one +<i>painted</i> to look well, but so flimsily done up that it will +go to pieces the first or second time it is fired.</p> +<p>Captain Barlow's corps is a good one, and the men are finer than +any that I have seen in our own infantry regiments, though they get +only five rupees a-month each, while ours get seven. They prefer +this rate under European officers in the Oude service, to the seven +rupees a-month which sipahees get in ours, though they have no +pension establishment or extra allowance while marching. They feel +sure that their European commandants will secure them their pay +sooner or later; they escape many of the harassing duties to which +our sipahees are liable; they have leave to visit their homes one +month in twelve; they never have to march out of Oude to distant +stations, situated in bad climates; they get fuel and fodder, and +often food, for nothing; their baggage is always carried for them +at the public cost. But to secure them their pay, arms, +accoutrements, clothing, &c., the commandant must be always about +the Court himself, or have an <i>ambassador</i> of some influence +there at great cost. Captain Barlow is almost all his time at Court, +as much from choice as expediency, drawing all his allowances and +emoluments of all kinds, while his second in command performs his +regimental duties for him. The other officers like this, because +they know that the corps could not possibly be kept in the state it +is without it. Captain Barlow has lately obtained three thousand +rupees for the repair of his six gun-carriages, tumbrils, &c., +that is, five hundred for each. They had not been repaired for ten +years; hardly any of the others have been repaired for the last +twenty or thirty years.</p> +<p>The Nazim of this district of Khyrabad has taken the farm of it +for one year at nine lacs of rupees, that is one lac and a half +less than the rate at which it was taken by his predecessor last +year. He tells me, that he was obliged, to enter into engagements +to pay in gratuities fifty thousand to the minister, of which he +has as yet paid only five thousand; twenty-five thousand to the +Dewan, Balkishun, and seven thousand to Gholam Ruza, who has charge +of the Huzoor Tuhseel—that he was obliged to engage to pay +four hundred rupees a-month, in salaries, to men named by the +Dewan, who do no duty, and never show their faces to him; and +similar sums to the creatures of the minister and others—that +he was obliged to pay gratuities to a vast number of understrappers +at Court—that he was not made aware of the amount of these +gratuities, &c., till he had received his dress of investiture, +and had merely promised to pay what his predecessor had +paid—that when about to set out, the memorandum of what his +predecessor had paid was put into his hand, and it was then too +late to remonstrate or draw back. There may be some exaggeration in +the rate of the gratuities demanded; but that he has to pay them to +the persons named I have no doubt whatever, because; all men in +charge of districts have to pay them to those persons, whether they +hold the districts in contract, or in trust.</p> +<p>The Zuffer Mobaruk regiment, with its commandant, Fidda Hoseyn, +is now across the Ghagra in charge of Dhorehra, an estate in the +forest belonging to Rajah Arjun Sing, who has absconded in +consequence of having been ruined by the rapacity of a native +collector last year; and they are diligently employed in plundering +all the people who remain. The estate paid 2,75,000 a-year till +these outrages began; and it cannot now pay fifty thousand. Arjun +Sing and Seobuksh Sing, of Kuteysura, are the only refractory +landholders in the Khyrabad district at present.</p> +<p><i>March</i> 10, 1850.—Halted at Lahurpoor. There is good +ground for large civil and military establishments to the south of +the town, about a mile out, on the left of the road leading to +Khyrabad. It is a fine open plain of light soil. New pucka-wells +would be required; and some low ground, near the south and north, +would also require to be drained, as water lies in it during the +rains. There is excellent ground nearer the town on the same side, +but the mango-groves are thick and numerous, and would impede the +circulation of air. The owners would, moreover be soon robbed of +them were a cantonment, or civil station, established among or very +near to them. The town and site of any cantonment, or civil +station, should be taken from the Kuteysura estate, and due +compensation made to the holder, Seobuksh. The town is a poor one; +and the people are keeping their houses uncovered, and removing +their property under the apprehension that Seobuksh will attack and +plunder the place. All the merchants and respectable landholders, +over the districts bordering on the Tarae forest, through which we +have passed, declare, that all the colonies of Budukh dacoits, who +had, for many generations, up to 1842, been located in this forest, +have entirely disappeared. Not a family of them can now be found +anywhere in Oude. Six or eight hundred of their brave and active +men used to sally forth every year, and carry their depredations +into Bengal, Bebar and all the districts of the north-west +provinces. Their suppression has been a great benefit conferred +upon the people of India by the British Government.</p> +<p><i>March</i> 11, 1850.—Kusreyla, ten miles, over a plain of +excellent muteear soil scantily cultivated, but studded with fine +trees, single and in groves. Kusreyla is among the three hundred +villages which have been lately taken in mortgage from the +proprietors, and in lease from Government, by Monowur-od Dowlah, +the nephew and heir of the late Hakeem Mehndee. He is inviting and +locating in these villages many cultivators of the best classes; +and they will all soon be in a fine state of tillage. No soil can +be finer, and no acre of it is incapable of bearing fine crops. The +old proprietors and lessees, to whom he had lent money on mortgage, +have persuaded him to foreclose, that they may come under so +substantial and kind a landholder. They prefer holding the +sub-lease under such a man, to holding the lease directly under +Government, subject to the jurisdiction of the Nazim. Monowur-od +Dowlah pays forty thousand rupees a-year for the whole to +Government, and has had the whole transferred to the Huzoor +Tuhseel.</p> +<p>The Nazim of Khyrabad rode by my side during this morning's +march, and at my request he described the mutiny which took place +in two of the regiments that attended him in the siege of Bhitolee, +just before I crossed the Ghagra at Byramghat. These were the +Futteh Aesh, and the Wuzeeree. Their commandants are Allee Hoseyn, +a creature of one of the singers, Kootab Allee; and Mahommed +Akhbur, a creature of the minister's. They were earnestly urged by +the minister and Nazim to join their regiments for the short time +they would be on this important service, but in vain; nothing could +induce them to quit the Court. All the corps mentioned above, as +attending the Nazim, were present, and the siege had begun when, on +the 17th of November, some shopkeepers in camp, having been robbed +during the night by some thieves, shut up their shops, and prepared +to leave the camp in a body. The siege could not go on if the +traders all left the place; and he sent a messenger to call the +principal men that he might talk to them. They refused to move, and +the messenger, finding that they were ready to set out, seized one +of them by the waist-hand, and when he resisted, struck him on the +head with a stick, and said he would make him go to his master. The +man called out to some sipahees of the Wuzeeree regiment, who were +near, to rescue him. They did so: the messenger struggled to hold +his grasp, but was dragged off and beaten. He returned the blows; +the sipahees drew their swords: he seized one of the swords and ran +off towards his master's tent, waiving it over his head, to defend +himself, followed by some of the sipahees. The others ran back to +the grove in which their regiment and the Futteh Aesh were +bivouaced; both regiments seized their arms and ran towards the +Nazim's tents; and when they got within two hundred yards, +commenced firing upon them.</p> +<p>The Nazim had with him only a few of his own armed servants. +They seized their arms, and begged permission to return the fire, +but were restrained till the regiment came near, and two tomandars, +or officers, who stood by the Nazim, were shot down, one dead; and +the other disabled. His men could be restrained no longer, and they +shot down two of the foremost of the assailants. The Nazim then +sent off to Lieutenant Orr, who was exercising his corps with blank +cartridge on the parade; and, supposing that one of these regiments +was doing the same thing near the Nazim's tents, he paid no +attention to them. He and his brother, the Adjutant, ran forward, +and entreated the two regiments to cease firing; and the Nazim sent +out Syud Seoraj-od Deen (the commandant of the Bhurmar regiment, +stationed in the adjoining district of Ramnugger Dhumeree, who had +just come to him on a visit), with the Koran in his hand, to do the +same. The remonstrances of both were in vain. They continued to +fire upon the Nazim, and Lieutenant Orr went off to bring up his +regiment, which stood ready to move on the parade. Alarmed at this, +the two regiments ran off to their grove, and the firing +ceased.</p> +<p>During all this time, the other two regiments, the Zuffer +Mobaruk and Futteh Jung, stood looking on as indifferent +spectators; and afterwards took great credit to themselves for not +joining in this attempt to blow up the viceroy, who was obliged, +the next day, to go to their camp and apologize humbly for his men +having presumed to return their fire, which he declared that they +had done without his orders! On his doing this, they consented to +forego their claim to have the unhappy messenger sent to their camp +to be <i>executed</i>; and to remain with him during the siege. As +to taking any part in the siege and assault on the fort, that was +altogether out of their line. Ruza Kolee Khan, the commandant of +the Futteh Jung, was at Lucknow during this mutiny, but he joined a +few days after. Lieutenant Orr gave me the same narrative of the +affair at the dinner-table last night; and said, that he and his +brother had a very narrow escape—that his regiment would have +destroyed all the mutineers had they been present; and he left them +on the parade lest he might not be able to restrain them in such a +scene. Even this mutiny of the two regiments could not tempt their +commandants to leave Court, where they are still enjoying the +favour of their patrons, the minister and the singers, and a large +share of the pay and perquisites of their officers and sipahees, +though the regiments have been sent off to the two disturbed +districts of Sundela and Salone.</p> +<p>They dare not face the most contemptible enemy, but they spare +not the weak and inoffensive of any class, age, or sex. A +respectable landholder, in presenting a petition, complaining of +the outrages committed upon his village and peasantry, said a few +days ago—"The oppression of these revenue collectors, and +their disorderly troops, is intolerable, sir—they plunder all +who cannot resist them, but cannot lift their arms, or draw their +breath freely in the presence of armed robbers and rebels—it +is a proverb, sir, that <i>insects</i> prey upon soft <i>wood</i>; +and these men prey only upon the peaceful and industrious, who are +unable to defend themselves." The Nazim tells me, that the +lamentations of the poor people, plundered and maltreated, were +incessant and distressing during the whole time these two corps +were with him; and that he could exercise no control whatever over +them, protected as they were, in all their iniquities, by the Court +favour their two commandants enjoyed at Lucknow.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Kootab Allee was one of the singers who were soon after +banished from Oude in disgrace. But all the influence they +exercised over the King has been concentrated in the hands of the +two singers who remained, Mosahib Allee and Anees-od Dowla. All are +despicable <i>domes</i>; but the two, who now govern the King, are +much worse characters than any of those who were banished.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I asked Bukhtawur Sing, before the Nazim overtook us this +morning, why it was, that these governors always took so many +troops with them when they moved from place to place, merely to +settle accounts and inspect the crops. "Some of them," said he, +"take all the troops they can muster, to show that they are great +men; but, for the most part, they are afraid to move without them. +They, and the greater part of the landholders, consider each other +as natural and irreconcilable enemies; and a good many of those, +who hold the largest estates, are at all times in open resistance +against the Government. They have their Vakeels with the +contractors when they are not so, and spies when they are. They +know all his movements, and would waylay and carry him off if not +surrounded with a strong body of soldiers, for he is always moving +over the country, with every part of which they are well +acquainted. Besides, under the present system of allowing them to +forage or plunder for themselves, it is ruinous to any place to +leave them in it for even a few days—no man, within several +miles, would preserve shelter for his family, or food for his +cattle, during the hot and rainy months—he is obliged to take +them about with him to distribute, as equally as he can, the +terrible burthen of maintaining them. Now that the sugar-cane is +ripe, not one cane would be preserved in any field within five +miles of any place where the Nazim kept his troops for ten +days."</p> +<p><i>March</i> 12, 1850.—Seetapoor, nine miles over a plain +of muteear soil, the greater part of which is light, and yields but +scanty crops without manure, which is very scarce. Immediately +about the station and villages, where manure is available, the +crops are good. The wind continues westerly, the sky is clear, and +the blight does not seem to increase.</p> +<p>The 2nd Regiment of Oude Local Infantry is stationed at +Seetapoor, but it has no guns or cavalry of any kind. Formerly +there was a corps of the Honourable Company's Native Infantry here, +with two guns and a detail of artillery. The sipahees of this +corps, and of the 1st Oude Local Infantry, at Sultanpoor, are +somewhat inferior in appearance to those of our own native infantry +regiments, and still more so to the Oude corps under Captains +Barlow, Magness, and Bunbury. They receive five rupees eight annas +a-month pay, and batta, or extra allowance, when marching; and the +same pay as our own sipahees of the line (seven rupees a-month) +when serving with them. But the commandants cannot get recruits +equal to those that enlist in our regiments of the line, or those +that enlist in the corps of the officers above named. They have not +the rest and the licence of the one, while they have the same drill +and discipline, without the same rate of pay as the other. They +have now the privilege of petitioning through the Resident like our +sipahees of the line, and that of the pension establishment, while +Barlow's, Bunbury's, and Magness's corps have neither. They have +none but internal duties—they are hardly ever sent out to aid +the King's local authorities, and do not escort treasure even for +their own pay. It is sent to them by drafts from Lucknow on the +local collectors of the district in which they are cantoned; and the +money required for the Resident's Treasury—a great portion of +which passes through the Seetapoor cantonments—is escorted by +our infantry regiments of the line, stationed at Lucknow, merely +because a General Order exists that no irregular corps shall be +employed on such duties while any regular corps near has a relief +of guards present. The corps of regular infantry at Shajehanpoor +escorts the treasure six marches to Seetapoor, where it is relieved +by a detachment from one of the regular corps at Lucknow, six +marches distant.</p> +<p>The native officers and sipahees of these two corps have leave +of absence to visit their families just as often and for just as +long periods as those of the corps under the three above-named +officers—that is, for one month out of twelve. The native +officers and sipahees of these three corps are not, however, so +much drilled or restrained as those of the two Oude local corps, in +which no man dares to help himself occasionally to the roofs of +houses and the produce of fields or gardens; nor to take presents +from local authorities, as they are hardly ever sent out to assist +them. The native officers and sipahees of the very best of the King +of Oude's corps do all this more or less; and they become, in +consequence, more attached to their officers and the service. +Moreover, the commandants of the two corps of Oude local infantry +never become <i>mediators</i> between large landholders and local +governors as those of the King of Oude's corps so often do; nor are +any landed estates ever assigned to them for the liquidation of +their arrears of pay, and confided to their management. So highly +do the native officers of these three Oude <i>Komukee</i> corps +appreciate all the privileges and perquisites they enjoy, when out +on duty under district officers, that they consider short periods +of guard duty in the city, where they have none of them, as serious +punishments.</p> +<p>The drainage about Seetapoor is into the small river Surain, +which flows along on the west boundary, and is excellent; and the +lands in and about the station are at all times dry. The soil, too, +is good; and the place, on the whole, is well adapted for the +cantonment of a much larger force.</p> +<p><i>March</i> 13, 1850.—Khyrabad, east nine miles, over a +plain of doomuteea soil with much oosur. A little outlay and labour +seem, however, to make this oosur produce good crops. On entering +the town on the west side, we passed over a good stone bridge over +this little stream, the Surain; and to the east of the town is +another over the still smaller stream of the Gond. Khyrabad is not +so well drained as Seetapoor, nor would it be so well adapted for a +large cantonment. It is considered to be less healthy. There is an +avenue of good trees all the way from Seetapoor to Khyrabad, a +distance of six miles, planted by Hakeem Mehndee. Our camp being to +the eastern extremity of the town, renders the distance nine +miles.</p> +<p>Yesterday at Seetapoor I had a visit from Monowur-od Dowla, late +prime minister, and Moomtaz-od Dowla, grandson to the late King, +Mahommed Allee Shah, on their way out to the Tarae forest to join +Kindoo Rao, the brother of the Byza Bae, of Gwalior, in pursuit of +tigers. This morning on the road, old Bukhtawur Sing, after a sigh, +said: "I presented a nazur to the prince, Moomtaz-od Dowla, sir; he +is the grandson of a King, and the victim of the folly and crime of +shooting a monkey! His father, Asgur Allee Khan, was the eldest son +of Mahommed Allee Shah, and elder brother of Amjud Allee Shah, the +father of the present King. He was fond of his gun, and one day a +monkey, of the red and short-tailed kind, came and sat upon one of +his out-offices. He sent for his gun, and shot it dead with a ball. +The very next day, sir, he had a severe attack of fever, which +carried him off in three days. During this time he frequently +called out in terror, 'Save me from that monkey! save me from that +monkey!'—pointing to the part of the room in which he <i>saw +him</i>. The monkey killed Asgur Allee Khan, sir; and no man ever +escapes death or misery who wilfully kills one. Moomtaz-od Dowla +might, sir, have been now King of Oude had his father not shot that +monkey."</p> +<p>"But I thought," said I, "it was the <i>hanoomaun</i>, or +long-tailed monkey, that was held sacred by the +Hindoos?"—"Sir," said Bukhtawur Sing, "both are alike +sacred.* Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, the predecessor of Mahommed Allee +Shah, went one day shooting in the dilkhoosha park. Several of the +long-tailed monkeys came and sat upon a mango-tree near him. He +could not resist the temptation, and shot several of them, one +after another, with ball. He returned to the palace; but had not +been home more than three hours, when he and his favourite wife, +the Kooduseea Begum,** had a fierce quarrel, in which both became +insane; she was so enraged that she took poison forthwith, and, in +her agony, actually spit up her liver, which had been torn to +pieces by the force of the poison! The King could not stand the +horrible sight, and ran off and hid himself in the race-stand, near +which you fell and broke your thigh-bone in April last; there he +remained shut up till she died. He had had warning, sir, for a few +months after his accession to the throne; I attended him and his +minister, Aga Meer, on a visit to the garden, called padshah baag, +on the opposite side of the river: he had a gun with him, and, +seeing a monkey on a tree, he ordered the prime minister to try his +hand at it. I told Aga Meer that evil would certainly befall him or +his house if he shot the animal, and begged his Majesty not to +assist upon the minister's doing it. Both laughed at what they +thought my folly; the minister shot the monkey; and in a few days +he was out of office and in a prison. One way or other, sir, a man +who wilfully destroys a monkey is sure to be punished."</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* That Asgur Allee Khan, the eldest son of the King, Mahommed +Allee Shah, did shoot the monkey, got a fever a few days after, and +died of it, are facts well known at Lucknow. That he often +mentioned the monkey during his delirium, is generally believed; +and that his death was the consequence of his shooting that animal +is the opinion of all the Hindoo, and a great part of the Musulman, +population. His death, while his father lived, deprived his son, +Moomtaz-od Dowla, of the throne.]</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote> +<p>[** The Kooduseea Begum had been introduced into the palace as +waiting-woman to Mulika Zumanee, whom she soon superseded in the +King's affections, which she retained till her death. She was +married to the King on the 17th December, 1831, and died on the +21st of August 1834.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>At Khyrabad there is a handsome set of buildings, consisting of +a mausoleum over his father, a mosque, an <i>imambara</i>, and a +<i>kudum rusool</i>, or shrine with the print of the prophet's +foot, erected by Mucka Durzee, a tailor in the service of the King, +who made a large fortune out of his master's favours, and who still +lives, and provides for their repair and suitable endowment. These +buildings are, like all others of the same kind, infested by a host +of professional religious mendicants of both sexes and all ages, +who make the air resound with their clamours for alms. Not only are +such buildings so infested, but all the towns around them. I could +not help observing to the native gentlemen who attended me, "that +when men planted groves and avenues, and built reservoirs, bridges, +caravansaries, and wells, they did not give rise to any such +sources of annoyance to travellers; that they enjoyed the water, +shade, and accommodation, without cost or vexation, and went on +their way blessing the donor." "That," said an old Rusaldar, "is +certainly taking a new and just view of the case; but still it is a +surprising thing to see a man in this humble sphere of life raising +and maintaining so splendid a pile of buildings."*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Mucka the tailor, to whom these buildings belong, is the +person mentioned in the account of the death of the King, Nuseer-od +Deen Hyder, and the confinement of Ghalib Jung.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The town of Khyrabad has still a good many inhabitants; but the +number is fast decreasing. It was the residence of the families of +a good many public officers in our service and that of Oude; and +the local authorities of the district used to reside here. They do +so no longer; and the families of public officers have almost all +gone to reside at other places. Life and property have become +exceedingly insecure, and attacks by gang-robbers so frequent that +no man thinks his house and family safe for a single night. +Government officers are entirely occupied in the collection of +revenue, and they disregard altogether the sufferings and risks to +which the people of towns are exposed. The ground around the place +is low, and the climate is inferior to that of Seetapoor. Salt and +saltpetre are 'made from the soil immediately round the town.</p> +<p>I have mentioned that Moomtaz-od Dowla might now have been King +of Oude had his father not died before his father. The Mohammedan +law excludes for ever the children of any person who dies before +the person to whom he or she is the next heir from all right in the +inheritance. Under the operation of this law, the sons of the +eldest son of the reigning King are excluded from the succession if +he dies before his father, and the crown devolves on the second +son, or on the brother of the King, if he leaves no other son. The +sons of all the sons who die, while their father lives, are +<i>mahjoob-ol-irs</i>, that is, excluded from inheritance. In the +same manner, if the next brother of the King dies before him, his +sons are excluded from the succession, which devolves on the third +brother, and so on through all the brothers. For instance, on the +death, without any recognised issue, of Nuseer-od Been Hyder, son +of Ghazee-od Deen, he was succeeded on the throne by Mahommed Allee +Shah, the third brother of Ghazee-od Deen, though four sons of the +second brother, Shums-od Dowla, still lived. On the death of +Mahommed Allee Shah, he was succeeded by his second son, Amjud +Allee Shah, though Moomtaz-od Dowla, the son of his eldest son, +Asgur Allee Khan, still lived. Shums-od Dowla died before his elder +brother, Ghazee-od Deen; and Asgur Allee Khan before his father, +Mahommed Allee Shah: and the sons of both became, in consequence, +<i>mahjoob-ol-irs</i>, excluded from succession. The same rule +guides the succession among the Delhi sovereigns. This exclusion +extends to all kinds of property, as well as to sovereignty.</p> +<p>Moomtaz-od Dowla is married to Zeenut-on Nissa, the daughter of +Mulika Zumanee, one of the consorts of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, late +King of Oude; and he has, I fear, more cause to regret his union +with her than his exclusion from the throne. Zeenut-on Nissa enjoys +a pension of ten thousand rupees a-month, in her own right, under +the guarantee of the British Government. I may here, as an episode +not devoid of interest, give a brief account of her mother, who, +for some years, during the reign of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, presided +over the palace at Lucknow. Before I do so I may mention that the +King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, had been married to a grand-daughter of +the Emperor of Delhi, a very beautiful young woman, of exemplary +character, who still survives, and retains the respect of the royal +family and people of Lucknow. Finding the Court too profligate for +her, she retired into private life soon after the marriage, and has +remained there ever since upon a small stipend from the King.</p> +<p>Mulika Zumanee, queen of the age, was a daughter of a Hindoo of +the Koormee caste, who borrowed from his neighbour, Futteh Morad, +the sum of sixty rupees, to purchase cloth. He soon after died, +leaving a widow, and a daughter named Dolaree, then five years of +age. They were both seized and confined for the debt by Futteh +Morad; but, on the mother's consenting to leave her daughter in +bondage for the debt, she was released. Futteh Morad's sister, +Kuramut-on Nissa, adopted Dolaree, who was a prepossessing child, +and brought her up as her daughter; but finding, as she grew up, +that she was too intimate with Roostum, the son by a former husband +of her brother's second wife, she insisted on their being married, +and they were so. Futteh Morad soon after died, and his first wife +turned the second, with her first son, Roostum, and his wife, +Dolaree, and the two sons which she had borne to Futteh +Morad—Futteh Allee Khan and Warus Allee Khân—out +of her house. They went to Futteh Morad's aunt, Bebee Mulatee, a +learned woman, who resided as governess in the house of Nawab +Mohubbet Khan, at Roostumnugger, near Lucknow, and taught his +daughters to read the Koran. Finding Dolaree to be not the most +faithful of wives to Roostum, she would not admit them into the +Nawab's house, but she assisted them with food and raiment; and +Roostum entered the service—as a groom—of a trooper in +the King's cavalry, called Abas Kolee Beg. Dolaree had given birth +to a boy, who was named Mahommed Allee; and she now gave birth to a +daughter; but she had cohabited with a blacksmith and an +elephant-driver in the neighbourhood, and it became a much "vexed +question" whether the son and daughter resembled most Roostum, the +blacksmith, or the elephant-driver; all, however, were agreed upon +the point of Dolaree's backslidings. Mahommed Allee, <i>alias</i> +Kywan Ja, was three years of age, and the daughter, <i>Zeenut-on +Nissa</i>, one year and half, when some belted attendants from the +palace came to Roostumnugger in search of a wet-nurse for the young +prince, Moona Jan, who had been born the night before; and Bebee +Mulatee, whose reputation for learning had readied the royal +family, sent off Dolaree as one of the candidates for employment. +Her appearance pleased the queen, the Padshah Begum, the quality of +her milk was pronounced by the royal physicians to be first rate, +and she was chosen, as wet-nurse for the new-born prince.</p> +<p>Moona Jan's father (then heir-apparent to the throne of Oude) no +sooner saw Dolaree than, to the astonishment of the Queen and her +Court, he fell desperately in love with her, though she seemed very +plain and very vulgar to all other eyes; and he could neither +repose himself, nor permit anybody else in the palace to repose, +till he obtained the King's and Queen's consent to his making her +his wife, which he did in 1826. She soon acquired an entire +ascendancy over his weak mind, and, anxious to surround herself in +her exalted station by people on whom she could entirely rely, she +invited the learned Bebee Mulatee and her daughter, Jumeel-on +Nissa, and her son, Kasim Beg, to the palace, and placed them in +high and confidential posts. She invited at the same time Futteh +Allee and Warus Allee, the sons of Futteh Morad by his second wife; +and persuaded the King that they were all people of high lineage, +who had been reduced, by unmerited misfortunes, to accept +employments so humble. All were raised to the rank of Nawabs, and +placed in situations of high trust and emoluments. Kuramut-on +Nissa, too, the sister of Futteh Morad, was invited; but when +Dolaree's husband—the humble Roostum—ventured to +approach the Court, he was seized and imprisoned in a fort in the +Bangur district till the death of Nuseer-od Deen, when he was +released. He came to Lucknow, but died soon after.</p> +<p>Soon after the death of Ghazee-od Deen had placed the +heir-apparent, her husband, on the throne, 20th of October, 1827, +she fortified herself still further by high alliances: and her son, +Mahommed Allee, was affianced to the daughter of Rokun-od Dowla, +brother of the late King; and her daughter, Zeenut-on Nissa, to +Moomtaz-od Dowla, the prince of whom I am writing. These two +marriages were celebrated at a cost of about thirty lacs of rupees; +Dolaree was declared the first consort of the King, under the title +of "Mulika Zamanee," queen of the age, and received an estate in +land yielding six lacs of rupees a-year for pin-money. Not +satisfied with this, she prevailed upon the King to declare her +son, Mahommed Allee, <i>alias</i> Kywan Ja, to be his <i>own and +eldest son</i>, and heir-apparent to the throne; and to demand his +recognition as such from the British Government, through its +representative, the Resident. His Majesty, with great solemnity, +assured the Resident, on many occasions during November and +December, 1827, <i>that Kywan Ja was his eldest son</i>; and told +him that had he not been so, his uncle would never have consented +to bestow his daughter upon him in marriage, nor should he himself +have consented to expend twenty lacs of rupees in the ceremonies. +The Resident told him that the universal impression at Lucknow was, +that the boy was three years of age when his mother was first +introduced to his Majesty. But this had no effect; and, to remove +all further doubts and discussions on the subject, he wrote a +letter himself to the Governor-General, earnestly protesting that +Kywan Ja was his <i>eldest son and heir-apparent to the throne</i>; +and as such he was sent from Lucknow to Cawnpoor to meet and escort +over Lord Combermere in December, 1827.</p> +<p>On the birth of Moonna Jan, the then King, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, +declared to the Resident that the boy was not his grandson, and +that his son, Nuseer-od Deen, pretended that he was his son merely +to please his imperious mother, the Padshah Begum, and to annoy his +father, with whom they were both on bad terms. Ghazee-od Deen had, +however, before his death declared that he believed Moonna Jan to +be his grandson.* In February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, first through the minister, and then in person, assured the +Resident that neither of the boys was his son, and requested that +he would report the same to his Government, and assure the +Governor-General "that both reports, as to these boys being sons of +his, were false, and arose from the same cause, <i>bribery</i> and +<i>ambition</i>, that Mulika Zumanee had paid many lacs of rupees +to influential people about him to persuade him to call her son +his, and declare him heir-apparent to the throne; and that Fazl +Allee and Sookcheyn had done the same to induce others to persuade +him to acknowledge Moonna Jan to be his son. But, said his Majesty, +I know positively that he is not my son, and my father knew the +same."</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* I believe that Ghazee-od Deen's first repudiation of Moonna +Jan arose entirely from a desire to revenge himself upon his +termagant wife, whose furious temper left him no peace. She was, +from his birth, very fond of the boy; and to question his +legitimacy was to wound her in her tenderest point. This was the +"raw" which her husband established, and which his son and +successor afterwards worked upon.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The wary minister then, to clench the matter, remarked that his +Majesty had mentioned to him that he had ceased to cohabit with +Moonna Jan's mother for twenty-four months before the boy was born; +and the King assured the Resident that this was quite true. Hakeem +Mehndee was as anxious as Aga Meer had been to keep the King +estranged from his imperious mother, and the only sure way was to +make him persist in repudiating the boy or postponing his claim to +the succession.</p> +<p>Mulika Zumanee's influence over the king had, however, been +eclipsed, first, by Miss Walters, Mokuddera Ouleea, whose history +has already been given; secondly, by the beautiful Taj Mahal; and, +thirdly, by the Kuduseea Begum. She entered the palace as a +waiting-woman to Mulika Zumanee, and, on the 17th of December, +1831, the King married her; and from that day till her death, on +the 21st of August, 1834, she reigned supreme in the palace and in +the King's affections.</p> +<p>On the King's paying a visit of ceremony to Mulika Zumanee one +evening, he asked for water, and it was brought to him in a gold +cup, on a silver tray, by the Kuduseea Begum, then one of the women +in waiting. Her face was partially unveiled; and the King, after +drinking, threw the last few drops from the cup over her veil in +play. In return, she threw the few drops that had been spilled on +the salver upon the King's robe, or vest. He pretended to be angry, +and asked her, with a frown, how she could dare to besprinkle her +sovereign; she replied—"When children play together there is +no distinction between the prince and the peasant." The King was +charmed with her half-veiled beauty and spirit, and he paid a +second visit the next day, and again asked for water. He did the +same as the first day, and she returned the compliment in the same +way. He came a third time and asked for water, but Mulika Zumanee +had become alarmed, and it was presented by another and less +dangerous person. A few days after, however, the Queen was +constrained to allow her fair attendant to attend the King, and +receive from him formal proposals of marriage, which she +accepted.</p> +<p>She was handsome and generous; but there was no discrimination +in her bounty, and she is said to have received from the King +nearly two millions of money out of the reserved treasury for +pin-money alone. Of this she saved forty-four lacs of rupees. The +King never touched this money, and it formed, in a separate +apartment, the greater part of the seventy lacs found in his +reserved treasury on his death, out of the ten krores or ten +millions sterling, which he found there when he ascended the throne +in 1827.</p> +<p>She is said to have been the only one of his wives who ever had +any real affection for the King. She was haughty and imperious in +her temper; and the only female, who had any influence over her, +was a Mogulanee, who taught her to read and write. She assisted her +mistress very diligently in spending her pin-money, and made the +fortunes of sundry of her relations. Altercations between the +Kuduseea Begum and the King were not uncommon; but, on the 21st of +August, 1834, the King became unusually excited, and told her that +he had raised her from bondage to the throne, and could as easily +cast her back into the same vile condition. Her proud spirit could +not brook this, and she instantly swallowed arsenic. The King +relented, and every remedy was tried, but in vain. The King watched +over her agonies till she was about to expire, when he fled in a +frantic state and took refuge in the apartments of the race-stand, +about three miles from the palace, till the funeral ceremonies were +over. It is said, that in her anxiety to give birth to an heir to +the throne, she got the husband, from whom she had been divorced, +smuggled into her apartments in the palace in a female dress more +than once; and that this was reported to the King, and became the +real cause of the dispute.</p> +<p>The Mogulanee attendant, who had accumulated twenty lacs of +rupees, was seized and commanded to disgorge. She offered five lacs +to Court favourites on condition that they saw her safely over the +river Ganges into British territory. The most grave of them were +commissioned to wait upon his Majesty, and entreat him most +earnestly to banish her forthwith from his territories, as she was +known, in the first place, to be one of the most <i>potent +sorceresses</i> in India; and, in the next, to have been +exceedingly attached to her late mistress: that they had strong +grounds to believe that it was her intention to send his Majesty's +spirit after hers, that they might be united in the next world us +they had been in this. The King got angry, and said, that he had no +dread of sorceresses, and would make the old lady disgorge her +twenty lacs. That very night, however, in his sleep, he saw the +Kuduseea Begum enter his room, approach his bed, look upon him with +a countenance still more kind and bright than in life, and then +return slowly with her face still towards him, and beckoning him +with her hand to follow! As soon as he awoke he became greatly +agitated and alarmed, and ordered the old sorceress to be sent +forthwith across the Ganges to Cawnpoor. She paid her five lacs, +and took off about fifteen; but what became of her afterwards I +have not heard.</p> +<p>One of the first cases that I had to decide, after taking charge +of my office, was that of a claim to five Government notes of +twenty thousand rupees each, left by Sultan Mahal, one of the late +King, Amjud Allee Shah's, widows. The claimants were the reigning +King, and the mother, brother, and sister of the deceased widow. +She was the daughter of a greengrocer, and, in February 1846, at +the age of sixteen, she went to the palace with vegetables. The +King saw and fell in love with her; and she forthwith became one of +his wives, under the name of "Sultan Mahal." In November, 1846, the +King invested eighteen lacs and thirty thousand rupees in +Government notes as a provision for his wives and other female +relations. The notes were to be made out in their names +respectively; and the interest was to be paid to them and their +heirs. Of this sum, Sultan Mahal was to have one hundred thousand; +and, on the 21st of November, she drew the interest, in +anticipation, up to the 30th of December of that year. The five +notes for twenty thousand each, in her name, were received in the +Resident's Treasury on the 20th of April, 1847. On the 28th of +August, she sent an application for the Notes to the Resident, but +died the next day. The King, her husband, had died on the 18th +February, 1847.</p> +<p>Nine days after, on the 6th of September, the new King, Wajid +Allee Shah, sent an application to have these five notes +transferred to one of his own wives; urging, that, as his father +and the Sultan Mahal had both died, he alone ought to be considered +as the heir. It was decided, that the mother, sister, and brother +were the rightful heirs to the Sultan Mahal; and the amount was +distributed among them according to Mahommedan law. The question +was, however, submitted to Government at his Majesty's request; and +the decision of the Resident was upheld on the ground that the +notes were in the lady's name, and she had actually drawn interest +on them; and, as she died intestate, they became the property of +her heirs.</p> +<p>By a deed of engagement with the British Government, dated the +1st of March, 1820, the King contributed to the five per cent loan +the sum of sixty-two lacs and forty thousand rupees, the interest +of which, at five per cent, our Government pledged itself to pay, +in perpetuity, to four females of the King's family. To Mulika +Zumanee, ten thousand a-month; to her daughter, Zeenut-on Nissa, +four thousand; to Mokuddera Ouleea (Miss Walters), six thousand; +and to Taj Mahal, six thousand: total, twenty-six thousand rupees +a-month. On the death of Mulika Zamanee, which took place on the +22nd December, 1843, her daughter succeeded to her pension of six +thousand a-month.</p> +<p>The other portion of her pension—four thousand rupees +a-month—went to her grandson, Wuzeer Mirza, the son of Kywan +Ja, who had died on the 16th of May, 1838, before his mother.* Of +this four thousand a-month, one thousand are given to Zeenut-on +Nissa for the boy's subsistence and education, and three thousand +a-month are invested in Government securities, to be paid to him +when he comes of age. But, besides the six thousand rupees a-month +which she inherits from her mother, Zeenut-on Nissa enjoys the +pension of four thousand rupees a-month, which was assigned to her +by the King in the same deed; so that she now draws eleven thousand +rupees a-month, independent of her husband's income.** By this deed +the stipends are to descend to the heirs of the pensioners, if they +have any; and if they have none, they can bequeath their pensions +to whom they please. Should they have no heirs, and leave no will, +the stipends are to go to the moojtahids and moojawurs, or +presiding priests of the shrine of kurbala, in Turkish Arabia, for +distribution among the needy pilgrims.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Wuzeer Mirza is not the son of Rokun-od Dowla's daughter. +Kywan Ja's marriage with that lady was never consummated.]</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote> +<p>[** She takes after her mother, and makes her worthy husband +very miserable. She is ill-tempered, haughty, and profligate.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>An European lady, who visited the zunana of the King, Nuseer-od +Deen Hyder, on the anniversary of his coronation, on the 18th of +October, 1828, writes thus to a female friend:—"But the +present King's wives were superbly dressed, and looked like +creatures of the Arabian Tales. Indeed, one (Taj Mahal) was so +beautiful, that I could think of nothing but Lalla Rookh in her +bridal attire. I never saw any one so lovely, either black or +white. Her features were perfect, and such eyes and eye-lashes I +never, beheld before. She is the favourite Queen at present, and +has only been married a month or two, her age, about fourteen; and +such a little creature, with the smallest hands and feet, and the +most timid, modest look imaginable. You would have been charmed +with her, she was so graceful and fawn-like. Her dress was of gold +and scarlet brocade, and her hair was literally strewed with +pearls, which hung down upon her neck in long single strings, +terminating in large pearls, which mixed with and hung as low as +her hair, which was curled on each side her head in long ringlets, +like Charles the Second's beauties. On her forehead she wore a +small gold circlet, from which depended and hung, half way down, +large pearls interspersed with emeralds. Above this was a paradise +plume, from which strings of pearls were carried over the head, as +we turn our hair. Her earrings were immense gold rings, with pearls +and emeralds suspended all round in large strings, the pearls +increasing in size. She had a nose ring also with large round +pearls and emeralds; and her necklaces, &c., were too numerous +to be described. She wore long sleeves, open at the elbow; and her +dress was a full petticoat with a tight body attached, and open +only at the throat. She had several persons to bear her train when +she walked; and her women stood behind her couch to arrange her +head-dress, when, in moving, her pearls got entangled in the +immense robe of scarlet and gold she had thrown around her. This +beautiful creature is the envy of all the other wives, and the +favourite at present of both the King and his mother, both of whom +have given her titles—See <i>Mrs. Park's Wandering</i>, vol. +i., page 87. Taj Mahal still lives and enjoys a pension of six +thousand rupees a-month, under the guarantee of the British +Government. She became very profligate after the King's death; and +after she had given birth to one child, it was deemed necessary to +place a guard over her to prevent her dishonouring the memory of +the King, her husband, any further by giving birth to more."</p> +<p>Of Miss Walters, alias Mokuddera Ouleea, the same lady +writes:—"The other newly-made Queen is nearly European, but +not a whit fairer than Taj Mahal. She is, in my opinion, plain; but +she is considered by the native ladies very handsome, and she was +the King's favourite before he saw Taj Mahal. She was more +splendidly dressed than even Taj Mahal. Her head-dress was a +coronet of diamonds, with a fine crescent and plume of the same. +She is the daughter of a European merchant, and is accomplished for +an inhabitant of a zunana, as she writes and speaks Persian +fluently, as well as Hindoostanee; and it is said that she is +teaching the King English, though when we spoke to her in English, +she said she had forgotten it, and could not reply. She was, I +fancy, afraid of the Queen Dowager, as she evidently understood us; +and when asked if she liked being in the zunana, she shook her head +and looked quite melancholy. Jealousy of the new favourite, +however, appeared to be the cause of her discontent, as, though +they sat on the same couch, they never addressed each other."</p> +<p>Of Mulika Zumanee, the same lady says:—"The mother of the +King's children, Mulika Zumanee, did not visit us at the Queen +Dowager's; but we went to see her at her own palace. She is, after +all, the person of the most political consequence, being the mother +of the heir-apparent; and she has great power over her royal +husband, whose ears she boxes occasionally."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt2-4" id="Chapt2-4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Nuseer-od Deen Hyder's death—His repudiation of his son, +Moonna Jan, leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od +Dowlah—Contest for the succession between these two +persons—The Resident supports the uncle; and the Padshah +Begum supports the son—The ministers supposed to have +poisoned the King—Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth by +his successor—Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which +Oude was divided into two equal shares—One transferred to the +British Government, one reserved by Oude—Estimated value of +each at the time of treaty—Present value of each—The +sovereign often warned that unless he governs as he ought, the +British Government cannot support him, but must interpose and take +the administration upon itself—All such warnings have been +utterly disregarded—No security to life or property in any +part of Oude—Fifty years of experience has proved, that we +cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its +people—The alternative left appears to be to take the +management upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the +sovereign and royal family of Oude—Probable effects of such a +change on the feelings and interests of the people of Oude.</p> +<p>When in February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, assured +the Resident that Moonna Jan was not his son. Lord William Bentinck +was Governor-General of India. A more thoroughly honest man never, +I believe, presided over the government of any country. The +question of right to succession was long maturely and most +anxiously considered, after these repeated and formal repudiations +on the part of the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder; and Government would +willingly have deferred a final decision on so important a question +longer, but it was deemed unsafe any longer from the debauched +habits of the King, the chance of his sudden death, and the risk of +a tumult in such a city, to leave the representative of the +paramount power unprepared to proclaim its will in favour of the +rightful heir, the moment that a demise took place. Under these +considerations, instructions were sent to the Resident, on the 15th +of December, 1833, in case of the King's death without a son, or +pregnant consort, to declare the eldest surviving brother of the +late King, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, heir to the throne, and have him +placed upon it. According to the law already noticed (which applies +as well to sovereignty as to property) the sons of Shums-od Dowlah, +the second son of Saadut Allee Khan, who had died shortly before +his eldest and reigning brother, Ghazee-od Deen, were excluded from +all claims to the succession, and the right devolved upon the third +son of Saadut Allee, Nuseer-od Dowlah. Ghazee-od Deen had only one +son, the reigning sovereign, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder.</p> +<p>This prince had impaired his constitution by drinking and other +vicious indulgences, in which he had been encouraged in early life +by his designing or inconsiderate adoptive mother, the Padshah +Begum; but for some time before his death, he used frequently to +declare to his most intimate companions that he felt sure he should +die of poison, and that at no distant period. He for some time +before his death had a small well in the palace, over which he kept +his own lock and key; and he kept the same over the jar, in which +he drew the water from it for his own drinking. The keys were +suspended by a gold chain around his neck. The persons who gave him +his drink, except when taking it out of English sealed bottles, +were two sisters, Dhuneea and Dulwee. The latter and youngest is +now the wife of Wasee Allee Khan. The eldest, Dhuneea, still +resides at Lucknow. The general impression at Lucknow and over all +Oude was, that the British Government would, take upon itself the +management of the country on the death, without issue, of Nuseer-od +Deen Hyder; and the King himself latterly seemed rather pleased +than otherwise at the thought that he should be the last of the +Oude kings. He had repudiated his own son, and was unwilling that +any other member of the family should fill his place. The minister +and the other public officers and Court favourites, who had made +large fortunes, wished it, as it was understood by some, that by +such a measure they would be secured from all scrutiny into their +accounts, and enabled to keep securely all that they had +accumulated.</p> +<p>About half-past eleven, on the night of the 7th July, 1837, the +Durbar Wakeel, Gholam Yaheea,* came to the Resident and reported +that the King had been taken suddenly ill, and appeared to be +either dead or in a dying state, from the symptoms described to him +by his Majesty's attendants. The Resident, Colonel Low, ordered his +two Assistants, Captains Paton and Shakespear, the Head Moonshee +and Head Clerk, to be in attendance, and wrote to request the +Brigadier, commanding the troops in Oude, to hold one thousand men +in readiness to march to the Residency at a moment's notice. The +Residency is situated in the city near the Furra Buksh Palace, in +which the King resided. The Resident intended that five companies +of this force should be sent in advance of the main body and guns, +for the purpose of placing, sentries over the palace gates, +treasuries, and other places containing valuables within the walls. +But this intention was not unfortunately made known to the +Brigadier. Captain Magness, who commanded a corps of infantry with +six guns, and a squadron of horse, had been ordered by the minister +at half-past eight o'clock, to proceed with them to a place near +the southern entrance of the palace, and there to wait for further +instructions, and he did so. This was three hours before the +minister made any report to the Resident of the King's illness, and +Captain Magness was told by the people in attendance that the King +was either dead or dying.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Gholam Yaheea Khan was the maternal uncle of Shurf-od Dowlah, +who was, afterwards, some time minister under Mahommed Allee +Shah.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Having given these orders, the Resident proceeded to the palace, +attended by Captain Paton, the first Assistant, and Dr. Stevenson, +the Residency Surgeon. They found the King lying dead upon his bed, +but his body was still warm, and Dr. Stevenson opened a vein in one +arm. Blood flowed freely from it, but no other sign of life could +be discovered. His features were placid and betrayed no sign of his +having suffered any pain; and the servants in attendance declared +that the only sign of suffering they had heard or seen was a slight +shriek, to which the King gave utterance before he expired; that +after that shriek he neither moved, spoke, nor showed any sign +whatever of life. His Majesty had been unwell for three weeks, but +no one had any apprehension of danger from his symptoms. He had +called for some sherbet a short time before his death, and it was +given to him by Dhuneea, the eldest of the two sisters.</p> +<p>The Resident took with him a guard of sipahees from his escort, +and Captain Paton distributed them as double sentries at the inner +doors of the palace, and outside the chief buildings and +store-rooms, with orders to allow no one but the ministers and +treasurers to pass. Captain Madness had placed one sentry before at +each of these places, and he now added a second, making a party of +four sipahees at each post. Captain Paton at the same time, in +conjunction with the officers of the Court, placed seals on all the +jewels and other valuables belonging to the King and his +establishments; and as the night was very dark, placed +torch-bearers at all places where they appeared to be required.</p> +<p>Having made these arrangements the Resident returned with Dr. +Stevenson to the Residency, leaving Captain Paton at the palace; +and wrote to the Brigadier to request that he would send off the +five companies in advance to the palace direct, and bring down all +his disposable troops, including artillery, to the city. The +distance from the palace to the cantonments, round by the old stone +bridge, was about four miles and half. The iron bridge, which +shortens the distance by a mile and half, had not then been thrown +over the Goomtee river, which flows between them. The Resident then +had drawn up, for the consent of the new king, a Persian paper, +declaring that he was prepared to sign any new treaty for the +better government of the country that the British Government might +think proper to propose to him.</p> +<p>It was now one o'clock in the morning of the 8th of July, and +Captain Shakespear, attended by the Meer Moonshee, Iltufat Hoseyn, +and the Durbar Wakeel, proceeded to the house of the new sovereign, +Nuseer-od Dowlah, who then resided where the present King now +resides, a distance of about a mile from the Residency. The visit +was altogether unexpected; and, as the new sovereign had been for +some time ill, some delay took place in arranging for the reception +of the mission. After explaining the object of his visit. Captain +Shakespear presented the paper, which the King perused with great +attention, and then signed without hesitation. Captain Shakespear +returned with it to the Resident, who repaired again to the palace, +and sent Captain Paton, the first Assistant, to the Residency, to +proceed thence with Captain Shakespear and the Durbar Wakeel, to +the house of the new sovereign, and escort him to the palace, where +he would be in readiness to receive him. He arrived about three +o'clock in the morning, and being infirm from age, and exceedingly +reduced from recent illness, he was, after a short conversation +with the Resident, left in a small adjoining room, to repose for a +few hours preparatory to his being placed on the throne and crowned +in due form. His eldest surviving son, afterwards Amjud Allee Shah, +his sons, the present King, Wajid Allee Shah, and Mirza Jawad Khan, +the King's foster brother, Hummeed-od Dowlah, and his confidential +servant, Rufeek-od Dowla, were left in the room with him; and the +Resident and his Assistants sat in the verandah facing the river +Goomtee, which flows under the walls, conversing on the ceremonies +to be observed at the approaching coronation, and the persons to be +invited to assist at it, when they were suddenly interrupted by the +intelligence that the Padshah Begum, the adoptive mother of the +late King, with a large armed force, and the young pretender, +Moonna Jan, were coming on to seize upon the throne, and might soon +be expected at the principal entrance to the palace to the +north-west.</p> +<p>When the Resident was about to proceed to the palace, the first +time about midnight, he was assured by the minister, Roshun-od +Dowla, that every possible precaution had been taken by him to +prevent the Padshah Begum from attempting any such enterprise, or +from leaving her residence with the young pretender; that he had +placed strong bodies of troops in every street or road by which she +could come. But, to make more sure, and prevent her leaving her +residence at the Almas gardens, five miles from the palace, the +Resident sent off one of his chobdars, Khoda Buksh, with two +troopers and a verbal message, enjoining her to remain quietly at +her palace. These men found her with her equipage in the midst of a +large mass of armed followers, ready to set out for the palace. +They delivered their message from the Resident, but were sent back +with her Wakeel, Mirza Allee, to request that she might be +permitted to look upon the dead body of the late King, since she +had not been permitted to see him for so long a period before his +death. But they reached the Resident with this message, only ten +minutes before the Begum's troops were thundering for admittance at +the gate. The Resident gave the chobdar a note for the officer in +command of the five companies, supposed to be in advance on their +way down from cantonments; but before he could get with this note +five hundred yards from the palace, he met the Begum and her +disorderly band filling the road and pressing on as fast as they +could. Unable to proceed, he returned to the palace with all haste, +and gave the Resident the first notice of their near approach. +Captain Magness had placed two of his six guns at each of the three +entrances to the south and west, but was now ordered to collect +all, and proceed to the north-western entrance, towards which the +Begum was advancing. Before he could get to that entrance she had +passed in, and he returned to the south-western entrance for +further orders.</p> +<p>On passing the mausoleum of Asuf-od Dowlah, where the Kotwal or +head police officer of the city resided, she summoned him, with all +his available police, to attend his sovereign to the throne of his +ancestors. He promised obedience, but, with all his police, stood +aloof, thinking that her side might not be the safe one to take in +such an emergency. A little further on she passed Hussun Bagh, the +residence of the chief consort of the late King and niece of the +emperor of Delhi, and summoned and brought her on, to give some +countenance to her audacious enterprise. The Resident admonished +the minister for his negligence and falsehood in the assurance he +had given him; and directed Rajah Bukhtawur Sing, with his squadron +of one hundred and fifty horse, and Mozuffer-od Dowlah, the father +of Ajum-od Dowlah, and Khadim Hoseyn, the son-in-law of Sobhan +Allee Khan, the deputy minister, with all the armed men they could +muster, to arrest the progress of the pretender; but nothing +whatever was done, and the excited mass came on, and augmented as +it came in noise and numbers. All whom the Resident sent to check +them, out of fear or favour, avoided collision, and sought safety +either in their homes or among the pretender's bands.</p> +<p>Captain Paton, as soon as he heard the pretender's' men +approach, rushed to the gate to the north-west, towards which the +throng was approaching rapidly. He had only four belted attendants +with him, and the gate was guarded only by a small party of useless +sipahees, under the control of three or four black slaves. By the +time he had roused the sleepy guard and closed the gates, the +pretender's armed mass came up, and with foul abuse, imprecations, +and with threats of instant death to all who opposed them, demanded +admittance. Captain Paton told them, that the Resident had been +directed by the British Government to place Nuseer-od Dowlah, the +uncle of the late King, on the throne as the rightful heir; that he +was now in the palace, and all who opposed him would be treated as +rebels; that the gates were all closed by order of the Resident, +and all who attempted to force them would be put to death. All was +in vain. They told him with fury that the Padshah Begum, and the +son of the late King, and rightful heir to the throne, were among +them, and must be instantly admitted. Captain Paton despatched a +messenger to the Resident to say, that he could hold the gate no +longer without troops: but before he could get a reply, the +insurgents brought up an elephant to force in the gate with his +head. The first failed in the attempt, and drew back with a +frightful roar. A second, urged on by a furious driver, broke in +the gate, one-half fell with a crash to the ground, and the +elephant plunged in after it. Captain Paton was standing with his +back against this half, and must have been killed; but Mukun, one +of his chuprassies, seeing the gate giving way, caught him by the +arm and dragged him behind the other half. The other three +chuprassies ran off in a fright and hid themselves. Two of them +were Surubdawun Sing and Juggurnath, two brothers, who will be +mentioned elsewhere in this diary.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* See Juggurnath chuprassie in Chapter V., Vol. II.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The furious and confused mass rushed in through the half-opened +gate, and beat Captain Paton to the ground with their bludgeons, +the hilts of their swords, and the butt-ends of their muskets. +Mukun, chuprassie, his only remaining attendant, was beaten down at +the same time and severely bruised, but he soon got up, covered +with blood, made his way out through the crowd, and ran to meet the +five companies of the 35th Regiment, then not far distant, under +Colonel Monteath. As soon as he heard from Mukun the state in which +he had left his master, he sent on a party of thirty sipahees under +Captain Cowley, with orders to make all possible haste to the +rescue. They arrived in time to save his life from the fury of the +assailants, but found him insensible from his wounds.</p> +<p>In a few minutes every court-yard within the palace walls was +filled with the armed and disorderly mass. The Resident, Captain +Shakespear, and their few attendants, tried to stop them by every +impediment they could throw in their way, but in vain. The +assailants rushed past or over them, brandishing their swords and +firelocks, with loud shoutings and flaming torches, and soon filled +all the apartments of the palace, save those occupied by the ladies +and their female attendants, and the dead body of the late King. +The Resident and his Assistant, and the Meer Moonshee, were soon +separated from the new sovereign and his small party, who lay for +some time concealed in the small room in which he had been left to +repose, while they were confined to the northern verandah +overlooking the river, and the long room leading into it. The armed +and furious throng filled all the other rooms of the palace, the +court-yard, eighty yards long, leading to the baraduree (or +summer-house) and all the four great halls of that building, in one +of which the throne stood.</p> +<p>The Resident felt that he was helpless in his present position, +and unable to do anything whatever to prevent the temporary triumph +of the insurgents, and the consequent tumult, pillage, and loss of +life that must follow; and that it would be better to try any +change than to remain in that helpless state. He thought that he +might, if he could once reach the Begum, be able to persuade her of +the impossibility of her ultimately succeeding in her attempt to +keep the pretender on the throne; and if not, that it would be of +advantage to get so much nearer to the place where the British +troops most soon arrive, and be drawn up in a garden to the south +of the baraduree, and to gain time for their arrival by a personal +and open conference with the Begum, during which he thought her +followers would not be likely to proceed to violence against his +person, and those of his attendants. He therefore persuaded one of +the rebel sentries placed over him to apprize the Begum that he +wished to speak to her. She sent to him Mirza Allee, one of her +Wakeels; and with him Captain Shakespear, and the Meer Moonshee, he +forced his way through the dense crowd, and got safely into the +baraduree.</p> +<p>They found all the four halls, small apartments, and verandahs, +leading into them, filled with armed men in a state of great +excitement, and in the act of placing the pretender, Moonna Jan, on +the throne. The Begum sat in a covered palankeen at the foot of the +throne; and as the Resident entered, the band struck up "<i>God +save the King</i>," answered by a salute of blunderbusses within, +and a double royal salute from the guns in the +"<i>jullooknana</i>," or northern court-yard of the palace through +which the Begun had passed in. Other guns, which had been collected +in the confusion to salute somebody (though those who commanded and +served them knew not whom), continued the salute through the +streets without. A party of dancing-girls, belonging to the late +King, or brought up by the Begum, began to dance and sing as loud +as they could at the end of the long hall in front of the throne, +at the same time that the crowd within and without shouted their +congratulations at the top of their voices, and every man who had a +sword, spear, musket, or matchlock, flourished it in the air amidst +a thousand torches. A scene more strange and wild it would be +difficult to conceive.</p> +<p>In the midst of all this the Resident and his Assistants +remained cool under all kinds of foul abuse and threats from a +multitude so excited, that they seemed more like demons than human +beings, and resolved to force them to commit some act or make use +of some expression that might seem to justify their murder. They +fired muskets close to their ears, pointed others loaded and cocked +close to their breasts and faces, flourished swords close to their +noses, called them all kinds of opprobrious names, but all in vain. +The Resident, in the midst of all this confusion, pointed out to +the Begum the impossibility of her ultimately succeeding in her +attempt to secure the throne for the pretender, since he was acting +under the orders of his Government, who had declared the right to +be another's; and if he and all his Assistants were killed, his +Government would soon send others to carry out their orders. "I +am," she said, "in my right place, and so is the young King, my +grandson, and so are you. Why do you talk to me or to anybody else +of leaving the throne and the baraduree?" But some of her furious +followers, afraid that she might yield, seized him by his +neckcloth, dragged him towards the throne, on which the boy sat, +and commanded him to present his offerings of congratulation on the +threat of instant death. They had, they said, placed him on the +throne of his ancestors by order of the Begum, and would maintain +him there. Had he or either of his Assistants lost their temper or +presence of mind, and attempted to resent any of the affronts +offered to them, they must have been all instantly put to death, +and a general massacre of all their supposed adherents, and the +pillage of the palace and city, would have followed.</p> +<p>The Begum's Wakeel, Mirza Allee, seeing the life of the Resident +and those of his Assistants and attendants in such imminent peril, +since he so resolutely refused to give any sign whatever of +recognition to the pretender, and aware of the consequences that +would inevitably follow their murder, seized him by the arm, and in +a loud voice shouted out that it was the Begum's order that he +should conduct him out into the garden to the south. He pushed on +with him through the crowd, followed by all his small party, and +with great difficulty and danger they at last reached the garden, +where Colonel Monteath had just brought in and drawn up his five +companies in a line facing the baraduree. Finding the entrance to +the north-west occupied by the Begum's party. Colonel Monteath +marched along the street to the west of the palace, and entered the +baraduree garden by the south-west gate. As the Resident went out. +Colonel Roberts, who commanded a brigade in the Oude service, went +in, and presented to the pretender his offering of gold mohurs, and +then went off and hid himself, to wait the result of the contest. +Captain Magness drew up his men and guns on the left of Colonel +Monteath's, and was told to prepare for action. He told the +Resident that he did not feel quite sure of his men in such a +crisis, and the line of British sipahees was made to cover his +rear, to secure them. The King and minister had commanded him to +act precisely as directed by the Resident, and he himself knew this +to be his only safe course, but the hearts of his men were with +Moonna Jan and the Begum.</p> +<p>The Begum, as soon as the Resident left her, deeming all safe, +went over to the female apartments, where her adopted son, the late +king, lay dead; and after gazing for a minute upon his corpse, +returned to the foot of the throne, on which the pretender had now +been seated for more than three hours. It was manifest that nothing +but force could now remove the boy and his supporters, but the +Begum tried to gain more time in the hope of support from a popular +insurrection from without, which might take off the British troops +from the garden; and she sent evasive messages to the Resident by +her wakeels, urging him to come once more to her, since it was +impossible for her to make her way to him without danger of +collision between the troops of the two States. He refused to put +himself again in her power, and commanded her to come down with the +boy to him and surrender; and promised that if she did so, and +directed all her armed followers to quit the palace and city of +Lucknow, all that had passed should be forgiven, and the large +pension of fifteen thousand rupees a-month, promised by the late +King, secured to her for life. All was in vain, and the Begum was +gaining her object. Robberies of State property in the eastern and +more retired parts of the palace-buildings had commenced. Gold, +jewels, shawls, &c., to a large amount were being carried off. +Much of such property lay about in places not guarded by Captain +Paton in the morning, or known to the minister, or other +respectable servants of the State, all holding out temptation to +pillage. Acts of plunder and ill-treatment to unoffending and +respectable persons in the city were every moment reported, and six +or eight houses had been already pillaged, and attempts had been +made on others by small parties, who were every moment increasing +in numbers and ferocity.</p> +<p>Several parties of the King's troops had openly deserted their +posts and joined the pretender's followers in the baraduree, and +dense masses of armed men were crowding in upon the British troops, +whose officer became anxious, and urged the Resident to action, +lest they should no longer have room to use their arms. At one time +these armed crowds got within two yards of the British front; and +on Colonel Monteath's telling them to retire a few paces and leave +him a clear front, they did so in a sullen and insolent manner, and +one of them actually attempted to seize one of the sipahees by his +whiskers, and an affray was with difficulty prevented.</p> +<p>Mostufa Khan, Kundaharee, who had command of a regiment of a +thousand horse in the late King's service, was with many others +commanded by the Begum to attend the young King on the throne; and +he did so some time after Brigadier Johnstone reached the garden, +in front of the baraduree, though he knew that Nuseer-od Dowlah had +been declared the rightful heir to the throne, and was actually in +the palace. He said that "he was the servant of the throne; that +the young King was actually seated upon it, and that he would +support him there, happen what might." He presented his offerings +of gold to the young King, and was forthwith appointed to supersede +all the other wakeels in the Begum's negotiations with the +Resident. He merely repeated what the other wakeels had said, +urging the Resident to go up to the Begum, since she could not come +down to him. The Resident repeated to him what he had told the +Begum herself, and taking out his watch, told him that unless his +orders were obeyed in less than one-quarter of an hour, the guns +should open upon the throne-room; that when once they opened, +neither she nor her followers could expect favour, or even mercy; +and unless he, Mostapha Khan, separated himself from her party, he +should be hung as a traitor if taken alive.</p> +<p>Owing to the height of some houses and walls about the left part +of the position of the British troops, the guns could not be +conveniently brought to bear upon the south-western corner of the +baraduree and throne-room, and two of the guns had to be taken +round by a road one-third of a mile, to be placed in a better +position. On seeing this the crowd shouted out, "The cravens are +already running away!" and became more insolent and furious than +ever.</p> +<p>The minister and Durbar Wakeel had been swept away by the crowd, +who rushed into the palace, and separated from the Resident and his +party, and as they passed through the balcony overlooking the +river, the wakeel threw off his turban, and leaped over from a +height of about twenty feet. The ground was soft, but he sprained +both his ankles. He was taken up by some boatmen, who had put-to +near the bank, and concealed in their boat till the affair was +over. The new sovereign remained still unnoticed, and apparently +unknown, having long led a secluded life; but his son, grandsons, +and the rest of his attendants were at last discovered, very +roughly treated by the insurgents, and would, it is said, have been +put to death, had not Rajah Bukhtawur Sing and some others, who +thought it safe to be on friendly terms with the ruffians, +persuaded them that they would be useful hostages in case of a +reverse. The minister had had all his clothes, save his trousers, +torn from him, and his arms and legs pinioned preparatory to +execution, and the princes had been treated with little more +ceremony. All had given themselves up for lost.</p> +<p>The Begum remained firm to her purpose, her hopes from without +increasing with the increasing noise, tumult, and reports of +pillage in the city. The quarter of an hour had passed, and the +Resident, turning to the Brigadier, told him, that the work was now +in his hands, just an hour and twenty minutes after he had brought +his troops into the garden. The guns from the British, and Captain +Magness' parks opened at the same instant upon the throne-room and +the other halls of the baraduree with grape; and after six or seven +rounds, a party of the 35th Regiment, under Major Marshall, was +ordered to storm the halls. With muskets loaded and bayonets fixed +they rushed first through a narrow covered passage; then up a steep +flight of steps, and then into the throne-room, firing upon the +affrighted crowd as they advanced, and following them up with the +bayonet as they rushed out over the two flights of steps on the +north side, and through the courtyard which separates the baraduree +from the palace. Other parties of sipahees ascended at the same +time over ladders collected at the suggestion of Doctor Stevenson, +and placed on the southern front of the baraduree; and the halls +were soon cleared of the insurgents, who left from forty to fifty +men killed and wounded on the floors of the four halls.* In this +assault Mostufa Khan, Kundaharee, was killed. Moonna Jan was found +concealed in a small recess under the throne, and the Begum in a +small adjoining room, to which she had been carried as soon as the +guns opened. They were taken into custody, and sent to the +Residency, with Imam Buksh, a bihishtee, or water-carrier, a +notorious villain, who had been her chief instigator in all this +affair, and appointed Commander-in-Chief to the young King. Many +who had been wounded got out of the halls, and some even reached +their homes, but the killed and wounded are supposed to have +amounted altogether to about one hundred and twenty. The Begum and +the boy were accommodated in the Residency, and their +<i>Commander-in-Chief</i> was made over to the King's Courts for +trial. He is still in prison at Lucknow. No one was killed on our +side, but three or four of our sipahees were wounded in the +assault.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* As they entered the hall at the end opposite the throne, they +saw their own figures reflected in the large mirror, which stands +behind the throne; and, taking them to be their enemy preparing to +charge, they poured their first volley into the mirror, by which +many lives were saved at the expense of the glass.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Delhi princess, the chief consort of the deceased King, a +modest, beautiful, and amiable young woman, who had been forced to +join the Begum, in order to give some countenance to the daring +enterprise, was, as soon as the guns opened, carried by her two +female attendants in her litter to a small side-room, facing the +palace at the east end of the throne-room. One of these females had +her arm shattered by grape shot, but the other tied some clothes +together, and let the princess and her wounded attendant down from +a height of about twenty-four feet into a court-yard, whence they +were conveyed to her palace by some of her attendants, and all +three escaped. The sipahees occupied both of the flights of steps +in the northern face of the baraduree. She was afraid, to trust +herself to them, and saw no other way of escape than that +described.</p> +<p>It was nine o'clock before the palace could be cleared of the +insurgents; and the Resident was very anxious that the new +Sovereign should be crowned, as soon and as publicly as possible, +in order to restore tranquillity to the city, which had become +greatly disturbed from the number of loose and desperate characters +that always abound in it, and are at all times ready to make the +most of any tumult that may arise from whatever cause. The new +Sovereign had become greatly agitated and alarmed at the danger to +which he and his family had been so long exposed, and at the +fearful scene which they witnessed at the close; and the Resident +exerted himself to soothe and prepare him for the long and tedious +ceremonies of the coronation, while the killed and wounded were +being removed and the throne-room and the other halls of the +baraduree cleaned out and properly arranged and furnished. When all +was ready the Resident conducted him from the palace through the +court-yard to the baraduree, accompanied by the brigadier and all +the principal officers of the British force and the Court, seated +him on the throne, placed the crown on his head, under a royal +salute, repeated from every battery in the city, and proclaimed him +King of Oude, in presence of all the aristocracy and principal +persons of Lucknow, who had flocked to the place on hearing that +the danger had passed away.</p> +<p>From the time that the Resident discovered that the King was +dead, till the arrival of the five companies under Colonel +Monteath, the whole of the British force in this vast city, +containing a population of nearly a million persons, amounted to +only two companies and a half of sipahees under native officers. +One of the companies guarded the Resident's Treasury, one +constituted the honorary guard of the Resident, and the half +company guarded the gaol. A part of the honorary guard, with as +many sipahees as could be safely spared from the Treasury and gaol, +were taken by Captain Paton to the palace, and distributed as +already mentioned. They all stood nobly to their posts during the +long and trying scene, and no attempt was made to concentrate them +for the purpose of arresting the tumultuous advance of the Begum's +forces. Collectively they would have been too few for the purpose, +and it was deemed unsafe to remove them from their respective +charges at such a time. The Resident relied upon the minister's +repeated assurances that he had taken all necessary precautions to +prevent her approach; upon the two companies, called the Khas +companies, under the command of Mujd-od Dowlah; and the squadron of +one hundred and fifty horse, under Rajah Bukhtawur Sing, whom he +had himself ordered to guard the passage by which they entered. Of +all these men not one was employed for the purpose. They and their +Commanders all stood aloof, and left the British soldiers to their +fate.</p> +<p>The minister was a fool, under the tutelage of his deputy, +Sobhan Allee Khan, a great knave, who disappeared as soon as he +heard that the Begum was approaching with his son-in-law, Khadim +Hoseyn. Mozuffer Allee Khan, a person in high office and confidence +under the late King, did the same. The minister and the Durbar +Wakeel were the only officers of the State of Oude who stood by the +new King and the British Resident. The minister afterwards declared +that a strong detachment of troops had been placed outside the gate +through which the Begum ultimately forced her way, as well as at +the other passages leading to the palace and baraduree; and Captain +Shakespear, on his way to the new Sovereign, ascertained that +guards had actually been posted outside all the other gates leading +to the palace and baraduree. From this, the supineness and seeming +apathy of many of the palace guards and servants, and the +perversion of the orders sent by him before and during the tumult, +the minister concluded that there must have been many about him +interested in promoting the enterprise of the Begum; and that the +approach to the gate through which she forced her way must have +been purposely left unguarded. There is now little doubt, that from +the time that it became known, that the contest was between Moonna +Jan and Nuseer-od Dowlah, a person but little known except as a +prudent and parsimonious old man, a large portion not only of the +civil and military establishments, but of the population of the +city, felt anxious for the success of the Begum's enterprise; for +both had, under the harsh treatment of the last two sovereigns, +become objects of sympathy.</p> +<p>A good many of the members of the royal family, who were brought +up from childhood with the deceased King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, and +near his person to the last, declare that Moonna Jan was his son; +but that the King was ashamed and afraid to acknowledge him after +he had so frequently and so formally declared to the British +Government that he was not his son, and that he had ceased to +cohabit with the boy's mother for two years before his birth. But +all such persons admit that Moonna Jan was a boy of ungovernable +temper, and the worst possible dispositions; and that he must soon +have forfeited the crown by his cruelty, bigotry, and injustice, +had he been placed upon it by the British Government. I saw him in +January 1838, at Chunar, and a more unpromising boy I have rarely +seen.</p> +<p>The ministry dreaded being called to account for their +malversations as much from the Begum, on account of their +successful efforts to keep the King alienated from her and his son, +as from Nuseer-od Dowlah, on account of his parsimony, prudence, +and great experience in business during the reign of his able +father, Saadut Allee Khan. But they would have a better chance of +escape from the Begum and the boy than from the vigilant old man, +who afterwards made them all disgorge their ill-gotten wealth; and, +in consequence, they made no effort to obstruct her enterprise. The +military and civil establishments were all in favour of the boy, +who would probably be as regardless of their number and discipline +as his father had been, while the old man would assuredly reduce +the one, and endeavour, by rigorous measures, to improve the other. +Hardly any one at Lucknow at present doubts that the minister and +his associates caused the King to be poisoned, and employed Duljeet +and the two sisters; Dhunneea and Dulwee, for the purpose, in +expectation that the British Government would take upon itself the +Oude administration, as the only possible means of improving +it.</p> +<p>The respectable and peaceable portion of the city, though their +sympathies were with the boy, had too much in property, and the +honour of their families, at stake to aid in any movement in his +favour, since it would involve a tumult, and for a time, at least, +insure the supremacy of the mob. Their security and that of their +families depended upon the success of the British troops; and they +were all prepared to acquiesce in any cause which the British +Government might adopt for the sake of order. They would rather +that it should adopt that of the Begum and the boy than that of +Nuseer-od Dowlah; but in either case were resolved to remain +neuter, and let the representative of the British Government take +his own course.</p> +<p>It is a fact not unworthy of remark, that more than three +millions sterling, or three crores of rupees, in our Government +securities, are held by persons who reside and spend the interest +arising from them in the city of Lucknow; and that the fall in +their value in exchange during the times that we have been engaged +in our most serious wars has been less in Lucknow than in Calcutta, +the capital of British India; so much greater assurance do the +people feel of our resources being always equal to our exigencies. +At such times the merchants of Lucknow commission their agents in +Calcutta to purchase up Government securities at the rate to which +they fall in Calcutta, for sale at Lucknow, where they seldom fall +at all. About three crores and half of rupees, or three millions +and half sterling, have been at different times contributed to our +loans by the sovereigns of Oude as a provision for the different +members of their respective families and dependents; and the +interest is now paid to them and their descendants, at the rates +which prevailed at the time of the several loans (four, five, and +six per cent.) to the amount of fourteen lacs thirty-five thousand +and four hundred and ten rupees a-year.</p> +<p>The Begum's haughty and violent temper, and inveterate +disposition to meddle in public affairs, were the real cause of her +continual disquietude and ultimate disgrace and ruin. The minister +of the day dreaded the ascendancy of so imperious and furious a +character, should she ever become reconciled to the King. During +the whole reign of Ghazee-od Deen, her husband, from the 12th of +July 1814, to the 20th of October 1827, her own frequent +ebullitions, which often disfigured the King's robes and vests, and +left even the hair on his head and chin unsafe, and Aga Meer's +sagacious suggestions, satisfied him that his own personal safety +and peace of mind, and the welfare of the State, depended upon his +keeping as much as possible aloof from her. He was fond of his son, +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, but during his minority he always took the +part of his adoptive mother, the Padshah Begum; and, in +consequence, remained almost as much as she was alienated from the +King, his father. His natural mother died soon after his birth; and +people suspected that the Padshah Begum had her put to death that +she might have no rival in his affections; and she had an entire +ascendancy over him, acquired by every species of enervating +indulgences; and he remained all his life utterly without +character, ignorant of the rudiments of public affairs, and +altogether incapable of taking any useful part in them.</p> +<p>She retained this ascendancy over him for some time after he +became King, first from habit and affection, and latterly from the +fears with which she continued to inspire him, that she could, by +her disclosures, whenever she pleased, prevail upon the British +Government to set him aside in favour of some other member of the +royal family, as the Buhoo Begum of Fyzabad had set aside Wuzeer +Allee. She made him dismiss his father's minister, Aga Meer, with +disgrace, and confer the seals on Fuzl Allee, the nephew of her +favourite waiting-woman, Fyzon Nissa; but when the shrewd and +sagacious Hakeem Mehndee became minister three years after, he soon +persuaded the young King, that all fears of his adoptive mother's +disclosures or wishes were idle, and that nothing which she could +do or say would induce the British Government to disturb his +possession of the sovereignty of Oude. He is said to have been the +first person who ventured to hint to him the murder of his natural +mother by the Padshah Begum; and he was, or pretended to be, +violently shocked and grieved. He then built a splendid tomb or +cenotaph for her; and endowed it with the means for maintaining +pious men to read the Koran in it, and attendants of all kinds to +keep it in a condition suitable for the mother of a King. He +shuddered, or pretended to shudder, at the mention of the name of +the Padshah Begum, as the most atrocious of murderesses. The +minister of the day always made it a point to bring the reigning +favourite of the seraglio over to his views, by giving her a due +share of the profits and patronage of his office; and it was for +this reason, that the high-born chief consort, whose influence over +the King could not be so purchased, was soon made to retire from +the palace, and, ever after, to live separated from her +husband.</p> +<p>The Padshah Begum had only one child, a daughter, who was united +in marriage to Mehndee Allee Khan, by whom she had three children, +Mohsen-od Dowlah, who was married to the daughter of Nuseer-od +Dowlah, the new King; and two daughters who were married to Mirza +Abool Kasim, and Mirza Aboo Torab. They lost their mother while yet +children, and the Padshah Begum brought them up and became much +attached to them. They had all from childhood been brought up with +Nuseer-od Deen, and were all much attached to him and to each +other. The ministers, fearing that this attachment might possibly +lead to a reconciliation between the King and his adoptive mother, +and to their ruin, left him and her no peace till, to save them, +she forbade them her house, and sent the girls to their husbands, +and the boy to his father-in-law, Nuseer-od Dowlah, whose +succession to the throne of Oude has been here described. All +objects of mutual interest and affection were in this manner +carefully excluded from attendance on either, till they showed +themselves to be entirely subservient to the minister of the +day.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The mother always declared, and her two daughters and son all +declare, Moonna Jan to have been the son of Nuseer-od Deen, and +exactly like him in person, voice, and temper. But he was indulged +by the Padshah Begum in each habits of atrocious cruelties to other +children, that he soon became detested by all around him but +herself and the boy's natural mother, Afzul-mahal.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Thus alienated from her son, all her affections were transferred +to her grandson, Moonna Jan, and there is too much reason to +believe, that in both cases she purposely did her best to prevent +their ever becoming men of business, in order that she might have +the guidance of public affairs in her own hands when they should be +called to the throne.</p> +<p>The Resident accommodated the Begum, the boy, and her two female +attendants in apartments at the Residency, and had a guard placed +over them. The new King told him, "that the Begum was the most +wicked and unscrupulous woman he had ever known, and that he could +expect no peace at Lucknow while she remained." He promised to +consult his Government as to her disposal, and on returning to the +Residency he increased that guard to two companies of Native +Infantry, and all remained quiet when he made his report to +Government on the 9th. But towards the close of that day, the city +became again agitated. Reports prevailed, that Government was to be +consulted as to whether they preferred the rights of Moonna Jan to +the throne or those of Nuseer-od Dowlah; that the Begum's adherents +were ready at her call to fall upon the Resident and his party, and +put them all to death, or to attack the apartments in which she was +confined, rescue her and the boy from prison, and place him again +on the throne. The Court favourites of the late King, and all the +public military and civil establishments in the city, dreaded the +rigid economy and strict supervision of the new King, who had +conducted the duties of the ministry for some time, under his able +and vigilant father, Saadut Allee Khan; and all that numerous class +who benefit by the lavish expenditure of a thoughtless and +profligate Court were equally anxious to have the Government in the +hands of an extravagant woman and thoughtless boy, and ready to +join and incur some risk in supporting their cause.</p> +<p>Under all these circumstances the Resident determined to send +the Begum and her boy out of Oude as soon as possible. At midnight +on the 11th, a detachment of three companies of Infantry, under +Major Lane of the 2nd Regiment, marched from Cawnpore and arrived +at Newulgunge, midway to Lucknow, a distance of twenty-two miles, +in the morning of the 12th, with one troop of cavalry. Another +troop proceeded to Onow, the first stage from Cawnpore, and a third +to Rahmutgunge, the second stage, to relieve the first on their +return. At each of these stages, relays of sixty palankeen-bearers +and six torch-bearers were placed by the Post-Master at Cawnpore. +As the bridge over the Ganges at Cawnpore had been washed away by +the flood, a company of Native Infantry was placed on the Oude side +of that river, to hold boats in readiness, and assist in escorting +over the party when they came. About the same time, at midnight, +the Begum, her boy, and two of her female attendants were placed in +palankeens and sent off from the Residency under the escort of a +regiment of Infantry, and a detail of artillery, attended by the +Second Assistant, Captain Shakespear.</p> +<p>They marched without resting through one of the hottest days of +the year, and the party reached Cawnpore in safety about half-past +nine o'clock in the evening of the 12th, and were securely lodged +in apartments prepared for them at the custom-house. So well had +things been arranged between the Resident and Brigadier commanding +the troops in Oude, and the Major-General commanding the Division +at Cawnpore, that very few persons at Lucknow knew that the Begum +and her party had left the Residency when she passed the Ganges at +Cawnpore. The three companies under Major Lane, who had marched +twenty-two miles in the morning, kept pace with the palankeens all +the way back, making a march of forty-four miles, between midnight +of the 11th, and half-past nine in the evening of the 12th, in so +hot a day.</p> +<p>The Begum and Moonna Jan were sent off with their attendants to +the fort of Chunar, where they were lodged as state prisoners. As +it became safe, the restrictions to which they were at first +subjected became by degrees relaxed, and they were permitted to +enjoy all the freedom and comforts compatible with their safe +keeping. Both died at Chunar, Moonna Jan some time before the +Begum. He left three sons by two slave-girls at Chunar, and they +still reside there, supported by a small stipend of three hundred +rupees a-month from the Oude Government, under the protection of +the commandant of the garrison, and the guardianship of Afzul +mahal, the mother of the late Moonna Jan.</p> +<p>All these circumstances, as they occurred, were reported by the +Resident to the Government of India, who took time to deliberate, +and did not reply till the 19th of July 1837, when they signified +their approval of all that the Resident had done, with the +exception of the written declaration to which he had obtained the +consent and signature of the new King. They did not think that it +would be considered dignified or becoming the paramount power, to +exact such a declaration, binding himself to absolute submission, +from the sovereign of a country so much under their control, on +ascending a throne to which he was called as of right; and were of +opinion that his character as a prudent man of business, well +trained to public affairs, during the time he acted as minister +under his father, rendered such a declaration unnecessary. It was +therefore annulled; and the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, +addressed a letter to his Majesty expressing, in kind terms, his +congratulations on his accession to the throne, and his hopes of a +better administration of the Government of Oude under his +auspicious guidance. This letter, despatched by express, the +Resident received on the 25th of July.</p> +<p>The Resident concluded, on good grounds, that the Government +deemed a new and more stringent treaty indispensable for the better +government of the country, and that advantage should be taken of +the occasion to prepare the new King for it. Government desired, +that the negotiations for a new treaty should be based "upon reason +and right, and not upon demand and submission." Had the declaration +been allowed to stand good, there would have been <i>right</i> as +well as <i>reason</i> in the treaty of 1837, which was soon after +concluded.</p> +<p>The Resident intimated the receipt of these letters to the King, +and on the 28th, he waited on his Majesty, to present the +Governor-General's letter. He found him sitting up in his bed in a +small apartment in the baraduree, in his dishabille, having spent a +restless night from rheumatic pains; but he was cheerful and in +good spirits, and requested the Resident to present his respectful +compliments to the Governor-General, and grateful thanks for his +consideration and congratulations. All his relations, the chief +officers of the Government, and other persons of distinction about +the Court, were assembled to hear the letters read, and make their +offerings on this recognition of his authority by the paramount +power. "The King assured the Resident, that the arrival of this +recognition, and its public announcement, would greatly strengthen +his hands in the exercise of public duties, for during the last few +days bad reports had been industriously circulated by evil-disposed +persons to the effect, that the delay in the recognition of his +succession to the throne by the paramount power in India, had +arisen from discussions between the members of the Government in +Calcutta, as to the amount of money to be taken on the occasion +from the new King, as the price of his sudden elevation; and that +no letter was to be presented by the Resident until the money was +paid, or security given for its punctual payment; that the +Governor-General himself wanted <i>two crores</i> of rupees, but +some members of the Government would be satisfied with <i>a crore +and half</i> each, and others even with <i>one crore</i> each, +provided that these sums were paid forthwith." In relating this +story, which the Resident had heard from many others within the +last few days, the King observed, "that he was too well acquainted +with the character for honour and justice of the Honourable +Company's Government, to give the slightest credit to such scandal, +the more especially since no demand of the kind had been made on +the accession of either of the last two Kings, who were known to be +rich, while he was equally well known to be poor; but that nothing +but the arrival of this despatch confirming him on the throne, +could convince many, even well-disposed persons, of the utter +groundlessness of such wicked rumours; that many poor but +respectable persons, who had been weak enough to believe such +rumours, would feel much relieved when they heard the salutes which +were now being fired, for they had apprehended, that they might be +severe sufferers by being compelled to contribute their own +property, in order to enable him to make up the <i>peshkush</i>, or +tribute, required by the British Government, since the late King +had squandered the ten crores, which he found in the treasury on +the death of his father."</p> +<p>It is certain, that a great portion of the population of Lucknow +expected that some such demand would be made by the British +Government from the new sovereign, since his right to the throne +could be disputed, not only by Moonna Jan, the supposed son of the +late King, but by the undoubted sons of Shums-od Dowlah, the elder +brother of the present King, whose rights were barred only by that +peculiar feature of the Mahommedan law elsewhere adverted to in +this Diary. Every day of delay, in promulgating the final orders of +the Supreme Government, tended to add to this number; and by the +time that these final orders came, by far the greater portion of +the city were of the same opinion. The fears of the people tended +to add to their numbers, and give strength to the opinion, for all +knew, that there was but little left in the reserved treasury, that +the expenses greatly exceeded the annual revenue, and that the +troops and establishments were all greatly in arrear; and all +believed that a general contribution would have to be levied to +meet the demand when it came.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Nuseer-od Dowlah reigned under the title of Mahommed Allee +Shah, from the 8th of July, 1837, to the 16th of May, 1842. +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, his predecessor, had reigned from the 20th of +October, 1827, to the 7th of July, 1837. He, Nuseer-od Deen, found +in the treasury, when he ascended the throne, ten crores of rupees, +or ten millions sterling. He left in the treasury, when he died, +only seventy lacs of rupees, including the fifty-three lacs left by +the Koduseea Begum. Mahommed Allee Shah left in the treasury +thirty-five lacs of rupees, one hundred and twenty-four thousand +gold mohurs, and twenty-four lacs in our Government securities. +Amjud Allee Shah reigned from the 16th of May, 1842, to the 13th of +February, 1847; and left in the treasury ninety-two lacs of rupees, +one hundred and twenty-four thousand gold mohurs, and the +twenty-four lacs in our Government securities. His son, Wajid Allee +Shah, has reigned from the 13th of February, 1847.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The assertion, on the part of the late King, that he had ceased +to cohabit with Afzul mahal, the mother of Moonna Jan, for two +years, or even for six months before his birth, is now known to +have been utterly false, and known at the time to be so by his +mother, the Padshah Begum; with whom they both lived. Afzul-mahal, +though of humble birth and pretensions, maintained a fair +reputation among those who knew her best in a profligate palace, +and has continued to maintain the same up to the present day in +adversity. In prison and up to the hour of her death, which took +place some time after that of Moonna Jan himself, the old Begum +declared that she had seen the boy born, and had never lost sight +of him; and that the story of his not being the son of Nuseer-od +Deen, was got up to prevent her ever becoming reconciled to the +King through the means of his son; and her extraordinary affection +for him never diminished while he lived. When she retired from the +palace of Nuseer-od Deen to her new residence of Almas Bagh, she +kept fast hold of the boy, and would never let him out of her sight +till they entered the prison at Chunar, when they were obliged to +occupy separate apartments. Up to his death she watched over him +with the tenderest care; and always declared to the European +officers placed over her, that the boy's father and mother always +resided with her up to the time of his birth. The boy was +remarkably like Nuseer-od Deen in form and features, as well as in +temper and disposition.</p> +<p>Afzul-mahal was a person of great good sense and prudence, and +in all things trusted by the old Begum, who before her death +executed a formal will, leaving to her the charge of Moonna Jan's +three children, and all the establishments; and since the death of +the old lady she has executed the trust conscientiously, and with +great economy; and with much difficulty managed to maintain all in +respectability upon the small stipend of three hundred rupees +a-month, allowed for their support by the King of Oude. In this, +she has been very much impeded and annoyed by the two slave-girls, +the mothers of Moonna Jan's children, who have been always striving +to get this stipend into their own hands, that they may share it +with their paramours. At the death of the old lady most of her +female companions and attendants refused to return to Lucknow, and +remained at Chunar with Afzul-mahal and the children; and all have +to be subsisted out of this small stipend. The slave-girls urge, +that they might have had separate pensions, had they obeyed the +orders to return to Lucknow on the death of the Begum, and that +they ought not now to share in the stipend of the children. Five or +six of the females were ladies of rank, and one of them, who died +lately, was a widow of Saadut Allee Khan.</p> +<p>This pension may be discontinued when the boys become of age, or +appropriated by them and their mothers for their own exclusive use, +and the Government of Oude should be required to assign pensions +for life to Afzul mahal, and the other females who are now +supported from it.</p> +<p>The salary of the prime minister, during the five years that +Roshun-od Dowlah held the office, was twenty-five thousand rupees +a-month, or three lacs a-year, and over and above this, he had five +per cent. upon the actual revenue, which made above six lacs +a-year. His son, as Commander-in-Chief, drew five thousand rupees +a-month, though he did no duty—his first wife drew five +thousand rupees a-month, and his second wife drew three thousand +rupees a-month, total eighty-eight thousand rupees a-month, or ten +lacs and fifty-six thousand rupees a-year. These were the avowed +allowances which the family received from the public treasury. The +perquisites of office gave them some five lacs of rupees a-year +more, making full fifteen lacs a-year.</p> +<p>Roshun-od Dowlah held office for only three months, under the +new sovereign, Mahommed Allee Shah. He was then superseded by +Hakeem Mahndee, thrown into prison, and made to pay twenty lacs to +the treasury, and two lacs in gratuities to Court favourites. After +paying these sums, he was permitted to go and reside at Cawnpore; +but his houses in the city, valued at three lacs, were afterwards +confiscated by the present King, on the ground of unpaid balances. +He took into keeping Dulwee, the younger of the two sisters; but +she was afterwards seduced away from him by one of his creatures, a +consummate knave, Wasee Allee, whose wife she now is. Dhunneea, the +eldest sister, is still residing at Lucknow. Roshun-od Dowlah's +first wife took off with her more than three lacs of rupees in our +Government securities, and his son, the Commander-in-Chief, took +off eight lacs of rupees in the same securities. Roshun-od Dowlah +carried off a large sum himself. She and his son afterwards left +him, and now reside in comfort upon the interest of these +securities at Futtehgur, while he lives at Cawnpore in poor +circumstances.</p> +<p>Sobhan Allee, his deputy, was made to pay to the treasury seven +lacs of rupees, and in gratuities to court favourites five lacs +more. Roshun-od Dowlah was one of the principal members of the old +aristocracy of Lucknow, and connected remotely with the royal +family; and he got off more easily in consequence, compared with +his means, than his deputy, who had no such advantages, and was +known to have been the minister's guide in all things, though he +would never consent to hold any ostensible and responsible +office.</p> +<p>Duljeet, a creature of Roshun-od Dowlah's, and prime favourite +of the late King, carried off, while the King lay dead, money and +jewels to the value of one lac of rupees, and concealed them in a +vault at Constantia. His associates, not satisfied with what he +gave them, betrayed him. The money and jewels were discovered and +brought back, and he was made to pay another lac of rupees to the +treasury as a fine. Dhunneea, the eldest of the two sisters, was +made to disgorge two lacs of rupees. Many other favourites of the +late King were fined in the same way.</p> +<p>The King had, in the case of Ghalib Jung, already described in +this Diary, declared his resolution of looking more closely into +his accounts in future, and punishing all transgressors in the same +way; and Roshun-od Dowlah often expressed to the Resident his +apprehensions that his turn to suffer must soon come. Sobhan Allee +Khan had much stronger grounds to fear, since he had made himself +utterly detested by the people generally, and had neither friends +nor connexions in the royal family or aristocracy of Lucknow. Under +the strong and general impression that the British Government was +determined to interpose, and take upon itself the administration of +the country, and that the King himself wished the independent +sovereignty of Oude to terminate with his reign, they most +earnestly desired his early death as their only chance of escape. +The British Government would not, they knew, make them refund any +of their ill-gotten wealth without full judicial proof of their +peculations, and this proof they knew could never be obtained. +Indeed they were satisfied that our Government, aware of the +difficulty of finding such proof, and occupied in forming and +working a new system, would not trouble themselves to seek for it; +and that they should all be left to reside where they chose, and +enjoy freely the fruits of their malversation.</p> +<p>The Resident had kept the instructions of the 15th of December, +1832, from the supreme Government, a profound secret, lest they +might lead to intrigue and disturbance, and, above all, to the +poisoning of many innocent persons who might be considered to have +a claim of right to the throne; and all were surprised and +confounded when it was announced that the paramount power had +already decided in favour of Nuseer-od Dowlah, whose claims had +never been thought of by the people, or apprehended by the +ministers. The instant they heard this decision, they dreaded the +scrutiny of the sagacious and parsimonious old man, and the enmity +of the favourites by whom he had been surrounded in private life. +These men, whom they had, in their pride and power, despised and +insulted, would now have their revenge; and they wished for the +success of the old woman and the boy, from whom they might have a +better chance of escape, till they could get their wealth and their +families out of the country.</p> +<p>I may here mention a similar repudiation of a supposed eldest +son by the late King. Mostafa Allee was brought up in the palace as +his eldest son, and on all occasions treated as such. Mahommed +Allee Shah, the late King's father, was always very fond of him, +but shortly before his death he became angry with him for some +outrages committed in the palace, and put him under restraint. The +young man requested the late King, his supposed father, to mediate +with his grandfather for his release. He refused to do so, and the +young man drew his sword, and threatened to kill him. He was kept +under more strict restraint till the grandfather died, and his +father ascended the throne, on the 16th of May, 1842. The King then +requested the Resident to assure the Governor-General that Mostafa +Allee was not his son—that he was a year and a-half old when his +mother entered the palace. The Resident reported accordingly on the +26th of that month. The Governor-General required the statement to +be made under the King's own sign and seal, and it was transmitted +on the 6th of June, 1842. The present King was then declared +heir-apparent to the throne, and Mostafa Allee has ever since been +in strict confinement under him. The general impression, however, +is that he was the eldest son of the late King, and repudiated +solely on account of his violent temper and turbulent conduct. That +he was treated as such during the life of Mahommed Allee Shah, and +that the late King dared not repudiate him while his father lived, +is certain.</p> +<p>By the treaty of 1801 we bound ourselves to defend the +territories of the sovereign of Oude from all foreign and domestic +enemies; and to defray the cost of maintaining the troops required +for this purpose, and paying some pensions at Furruckabad and +Benares, the sovereign of Oude ceded to our Government the +under-mentioned districts, then yielding the revenues specified +opposite their respective names.*</p> +<blockquote> +<pre> +* Districts ceded by Oude to the British Government + by the treaty of 1801. +Etawa, Korah, Kurra - - - - - 55,48,577 11 9 +Rehur and others - - - - - 5,33,374 0 6 +Furruckabad - - - - - - 4,50,001 0 6 +Khyreegurh, and Kunchunpore - - - 2,10,001 0 0 +Azimgurh, Mounal, and Benjun - - - 6,95,624 7 6 +Goruckpore - - - 5,09,853 8 0 +Botwul - - - - 40,001 0 0 5,49,854 8 0 +Allahabad and others- - - - - 9,34,963 1 3 +Bareilly, Moradabad, Bijnore, Budown, + Pilibheet, and Shahjehanpore - - 43,13,457 11 3 +Nawabgunge, Rehlee, &c. - - - - 1,19,242 12 0 +Mohowl and others, with exception of + Jaulluk Arwu - - - - - 1,68,378 4 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,35,23,474 8 3 + Deduct +Nawabgunge - - - 1,19,242 12 0 +Khyreegurh - - - 2,10,001 0 0 3,29,243 12 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,31,94,230 12 3 + Add +Handeea or Kewae - - - - - 1,52,905 0 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,33,47,135 12 3 + +Present Revenues of the Territories we hold from Oude under the +treaty of 1801, according to the Revised Statistical Return of the +Districts of the North-West Provinces for 1846-47, prepared in +1848, A.D. +_____________________________________________________________________ + |Land Revenue | Abkaree |Stamp for | Total for + ______ | 1846-47. | for | 1846-47. | 1846-47. + | | 1846-47. | | +__________________ _|_____________|__________|__________|____________ +Rohilcund .. .. .. | 64,44,341 | 2,47,854 | 2,04,576 | 68,96,771 +Allahabad, including| | | | + Handeea alias Kewae| 21,29,551 | 1,41,409 | 61,802 | 23,32,762 + | | | | +Furruckabad .. .. | 13,57,544 | 88,061 | 49,698 | 14,95,303 +Mynpooree .. .. .. | 12,33,901 | 24,822 | 20,484 | 12,79,207 +Etawa .. .. .. .. | 12,80,596 | 19,647 | 10,355 | 13,10,598 +Goruckpore.. .. .. | 20,80,296 | 2,10,045 | 96,549 | 23,86,890 +Azimgurh, including | | | | + Mahoul .. .. .. | 14,89,887 | 81,257 | 53,925 | 16,25,069 +Cawnpore .. .. .. | 21,51,155 | 1,26,155 | 57,406 | 23,34,700 +Futtehpore.. .. .. | 14,25,431 | 60,370 | 21,063 | 15,06,864 + |_____________|__________|__________|____________ + Total .. .. |1,95,92,686 | 9,99,620 | 5,75,858 | 2,11,68,164 +____________________|_____________|__________|__________|____________ +</pre> +<p>** The lands are the same with the exception of Khyreegurh, +Nawabgunge ceded since, and Handeea received; but the names are +altered.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Khyreegurh and Kunchunpore were re-ceded to the Oude sovereign +in the treaty of the 11th of May, 1816, with the Turae lands, taken +from Nepaul, between Khyreegurh and Goruckpore, in liquidation of +the loan of one crore of rupees. In the same treaty, Handeea +(<i>alias</i> Kewae) was ceded by Oude to the British Government, +in lieu of Nawabgunge, which was made over to the Oude sovereign by +the British Government. Handeea, or Kewae, now in the Allahabad +district, yielded land revenue, for 1846-47, rupees one lac, +fifty-two thousand, and nine hundred and five.</p> +<p>The British Government retained the power to station the British +troops in such parts of the Oude territories as might appear to it +most expedient; and the Oude sovereign bound himself to dismiss all +his troops, save four battalions of infantry, one battalion of +Nujeebs and Mewaties, two thousand horsemen, and three hundred +golundages, or artillerymen, with such numbers of armed peons as +might be deemed necessary for the purpose of collecting the +revenue, and a few horsemen and nujeebs to attend the persons of +the amils. It is declared that the territories ceded, being in lieu +of all former subsidies and of all expenses on account of the +Honourable Company's defensive establishments with his Excellency +the sovereign of Oude, no demand whatever shall be made upon his +territory on account of expenses which the Honourable Company may +incur by assembling forces to repel the attack, or menaced attack, +of a foreign enemy; on account of the detachment attached to his +person; on account of troops which may be occasionally furnished +for suppressing rebellions or disorders in his territories; on +account of any future charge of military stations; or on account of +failures in the resources of the ceded districts, arising from +unfavourable seasons, the calamities of war, or any other cause +whatever.</p> +<p>The Honourable Company guarantees to him and to his heirs and +successors, the possession of the territories which remain to him +after the above cessions, together with the exercise of his and +their authority within the said dominions; and the sovereign of +Oude engages to establish, in his reserved dominions, such a system +of administration, to be carried into effect by his own officers, +as shall be conducive to the prosperity of his subjects, and +calculated to secure the lives and property of the inhabitants; and +to advise with, and act in conformity to the counsel of, the +officers of the British Government.</p> +<p>In the time of Asuf-od Dowlah, who died on the 21st September, +1797, the military force of Oude amounted to eighty thousand men of +all arms, and in the direct pay of Government. Saadut Allee Khan, +his brother and successor, on the conclusion of the above treaty, +and the transfer of half his territory, reduced the number to +thirty thousand.</p> +<p>Relying entirely upon the efficiency of British troops to defend +him against external and internal enemies, and to suppress +rebellion and disorder, he laboured assiduously to reduce his +expenditure within the income arising from the reserved half of his +dominions. He resumed almost all the rent-free lands which had been +granted with a lavish hand by his predecessor, and paid off and +discharged all superfluous civil and military establishments, and, +by his prudence and economy, he so reduced his expenditure within +the income, that on his death on the 12th of July, 1814, he left +fourteen millions sterling, or fourteen crores of rupees, in a +treasury which he found empty when he entered upon the government +in 1797. In this sum were included the confiscations of the estates +of some favourites of his predecessors, Asuf-od Dowlah and Wuzeer +Allee, who had grown rich upon bribery and frauds of all kinds. He +never confiscated the estates of any good and faithful servants, +who left lawful heirs to their property.</p> +<p>He had been freely aided by British troops, according to the +stipulations of the treaty of 1801; but the British Government had +been made sensible, on several occasions, of the difficulty of +fulfilling its engagements with the sovereign with a due regard to +the rights and interests of his subjects. Saadnt Allee Khan was a +man of great general ability, had mixed much in the society of +British officers in different parts of India, had been well trained +to habits of business, understood thoroughly the character, +institutions, and requirements of his people, and, above all, was a +sound judge of the relative merits and capacities of the men from +whom he had to select his officers, and a vigilant supervisor of +their actions. This discernment and discrimination of character, +and vigilant supervision, served him through life; and the men who +served him ably and honestly always felt confident in his +protection and support. He had a thorough knowledge of the rights +and duties of his officers and subjects, and a strong will to +secure the one and enforce the other. To do so he knew that he +must, with a strong hand, keep down the large landed aristocracy, +who were then, as they are now, very prone to grasp at the +possessions of their weaker neighbours, either by force or in +collusion with local authorities. In attempting this with the aid +of British troops, some acts of oppression were, no doubt, +committed; and, as the sympathies of British officers were more +with the landed aristocracy, while his were more with the humbler +classes of landholders and cultivators who required to be protected +from them, frequent misunderstandings arose, acts of just severity +were made to appear to be acts of wanton oppression, and such as +were really oppressive were exaggerated into unheard-of +atrocities.</p> +<p>Our relations with the state of Oude, from the treaty of 1801 to +the death of Saadut Allee, were conducted by able men; but they had +a very difficult task to perform in conducting them to the +satisfaction of both parties to that treaty; and when the +Government devolved upon less able and well-disposed sovereigns, +ministers, and public officers, our Government and its +representative became less and less willing to comply with their +requisitions for the aid of British troops in the collection of the +revenue, and the suppression of rebellion and disorder. Our +Government demanded, that the British Resident should be fully +informed of the cause which led to the resistance complained of to +legitimate authority; and be fully satisfied of the justice and +necessity of such aid before he afforded it; and the sovereigns of +Oude admitted the justice of this demand on the part of the +paramount power. But the Resident could never hear fully and fairly +both sides of the question, and the officers commanding the troops +were seldom disposed to do so; and neither was competent to pass a +sound judgment upon the justice and necessity of complying with the +requisitions made for the aid of the British troops.</p> +<p>But when, under an imbecile and debauched sovereign, like +Ghazee-od Deen, and an unscrupulous minister, creatures and +favourites began to share so largely in the revenues of the +country, this sort of scrutiny on the part of the Resident and +officers commanding troops, employed in aid of the King's officers, +became exceedingly distasteful; and the minister gradually +increased the military force of Oude at his disposal, that he might +do without it. During the last few years of Ghazee-od Deen's reign, +the Oude forces of all arms amounted to about sixty thousand men. +During the first few years of his successor's, Nuseer-od Deen's, +reign, these forces were augmented by the ministers for the sake of +the profit and patronage they gave them; and in the year 1837, the +forces of all arms, paid from the treasury, amounted to more than +sixty thousand men. A memorandum given to the British Resident by +the minister on the 8th of April 1837, showed the men of all +descriptions, belonging to the Oude army, to amount to sixty-seven +thousand nine hundred and fifty-six. The artillery, cavalry, and +infantry, composing what they call the regular army, amounted to +twenty thousand, all badly paid, clothed, armed, accoutred, and +disciplined; and for the most part placed under idle, incompetent, +and corrupt commanders. The rest were nujeebs employed in the +provinces under local officers of the revenue and police, and +obliged to provide their own clothes, arms, accoutrements, and +ammunition. They were altogether without discipline.</p> +<p>Government, on the 26th November, 1824, informs the Resident, +"that our troops are to be actively and energetically employed in +the Oude territory in cases of real internal commotion and +disorder." And again on the 22nd of July, 1825; Government condemns +the Resident for his disregard of the orders of the 26th of +November, 1824, regarding the employment of British troops in Oude, +and states, "that it is sincerely disposed to maintain the rights +of the King of Oude to the fullest extent, as guaranteed to him by +the treaty with his father, on the 20th of November, 1801; but +observes, that upon the maturest consideration of articles 3rd, +5th, and 6th of that treaty, and of Lord Wellesley's memorandum in +1802, of the final results of discussions between him and Saadut +Allee, whilst Government admits that, according to article the 3rd +of the treaty, we were bound to defend his Majesty's present +territories 'against all foreign and domestic enemies,' and that, +in pursuance of the 4th article, the Company's troops are to be +employed, without expense to his Majesty, not only 'to repel the +attack, or menaced attack, of a foreign enemy,' but also for +suppressing rebellion and disorder in his Majesty's territories; +and that, in a strict adherence to the 6th article, the King of +Oude is entitled to exercise complete sovereign authority within +his own dominions, by a system of administration conducive to the +prosperity of his subjects, to be carried into effect by his own +officers, with the advice and counsel of the officers of the +British Government (in conformity to which his Majesty is expressly +engaged to act); yet the Governor-General in council considered it +to be indispensable and inherent in the nature of our obligations, +under the treaty referred to, that whenever the King of Oude +requires the aid of British troops, to quell any disturbance, or to +enforce any demand for revenue or otherwise, the British Government +is clearly entitled, as well as morally obliged, to satisfy itself +by whatever means it may deem necessary, that the aid of its troops +is required in support of right and justice, and not to effectuate +injustice and extortion.</p> +<p>"This principle, which has often been declared and acted upon +daring successive Governments, must still be firmly asserted, and +resolutely adhered to; and the Resident must consider it to be a +positive and indispensable obligation of his public duty, to refuse +the aid of British troops until he shall have satisfied himself, on +good and sufficient grounds (to be reported in each case as soon as +practicable, and when the exigency of the case may admit of it, +before the troops are actually employed), that they are not to be +employed but in support of just and legitimate demands."</p> +<p>On the 13th of July, 1827, Government, in reply to the +Resident's letter of the 30th May idem, expresses "its surprise +that, under the circumstances therein stated, he should have +suffered so long a period to elapse without adopting the most +active and decided measures against a subject of Oude, whose +conduct is that of a public robber and rebel against the authority +of his Government; and whom the King has plainly stated that he is +unable to reduce to subjection without the aid of British +troops."</p> +<p>On the 20th of January, 1831, the Governor-General, Lord William +Bentinck, held a conference with the King of Oude, and told his +Majesty, in presence of his minister, that the state of things in +Oude, and maladministration in all departments, were such as to +warrant and require the authoritative interference of the British +Government for their correction; that he declined to make himself a +party to the nomination of the minister, or to have it understood +that the measure was a joint resolution of the two governments, so +that both should be responsible for its success in effecting +reformation; that the act was his Majesty's own, and the +responsibility must be his; that his Lordship hoped that a better +system would be established by his minister's agency, but if he +failed, and the same abuses and misrule continued, the King must be +prepared to abide the consequences; that the Governor-General +intended to make a strong representation to the authorities in +England on the state of misrule prevailing, and to solicit their +sanction to the adoption of specific measures, even to the length +of assuming the direct administration of the country, if the evils +were not corrected in the interim.</p> +<p>In the letter from Government dated the 25th of August, 1831, +referring to this advice, the Resident is told that by treaty we +are bound to give the aid of troops to quell internal resistance, +as well as to keep off external enemies, but by the same treaty the +Oude Government is bound to establish a good system of +administration, and to conform to our advice in this respect; that, +finding it impossible to procure the establishment of such an +improved system, and seeing that our troops were liable to be made +the instruments of violence, and vindictive and party proceedings, +it was determined to withhold the aid of troops except after +investigation into the cause which might lead to the application +for them; that, by recent orders from the Court of Directors, the +Government would be authorised in withholding them altogether, in +the hope that the necessities of the Oude Government might compel a +reform such as we might deem satisfactory; that matters had not, +however, been brought to such an issue, for the Oude Government +having been deprived of the services of British troops to execute +its purposes, has entertained a body stated at sixty thousand men, +cavalry, infantry, and artillery, whereof forty-five thousand are +stationed in the interior for the special purpose of reducing +refractory zumeendars without British aid. Government urges the +necessity of reducing this number, and states that if British +troops be employed to enforce submission, it seems impossible to +avoid becoming parties to the terms of submission, and guarantees +of their observance afterwards on both sides, in which case we +should become mixed up in every detail of the administration; it is +therefore required that each case shall be investigated and +submitted for the specific orders of the Governor-General.</p> +<p>On the 15th of August, 1832, the Governor-General addressed a +letter to his Majesty, the King of Oude, in the last sentence of +which he says, "I do not use this strong language of remonstrance +without manifest necessity. On former occasions the language of +expostulation has been frequently used towards you with reference +to the abuses of your Government, and as yet nothing serious has +befallen you. I beseech you, however, not to suffer yourself to be +deceived into a false security. I might adduce sufficient proof +that such security would be fallacious, but I am unwilling to wound +your Majesty's feelings, while the sincere friendship which I +entertain for you prevents my withholding from you that advice +which I deem essential to the preservation of your own dignity, and +the prosperity of your kingdom."</p> +<p>The Resident is told that the allusion in the concluding +sentence of his Lordship's letter refers to Mysore; that the King +had probably heard of our actual assumption of the government of +that country, and the Resident must avail himself of this topic to +impress upon-his mind the consequences which a similar state of +things may entail upon himself.</p> +<p>On the 11th of September, 1837, a subsidiary-treaty was +concluded with the new sovereign, Mahommed Allee Shah, on the +ground that though a larger force was kept up by the King of Oude +than was authorised by the treaty of 1801, still it was found +inadequate to the duties that devolved upon it, and it was +therefore expedient to relax the restrictions as to the amount of +military force to be maintained by the King of Oude, on condition +that an adequate portion of the increased forces should be placed +under British discipline and control. It was stipulated accordingly +that the King might employ such a military establishment as he +might deem necessary for the government of his dominion: that it +should consist of not less than two regiments of cavalry, five of +infantry, and two companies of artillery; that the Government of +Oude should fix the sum of sixteen lacs of rupees a-year for the +expenses of the force, including their pay, arms, equipments, +public buildings, &c.; that the expenditure on account of this +force of all descriptions should never exceed sixteen lacs; that +the organization of this force should not commence till eighteen +months after the 1st of September, 1837; that the King should take +into his service an efficient number of British officers for the +due discipline and efficiency of this force; that this force should +be fixed at such stations in Oude as might seem to both +Governments, from time to time, to be best, and employed on all +occasions on which its services might be deemed necessary by the +King of Oude, with the concurrence of the Resident, but not in the +ordinary collections of the revenue; that the King should exert +himself, in concert with the Resident, to remedy the existing +defects in his administration; and should he neglect to attend to +the advice and counsel of the British Government, or its +representative, and should gross and systematic oppression, +anarchy, and misrule, at any time hereafter prevail within the Oude +territories, such as seriously to endanger the public tranquillity, +the British Government would have the right to appoint its own +officers to the management of all portions of the Oude territory in +which such misrule might have occurred for so long a period as it +might deem necessary, the surplus receipts in such case, after +defraying all charges, to be paid into the King's treasury, and a +true and faithful account rendered to his Majesty of the receipts +and expenditure of the territories so assumed; that should the +Governor-General of India in Council be compelled to resort to the +exercise of this authority, he would endeavour, as far as possible, +to maintain (with such improvements as they might admit of) the +native institutions and forms of administration within the assumed +territories, so as to facilitate the restoration of those +territories to the sovereign of Oude when the proper period of such +restoration should arrive.</p> +<p>This treaty was ratified by the Governor-General in Council on +the 18th of September, 1837, but the Honourable the Court of +Directors, with that anxious regard for strict justice which, after +long and varied experience, I have always found to characterise +their views and orders, disapproved of that part of the above +treaty which imposed on the Oude state the expense of the auxiliary +force; and on the 8th of July, 1839, the King was informed, amidst +great rejoicings, that he was relieved from this burthen of sixteen +lacs of rupees a-year, which the British Government took upon +itself. Only part of this auxiliary force had been raised when +these orders came, and only two regiments of infantry out of that +part were retained, one stationed at Soltanpore, and the other at +Seetapore.</p> +<p>Up to 1835, the British forces in Oude amounted to two companies +of artillery, with fourteen guns, and six regiments of infantry. +Early in that year (1835), four guns, with a proportion of +artillerymen, and one regiment of Native Infantry, were withdrawn, +leaving the British force in Oude one company and a-half of +artillery, with ten guns, and five regiments of Native Infantry. In +1837, when two infantry regiments of the auxiliary force had been +raised, four guns more, with a detail of artillery, and two +regiments more of Native Infantry were withdrawn from the two +stations of Soltanpore and Seetapore, leaving the force paid by the +British Government one company of artillery, with six guns, +stationed at Lucknow, three regiments of Native Infantry at +Lucknow, one regiment of the Oude auxiliary force stationed at +Soltanpore, and the other at Seetapore. There had been artillery +and guns at Pertabgur, Soltanpore, Secrora and Seetapore, and a +regiment of regular cavalry at Pertabgur. In 1815 this regiment of +cavalry was withdrawn for the Nepaul war, and subsequently it was +retained for the Mahratta war. It was sent back to Pertabgur in +1820, but finally withdrawn in 1821. The British Government now +maintains no cavalry in any part of the King of Oude's dominions, +and no artillery or guns at any place but Lucknow.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* There is a small detachment of thirty sowars from an +irregular corps attached to the Resident.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In fairness there should be guns at Seetapore and Soltanpore, +and a corps of regular or irregular cavalry at Lucknow, or some +other more convenient station. The stations of Secrora and +Pertabgur were done away with by general orders 28th January, 1835, +when one regiment of Native Infantry was withdrawn altogether from +Oude, and one added to the two theretofore stationed at Lucknow. In +consequence of these arrangements, the British force in Oude is +much less than it was when the treaty of the 11th of September, +1837, was made, and assuredly less than it should be with a due +regard to our engagements and the Oude requirements. Our Government +instead of taking upon itself the additional burthen of sixteen +lacs of rupees a-year to render the Oude Government more efficient, +has relieved itself of a good deal of that which it bore before the +new treaty was entered into, and this is certainly not what the +Court of Directors contemplated, or the Oude Government +expected.</p> +<p>Our exigencies became great with the Affghan war, and have +continued to be so from those wars which grew out of it with +Gwalior, Scinde, and the Punjab; but they have all now passed away, +and those of our humble ally should be no longer forgotten or +disregarded. Though we seldom give him the use of troops in support +of the authority of his local officers, still the prestige of +having them at hand, in support of a just cause, is unquestionably +of great advantage to him and to his people, and this advantage we +cannot withhold from him with a due regard to the obligations of +solemn treaties.</p> +<p>But in considering the rights which the sovereign of Oude has +acquired by solemn treaties to our support, we must not forget +those which the five millions of people subject to his rule have +acquired by the same treaties to the protection of our Government, +and it is a grave question, that must soon be solved, whether we +can any longer support the present sovereign and system of +government in Oude, without subjecting ourselves to the reproach of +shamefully neglecting the duties we owe to these millions.</p> +<p>The present King ascended the throne on the death of his father, +on the 13th of February, 1847. In a letter dated the 24th of July +of that year, the Resident is told "that it will be his Majesty's +duty to establish such an administration, to be carried out by his +own officers, as shall insure the prosperity of the people; that +any neglect of this essential principle will be an infringement of +treaty; and that the Governor-General must, in the performance of +his duty, require the King to fulfil his obligations to his +subjects—that his Majesty must understand that, as a +sovereign, he has duties to perform to, as well as claims to exact +from, the people committed to his care."</p> +<p>In the month of November in that year, the Governor-General. +Lord Hardinge, visited Lucknow; and in a conference held with the +King, he caused a memorandum which he had drawn up for the occasion +to be read and carefully explained to his Majesty. It stated, "that +in all our engagements the utmost care had always been taken, not +only to uphold the authority of native rulers, but also to secure +the just rights of the people subject to their rule; that the same +principle is maintained in the treaty of 1801 with Oude, in the +sixth paragraph of which the engagement is entered into 'for the +establishment of such a system of government as shall be conducive +to the prosperity of the King's subjects, and calculated to secure +to them their lives and properties;' that in the memorandum of +1802, signed by the Governor-General, the King engages to establish +judicial tribunals for the free and pure administration of justice +to all his subjects; and that it is recorded in the sovereign's own +hand in that document, 'let the Company's officers assist in +enforcing obedience to these tribunals;' that it is, therefore, +evident that in all these stipulations the same principle +prevailed—namely, that while we engage to maintain the prince +in the full exercise of his powers, we also provide for the +protection of his people.</p> +<p>"That, in the more recent treaty of 1837, it is stated that the +solemn and paramount obligation provided by treaty for the +prosperity of his Majesty's subjects, and the security of the lives +and property of the inhabitants, has been notoriously neglected by +several successive rulers in Oude, thereby exposing the British +Government to the reproach of having imperfectly fulfilled its +obligations towards the Oude people; that his Lordship alludes to +the treaty of 1837, as confirming the original treaty of 1801, and +not only giving the British Government the right to interfere, but +declaring it to be the intention of the Government to interfere, if +necessary, for the purpose of securing good government in Oude; +that the King can, therefore, have no doubt that the +Governor-General is not only justified, but bound by his duty, to +take care that the stipulations provided by treaty shall be fairly +and substantially carried into effect; that if the Governor-General +permits the continuation of any flagrant system of mismanagement +which by treaty he is empowered to correct, he becomes the +participator in abuses which it is his duty to redress; and in this +case no ruler of Oude can expect the Governor-General to incur a +responsibility so repugnant to the principles of the British +Government, and so odious to the feelings of the British +people.</p> +<p>"That, in the discussion of this important subject, advice and +remonstrance have been frequently tried, and have failed; that the +Governor-General hopes that the King will exercise a sounder +judgment than those who have preceded him, and that he will not be +compelled to exchange friendly advice for imperative and absolute +interference; that when the Governor-General, Lord William +Bentinck, had a conference with the former King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, on this subject, on the 20th of January, 1831, he deemed it +right frankly to inform him that if the warning which he then gave +was disregarded by his Majesty, it was his intention to submit to +the home authorities his advice that the British Government should +assume the direct management of the Oude dominions; that the +Honourable the Court of Directors coincided in his Lordship's views +and, in order that no doubt may remain on the King's mind as to the +sentiments of the home authorities on this point, he, Lord +Hardinge, here inserts an extract from the despatch of that Court, +for his information; that it is as follows:— 'We have, after +the most serious consideration, come to the determination of +granting to you the discretionary power which you have requested, +from us for placing the Oude territories under the direct +management of officers of the British Government; and you are +hereby empowered, if no real and satisfactory improvement shall +have taken place in the administration of that country, and if your +Government shall still adhere to the opinion expressed in the +minute of the Governor-General, to carry the proposed measure into +effect, at such period and in such manner as shall appear to you +most desirable;' that this resolution was communicated to the +Resident and to the King, and advantage was taken of it to press +upon his Majesty the necessity of an immediate reform of his +administration; that the above extract will enable the King to form +a clear judgment of the position in which the sovereigns of Oude +are placed by treaty; that the Governor-General is required, when +gross and systematic abuses prevail, to apply such a remedy as the +exigency of the case may appear to require—that he has no +option in the performance of that duty.</p> +<p>"That by wisely taking timely measures for the reformation of +abuses, as one of the first acts of his reign, his Majesty will, +with honour to his own character, rescue his people from their +present miserable condition; but if he procrastinates he will incur +the risk of forcing the British Government to interfere, by +assuming the government of Oude; that the former course would +redound to his Majesty's credit and dignity, while the latter would +give the British Government concern in the case of a prince whom, +as our ally, we sincerely desire to honour and uphold; that for +these reasons, and on account of the King's inexperience, the +Governor-General is not disposed to act immediately on the power +vested in him by the Honourable Court's despatch above quoted, +still less is he disposed to hold him responsible for the misrule +of his predecessors, nor does he expect that so inveterate a system +of misgovernment can suddenly be eradicated; that the resolution, +and the preliminary measures 'to effect this purpose,' can and +ought at once to be adopted by the King; that if his Majesty +cordially enters into the plan suggested by the Governor-General +for the improvement of his administration, he may have the +satisfaction, within the period specified of two years, of checking +and eradicating the worst abuses, and, at the same time, of +maintaining his own sovereignty and the native institutions of his +kingdom unimpaired; but if he does not, if he takes a vacillating +course, and fail by refusing to act on the Governor-General's +advice, he is aware of the other alternative and of the +consequences. It must, then, be manifest to the whole world that, +whatever may happen, the King has received a friendly and timely +warning."</p> +<p>On the 24th of December in that year, 1847, Government, in reply +to the Resident's letter of the 30th November, states that it does +not consider the King's reply in any respect satisfactory; that the +Resident is to remind his Majesty that under paragraph the 23rd of +the memorandum read out to him by the Governor-General's direction, +the Resident has been required to submit periodical reports of the +state of his dominions, and that his Majesty must be fully aware of +the responsibility he incurs if he neglects, during the interval +allowed him, to introduce the requisite reforms in his +administration.</p> +<p>More than two years have elapsed since this caution was given, +and the King has done nothing to improve his administration, +abstained from no personal indulgence, given no attention whatever +to public affairs. He had before that time tried to imitate his +father, attend a little to public affairs, and see occasionally the +members of the royal family and aristocracy, at least of the city, +and heads of departments; but the effort was painful, and soon +ceased altogether to be made. He had from boyhood mixed in no other +society than that in which he now mixes exclusively, and he will +never submit to the restraints of any other. The King has utterly +disregarded alike the Governor-General's advice and admonitions, +the duties and responsibilities of his high office, and the +sufferings of the many millions subject to his rule. His time and +attention are devoted entirely to the pursuit of personal +gratifications; he associates with none but such as those who +contribute to such gratifications—women, singers, and +eunuchs; and he never, I believe, reads or hears read any petition +from his suffering subjects, any report from his local officers +civil or military, or presidents of his fiscal and judicial courts, +or functionaries of any hind. He seems to take no interest whatever +in public affairs, and to care nothing whatever about them.</p> +<p>The King had natural capacity equal to that of any of those who +have preceded him in the sovereignty of Oude since the death of +Saadut Allee in 1814, but he is the only one who has systematically +declined to devote any of that capacity, or any of his time, to the +conduct of public affairs; to see and occasionally commune with the +heads of departments, the members of the royal family, and native +gentlemen of the capital; to read or have read to him the reports +of his local functionaries, and petitions or redress of wrongs from +his suffering subjects.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[*This systematic disregard of his high duties and +responsibilities still continues to be manifested by the King of +Oude; and is observed, with feelings of indignation and abhorrence, +by his well-disposed subjects of all classes and grades, who are +thereby left to the mercy of men without any feeling of security in +their tenure of office, any scruples of conscience, or feelings of +humanity, or of honour. So inveterate is the system of +misgovernment—so deeply are all those, now employed in the +administration, interested in maintaining its worst +abuses—and so fruitless is it to expect the King to remove +them, or employ better men, or to be ever able to inspire any men, +whom he may appoint, with a disposition to serve him more honestly, +and to respect the rights of others, or consider the reputation and +permanent interests of their own master, that the impression has +become strong and general, that our Government can no longer +support the present Government of Oude, without seriously +neglecting its duty towards the people.—1851, W. H. S.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the reports of the Resident on the state of affairs in Oude, +and the replies of Government, much importance has been always +attached to the change from the contract, or <i>ijara</i> system, +to that of the <i>amanee</i>, or trust management system; and since +the time of Lord Hardinge's visit many more districts have been put +under the latter system; but this has not tended, in the smallest +degree, to the benefit of the people of these districts. The same +abuses prevail under the one system as under the other. The troops +employed in the districts under the one are the same as those +employed in the districts under the other, and they prey just as +much upon the people. There is the same system of rack-rent in the +one as in the other, and the same uncertainty in the rate of the +Government demand. The manager under the <i>amanut</i> system +demands the same secret gratuities and <i>nuzuranas</i> for himself +and his patrons at Court from the landholders, as the contractor; +and if they refuse to pay them they are besieged, attacked, and cut +up, and their estates desolated in the same manner. The +<i>amanut</i> manager knows that his tenure of office depends as +much upon the amount which he pays to his sovereign, and to his +patrons at Court, as that of the contractor, and he exacts and +extorts as much as he can in the same manner. Unless he pays his +patrons the same he knows that he shall soon be removed, or driven +to resign by the want of means to enforce the payment of the +revenues justly due.</p> +<p>The objections which are urged against the employment of British +troops in support of the authority of revenue contractors, are +equally applicable to their employment in support of that of amanee +managers. Their employment is just as liable to abuse under the one +as under the other. It is not a whit easier to ascertain whether a +demand for balance of revenue from, or a charge of contumacy +against, a landholder is just or unjust in the one than in the +other. In neither is the demand set forth in public documents +understood by either party to be the real demand. Both parties are +equally interested in preventing a portion of the <i>real</i> +demand from appearing in the public accounts; and the quarrel is +almost always about the rate of this concealed portion—the +collector trying to augment, and the landlord trying to reduce +it.</p> +<p>In a letter to the Resident, dated the 29th of March, 1823, +Government observes: "As some palliation of the mischief of our +forces being constantly employed in what might be too often termed +the cause of injustice and extortion, the Government in 1811 +distinctly declared our right of previously investigating, and of +arbitrating the demands which its troops might be called upon to +support as also its resolution to exercise that right on all future +occasions. The execution of the important duty in question seems to +be almost invariably delegated by the Resident to the officers +commanding at the different stations, who, after receiving general +powers to attend to the requisitions of the amils, become the sole +judges of the individual cases, in which aid is to be afforded or +withheld; and the discretion again unavoidably descends from them, +in many instances, to the officers commanding parties detached from +the main body. It is obvious that an inquiry of this description +can afford but a partial check to, and a feeble security against, +injustice and oppression where specific engagements rarely exist, +and where the point at issue is frequently the demand for +augmenting rates of revenue, founded on alleged assets sufficient +to meet that increase.</p> +<p>"Neither is the aid thus afforded at all effectual for the +purposes of the Government of Oude, whether present or future, as +is clear from the annual repetition of the same scenes of +resistance and compulsion. As fast as disorders are suppressed in +one quarter they spring up in another. Forts that are this year +dismantled are restored again the next; the compulsion exercised +upon particular individuals in one season has no effect in +producing more regularity on their parts, or on that of others in +the ensuing season, until the same process has been again gone +through; whilst the contempt and odium attaching to a system of +collecting the revenues, by the habitual intervention of the troops +of another State, infallibly tend to aggravate the evil, by +destroying all remains of confidence in his Majesty, or respect for +his authority."</p> +<p>The aid of British troops in the collection of the revenues of +Oude has long ceased to be afforded; but when they have been +afforded for the suppression of leaders of atrocious bands of +robbers, who preyed upon the people, and seized upon the lands of +their weaker neighbours, and they have been driven from their forts +and strongholds, the privilege of building them up again, or +re-occupying and garrisoning them with the same bands of robbers, +to be employed in the same way, is purchased from the local +authorities, or the patrons of these leaders at Court, during the +same or the succeeding season. The same things continue to be done +every season where no British troops are employed. Such privileges +are purchased with as much facility as those for the supply of +essence or spices in the palace; unless the Resident should +interpose authoritatively to prevent it, which he very rarely does. +Indeed it is seldom that a Resident knows or cares anything about +the matter.</p> +<p>I may say generally, that in Oude the larger landholders do not +pay more than one-third of their net rents to the Government, while +some of them do not pay one-fifth or one-tenth. In the half of the +territory made over to us in 1801, the great landholders who still +retain their estates pay to our Government at least two-thirds of +their net rents. In Oude these great landholders have, at present, +about two hundred and fifty mud forts, mounting about five hundred +guns, and containing on an average four hundred armed men, or a +total of one hundred thousand, trained and maintained to fight +against other, or against the Government authorities; and to +pillage the peaceful and industrious around whenever so employed. +In the half of the territory ceded to us in 1801, this class of +armed retainers has disappeared altogether. Hence from the Oude +half we have some fifty thousand native officers and sipahees in +our native army, while from our half we have not perhaps five +thousand.</p> +<p>One thing is clear, that we cannot restore to the Oude +Government the territory we acquired from it by the treaty of 1801, +and the people who occupy it; and that we cannot withdraw our +support from that Government altogether without doing so. It is no +less clear that all our efforts to make the Government of Oude, +under the support which we are bound by that treaty to give it, +fulfil the duties to its people to which it was pledged by that +treaty, have failed during the fifty years that have elapsed since +it was made.</p> +<p>The only alternative left, appears to be for the paramount power +to take upon itself the administration, and give to the sovereign, +the royal family, and its stipendiary dependents, all the surplus +revenues in pensions, opening as much as possible all employments +in the civil administration to the educated classes of Oude. The +military and police establishments would consist almost exclusively +of Oude men. Under such a system more of these classes would be +employed than at present, for few of the officers employed in the +administration are of these classes—the greater part of them +are adventurers from all parts of India, without character or +education. The number of such officers would be multiplied +fourfold, and the means of paying them would be taken from the +favourites and parasites of the Court who now do nothing but +mischief.</p> +<p>Such a change would be popular among the members of the royal +family itself, who now get their pensions after long +intervals—often after two and even three years, and with +shameful reductions in behalf of those favourites and parasites +whom they detest and despise, but whom the minister, for his own +personal purposes, is obliged to conciliate by such perquisites. It +would be popular among the educated classes, as opening to them +offices now filled by knaves and vagabonds from all parts of India, +It would be no less so to the well-disposed portion of the +agricultural classes, who would be sure of protection to life, +property, and character, without the expensive trains of armed +followers which they now keep up. But to secure this, we should +require to provide them with a more simple system of civil +judicature than that which we have at work in our old +territories.</p> +<p>The change would be popular, with few exceptions, among all the +mercantile and manufacturing classes. It would give vast employment +to all the labouring classes throughout the country, in the +construction of good roads, bridges, wells, tanks, temples, suraes, +military and civil buildings, and other public works; but above +all, in that of private dwellings, and other edifices for use and +ornament, in which all men would be proud to lay out their wealth +to perpetuate their names, when secured in the possession by an +honest and efficient Government; but more especially those who +would be no longer able to employ their means in maintaining armed +bands, to resist the local authorities and disturb the peace of the +country. On the whole, I think that at least nine-tenths of the +people of Oude would hail the change as a great blessing; always +providing, that our system of administration should be rendered as +simple as possible to meet the wants and wishes of a simple +people.</p> +<p>Though the Resident has never been able to secure any +substantial and permanent improvement in the administration, he +often interposes successfully in individual cases, to relieve +suffering, and secure redress for wrongs; and the people see that +he interferes in no others. Their only regret is, that he does not +interpose more often, and that his efforts, when he does, should be +so often thwarted or disregarded. The British character is, in +consequence, respected in the remotest village and jungle in Oude; +and there is, I believe, no part of India where an European officer +is received, among the people of all classes, with more kindness +and courtesy than in Oude. There is, certainly, no city or town in +any other native State in India where he is treated in the crowded +streets with more respect. This must of course be accounted for in +great measure from the greater part of the members of the royal +family, and the relatives and dependents of the several persons who +have held the highest offices of the State since 1814, either +receiving their incomes from the British Government in treaty +pensions, or in interest on our Government securities, or being +guaranteed in those which they receive from the Oude Government by +ours. A great many of the families of the middle classes depend +entirely upon the interest which they receive from us on our +Government securities. There is, indeed, hardly a respectable +family in Lucknow that is not more or less dependent upon our +Government for protection, and proud to have it considered that +they are so. The works and institutions which would soon be created +out of revenues, now absorbed by worthless Court favourites, would +soon embellish the face of the country, improve the character, +condition, and habits of the people, stimulate their industry in +agriculture, manufactures, and commerce; and render our connection +with the Oude Government honourable to our name in the estimation +of all India.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt2-5" id="Chapt2-5">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Baree-Biswa district—Force with the Nazim, Lal +Bahader—Town of Peernuggur—Dacoitee by Lal and Dhokul +Partuks—Gangs of robbers easily formed out of the loose +characters which abound in Oude—The lands tilled in spite of +all disorders—Delta between the Chouka and Ghagra +rivers—Seed sown and produce yielded on land—Rent and +stock—Nawab Allee, the holder of the Mahmoodabad +estate—Mode of augmenting his estate—Insecurity of +marriage processions—Belt of jungle, fourteen miles west from +the Lucknow cantonments—Gungabuksh Rawat—His attack on +Dewa—The family inveterate robbers—Bhurs, once a +civilized and ruling people in Oude—Extirpated systematically +in the fourteenth century—Depredations of +Passees—Infanticide—How maintained—Want of +influential middle class of merchants and +manufacturers—Suttee—Troops with the Amil—Seizure +of a marriage procession by Imambuksh, a gang +leader—Perquisites and allowances of Passee watchmen over +corn-fields—Their fidelity to trusts—Ahbun Sing, of +Kyampoor, murders his father—Rajah Singjoo of +Soorujpoor—Seodeen, another leader of the same +tribe—Principal gang-leaders of the Dureeabad Rodowlee +district—Jugurnath Chuprassie—Bhooree Khan—How +these gangs escape punishment—Twenty-four belts of jungle +preserved by landholders always, or occasionally, refractory in +Oude—Cover eight hundred and eighty-six square miles of good +land—How such atrocious characters find followers, and +landholders of high degree to screen, shelter, and aid them.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 14, 1850.—Peernuggur, ten miles south-east, +over a plain of the same soil, but with more than the usual +proportion of oosur. Trees and groves as usual, but not quite so +fine or numerous. The Nazim of Khyrabad took leave of me on his +boundary as we crossed it about midway, and entered the district of +"Baree Biswa," which is held in farm by Lal Bahader,* a Hindoo, who +there met us. This fiscal officer has under him the "Jafiree," and +"Tagfore" Regiments of nujeebs, and eight pieces of cannon. The +commandants of both corps are in attendance at Court, and one of +them, Imdad Hoseyn, never leaves it. The other does condescend +sometimes to come out to look at his regiment when <i>not on +service</i>. The draft-bullocks for the guns have, the Nazim tells +me, had a little grain within the last month, but still not more +than a quarter of the amount for which the King is charged. +Peernuggur is now a place of little note upon the banks of the +little river Sae, which here flows under a bridge built by Asuf-od +Dowlah some sixty years ago.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* This man was in prison at Lucknow as a defaulter, but made +his escape in October, 1851, by drugging the sentry placed over +him, and got safe into British territory.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Gang-robberies are here as frequent as in Khyrabad, and the +respectable inhabitants are going off in the same manner. One which +took place in July last year is characteristic of the state of +society in Oude, and may be mentioned here. Twelve sipahees of the +59th Regiment Native Infantry, then stationed at Bareilly, lodged +here for the night, in a surae, on their way home on furlough. Dal +Partuk, a Brahmin by caste, and a man of strength and resolution, +resided here and cultivated a small patch of land. He had two pair +of bullocks, which used to be continually trespassing upon other +men's fields and gardens, and embroiling him with the people, till +one night they disappeared. Dal Partuk called upon his neighbours, +who had suffered from their trespasses, to restore them or pay the +value, and threatened to rob, plunder, and burn down the town if +they did not.</p> +<p>A great number of pausees reside in and around the town, and he +knew that he could collect a gang of them for any enterprise of +this sort at the shortest notice. The people were not disposed to +pay the value of his lost bullocks, and they could not be found. +While he was meditating his revenge, his relation, Dhokul Partuk, +was by a trifling accident driven to take the field as a robber. An +oil-vender, a female, from a neighbouring village, had presumed to +come to Peernuggur, and offer oil for sale. The oil-venders of the +town, dreading the consequences of such competition, went forthwith +to the little garrison and prayed for <i>protection</i>. One of the +sipahees went off to the silversmith to whom the oil-vender had +sold twopence-worth of oil, and, finding the oil-vender still with +him, proceeded at once to seize both, and take them off to the +garrison as criminals. Dhokul Partuk, who lived close by, and had +his sword by his side, went up and remonstrated with the sipahee, +who, taking him to be another silversmith, struck him across the +face with his stick. Dhokul drew his sword, and made a cut at the +sipahee, which would have severed his head from his body had he not +fallen backwards. As it was, he got a severe cut in the chest, and +ran off to his companions. Dhokul went out of the town with his +drawn sword, and no one dared to pursue him. At night he returned, +took off his family to a distant village, became a leader of a band +of pausee bowmen, and invited his kinsman, Dal Partuk, to follow +his example.</p> +<p>Together, they made an attack at night upon the town, and burnt +down one quarter of the houses. Dal Partuk offered to come to terms +and live in the town again, if the people would pay the value of +his lost bullocks, and give him a small income of five rupees +a-month. This they refused to do, and the plunder and burning went +on. At last they made this attack upon the party in the surae, +which happened to be so full that several of the sipahees and +others were cooking outside the walls. None of the travellers had +arms to defend themselves, and those inside closed the doors as +soon as they heard the alarm. The pausees, with their bows and +arrows, killed two of the sipahees who were outside, and while the +gang was trying to force open the doors of the surae, the people of +the town, headed by a party of eight pausee bowmen of their own, +attacked and drove them back. These bowmen followed the gang for +some distance, and killed several of them with their arrows. The +sipahees who escaped proceeded in all haste to the Resident, and +the Frontier Police has since succeeded in arresting several of the +gang; but the two leaders have hitherto been screened by Goorbuksh +Sing and other great landholders in their interest. The eight +pausees who exerted themselves so successfully in defence of the +town and surae were expecting an attack from the pausees of a +neighbouring village, and ready for action when the alarm was +given.</p> +<p>These parties of pausee bowmen have each under their charge a +certain number of villages, whose crops and other property they are +pledged to defend for the payment of a certain sum, or a certain +portion of land rent-free. In one of these, under the Peernuggur +party, three bullocks had been stolen by the pausees of a +neighbouring town. They were traced to them, and, as they would +neither restore them nor pay their value, the Peernuggur party +attacked them one night in their sleep, and killed the leader and +four of his followers, to deter others of the tribe from +trespassing on property under their charge. They expect, they told +us, to be attacked in return some night, and are obliged to be +always prepared, but have not the slightest apprehension of ever +being called to account for such things by the officers of +Government. Nor would Dal and Dhokul Partuk have any such +apprehension, had not the Resident taken up the question of the +murder of the Honourable Company's sipahees as an international +one. After plundering and burning down a dozen villages, and +murdering a score or two of people, they would have come back and +reoccupied their houses in the town without any fear of being +molested or <i>questioned</i> by Government officers. Nor would the +people of the town object to their residing among them again, +provided they pledged themselves to abstain in future from +molesting them. Goorbuksh Sing, only a few days ago, offered the +contractor, Hoseyn Allee, the sum of five thousand, rupees if he +would satisfy the Resident that Dal Partuk had nothing whatever to +do with the Peernuggur dacoitee, and thereby induce him to +discontinue the pursuit.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Dhokul Partuk and Dal Partuk were at last secured. Dhokul +died in the king's gaol, but Dal Partuk is still in prison under +trial.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The people of towns and villages, having no protection whatever +from the Government, are obliged to keep up, at their own cost, +this police of pausee bowmen, who are bound only to protect those +who pay them. As their families increase beyond the means derived +from this, their only legitimate employment, their members thieve +in the neighbouring or distant villages, rob on the highroads, or +join the gangs of those who are robbers by profession, or take the +trade in consequence of disputes and misunderstandings with +Government authorities or their neighbours. In Oude—and +indeed in all other parts of India, under a Government so weak and +indifferent to the sufferings of its subjects—all men who +consider arms to be their proper profession think themselves +justified in using them to extort the means of subsistence from +those who have property when they have none, and can no longer find +what they consider to be suitable employment. All Rajpoots are of +this class, and the greater part of the landholders in Oude are +Rajpoots. But a great part of the Mahommedan rural population are +of the same class, and no small portion of the Brahmin inhabitants, +like the two Partuks above named, consider arms to be their proper +profession; and all find the ready means of forming gangs of +robbers out of these pausee bowmen and the many loose characters to +whom the disorders of the country give rise.</p> +<p>A great many of the officers and sipahees of the King's nujeeb +and other regiments are every month discharged for mutiny, +insubordination, abuse of authority, or neglect of duty, or merely +to make room for men more subservient to Court favourites, or +because they cannot or will not pay the demanded gratuity to a new +and useless commandant appointed by Court favour. The plunder of +villages has been the daily occupation of these men during the +whole period of their service, and they become the worst of this +class of loose characters, ready to join any band of freebooters. +Such bands are always sure to find a patron among the landholders +ready to receive and protect them, for a due share of their booty, +against any force that the King's officers may send after them; +and, if they prefer it as less costly, they can always find a +manager of a district ready to do the same, on condition that they +abstain from plundering within his jurisdiction. The greater part +of the land is, however, cultivated, and well cultivated under all +this confusion and consequent insecurity. Tillage is the one thing +needful to all, and the persons from whom trespasses on the crops +are most apprehended are the reckless and disorderly trains of +Government officials.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 16, 1850.—Biswa, eighteen miles east, over +a plain of excellent soil, partly doomut, but chiefly mutteear, +well studded with trees and groves, scantily cultivated for the +half of the way, but fully and beautifully for the second half. The +wheat beginning to change colour as it approaches maturity, and +waving in the gentle morning breeze; intervening fields covered +with mixed crops of peas, gram, ulsee, teora, surson, mustard, all +in flower, and glittering like so many rich parterres; patches here +and there of the dark-green <i>arahur</i> and yellow sugar-cane +rising in bold relief; mango-groves, majestic single trees, and +clusters of the graceful bamboo studding the whole surface, and +closing the distant horizon in one seemingly-continued line of +fence—the eye never tires of such a scene, but would like now +and then to rest upon some architectural work of ornament or +utility to aid the imagination in peopling it.</p> +<p>The road for the last six miles passes through the estate of +Nawab Allee, a Mahommedan landholder, who is a strong man and a +good manager and paymaster. His rent-roll is about four hundred +thousand rupees a-year, and he pays Government about one hundred +and fifty thousand. His hereditary possession was a small one, and +his estate has grown to the present size in the usual way. He has +lent money in mortgage and foreclosed; he has given security for +revenue due to Government by other landholders, who have failed to +pay, and had their estates made over to him; he has given security +for the appearance, when called for, of others, and, on their +failing to appear (perchance at his own instigation), had their +lands made over to him by the Government authorities, on condition +of making good the Government demand upon them; he has offered a +higher rate of revenue for lands than present holders could make +them yield, and, after getting possession, brought the demand down +to a low rate in collusion with Government officers. Some +three-fourths of the magnificent estate which he now holds he has +obtained in these and other ways by fraud, violence, or collusion +within the last few years. He is too powerful and wealthy to admit +of any one's getting his lands out of his hands after they have +once passed into them, no matter how.</p> +<p>The Chowka river flows from the forest towards the Ghagra, about +ten miles to the east from Biswa, and I am told that the richest +sheet of cultivation in Oude is within the delta formed by these +two rivers.* At the apex of this delta stands the fort of Bhitolee, +which I have often mentioned as belonging to Rajah Goorbuksh Sing, +and being under siege by the contractor of the Khyrabad district +when we passed the Ghagra in December. Biswa is a large town, well +situated on a good soil and open plain, and its vicinity would be +well suited for a cantonment or seat for civil establishments. Much +of the cloth called sullum used to be made here for export to +Europe, but the demand has ceased, and with it the manufacture.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* This delta contains the following noble estates; 1, Dhorehra; +2, Eesanuggur; 3, Chehlary; 4, Rampore; 5, Bhitolee; 6, Mullahpore; +7, Seonta; 8, Nigaseen; and 9, Bhera Jugdeopore. The Turae forest +forms the base of this delta, and the estates of Dhorehra, +Eesanuggur, and Bhera Jugdeopore lie along its border. They have +been much injured by the King's troops within the last three years. +Bhitolee is at the apex.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>February</i> 17 <i>and</i> 18, 1850.—Detained at Biswa +by rain.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 19, 1850.—Yesterday evening came to +Kaharpore, ten miles, over a plain of the same fine soil, mutteear +of the best quality, running here and there into doomutteea and +even bhoor. Cultivation good, and the plain covered with rich +spring crops, except where the ground is being prepared to receive +the autumn seed in June next. It is considered good husbandry +to-plough, cross-plough, and prepare the lands thus early. The +spring crops are considered to be more promising than they have +been at any other season for the last twenty years. The farmers and +cultivators calculate upon an average return of ten and twelve +fold, and say that, in other parts of Oude where the lands are +richer, there will be one of fifteen or twenty of wheat, gram, +&c. The pucka-beega, two thousand seven hundred and fifty-six +square yards, requires one maund of seed of forty seers, of eighty +rupees of the King's and Company's coinage the seer.* The country, +as usual, studded with trees, single, and in clusters and groves, +intermingled with bamboos, which are, however, for the most part, +of the smaller or hill kind.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The pucka-beega in Oude is about the same as that which +prevails over our North-Western Provinces, two thousand seven +hundred and fifty-six and a quarter square yards, or something more +than one-half of our English statute acre, which is four thousand +eight hundred and forty square yards. This pucka-beega takes of +seed-wheat one maund, or eighty pounds; and yields on an average, +under good tillage, eight returns of the seed, or eight maunds, or +six hundred and forty pounds, which, at one rupee the maund, yields +eight rupees, or sixteen shillings. The stock required in Oude in +irrigated lands is about twenty rupees the pucka-beega. The rent on +an average two rupees. In England an acre, on an average, requires +two and three-quarter bushels of seed wheat, or one hundred and +seventy-six pounds, or two maunds and sixteen seers, and yields +twenty-four bushels, or one thousand five hundred and thirty-six +pounds. This at forty shillings the quarter (512 lbs.) would yield +six pounds sterling. The stock required in England is estimated at +ten pounds Sterling per acre, or ten times the annual rent. It is +difficult to estimate the rate of rent on land in England, since +the reputed owner is said to be "only the ninth and last recipient +of rent."]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On reaching camp, I met, for the first time, the great +landholder, Nawab Allee, of Mahmoodabad. In appearance, he is a +quiet gentlemanly man, of middle age and stature. He keeps his +lands in the finest possible state of tillage, however +objectionable the means by which he acquires them. His family have +held the estates of Mahmoodabad and Belehree for many generations +as zumeendars, or proprietors; but they have augmented them +greatly, absorbing into them the estates of their weaker +neighbours.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Akram Allee and Muzhur Allee inherited the estate in two +divisions. Akram Allee got Mahmoodabad, and had two sons, Surufraz +Allee, who died without issue, before his father; and Mosahib +Allee, who succeeded to the estate, but died without issue. Muzhur +Allee got the estate of Belehree, and had two sons, Abud Allee, and +Nawab Allee. Abud Allee succeeded to the estate of Belehree, and +Nawab Allee to that of Mahmoodabad by adoption.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Akram Allee held Mahmoodabad, and was succeeded in the +possession by his son, Mosahib Allee, who died about forty years +ago, leaving the estate to his widow, who held it for twenty-eight +years up to A.D. 1838, when she died. She had, the year before, +adopted her nephew, Nawab Allee, and he succeeded to the estate. +The Belehree estate is held by his elder brother, Abud Allee, who +is augmenting it in the same way, but not at the same rate. I may +mention a few recent cases, as illustrative of the manner in which +such things are done in Oude.</p> +<p>Mithun Sing, of an ancient Rajpoot family, held the estate of +Semree, which had been held by his ancestors for many centuries. It +consisted of twelve fine villages, paid to Government 4000 rupees a +year, and yielded him a rent roll of 20,000. Nawab Allee coveted +very much this estate, which bordered on his own. Three years ago, +he instigated the Nazim to demand an increase of 5000 rupees a-year +from the estate; and at the same time invited Mithun Sing to his +house, and persuaded him to resist the demand, to the last. He took +to the jungles, and in the contest between him and the Nazim all +the crops of the season were destroyed, and all the cultivators +driven from the lands. When the season of tillage returned in June, +and Mithun Sing had been reduced to the last stage of poverty, +Nawab Allee consented to become the mediator, got a lease from the +Chuckladar for Mithun Sing at 4500 rupees a-year, and stood surety +for the punctual payment of the demand. Poor Mithun Sing could pay +nothing, and Nawab Allee got possession of the estate in +liquidation of the balance due to him; and assigned to Mithun Sing +five hundred pucka-beegas of land for his subsistence. He still +resides on the estate, and supports his family by the tillage of +these few beegas.</p> +<p>Amdhun Chowdheree held a share in the estate of Biswa, +consisting of sixty-five villages; paying to Government 12,000 +rupees a-year, and yielding a rent-roll of 65,000. His elder +brother's widow resided on the estate, supported by Amdhun, who +managed its affairs for the family. Nawab Allee got up a quarrel +between her and her brother-in-law; and she assumed the right to +authorize Nawab Allee to seize upon the whole estate. Amdhun +appealed to his clan, but Nawab Allee, in collusion with the Nazim, +was too strong for him, and got possession by taking a strong +force, and driving out all who presumed to resist him. The estate +had been held by the family for many centuries.</p> +<p>Mohun Sing held the estate of Mundhuna, which had been in his +family for many generations. He was, by the usual process, five +years ago, constrained to accept the security of Nawab Allee for +the punctual payment of the revenue; and his estate was absorbed in +the usual way, the year after. He is now, like a boa-constrictor, +swallowing up Chowdheree Pertab Sing, who holds a large share in +the hereditary estate of Biswa, which has been in the possession of +the family for a great many generations. This share consisted of +thirty-six villages, and paid a revenue to Government of fourteen +thousand. Last year, Nawab Allee instigated the Nazim to demand ten +thousand more. The Nazim, to prevent all disputes, assigned the +twenty-four thousand to Mirza Hoseyn Beg, the commandant of a troop +of cavalry, employed under him, in liquidation of their arrears of +pay. The commandant gave him a receipt for the amount, which the +Nazim sent to the treasury, and got credit for the amount in his +accounts. But poor Pertab Sing could not pay, and was imprisoned by +the cavalry, who kept possession of his person, and took upon them +the collection of his rents. Nawab Allee came in and paid what was +due; and gave security for the punctual payment of the revenue for +the ensuing year. The estate was made over to him; and he put on +score after score of <i>dustuk</i> bearers, who soon reduced Pertab +Sing to utter beggary. Ten thousand rupees were due to Nawab Allee, +and he had nothing left to sell; and under such circumstances no +man else would lend him anything.</p> +<p>The dustuk bearers are servants of the creditor, who are sent to +attend the debtor, extort from him their wages and subsistence, and +see that he does not move, eat, or drink till he pays them. During +this time the creditor saves all the wages of these attendants; and +they commonly exact double wages from the debtor, so that he is +soon reduced to terms. In this stage we found the poor Chowdheree +on reaching Biswa. I had him released, and so admonished Nawab +Allee, that he has some little chance of saving his estate.</p> +<p>Bisram Sing held the estate of Kooa Danda, which had been in the +possession of his family of Ahbun Rajpoots for many centuries. It +consisted of thirty-five villages, paid a revenue of six thousand +rupees a-year, and yielded a rent-roll of eighteen thousand and +five hundred. Nawab Allee coveted it as being on his border, and in +good order. As soon as his friend; Allee Buksh, was appointed Nazim +of the district, he prevailed upon him to report to the Durbar that +Bisram Sing was a refractory subject, and plunderer; and to request +permission to put him down by force of arms. This was in 1844, +while Bisram Sing was living quietly on his estate. On receiving +the order, which came as a matter of course, the Nazim united his +force with that of Nawab Allee, and attacked the house of Bisram +Sing, which had only twenty-two men to defend it against two +thousand. Six of the twenty-two were killed, eight wounded, and +eight only escaped; and Nawab Allee took possession of the +estate.</p> +<p>Bisram Sing was at Lucknow at the time, trying to rebut the +false charges of the Nazim; but his influence was unhappily too +strong for him, and he got no redress. Soon after Nirput Sing, a +sipahee in the 9th Regiment Native Infantry, presented a petition +to the Resident, stating that he was the brother of Bisram Sing, +and equally interested in the estate; and a special officer, +Busharut Allee, was ordered by the Durbar to investigate and decide +the case. He decided in favour of Nirput, the sipahee, and Bisram +Sing. Another special officer was sent out to restore Bisram to +possession. Nawab Allee then pleaded the non-existence of any +relationship between Nirput and Bisram; and a third special officer +has been sent out to ascertain this fact.</p> +<p>Belehree, held by Abud Allee, consists of forty villages, pays a +revenue of twelve thousand rupees a-year, and yields a rent-roll of +forty thousand. Abud Allee holds also the estate of Pyntee, in the +same district, consisting of eighty villages, paying a revenue of +thirty-five thousand, and yielding a rent-roll of one hundred and +forty thousand. It had been held by his relative Kazim Allee, who +was succeeded in the possession by Nizam Allee, the husband of his +only daughter. Nizam Allee was in A.D. 1841 killed by a servant, +who was cut down and killed in return by his attendants. Nizam +Allee's widow held till 1843, when she made over the estate to Abud +Allee, by whom she is supported.</p> +<p>Nawab Allee has always money at command to purchase influence at +Court when required; and he has also a brave and well-armed force, +with which to aid the governor of the district, when he makes it +worth his while to do so, in crushing a refractory landholder. +These are the sources of his power, and he is not at all scrupulous +in the use of it—it is not the fashion to be so in Oude.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 20th, 1850.—Came on sixteen miles to +Futtehpore, in the estate of Nawab Allee, passing Mahmoodabad half +way. Near that place we passed through a grove of mango and other +trees called the "Lak Peree," or the grove of a hundred thousand +trees planted by his ancestors forty years ago. The soil is the +same, the country level, studded with the same rich foliage, and +covered with the same fine crops. As we were passing through his +estate, and were to encamp in it again to-day, Nawab Allee attended +me on horseback; and I endeavoured to impress upon him and the +Nazim the necessity of respecting the rights of others, and more +particularly those of the old Chowdheree Pertab Sing. "Why is it," +I asked, "that this beautiful scene is not embellished by any +architectural beauties? Sheikh Sadee, the poet, so deservedly +beloved by you all, old and young, Hindoos and Mahommedans, says, +'The man who leaves behind him in any place, a bridge, a well, a +church, or a caravansera, never dies.' Here not even a respectable +dwelling-house is to be seen, much less a bridge, a church, or a +caravansera." "Here, sir," said old Bukhtawur, "men must always be +ready for a run to the jungles. Unless they are so, they can +preserve nothing from the grasp of the contractors of the present +day, who have no respect for property or person—for their own +character, or for that of their sovereign. The moment that a man +runs to save himself, family, and property, they rob and pull down +his house, and those of all connected with him. When a man has +nothing but mud walls, with invisible mud covers, they give him no +anxiety; he knows that he can build them up again in a few days, or +even a few hours, when he comes back from the jungles; and he cares +little about what is done to them during his absence. Had he an +expensive house of burnt brick and mortar, he could never feel +quite free. He might be tempted to defend it, and lose some +valuable lives; or he might be obliged to submit to unjust terms. +Were he to lay out his money in expensive mosques, temples, and +tombs, they would restrain him in the same way; and he is content +to live without them, and have his loins always girded for fight or +flight."</p> +<p>"True," said Nawab Allee, "very true; we can plant groves and +make wells, but we cannot venture to erect costly buildings of any +kind. You saw the Nazim of Khyrabad, only a few days ago, bringing +all his troops down upon Rampore, because the landlord, Goman Sing, +would not consent to the increase he demanded of ten thousand, upon +seventeen thousand rupees a-year, which he had hitherto paid. Goman +Sing took to the jungles; and in ten days his fine crops would all +have been destroyed, and his houses levelled with the ground, had +you not interposed, and admonished both. The one at last consented +to take, and the other to pay an increase of five thousand. Only +three years ago, Goman Sing's father was killed by the Nazim in a +similar struggle; and landholders must always be prepared for +them."</p> +<p><i>February</i> 21st, 1850.—Bureearpore, ten miles +south-east, over a plain of the same fine soil, well cultivated, +and carpeted with the same fine crops and rich foliage. Midway we +entered the district of Ramnuggur Dhumeree, held by Rajah Gorbuksh +Sing under the security of Seoraj-od Deen, the person who attempted +in vain to arrest the charge of the two regiments upon the Khyrabad +Nazim by holding up the <i>sacred Koran</i> over his head. He met +me on his boundary, and Nawab Allee and the Nazim of Baree Biswa +took their leave. Nawab Allee's brother, Abud Allee, came to pay +his respects to me yesterday evening. He is a respectable person in +appearance, and a man of good sense. The landscape was, I think, on +the whole richer than any other that I have seen in Oude; but I am +told that it is still richer at a distance from the road, where the +poppy is grown in abundance, and opium of the best quality +made.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Opium sells in Oude at from three to eight rupees the seer, +according to its quality. In our neighbouring districts it sells at +fourteen rupees the seer, in the shops licensed by Government. +Government, in our districts, get opium from the cultivators and +manufacturers at three rupees and half the seer. The temptation to +smuggle is great, but the risk is great also, for the police in our +districts is vigilant in this matter.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Still lamenting the want of all architectural ornament to the +scene, and signs of manufacturing and commercial industry, to show +that people had property, and were able to display and enjoy it, +and gradations of rank, I asked whether people invested their +wealth in the loans of our Government. "Sir," said Bukhtawur Sing, +"the people who reside in the country know nothing about your +Government paper; it is only the people of the capital that hold it +or understand its value. The landholders and peasantry would never +be able to keep it in safety, or understand when and how to draw +the interest."</p> +<p>"Do they spend more in marriage and other ceremonies than the +people of other parts of India, or do they make greater displays on +such occasions?"</p> +<p>"Quite the reverse, sir," said Seoraj-od Deen; "they dare not +make any display at all. Only the other day, Gunga Buksh, the +refractory landholder of Kasimgunge, attacked a marriage-procession +in the village of ———, carried off the bridegroom, +and imprisoned him till he paid the large random demanded from him. +In February last year Imam Buksh Behraleen, of Oseyree, having +quarrelled with the Amil, attacked and carried off a whole marriage +party to the jungles. They gave up all the property they had, and +offered to sign bonds for more, to be paid by their friends for +their ransom; but he told them that money would not do; that their +families were people of influence, and must make the King's +officers restore him to his estate upon his own terms, or he would +keep them till they all died. They exerted themselves, and Imam +Buksh got back his estate upon his own terms; but he still +continues to rob and plunder. These crimes are to them diversions +from which there is no making them desist."</p> +<p>"There are a dozen gang leaders of this class at present in the +belt of jungle which extends westward from our right up to within +fourteen miles of the Lucknow cantonments; and the plunder of +villages, murder of travellers, and carrying off of brides and +bridegrooms from marriage processions, are things of every-day +occurrence. There are also in these parts a number of pansee +bowmen, who not only join in the enterprises of such gangs as in +other districts, but form gangs of their own, under leaders of +their own caste, to rob travellers and plunder villages.</p> +<p>"Gunga Buksh of Kasimgunge has his fort in this belt of jungle, +and he and his friends and relations take good care that no man +cuts any of it down, or cultivates the land. With the gangs which +he and his relatives keep up in this jungle, he has driven out the +greater part of the Syud proprietors of the surrounding villages, +and taken possession of their lands. After driving out the King's +troops from the town of Dewa, and exacting ransoms from many of the +inhabitants, whom he seized and carried off in several attacks, he, +in October last, brought down upon it all the ruffians he could +collect, killed no less than twenty-nine persons—chiefly Syuds +and land proprietors—and took possession of the town and estate. +The chief proprietor, Bakur Allee, was killed among the rest; and +Gunga Buksh burnt his body, and suspended his head to a post in his +own village of Luseya. He dug down his house and those of all his +relations who had been killed with him, and now holds quiet +possession of his estate."</p> +<p>This was all true. The Resident, on the application of Haffiz-od +Deen, a native judicial officer of Moradabad district—one of +the family which had lost so many members in this atrocious +attack—urged strongly on the Durbar the necessity of +punishing Gunga Buksh and his gang. The Ghunghor Regiment of +Infantry, with a squadron of cavalry, and six guns, was sent out in +October 1849, for the purpose, under a native officer. On the force +moving out, the friends of Gunga Buksh at Court caused the +commandant to be sent for on some pretext or other; and he has been +detained at the capital ever since. The force has, in consequence, +remained idle, and Gunga Buksh has been left quietly to enjoy the, +fruits of his enterprise. The Amil having no troops to support his +authority, or even to defend his person in such a position, has +also remained at Court. No revenue has been collected, and the +people are left altogether exposed to the depredations of these +merciless robbers. The belt of jungle is nine miles long and four +miles wide; and the west end of it is within only fourteen miles of +the Lucknow cantonments, where we have three regiments of infantry, +and a company of artillery.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 22nd, 1850.—A brief history of the rise of +this family may tend to illustrate the state of things in Oude. +Khumma Rawut, of the pansee tribe, the great-grandfather of this +Gunga Buksh, served Kazee Mahommed, the great-grandfather of this +Bakur Allee, as a village watchman, for many years up to his death. +He had some influence over his master, and making the most of this +and of the clan feeling which subsisted among the pansees of the +district, he was able to command the services of a formidable gang +when the old Kazee died. He left a young family, and Khumma got +possession of five or six villages out of the estate which the old +Kazee left to his sons. The sons were too weak: to resist the +pansees, and when Khumma died he left them to his five sons:— +1. Kundee Sing; 2. Bukhta Sing; 3. Alum Sing; 4. Lalsahae; 5. +Misree Sing. As the family increased in numbers it has gone on +adding to its possessions in the same manner, by attacking and +plundering villages, murdering or driving off the old proprietors +of the lands, and taking possession of them for themselves. Each +branch of the family, as it separates from the parent stock, builds +for itself a fort in one or other of the villages which belong to +its share of the acquired lands. In this fort the head of each +branch of the family resides with his armed followers, and sallies +forth to plunder the country and acquire new possessions. In small +enterprises each branch acts by itself; in larger ones two or more +branches unite, and divide the lands and booty they acquire by +amicable arrangement.</p> +<p>They seize all the respectable persons whom they find in the +villages which they attack and plunder, keep them in prison, and +inflict all manner of tortures upon them, till they have paid, or +pledged themselves to pay, all that they have or can borrow from +their friends, as their ransom. If they refuse to pay, or to pledge +themselves to pay the sum demanded, they murder them. If they pay +part, and pledge themselves to pay the rest within a certain time, +they are released; and if they fail to fulfil their engagements, +they and their families are murdered in a second attack. After the +last attack above described upon Dewa, Gunga Buksh seized seven +fine villages belonging to the family of Bakur Allee Khan, which +they had held for many generations. He, Gunga Buksh, now holds no +less than twenty-seven villages, all seized in the same manner, +after the plunder and murder of their old proprietors. The whole of +this family, descendants of Khumma Rawut, hold no less than two +hundred villages and hamlets, all taken in the same manner from the +old proprietors, with the acquiescence or connivance of the local +authorities, who were either too weak or too corrupt to punish +them, and restore the villages to their proper owners.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Kundee Sing had two sons, 1. Cheytun Sing; 2. Ajeet Sing. +Cheytun Sing had two sons, 1. Sophul Sing; 2. Thakurpurshad. Sophul +Sing had two sons, 1. Keerut Sing; 2. Jote Sing. Ajeet Sing had two +sons, 1. Bhugwunt Sing; 2. Rutun Sing. Thakur Purshad, Bhugwunt +Sing, and Rutun Sing, reside in a fort which they have built in +Bhetae, four miles from Dewa, in the north-west border of the belt +of jungle. They hold forty villages, besides hamlets, which they +have taken from the old proprietors of the Dewa and Korsee estates. +Thakur Purshad has another fort called Buldeogur, near that of +Atursae, two coss south of Dewa; and Bhugwunt Sing has the small +fort of Munmutpore, close to Bhetae. Bukta Sing had only one son, +Bisram Sing, who had only one son, Gunga Buksh, who built the fort +of Kasimgunge, on the north-eastern border of the same belt of +jungle, two miles south of Dewa, and on the death of his father, he +went to reside in it with his family and gang. He holds +twenty-seven fine villages, with hamlets. Twenty of these he seized +upon from six to twelve years ago; and the other seven he got after +the attack upon Dewa, in October last. He has also a fort called +Atursae, two coss south from Dewa; a mile west from Buldeogur. Alum +Sing's descendants have remained peaceable cultivators of the soil +in Dewa, and are, consequently, of too little note for a place in +the genealogical table of the family.</p> +<p>Lalsahae had three sons, 1. Dheer Sing; 2. Bustee Sing; 3. Gokul +Sing, all dead. Dheer Sing had two sons, Omed Sing and Jowahir +Sing. Omed Sing had three sons, Dirgpaul Sing, Maheput Sing, and +Gungadhur, who was murdered by Thakur Pershad, his cousin. Jowahir +Sing had one son, Priteepaul Sing. Bustee Sing had two sons, Girwur +Sing and Soulee Sing. Girwur Sing had two sons, Dhokul Sing and +Shunker Sing. This branch of the family hold the forts of Ramgura +and Paharpore, on the border of the jungle six miles south-west +from Dewa, and twelve villages besides hamlets taken in the same +manner from the old proprietors. Gokul Sing had two sons, Dulloo +Sing and Soophul Sing. Dulloo Sing has one son. They reside with +the families of Dheer Sing and Bustee Sing.</p> +<p>Misree Sing, the fifth son of Khumma, had three sons, 1. Boneead +Sing; 2. Dureeao Sing; 3. name forgotten—all three are dead. +Bonead Sing had two sons, 1. Anoop Sing; 2. Goorbuksh Sing. Dureeao +Sing had two sons, 1. Anokee Sing; 2. name forgotten. The third son +of Misree Sing had three sons, 1. Mulung Sing; 2. Anunt Sing; 3. +name forgotten—all three still live.</p> +<p>This branch of the family resides in Satarpore, one mile west +from Kasimgunge, in this belt of Jungle, and two miles from Dewa, +in a fortified house built by them. They have got a small fort, +called Pouree, near this place. They form part of Gunga Buksh's +gang, and share with him in the booty acquired.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>To record all the atrocities committed by the different members +of this family in the process of absorbing the estates of their +neighbours, and the property of men of substance in the countries +around, would be a tedious and unprofitable task; and I shall +content myself with mentioning a few that are most prominent in the +recollection of the people of the district. About ten years ago, +Gunga Buksh and his gang attacked the house of Lalla Shunker Lal, a +respectable merchant of Dewa, plundered it, killed the tutor of his +three sons, and carried them and their father off to his fort, +where he tortured them till they paid him a ransom of nine thousand +rupees. On their release they left Dewa, and have ever since +resided in Lucknow. Two years after they attacked the village of +Saleempore, two miles east from Dewa, killed Nyam Allee, the +zumeendar, and seized upon his estate. About six years ago Munnoo, +the son of Gunga Buksh, with a gang of near two thousand men, +attacked the King's force in the town of Dewa, killed four +sipahees, two artillery-men, and two troopers, and plundered the +place. About six months ago this gang attacked the house of Ewuz +Mahommed, in Dewa, plundered it, levelled it with the ground, and +took off all the timbers to their fort of Kasimgunge. Soon after he +made the attack in which he killed twenty-nine persons in Dewa, as +above described.</p> +<p>Thakur Purshad, about fourteen years ago, attacked the village +of Molookpore, two miles east from Dewa, plundered it, took +possession of the land, seized and carried off the proprietor, +Sheikh Khoda Buksh, and put him to death in his fort of Bhetae. +Three years after he attacked the house of Gholam Mostafa, in Dewa, +killed him, and seized upon all the lands he held. Three years ago +he attacked the house of Janoo, a shopkeeper, plundered it, and +confined and tortured him till he paid a ransom of two hundred and +fifty rupees. Three months after he seized and carried off to his +fort Roopun, another shopkeeper, and confined and tortured him till +he paid a ransom of three hundred rupees. Last year he seized and +took off Jhow Dhobee from Dewa, and extorted forty rupees from him. +Six months ago he attacked a marriage-procession in Dewa, plundered +it, took off the bridegroom, Omed Allee, and confined and tortured +him till he paid eleven hundred and fifteen rupees. These men all +levy black mail from the country around; and it is those only who +cannot or will not pay it, or whose lands they intend to +appropriate, that they attack. They created the jungle above +described, of nine miles long by four wide, for their own evil +purposes, and preserve it with so much vigilance, that no man dares +to cut a stick, graze a bullock, or browse a camel in it without +their special sanction; indeed, they are so much dreaded, that no +man or woman beyond their own family or followers dares enter the +jungle.</p> +<p>Omed Sing, fifteen years ago, invited to his house the four +proprietors of the village of Owree, Gholam Kadir, Allee Buksh, +Durvesh Allee, and Moiz-od Deen, residents of Dewa, and put them to +death because they could not, by torture, be made to transfer their +lands to him. He then seized their village, and built the fort of +Rumgura Paharpore upon it. Omed Sing, Jowahir Sing, Dhokul Sing, +and Soophul Sing all reside in this fort with the son of Dulloo +Sing. This family of pansees, or, as they call themselves, Rawuts, +form at present one of the most formidable gangs of robbers in +Oude, and one of the most difficult to put down from their union +and inveterate habit of plunder. They can always, at short notice +and little cost, collect bands of hundreds of the same tribe and +habit to join them in plunder and resistance to lawful +authority.</p> +<p>On the 25th of February, 1838, Rajah Dursun Sing, then in charge +of the district, wrote to the Durbar to say, "that Gunga Buksh of +Dewa was the worst robber in the district, would pay no revenue, +and instigated others to withhold theirs; that numerous complaints +had been made against him to the Durbar by the people, and that he +had been urged by Government to do his best to punish him; that he +had long tried all he could to do so, but had not sufficient +troops; that his evil deeds increased, however, so much, that he at +last determined to run all risks, and on the 27th of that month, on +Friday, he left Amaneegunge, and marched forty-eight miles without +resting; and on Saturday, before daybreak, reached the fort of +Kasimgunge, and invested it on all sides; that he found the fort +large and strong, and surrounded with dense jungle; that he had +only three guns with him, but, as the enemy were taken by surprise, +he took all their outworks one after another; that the besieged got +a crowd of their adherents to attack his force in the rear on +Saturday night, that they might get off in the confusion, but his +troops were ready to intercept them at all points; and, in +attempting to cut his way through, Gunga Baksh was seized with all +his followers, but the women and children were permitted to go +their way; that a good many of the enemy had been killed, and he, +Dursun Sing, had had one golundaz and five sipahees killed and ten +persons wounded."</p> +<p>The King sent Dursun Sing a dress of honour with the title of +Rajah on the 3rd of March, 1838, and ordered him to have the fort +levelled with the ground. Dursun Sing, in reply, states that he had +men employed in pulling down the fort; and, in reply to an order to +send in a list of the property taken from the besieged, he states, +on the 12th of March, 1838, that none whatever had been secured. +Gunga Buksh soon bribed his way out of prison at Lucknow, returned +to Kasimgunge, rebuilt his fort, and made it stronger than ever; +and continued to plunder the country, and increase his landed +possessions by the murder of the old proprietors. He became +enlisted into the tribe of Rajpoots, and his sister was married to +the Powar Rajah of <i>Etonda</i>, seven coss north from Lucknow. +Jode Sing, the present Rajah of that place, is her son; and he is +associated with Gunga Buksh in his depredations. <i>Sahuj Ram</i>, +of Pokhura, of the Ametheea tribe of Rajpoots, in the Hydergurh +purgunna, on the right bank of the Goomtee river, married a +daughter of Gunga Buksh's, and has a strong fort, called Raunee, +thirty miles east from Lucknow. He is said to have been present at +the murder of the twenty-nine persons at Dewa in October last, and +to have had with him four hundred armed men and two guns. He and +all his followers are notorious and inveterate robbers, like Gunga +Buksh himself. The descendants of Khumma, the village watchman, +have already built ten forts upon the lands which they have seized, +and there are no less than seventy of these forts or strongholds +within a circuit of ninety miles round Bhetae and Khasimgunge, the +centre being not more than eighteen miles from the Lucknow +cantonments.</p> +<p>The Minister having informed the Resident that, without some aid +from British troops, it was impossible for him to put down or +punish these atrocious murderers and robbers, who had so many +mud-forts well garrisoned by their gangs, he, on the 26th of March, +1850, ordered a wing of the 2nd Battalion of Oude Local Infantry +under Captain Boileau to join the force, consisting of, 1. A wing +of the 2nd Oude Local Infantry; 2. Captain Barlow's regiment, with +two nine-pounders and one eight-inch howitzer; 3. Nawab Allee's +auxiliaries, two thousand men and three small guns; 4. Sufshikum +Khan, the Amil of the district, with one thousand men and five +guns; 5. Seoraj-od Deen, the Amil of Ramnuggur, with one hundred +and fifty men and two guns; 6. Ghalib Jung, with one thousand foot +soldiers, forty camel jinjals (tumbooraks), seven guns, and one +hundred troopers, in an attack upon Kasimgunge. The different parts +of this force had been so disposed as to concentrate upon and +invest the fort at daybreak on the morning of that day. The +surprise was complete.</p> +<p>Shells were thrown into the fort from Captain Barlow's guns, but +Captain Boileau did not consider the force sufficient to take the +fort and secure, the garrison, and wrote to request a +reinforcement. The distance from Kasimgunge to the cantonments was +twenty miles. A wing of the 10th Regiment Native Infantry, with two +guns, was sent off under Captain Wilson; but the garrison had +evacuated the fort and fled on the night of the 26th, and the wing +was ordered to proceed direct to the fort of Bhetae, four miles +nearer to the cantonments, which was to be invested by the same +force on the morning of the 28th.</p> +<p>Captain Wilson had with him Lieutenant Elderton, as adjutant of +the wing, and Ensigns Trenchard and Wish, with a native officer in +charge of the two guns. They reached Bhetae at 7 A.M., were joined +by the Bhetae force at 8 A.M., and the two forts of Bhetae and +Munmutpore were forthwith invested. Munmutpore stood about three +hundred yards to the west of Bhetae; and both forts were held by +Thakur Purshad and Bhugwunt Sing, members of the same family of +pansee robbers, and their gangs. Captain Wilson was the chief in +command; and he, with his own and Captain Boileau's wing, took up +his position on the north side of Bhetae, and placed Captain Barlow +on the west side of Munmutpore. There was a deep dry ditch all +round outside the outer wall, and a thick fence of bamboos inside. +Between this fence and the citadel in both forts was a still deeper +ditch. Between the fence of bamboos and the inner ditch was a small +intricate passage, intersected by huts and trenches.</p> +<p>The wall of the citadel was about twenty feet high, and the +upper part formed a parapet eight feet high, filled with loopholes +for matchlocks. Between Bhetae and Munmutpore, midway, was a large +bastion filled with matchlock-men, to keep open the communication +and prevent an enemy from taking up any position between the two +forts. The investing force was distributed all round, with orders +to attack the nearest and weakest points as soon as Captain Wilson +should commence his upon the main point, the northern face.</p> +<p>On the afternoon of the 29th, about half-past three, a small +party of the garrison came out of the gate on the northern face, +and appeared disposed to attack Captain Wilson's two nine-pounders, +and a third gun, which had all three been advanced on to within a +short distance of the gate. During this time Captain Barlow was +throwing shells into both forts from his position to the west of +Munmutpore. The subahdar-major had command of the advanced party in +charge of Captain Wilson's three guns. He charged and drove back +into the fort the small party which threatened his guns, and +Captain Wilson hastily assembled all his and Captain Boileau's +force, and followed to support the subahdar-major. Finding his +officers and men all excited and anxious to push on into the fort, +Captain Wilson unfortunately yielded to the impulse, and entered +the outer gate with one of his two nine-pounders, in the hope of +taking the place by a <i>coup-de-main</i>.</p> +<p>The garrison all retired into the citadel as he entered, and +kept up a distressing fire upon the assailants as they went along +the narrow passage between the bamboo fence and the ditch in search +of a way into the citadel. Several rounds were fired from the gun, +in the hope of making a breach in the wall, but the balls +penetrated and lodged midway in the wall, without bringing down any +part of it; and musketry was altogether useless against a thick +parapet with loopholes, so slender on the outside and so wide +within. The huts, which might have sheltered officers and men, were +set fire to by accident, and tended to increase the confusion. The +entrance to the citadel was over a narrow mud causeway, which the +garrison had not had time to remove; but it was hidden from the +assailants by a projection which they could not attain, and the men +began to fall fast before the fire from the loopholes of the +parapet.</p> +<p>On hearing the firing on Captain Wilson's side, the officers +commanding the troops on the other three sides, commenced their +attack on the nearest and seemingly weakest points, as before +directed. Captain Barlow lost some men in an unsuccessful attempt +to enter the fort of Munmutpore on the west side; but the auxiliary +force of Nawab Allee effected an entrance on the east side of that +fort. They were, however, arrested by the second ditch within, in +the same manner as Captain Wilson's force had been, and a good many +men were shot down in the same manner, in attempting to get over +it. The force under Sufshikum Khan, on the east side of Bhetae, +effected an entrance, but was arrested by the second ditch in the +same manner, and lost many men. The enemy in Bhetae had eleven men +killed and nineteen wounded, a good many of them from the shells +thrown in by Captain Barlow. The loss of the enemy in Munmutpore +was never ascertained.</p> +<p>After Captain Wilson had been engaged within the wall about +three-quarters of an hour, and the ammunition of the gun had become +exhausted. Lieutenant Elderton, who had behaved with great +gallantry during the whole scene, and was standing in advance with +Captain Boileau, received a shot in the neck, and fell dead by his +side. Having lost so many men and officers in fruitless efforts to +penetrate into the citadel, and seeing no prospect of carrying the +place by remaining longer under the fire from the parapet, Captains +Wilson and Boileau drew off their parties; but the bullocks which +drew the gun had been all killed or wounded, and they were obliged +to leave it behind with the bodies of the killed. The men attempted +to draw off the gun; but so many were shot down from above that it +was deemed prudent to abandon it. About midnight both garrisons +vacated the forts, and retired unmolested through the jungle to the +eastward, where Ghalib Jung's troops had been posted. There is good +ground to believe that he connived at their escape, and purposely +held back from the attack as a traitor in connivance with some +influential persons in the Durbar.</p> +<p>The 10th Native Infantry had one European officer, Lieutenant +Elderton, ten sipahees, and one calashee, killed; five native +officers and twenty-two privates, wounded.</p> +<p>The 2nd Oude Local Infantry, six sipahees, and one calashee, +killed; and seven native officers and thirteen privates, +wounded.</p> +<p>The artillery had one native officer and nine privates +wounded.</p> +<p>This reverse arose from the commandant's yielding to the +impetuosity of his officers and sipahees, and attempting to take by +a rush a strong fort whose defences he had never examined and knew +nothing whatever about, as he had never before seen any place of +the kind, or had one described to him. He and all his men had +courage in abundance, but they wanted prudence.</p> +<p>Gunga Buksh and his son, Runjeet Sing, were afterwards taken, +convicted before the highest tribunal in Oude, of the murder of the +twenty-seven persons in Dewa, in October, 1849, and executed on the +18th of September, 1850. Thakur Purshad and his cousin, Bhugwunt +Sing, remained at large, and at the head of their gang of robbers +continued to plunder the country, and levy blackmail from +landholders and village communities till the 1st of February 1851, +though pressed by a force of one thousand infantry, fifty troopers, +and some ten guns. On the morning of that day, Captain Hearsey, +commanding a detachment of the Oude Frontier Police, who had been +ordered to co-operate with this force in putting down this gang, +took advantage of a dense fog, fell upon them, and with the loss of +one non-commissioned officer killed, and three non-commissioned +officers and three sipahees wounded, killed one of the chief +leaders, Bhugwunt Sing, and twenty-two of their followers, wounded +many more, and took eight prisoners, among them the son of the +leader Bhugwunt Sing. The other two leaders, Thakur Purshad and +Keerut Sing, were bathing at the time in the river Goomtee, and +escaped by swimming across.</p> +<p>Rajah Bukhtawur Sing declares, that the taking of daughters from +families of this caste by Rajpoots is one of the punishments +inflicted upon them for the murder of their own. They will not +condescend to give daughters in marriage to such persons; and they +take daughters from them merely to get their money, and assistance +on emergency in resisting the Government, and murdering and +plundering its subjects.</p> +<p>This part of Oude, comprising the districts of Dureeabad +Rudowlee, Ramnuggur Dhumeree, Dewa Jahangeerabad, Jugdispoor, and +Hydergur, has more mud forts than any other, though they abound in +all parts; and the greater part of them are garrisoned in the same +way by gangs of robbers. It is worth remarking, that the children +in the villages hereabout play at fortification as a favourite +amusement, each striving to excel the others in the ingenuity of +his defences. They all seem to feel that they must some day have to +take a part in defending such places against the King's troops; and +their parents seem to encourage the feeling. The real mud forts are +concealed from sight in beautiful clusters of bamboos or other +evergreen jungle, so that the passer-by can see nothing of them. +Some of them are exceedingly strong, against troops unprovided with +mortars and shells. The garrison is easily shelled out by a small +force, or starved out by a large one; but one should never attempt +to breach them with round shot, or take them by an escalade or a +rush.</p> +<p>It is still more worthy of remark, that these great landholders, +who have recently acquired their possessions by the plunder and +murder of their weaker neighbours, and who continue their system of +pillage, in order to acquire the means to maintain their gangs, and +add to these possessions, are those who are most favoured at Court, +and most conciliated by the local rulers; because they are more +able and more willing than others to pay for the favours of the +one, and set at defiance the authority of the other. They often get +their estates transferred from the jurisdiction of the local +governors to that of the person in charge of the Hozoor Tuhseel at +Lucknow. Almost all the estates of this family of Rawuts have been +so transferred.</p> +<p>Local governors cannot help seeing or hearing of the atrocities +they commit, and feeling some <i>sympathy</i> with the sufferers; +or at least some apprehension, that they may lose revenue by their +murder, and the absorption of their estate; but the officer in +charge of the Hozoor Tuhseel sees or hears little of what they do, +and cares nothing about the sufferers as long as their despoilers +pay him liberally. If the local governor reports their atrocities +to Government, this person represents it as arising solely from +enmity; and describes the sufferers as lawless characters, whom it +is meritorious to punish. If the Court attempts to punish or coerce +such characters, he gives them information, and does all he can to +frustrate the attempt. If they are taken and imprisoned, he soon +gets them released; and if their forts and strongholds have been +taken and pulled down, he sells them the privilege of rebuilding or +repairing them. It is exceedingly difficult at all times, and often +altogether impossible, to get one of these robber landholders +punished, or effectually put down, so many and so formidable are +the obstacles thrown in the way by the Court favourite, who has +charge of the Hozoor Tuhseel, and their other friends at the +capital. Those who suffer from their crimes have seldom any chance +of redress. Having lost their all, they are no longer in a +condition to pay for it; and without payment nothing can be got +from the Court of Lucknow.</p> +<p><i>February</i> 23, 1850.—Badoosura, ten miles south-east +over a plain covered with rich crops and fine foliage; soil muteear +generally, but in some parts doomut; tillage excellent. Passed over +some more sites of Bhur towns. The Oude territory abounds with +these sites, but nothing seems to be known of the history of the +people to whom they belonged. They seem to have been systematically +extirpated by the Mahommedan conquerors in the early part of the +fourteenth century. All their towns seem to have been built of +burnt brick, while none of the towns of the present day are so. +There are numerous wells still in use, which were formed by them of +the finest burnt brick and cement; and the people tell me that +others of the same kind are frequently discovered in ploughing over +fields. I have heard of no arms, coins, or utensils peculiar to +them having been discovered, though copper sunuds, or deeds of +grant from the Rajahs of Kunoje, to other people in Oude, six +hundred years ago, have been found. The Bhurs must have formed town +and village communities in this country at a very remote period, +and have been a civilized people, though they have not left a name, +date, or legend inscribed upon any monument. Brick ruins of forts, +houses, and wells, are the only relics to be found of these people. +Some few of the caste are still found in the humblest grade of +society as cultivators, police officers, &c., in Oude and other +districts north of the Ganges. Up to the end of the thirteenth +century their sovereignty certainly extended over what are now +called the Byswara and Banoda districts; and Sultanpore, under some +other name, appears to have been their capital. It was taken and +destroyed early in the fourteenth century by Allah-od Deen, Sultan +of Delhi, or by one of his generals, and named Sultanpore. Chandour +was another great town of these Bhurs. I am not aware of any +temples having been found to indicate their creed.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The Bhur Goojurs must, I conclude, have been of the same +race.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The landholders, who have become leaders of gang-robbers, are +more numerous here than in any other part of Oude that I have seen, +save Bangur: but they are not here, as there, so strongly +federated. The Amil is so weak, that, in despair, he connives at +their atrocities and usurpations as the only means of collecting +the Government revenue, and filling his own pockets. The pausee +bowmen are here much more formidable than they are even in Bangur. +There they thieve, and join the gangs of the refractory +landholders; but here they have powerful leaders of their own +tribe, and form formidable independent gangs. They sometimes attack +and plunder villages, and spare neither age nor sex. They have some +small strongholds in which they assemble from different villages +over pitchers of spirits, made from the fruit of the mhowa tree, +and purchased for them by their leaders; and, having determined +upon what villages to attack, proceed at once to work before they +get sober. Every town and village through which we pass has +suffered more or less from their atrocities, and the people are in +a continual state of dread.</p> +<p>In 1843, the pausees, who resided in the village of Chindwara, +in the Dewa district, ran off to avoid being held responsible for +the robbery of a merchant in the neighbourhood. They were pacified +and brought back; but the landholder was sorely pressed by the +Government collector to pay up his balance of revenue, and he, in +turn, pressed the pausees to pay up the balances due by them for +rents. They ran off again, but their families were retained by the +landholder. The pausees gathered together all of their clan that +they could muster from the surrounding villages, attacked the +landholder's house, killed his mother, wife, four of his nephews, +the wife of one of his nephews, two of the King's sipahees who +attempted to defend them, and several of the landholder, Yakoob +Husun's, servants, and plundered him of everything he had. The +landlord himself happened to be absent on business, and was the +only one of the family who escaped. In all twenty-nine persons were +murdered by the pausees on that occasion. They were all permitted +to come back and settle in the village, as if nothing had happened; +the village was made over to another, and Yakoob Husun has ever +since been supplicating in vain for redress at the King's gate.</p> +<p>About three miles from Badoosura, we passed from the Ramnuggur +district into that of Dureeabad Rodowlee; but the above description +is applicable to both, though in a somewhat less degree to +Ramnuggur than to Dureeabad. It is equally applicable to the Dewa +district, which we left on our right yesterday, midway between our +road and Lucknow. There Gunga Buksh Chowdheree and his relatives +have large gangs engaged in plundering towns, and seizing upon the +lands of their weaker and more scrupulous neighbours. In the +Dureeabad district, the leaders of gangs are chiefly of the +Behraleea tribe of Rajpoots, so called after the district of +Behralee, in which they reside.</p> +<p>I this morning asked Nowsing, a landholder of the Rykwar Rajpoot +clan, who came to me, in sorrow, to demand redress for grievous +wrongs, whether he did not think that all the evils they suffered +arose from murdering their female infants. "No, sir, I do not." +"But the greater part of the Rajpoot families do still murder them, +do they not?" "Yes, sir, they still destroy them; and we believe +that the father who preserves a daughter will never live to see her +suitably married, or that the family into which she does marry will +perish or be ruined." "Do you recollect any instances of this?" +"Yes, sir, my uncle, Dureeao, preserved a daughter, but died before +he could see her married; and my father was obliged to go to the +cost of getting her married into a Chouhan family at Mynpooree, in +the British territory. My grandfather, Nathoo, and his brother, +Rughonath, preserved each a daughter, and married them into the +same Chouhan families of Mynpooree. These families all became +ruined; and their lands were sold by auction; and the three women +returned upon us, one having two sons and a daughter, and another +two sons. We maintained them for some years with difficulty, but +this year, seeing the disorder that prevailed around us, they all +went back to the families of their husbands. It is the general +belief among us, sir, that those who preserve their daughters never +prosper, and that the families into which we marry them are equally +unfortunate."</p> +<p>"Then you think that it is a duty imposed upon you from above to +destroy your infant daughters, and that the neglect and disregard +of that duty bring misfortunes upon you?" "We think it must be so, +sir, with regard to our own families or clan."</p> +<p>I am satisfied that these notions were honestly expressed, +however strange they may appear to others. Habit has brutalized +them, or rendered them worse than brutes in regard to their female +offspring. They derive profit, or save expense and some +mortification, by destroying them, and readily believe anything +that can tend to excuse the atrocity to themselves or to others. +The facility with which men and women persuade themselves of a +religious sanction for what they wish to do, however cruel and +iniquitous, is not, unhappily, peculiar to any class or to any +creed. These Rajpoots know that the crime is detestable, not only +to the few Christians they meet, but to all Mahommedans, and to +every other class of Hindoos among whom they live and move. But the +Rajpoots, among whom alone this crime prevails, are the dominant +class in Oude; and they can disregard the feelings and opinions of +the people around them with impunity. The greater part of the land +is held by them, and in the greater part of the towns and villages +their authority is paramount.</p> +<p>Industry is confined almost exclusively to agriculture. They +have neither merchants nor manufacturers to form, or aid in +forming, a respectable and influential middle class; and the public +officers of the state they look upon as their natural and +irreconcileable enemies. When the aristocracy of Europe buried +their daughters alive in nunneries, the state of society was much +the same as it now is in Oude. The King has prohibited both +infanticide and suttee. The latter being essentially a public +exhibition, the local authorities have continued, in great measure, +to put down; but the former was certainly never more common than it +is at present, for the Rajpoot landholders were never before more +strong and numerous. That suttees were formerly very numerous in +Oude is manifest from the numerous suttee tombs we see in the +vicinity of every town and almost every village; but the Rajpoots +never felt much interested in them; they were not necessary either +to their pride or purse.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Suttee, infanticide, suicide, the maiming of any one, or +making any one an eunuch, were all prohibited by the King of Oude, +on the 15th of May, 1833, as reported to Government by the Resident +on the 6th November, 1834. These prohibitions were reported to the +Resident, by the King, on the 14th of June, 1833.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>February 24th</i>, 1850.—Dureeabad, ten miles +south-east, over a plain of good soil—doomut and +mutteear—covered with the same rich crops and fine foliage. +There is at present no other district in Oude abounding so much in +gang robbery and other crime as this of Dureeabad Rodoulee, in +which the Amil, Girdhara Sing, is notoriously conniving at these +crimes from a consciousness of utter inability to contend with the +landholders who commit them, or employ men to commit them. Yet he +has at his disposal a force that ought to be sufficient to keep in +order a district five times as large. He has the Jannissar +battalion of nujeebs, under Seetla Buksh at present; the Zoolfukar +Sufderee battalion of nujeebs, under Bhow-od Dowlah, who never +leaves Court; and the Judeed, or new regiment, consisting of a +thousand men. He has nine guns, and a squadron of horse. Of the +guns, five are on the ground, utterly useless; four will bear +firing a few rounds. For these four he has bullocks, but they are +not yet in condition. Of the seer and half of corn, drawn for each +bullock per diem, only half a seer is given. Of the corps, more +than one-half of the men are at Lucknow, in attendance upon Court +favourites; and of the half present not one-third are fit for the +work of soldiers.</p> +<p>The Amil rode by my side, and I asked him about the case of the +marriage-procession. "Sir," said he, "what you heard from Seoraj-od +Deen is all true. Imam Buksh had a strong fort in his estate of +Ouseyree, five miles to our right, where he had a formidable gang, +that committed numerous dacoitees and highway robberies in the +country around. I was ordered to attack him with all my force. He +got intimation, and assembled his friends to the number of five +thousand. I had not half the number. We fought till he lost seventy +men, and I had thirty killed and fifteen wounded. He then fled to +the jungles, and I levelled his fort with the ground. He continued, +however, to plunder, and at last seized the bridegroom and all the +marriage party, and took them to his bivouac in the jungles. The +family was very respectable, and made application to me, and I was +obliged to restore him to his estate, where he has lived ever since +in peace. I attacked him in November 1848, and he took off the +marriage party in February following." "But," said a poor hackery +driver, who was running along by my side, and had yesterday +presented me a petition, "you forgot to get back my two carts and +bullocks which he still keeps, and uses for his own purpose, though +I have been importuning you ever since." "And what did he do to you +when he got you into the jungles?" "He tied up and flogged all who +seemed respectable, and worth something—such as merchants and +shopkeepers—and poked them with red-hot ramrods till they paid +all they could get, and promised to use all the influence and wealth +of their families to force the Amil to restore him to his estate on +his own terms." "And were the parties married after their release?" +"Yes, sir, we were released in April, after the Amil had been made +to consent to his terms; and they were married in May; but I could +not get back my two carts." "And on what terms did you restore this +Imam Buksh to his estate?" "I granted him a lease, sir," said the +Amil, "at the same rate of five thousand rupees a-year which he had +paid before."*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* This Imam Buksh, in April, 1850, went in disguise to the +annual fair held at Bahraetch, in honour of the old saint. He was +recognized by some of Captain Bunbury's soldiers, who attempted to +seize him. He was armed with sword, spear, and shield, and defended +himself as long as he could. Seeing no chance of escape, he plunged +both sword and spear into his own belly, and died, though Captain +Bunbury came up, had his wounds sewn up, and did all he could to +save him.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Stopping to talk with the peasantry of a village who had come +out to the roadside to pay their respects and see the procession, I +asked them how, amidst such crimes and disorders, they could +preserve their crops so well. "Sir," said they, "we find it very +difficult and expensive to do so, and shall find it still more so +when the crops are cut and stacked, or have been threshed and +stored; then these gangs of robbers have it all their own way, and +burn and plunder all over the country; we are obliged to spend all +we have in maintaining watchmen for our fields." "But the pausee +bowmen have an allowance for this duty, have they not?" "Yes, sir, +they have all an allowance. Every cultivator, when he cuts his +crop, leaves a certain portion standing for the pausee who has +guarded it, and this we call his <i>Bisar</i>. Over and above this +he has a portion of land from the proprietor or holder of the +village, which he tills himself or gets tilled by others." "And +they are strong and faithful watchmen, are they not?" "Yes, sir, +they are; and though they will thieve and join gangs of robbers in +any enterprise, they will never betray their trust. They consider +it a <i>point of honour</i> not to trespass on fields or property +under the guardianship of members of their own class with whom they +are on good terms, or to suffer any persons whatever to trespass on +what is under their own care. The money which we send to the +treasuries is commonly intrusted to pausees, and their fidelity and +courage may be relied upon. The gang robbers do little injury to +our fields while the crops are green, for they take animals of +hardly any kind with them in their enterprises; and having to move +to and from their points of attack as quickly as possible, they +could carry little of our crops with them; they are, too, afraid of +the arrows of the pausee bowmen at night, if they venture to +trespass upon our fields." "And are these pausee bowmen paid at the +rate you mention all over the country?" "No, sir; they are in some +parts paid in what is called the beega arhaeya, or two seers and +half of grain from every beega. From a pucka beega they get pucka +two and half seers; and from a kutcha beega, a kutcha two and half +seers."* "Your crops, my friends, are finer than I have ever before +seen them in Oude." "Yes, sir, they are very fine; but how we shall +gather them God only knows, with such gangs of desperate robbers +all around us. The alarm is sounded every night, and we have no +rest. The Government authorities are too weak to protect us, or too +indifferent to our sufferings; and we cannot afford to provide the +means to protect ourselves."</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The kutcha measure bears the same relation to the pucka in +weight as in land measurement.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>As we went on, I asked the Amil what had become of Ahburun Sing, +of Kyampore, the landholder who murdered his father to get +possession of his estate, as mentioned in the early part of this +Diary. "Ahburun Sing, sir, is still in possession of his estate of +Kyampore, and manages it exceedingly well." "I thought he had taken +to the jungles with his gang, like the rest of his class after such +a crime, in order to reduce you to terms?" "It was his father, sir, +Aman Sing, that was doing this. He was the terror of the country; +neither road nor village was safe from him. He murdered many +people, and plundered and burnt down many villages; and all my +efforts to put him down were vain. At last I came to an +understanding with his eldest son, who remained at home in the +management of the estate, and was on bad terms with his father. He +had confidential persons always about his father for his own +safety; and when he was one night off his guard, he went at the +head of a small band of resolute men, and seized him. He kept him +in prison for six months, and told me that while so much plunder +was going on around, he did not feel secure of keeping his father a +single night; that many of his old followers wanted him back as +their leader, and would certainly rescue him if he was not disposed +of; that he could not put him to death, lest he should be detested +by his clan as a parricide; but if I would make a feigned attack on +the fort, he would kill him, and make it appear that he had lost +his life in the defence of it. I moved with all the force I had +against the fort, discharged many guns against the walls, made a +feigned attempt at escalade; and in the midst of the confusion +<i>Aman Sing was killed</i>. As soon as this was done, I returned +with my force; the son remained in possession of the estate, and +all the surrounding country was delighted to hear that so atrocious +a character had been got rid of."</p> +<p>This was all true, and the Amil did not seem to think that any +one who listened to him could suppose that he had done anything +dishonourable in all this: he seemed to think that all must feel as +he did, seeing his utter inability to cope with these baronial +robbers in any other way, and the evils they every day inflicted +upon the people. This Aman Sing was the most formidable of these +robbers in this district, and the high road from Lucknow to Fyzabad +was for some time closed by his gang. Of those whom he robbed, he +used to murder all who appeared likely to be able to get a hearing +at Court or at the Residency.</p> +<p>The Behraleea Rajpoots, of the Soorujpore Behreyla purgunna, are +now the most formidable and inveterate robbers and plunderers in +the district. The Rajah of this estate, Singjoo, was for some years +the most formidable robber in Oude. He had taken a dislike to the +family of a sipahee of the Governor-General's bodyguard; and, in an +evil hour, he buried the sipahee's father, and some members of his +family, alive. Strong remonstrances were made through the Resident, +and Man Sing, the son of Dursan Sing, who has been already +mentioned in this diary, had orders to seize him. In March, 1845, +he made a march of forty miles at the head of five hundred active +and brave men; and, on the night of the 20th of that month, reached +the gate of the fort of Soorujpore, broke it open, entered, killed +and wounded fifty of the Rajah's men, and lost five of his own.</p> +<p>The Rajah escaped and took shelter in the fort of Goura. After +taking possession of the fort, eight guns, and some elephants, and +releasing two hundred unhappy prisoners, Man Sing followed the +Rajah to Goura, where he was joined by Captain Magness and his +corps. The gate of this fort was giving way before Man Sing's +pickaxemen, when Singjoo surrendered. He was taken to Lucknow, and +there died in gaol. The village, in which his father had been +buried alive, Hukkamee, was given to the sipahee, and is still held +by the family;* but they are a good deal worried in the possession +by the widow of the old Rajah, who still lives at Soorujpore, and +would be as formidable as her late husband was if she could.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* In the interval, during which Singjoo held this village, he +had added to its boundaries a good deal of land belonging to +himself and others, under the impression that he was secure in the +hereditary possession. The sipahee's family seized upon all these +lands, while they paid Government only the old rate of revenue. The +widow of Singjoo has been ever since trying to recover them, in the +usual way, by night attacks, and a good many lives have been lost +on both sides, but most on the side of the sipahee's family. +December 4th, 1851.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Seodeen, another leader of the same tribe, had been seized in +the same manner by Man Sing's father, Dursun Sing, in October, +1830; and soon after three of his nephews were seized, and all four +died in gaol at Lucknow; but Chunda and Indul, the brothers of +these three men, are still among the most formidable robbers of the +district. Hardly a night passes without their plundering some +village or other, though Chunda continues to hold his estate, which +yields 2250 rupees a-year, under the security of Seetla Buksh, the +commandant of the Jannissaree battalion, for the payment of four +hundred and fifty rupees a-year. The other robbers of the Dureeabad +Rodowlee district, most formidable, are—</p> +<p>1. Imambuksh, above described, as having seized the marriage +party. In October last he attacked the town of Syud Mahomedpore, +killed three of the Syud proprietors, and plundered it of all he +could find. In the interval between his being driven out of his +stronghold and restored, he attacked and plundered no less than +twelve villages, in the same purgunna of Bussooree Mowae. In one of +them, Myrmow, belonging to Ameer Chowdheree, he killed no less than +twelve of the inhabitants. He still keeps up his gang, and +plunders, though restored to his estate on his own terms.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The death of this robber, Imam Buksh, has been already +described in a note.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>2. Junuck Sing, Behraleea, and his brother, Jeskurun, only +twenty days ago, attacked, plundered, and burnt down the town of +Meeangunge, through which we passed this morning, and carried off +all the inhabitants from whom they thought they could extort any +ransom. Only two days ago, they attacked and plundered the village +of Bhojpore, belonging to Soorujbulee Canoongo, one of the most +respectable men in the district; and cut off the hands of six +persons, one of whom died from loss of blood. The next day they +attacked and plundered Gorawa, a village belonging to the same +person, and burnt it down. Two of the inhabitants were severely +wounded, and many bullocks perished in the flames. Within the last +year they have taken off more than two thousand head of cattle from +the purgunna of Soorujpore Behreyla, in which these villages are +situated. Their chief associates in the crimes they commit every +day are Chunda and Indul, their clansmen above named.</p> +<p>3. Daood Khan, zumeendar of Sundona, in Mowae Bussooree. He has +murdered several of his co-sharers in the estate, and taken their +lands—frightened out others, and taken theirs, and at the +head of his band of ruffians he robs on the highway, and plunders +villages.</p> +<p>4. Benee Sing Kana, Rajpoot of Deeh, in the Mohlara purgunna. He +is blind of one eye, and has a small but formidable gang. In +November, 1850, the native collector of Mohlara, sent a detachment +of one hundred men, accompanied by Seonath Sing, a co-sharer of +Benee Sing, in the village of Deeh, and Oree Sing, a sipahee, in +Captain Orr's Frontier Police, to attack his small gang in their +stronghold at Atgowa, in the Rodowlee purgunna. They reached the +place at the dawn of day, and forthwith commenced the attack. Benee +Sing and his men made a stoat defence. Rajah Man Sing came up, and +great numbers of the armed peasantry joined in the attack. They +took the place about nine o'clock; but Benee Sing, with fourteen of +his stoutest men, defended his house as a citadel till morning, +when the house was set fire to by the assailants. One of the +fourteen was burnt and disabled, when Benee Sing and the remaining +thirteen rushed out, sword in hand, to sell their lives as dearly +as possible. Benee Sing and twelve of the thirteen were killed; and +the thirteenth at last threw down his arms, and called for quarter. +He got it, and was saved. Six of his men had before been killed in +defending the place. Man Sing had three men wounded and one killed; +three more of the assailants were killed, and seven wounded. The +head of the "one-eyed robber" was sent in to the king, and was +received with much joy.</p> +<p>5. Jeskurun Behraleea, zumeendar of Kiteya, in Soorujpore.</p> +<p>6. Rughbur Behraleea, of Kiteya, an associate of Imam Buksh and +Chunda. Four months ago his gang seized two carts laden with +valuable property belonging to Seodeen subahdar, of the Honourable +Company's service. Through the interposition of the Resident they +were restored fifteen days ago.</p> +<p>7. Jugurnath <i>Chuprassee</i>, a bhala soltan Rajpoot. This is +one of the most formidable of the leaders of banditti in this and +the adjoining district of Jugdeespore. He and his elder brother, +Surubdowun Sing, were chuprassees on the establishment of Captain +Paton, when he was the First Assistant at Lucknow, and had charge +of the Post-office, in addition to his other duties. A post-office +runner was one night robbed on the road, and Jugurnath was sent out +to inquire into the circumstances. The Amil of the district gave +him a large bribe to misrepresent the case to his master; and as he +refused to share this bribe with his fellow-servants, they made +known his manifold transgressions to Captain Paton, who forthwith +dismissed him. Surubdowun Sing was soon after dismissed for some +other offence, and they both retired to their estate of Oskamow, in +the Jugdeespore district.</p> +<p>This estate comprised fifteen villages. They obtained the leases +of these villages by degrees, through the influence which their +position at the Residency gave them. As soon as they got the lease +of a village, they proceeded to turn out all the old proprietors +and cultivators, in order the better to secure possession in +perpetuity; and those among them of the military class, fought "to +the death," to retain or recover possession of their rights. To +defend what they had iniquitously acquired, Jugurnath and his +brothers collected together bands of the most desperate ruffians in +the country, and located them in the several villages, so as to be +able to concentrate and support each other at a concerted signal. +The ousted proprietors attacked only those who presumed to reside +in or cultivate the lands of which they had been robbed; but +Jugurnath and his brethren were less scrupulous; and as they could +afford to pay such bands in no other way, they gave them free +licence to plunder all the villages around, and all travellers on +the highway. Their position and influence at the Residency enabled +them to deter the local authorities from exposing their iniquities; +and they went on till all the villages became waste, and converted +into dens of robbers.</p> +<p>They were, in all, six brothers, and they found their new trade +so profitable and exciting, that they all became leaders of +banditti, by profession, long before the dismissal of the two +brothers from the Residency, though no one, I believe, ventured to +prefer charges against them to the Resident or the Durbar. Soon +after their dismissal, however, Jugurnath one night attacked and +murdered his eldest brother, Surubdowun Sing, in order to get the +whole estate to himself, and put his widow and daughter into +prison. His other four brothers became alarmed, separated from him, +and set up each his separate gang. But Jugurnath contrived soon +after, in a dark night, to shoot the third brother, Himmut, dead, +with one ball through the chest. Purmode Sing, the youngest +brother, was soon after shot dead by some villager, whose cattle he +was driving off in a night attack. Bhugwunt Sing the fourth, and +Byjonath, still survive, and have gangs of their own, afraid to +trust themselves with Jugurnath, who has built two forts, Oskamow +and Futtehpore, in the Jugdeespore district, and a third in two +small villages, which he has lately seized upon and made waste, in +the Rodowlee district, in order that he may have a stronghold to +fly to when pressed by the governors of other districts.</p> +<p>They pay no rent or revenue to Government for any of the +villages they hold. The king's officers are afraid to demand any +from them. They have plundered a great many villages, and are every +month plundering others. They have murdered a great many persons of +both sexes and all ages, and tortured more into paying ransoms in +proportion to their supposed means. Jugurnath is still the terror +of the surrounding country, and a reward of five hundred rupees has +been offered for his apprehension.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* See note to Chapter VI., Vol. II., on the capture of Maheput +Sing. A reward of one thousand rupees has since been offered for +Jugurnath's arrest. See in Chapter IV., Vol. II:, an account of his +desertion of his master, Captain Paton. He is still at large, and +plundering. December 4th, 1851.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>8. Moorut Sing, of <i>Kiteya</i>, which has eleven small +villages depending upon it, all occupied by Rajpoot robbers. +Nowgowa, in Mohlara, in Rodowlee, on the left bank of the Goomtee +river, twenty miles below Lucknow, has, in the same manner, twelve +villages depending upon it, all occupied by Rajpoots, who rob, or +shelter robbers, when pursued from the east. On the opposite bank +is the village of Kholee, in the Hydergurh purgunna, held by +Surfraz Chowdheree, and occupied by Brahmans and Musulmans, who +shelter robbers in the same way. When they are pressed in Nowgowa +they take shelter in Kholee, and when pressed in Kholee they take +shelter in Nowgowa. All the robbers above named find shelter in +these villages when pursued, and share their plunder with the +inhabitants.</p> +<p>8. Bhooree Khan. The great-grandfather of Bhooree Khan, Rostam +Khan. was the leader of a large gang of Musulman freebooters. The +estate of Deogon, containing thirty-seven villages, belonged to a +family of Bys Rajpoots. Rostam Khan and his gang seized upon them +all, and turned out the Rajpoot proprietors, and by force made +three of them Musulmans, Kanhur, Bhooree, Geesee; and all their +descendants are of the same creed.</p> +<p>Imam Buksh, the father of Bhoree Khan, built a fort in Deogon, +which the <i>family</i> still held. In 1829, Rajah Dursun Sing took +the mortgage of the estate for twenty-eight thousand one hundred +and ten rupees, to enable Imam Buksh to liquidate a balance of +revenue due to Government. When the time of payment came, in 1832, +Imam Buksh could pay nothing; and he transferred the estate to +Dursun Sing, on a deed of sale or bynama. He continued to manage +the estate for Dursun Sing in farm; but, falling in balance, he was +put into confinement, where he remained till he died, three years +after, in the year 1842. Bhooree Khan was then a boy, but he +continued to receive the usual perquisites from the estate while +Dursan Sing held it. In the year 1846, the governor of the +district, Wajid Allee Khan, took the estate from Dursun Sing's +family, and made it over to Bhooree Khan for a present of five +thousand rupees. He ceased to pay the Government demand, collected +a gang, and became a leader of banditti. He plundered all the +people around, and all travellers on the road, seized and confined +all who seemed likely to be able to pay ransom, and tortured and +maimed them till they did pay; and those who could not or would not +pay, he put to cruel deaths. The thirty-six villages on his estate +became deserted by all save his followers, and those whom he could +make subservient to his purposes, as robbers and murderers.</p> +<p>Ousan Opudeea resided at the village of Etapore, in the estate +of Deogon, and possessed and cultivated lands in that and other +villages around, for which he paid an annual rent of five hundred +and ninety-nine rupees. In 1846, Bhooree Khan demanded from Ousan +an increase of one hundred and fifty rupees, which he paid. The +year after 1847, he demanded a further increase of the same amount, +which he paid. He was then summoned to appear before Bhooree Khan, +and was on his way when told that he would be seized with all his +family, and tortured. He, in consequence, took his family to the +village of Patkhoree. Bhooree Khan followed with a gang of several +hundred men, and two guns, attacked, plundered, and burnt down his +house, and fifteen bullocks and buffaloes perished in the flames. +One hundred and fifty head of cattle belonging to the village were +taken off by the gang. Dwarka, one of Ousan's sons, was killed in +defending the house; and the other two, Davey, aged sixteen, and +Seochurun, aged seventeen, were seized, bound, and taken off to the +jungle, with Ramdeen, Ousan's nephew, and many others of the +respectable inhabitants of the village. After exacting a ransom +from all the rest, he let them go; but retained the two sons of +Ousan, and demanded twelve hundred rupees for their ransom. Ousan +had lost all his property in the attack, and could raise no more +than seven hundred rupees among his relatives and friends. This +would not satisfy Bhooree Khan, who, after torturing and starving +the boys for twelve months, and taking the seven hundred rupees, +took them to the jungle of Gaemow, with fetters on their legs, and +bamboo collars round their necks. He there had them tied to trees, +and after firing at them as targets, for some time, with bows and +arrows, he had them cut to pieces with swords, and then seized upon +all the lands which their father held.</p> +<p>In 1848, Bhooree Khan attacked and plundered the house of Peer +Khan, in Khanseepoor in Deogon, and bound and carried him off with +his two brothers, Ameer Khan and Jehangeer Khan. He had them beaten +with sticks, and caused small iron spikes to be driven up under +their nails, and their eyelids to be sewn up with needle and +thread, and their beards to be burned, till he extorted from them a +ransom of eight hundred rupees.</p> +<p>While they were thus confined and being tortured, they saw four +travellers brought in by the gang, and tortured and beaten to +death, because they could not pay the ransom demanded from +them.</p> +<p>Bhoree Khan, in this month of August 1848, attacked the house of +Sirdar Khan, an invalid naek of the 36th Regiment of Bengal Native +Infantry, and, after robbing it, burnt it to the ground, and bound +and carried off to his fort in Deogon, Sirdar Khan himself and his +three sons, Khoda Buksh, Allah Buksh, and Allee Buksh; the first +fourteen years of age, the second eight, and the third seven years. +He tortured all three, and demanded a ransom of nineteen hundred +rupees. This sum was borrowed and paid by Jehangeer Khan, the +brother of the naek, and the naek was released. Bhooree Khan would +not, however, release either of the sons till he got five hundred +rupees more; but Sirdar Khan was unable to procure this further +sum, and, in April 1849, Bhooree Khan had two of the boys, Khoda +Buksh and Alla Buksh, tied to trees and shot to death with arrows, +for the amusement of his gang. They were then hacked with swords, +and their bodies were thrown into a ditch, whence he would not +permit their friends to remove them for burial. Sirdar Khan became +for a time deranged on hearing of the sufferings of his sons, and +wandered about the country. Bhooree Khan, with his gang, again +attacked the village, and burned it all down, and drove off all the +cattle, including all that Sirdar Khan possessed. He recovered, and +changed his residence to the village of Deokalee. Bhooree Khan +still retained the third son, Allee Buksh, alias Pulleen, and he is +still in prison.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The Resident effected the release of the third son, Allee +Buksh, in January, 1851, through the aid of Captain Orr, of the +Frontier Police.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Sirdar Khan's ancestors were the Rajpoot proprietors of the +estate of Deogon, and were forcibly converted to Mahommedanism by +Bhooree Khan's ancestors when they seized upon the estate. Sirdar +Khan cultivated eighteen beegahs of land in the village of +Salteemow, in Deogon, for which he had long paid thirty-six rupees +a year rent. Bhooree Khan demanded sixty-five a-year before the +attack, and this sum Sirdar Khan paid, but it had no effect in +softening the robber leader.</p> +<p>In the year 1847, soon after he took possession of the estate, +Bhooree Khan sent a gang under the command of his cousin, Mungul +Khan, to attack the house of Dulla, the most opulent and +respectable merchant of the district, who resided in the town of +Mukdoompore. Dulla had two sons, Nychint and Pursun Sing. After +plundering the house, the gang seized Dulla, his son Nychint, +Golbay the son of Pursun Sing, and Ajoodheea the son of Nychint. +Pursun Sing, the other son of the old merchant, had gone off to the +Governor of the district, Rajah Incha Sing. to adjust his annual +accounts. The females of the family got out through the back-door +of the female apartments, and escaped to the village of Etwara, in +the Jugdeespore district, where they had a residence. All the +valuables had been buried in a pit in the house, some ten feet +deep, and the females had no time to take them up.</p> +<p>The old man, his son Nychint, and his two sons, were sent off to +Bhooree Khan, who, on learning that the valuables had not been +found, came with fifty more armed men, accompanied by Baboo Mudar +Buksh, the tallookdar of Silha in Jugdispore, his own agent +Muheput, and a Brahmin prisoner named Cheyn, who knew Dulla, and +the wealth he possessed. He brought with him the merchant's son +Nychint, and commanded him to point out the place in which the +valuables lay concealed. He would not do so, and Bhooree Khan then +drove four tent-pins into the ground in the courtyard, placed +Nychint on his face, and tied his hands and feet to these pegs. He +then had him burnt into the bones with red-hot ramrods, but the +young man still persisted in his refusal. He had then oil boiled in +a large brass pot which they found in the house, and poured it over +him till all the skin of his body came off. He became insensible +for a time, and when he recovered his senses he pointed out the +spot. Gold and silver ornaments and clothes of great value, and +brass utensils belonging to the family, or held as pledges for +money due to the old man, were taken up, with one hundred and fifty +matchlocks and the same number of swords. They found also many +pits, containing several thousand maunds of grain. The valuables, +and as much of the grain as he could find carriage for, Bhooree +Khan and his gang carried off, and the rest of the grain he gave to +any one who would take it. The value of the whole plunder was +estimated at one hundred and fifty thousand rupees.</p> +<p>Nychint was unbound, but died that night, and the body was made +over to the Brahmin, Cheyn, who had now become a Mussulman. He took +it to the jungle, where he had it burnt with the usual ceremonies. +Bhooree Khan still detained Ajodheea, the son of Nychint, and +Golbay, the son of Pursun Sing, and demanded a further ransom for +them, but he released Dulla, who came home and died of grief and of +the tortures inflicted upon him in less than a month after. Cheyn, +Dabey Sookul, and Forsut, all Brahmins of Mukdoompoor, were +witnesses to the tortures inflicted upon Nychint, and to the +plunder of the house. He kept Dulla's grandsons for a year more, +with occasional tortures, but the surviving son, Pursun Sing, had +nothing more to give, and no one would give or lend him anything. +Golbay, his son, at last contrived to get a letter conveyed to him, +stating that he was now less carefully guarded than he had been; +that he and his cousin, Ajodheea, were sent to take their meals +with a bearer, who lived in a hamlet on the border of the jungle, +where they were guarded by only four pausee bowmen, and if his +father could come with fifty armed men, and surprise them at a +certain hour, he might rescue them. He assembled fifty men from +surrounding villages, and at the appointed time, before daybreak, +he surprised the guard, and rescued his son and nephew.</p> +<p>Gunga Purshad, son of Chob Sing, canoongo of Silha, in Deogon, +left the place when Bhooree Khan took to plundering, and went off, +in 1847, with his family to reside at Budulgur, a village held by +Allee Buksh, a mile distant. A month after he had settled in that +place, Bhooree Khan came with his gang, surrounded his house at +night, plundered it, and seized and took off his brother, Bhowanee +Purshad, two younger brothers, and his, Gunga Purshad's, daughter +and son, with Gowree Lall and Gunesh Purshad, his relations, who +had come on a visit to congratulate him on the prudence of his +change of residence. Gunga Purshad was absent at the time on +business. All the prisoners were taken to the jungles and tortured +with red-hot iron ramrods, and put into heavy fetters. He demanded +a ransom of nine hundred and fifty rupees for all. Gunga Purshad +sold all he had except some cows and bullocks, and collected four +hundred rupees, and his relation's clubbed together and raised one +hundred more. The five hundred were sent to Bhooree Khan, and he +took them and released all but Bhowanee Purshad. His two younger +brothers collected the cows and bullocks, and went with them to +Mukdoompoor, in the hope of being allowed to till their lands; but +Bhooree Khan and his gang came, seized and sold all the cows and +bullocks they had saved, plundered them of everything, and took +their lands from them. They all fled once more, and went to reside +at Putgowa. At Mukdoompoor, Bhooree Khan had Bhowanee Purshad +flogged so severely that he fell down insensible, and he then had +red-hot iron spikes thrust into his eyes, and a few days after he +died in confinement of his sufferings. The value of the property +taken from the family, besides the five hundred rupees' ransom, was +one thousand rupees. He, about the same time, seized and carried +off from Mukdoompoor Gunga Sookul, a Brahmin, tortured him to +death, and threw his body into the river.</p> +<p>About the same time, August 1847, he seized and carried off +Cheyn, a Brahmin of Mukdoompoor, son of Bhowanee Buksh. He had come +to him to pay the year's rent for the lands he held in that +village. After paying his own rents and those of others who were +afraid to put themselves into Bhooree Khan's power, and had sent by +Cheyn all that was due, he demanded from him a ransom of four +hundred rupees. He could give no more, and was put under a guard +and tortured in the usual way. As he persisted in declaring his +inability to pay more, a necklace of cow's bones was put round his +neck, and one of the bones was thrust into his mouth, and the blood +of a cow was thrown over him, from which he became for ever an +outcast from his religion. He expected to be put to death, but a +friend conveyed to him the sum of ten rupees, which he gave to the +robbers employed to torture him, and they spared his life. His son +had taken shelter in the village of Pallee, whence he sent a pausee +bowman, named Bhowaneedeen, to inquire after <i>him</i>, and +offered him ninety rupees if he would rescue his father. The pausee +pledged himself to Bhooree Khan to pay the money punctually, and +Cheyn was released. But Bhooree Khan had cut down all the crops +upon the lands, and taken them away, and cut down also the five +mango-trees which stood upon his land and had been planted by his +ancestors. During his confinement, Cheyn saw Bhooree Khan torture +and murder many men, and dishonour many respectable women, whom he +had seized in the same way.</p> +<p>In the same month, August 1847, Bhooree Khan seized Sudhae, the +son of Tubbur Khan, of Salteemow, in Deogon, and his (Sudhae's) two +sons, Surufraz and Meerun Buksh, and took them to the jungle. +Sadhae had paid him the eighty rupees rent due for the land he +tilled, but Bhooree Khan demanded one hundred rupees more; and when +he could not pay he made him over to the Jumogdar, to whom he had +become pledged for the payment of a certain sum. The Jumogdar had +him beaten till he saw that nothing could be beaten out of him, +when he let him go to save the cost of keeping him. Bhooree Khan +became very angry, and, with his gang, attacked and plundered the +house of Sudhae's brother, Badul Khan, in Salteemow, with whom +Sudhae lived. The two brothers and their families expected this +attack, and escaped unhurt, and fled, but they lost all their +property.</p> +<p>Bhooree Khan then ordered one of his followers, Mirdae, to take +Surufraz to a tank outside the village and cut off his nose. He +took out at the same time Bukhtawur, a Brahmin, and cut off his +nose first. Mirdae then ordered a Chumar, of Deogon, to cut off the +nose of Surafraz, and standing over him with a sword, told him to +cut it off deep into the bone. Surufraz prayed hard for mercy, +first to Bhooree Khan and then to Mirdae; but his prayers were +equally disregarded by both. The Chumar cut off his nose with a +rude instrument into the bone, and with it-all his upper lip. He +was then let go; but he fell down, after going a little distance, +from pain and the loss of blood, and was there found by his uncle, +Badul Khan, who had gone in search of him. He was taken home, but +died the same night. His brother, Meerun Buksh, was soon after +released for a ransom of fifty rupees.</p> +<p>Golzar Khan, sipahee of the Dull Regiment, in the King of Oude's +service, tilled some lands in the village of Mukdoompore, for which +he paid rent to Bhooree Khan. In 1847 he first extorted from him +double the rent agreed upon, then seized all the crops, and +plundered his house, and lastly seized the sipahee's sister, and +had her forcibly married to his servant and relative, Mungul +Khan.</p> +<p>In 1846 Bhooree Khan attacked the house of Allah Buksh of +Gaemow, in Deogon, plundered it, killed his brother, Meerun Buksh, +cut off the hands of his relative, Peer Buksh, and wounded three +other relatives who happened at the time to be on a visit with his +family. The articles of property that were taken off by Bhooree +Khan and his gang consisted of five horses and mares, fifteen +matchlocks, four maunds of brass utensils, three hundred and +twenty-five maunds of grain, five swords, four boxes of clothes, +fifteen cows and bullocks, five hundred and forty rupees in money. +The houses of all the rest of the village community were plundered +in the same manner. They cut down all the mango and mhowa trees +belonging to the family, as well as all those belonging to other +people of the village.</p> +<p>In 1847 he attacked the house of Akber Khan, in the village of +Kanderpore, in Deogon; and after plundering it, he bound and +carried off his son, Rumzam, a lad of fifteen years of age; and the +year after, 1848, he again attacked his house, and seized and took +off his brother, Wuzeer Khan. He has them still in confinement +under torture, because Akber Khan cannot get the sum demanded for +their ransom; and all applications for their release to the +Government authorities have been disregarded.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The Resident could not effect the release of these two +persons, the son and brother of Akber Khan, till January, +1851.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the month of August, 1848, Pransook, a Rajpoot, and Lullut +Sing, his cousin, of Booboopore, in Rodowlee, went to purchase a +supply of bhoosa for their cattle to Mukdoompore, in the Deogon +estate, and were there seized by Aman Sing, an agent of Bhooree +Khan, who pretended that they had given shelter to some of the +cultivators who had fled from Deogon, and demanded their surrender. +They protested that they had never seen any such cultivators, and +knew nothing whatever about them. They were bound and taken off to +Deogon to Bhooree Khan, who had them both put into the stocks. +After having been in the stocks for five days, they were again +taken to Bhooree Khan, who ordered them to produce the cultivators, +or pay a ransom of one hundred and five rupees. They were then +taken back to prison, and confined for eighteen days more; and +having no food supplied them, they were obliged to sell all the +clothes they wore to procure a scanty supply.</p> +<p>To frighten them, Bhooree Khan one day ordered his followers to +make outcasts in their presence of two respectable men whom he had +in prison, Deena Sing, a Chowan Rajpoot of Jooreeum, and a Brahmin +of Poorwa, a small hamlet near Deogon, while he sat on the roof of +his house to look on. One of his Musulman followers forced open +Deena Sing's mouth, and spit into it; and the others tied the bones +of a neelgae round the neck of the Brahmin, by which both of them +were deprived of their caste. They then told Pransook and Lullut +Sin that they would be served in the same manner unless they paid +the ransom demanded. They became alarmed, and sent to their friends +to request them earnestly to borrow all they could, and send it for +their ransom. Their cousin, Sheobuksh Sing Jemadar, an invalid +pensioner from the 2nd Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, +collected one hundred and eighteen rupees, and sent them. Bhooree +Khan took one hundred and five for himself, and his servants took +thirteen, and they were released; but they were made to swear on +the tomb of the saint Shah Sender that they would not complain of +the treatment they had received, and had their swords and shields +taken from them. They had been confined twenty-seven days.</p> +<p>In 1846 Davey Sookul, a Brahmin, cultivated land in Mukdoompore, +for which he paid an annual rent of seventy-one rupees. In +consequence of murders and robberies perpetrated by Bhooree Khan +and his gang, he went off with his family to reside at Budulgur, +under the protection of Rajah Allee Buksh, a mile distant. He had +witnessed the murder of Bhowanee Purshad and the torture of many +other persons. One morning his brother, Gunga Purshad, returned to +Mukdoompore to gather some mangoes from trees there planted by +their ancestors. He was there seized by Bhooree Khan and his gang, +who were lying in wait for him. They demanded a ransom of three +hundred rupees, which Davey Sookul could not raise. He kept Gunga +Purshad in prison for four months, and had him tortured every day. +Finding that the money was not forthcoming, Bhooree Khan had a +firebrand thrust into one of his eyes, and then had him flogged +with bunches of sticks till he died. Khoda Buksh, of Kurteepore, +one of the followers of Bhooree Khan, went and reported this to his +brother and widow, who wept over the tale of his sufferings. His +brother, Boodhoo Sookul, a sipahee of the 45th Regiment, presented +a petition to the Resident, describing these atrocities, and +praying redress, but none was afforded.</p> +<p>Bukhtawur, son of Kaushee, a Brahmin, tilled lands in Deogon, +for which he paid an annual rent of sixty-eight rupees. In 1847 +Bhooree Khan demanded double that sum; and when he could not pay, +he seized and sold all the stock on the land, and seized and took +off to the jungles Bukhtawur and his two brothers, Heeralall and +Jankee, and seized upon all their lands, and all the property they +had to the value of five hundred rupees. He kept them in prison for +six months, and then had Bukhtawur's nose cut off by a Chumar, +because he could not pay him the ransom demanded. The nose of +Surufraz was cut off at the same time, as above described, and he +died in consequence. Bukhtawur's two brothers made their escape +three months afterwards.</p> +<p>In 1848 he attacked the house of Choupae Tewaree, a Brahmin of +Ottergow, and after plundering it he took off the son of Choupae, +then thirteen years of age, and his, the son's, wife, and his young +son and his wife, and tortured all, till Choupae borrowed and +begged all he could, and paid the ransom demanded.</p> +<p>Purotee Aheer tilled sixteen beegahs of land in Deogon, for +which he paid an annual rent of thirty-two rupees a-year. As soon +as Bhooree Khan got the estate from Maun Sing, in November, 1846, +he demanded double the sum, and exacted it. He, in 1848, demanded +two hundred and fifty, seized Purotee, sold all his cows and +bullocks, sixteen in number, and other property, and then released +him. Purotee then sent off secretly all his family to Duheepore, +two miles distant; but Bhooree Khan sent off his servants, Bundheen +and Bugolal pausees, to trace them. They seized his two daughters, +one fourteen and the other ten years of age, and his son Nihal's +wife, and his son, then only four years of age. Bhooree Khan +ravished the two girls, and then released them, with Nahal's wife +and her little son. Purotee saw the noses of Bukhtawar and Surafraz +cut off while he was in confinement, and saw Bhooree Khan put them +on a plate, which he placed in a recess in the wall. It was in +March, 1848, when he went to pray that his daughters might be +released after they had been ravished. The family went to reside in +the village of Mohlee, in Khundara, but have all been turned out of +their caste in consequence of the dishonour of his daughters.</p> +<p>In the same year he attacked the house of Foorsut Aheer of +Dehpal ka Poorwa, made him prisoner, and tortured him till he paid +eight hundred rupees. After this he made his escape; but Bhooree +Khan seized and sold all his bullocks, cows, and buffaloes, and +stores of grain.</p> +<p>In 1845 Bhoore Khan and his gang attacked the house of Buldee +Sing, subahdar in the Honourable Company's service, in the village +of Ghurwae, and, after plundering him of all the property they +could find, they seized him and his wife, and took them to the +jungles, where they tortured them till they gave all they could +borrow or beg to the amount of many thousand rupees.</p> +<p>About the same time he seized and carried off Eesuree Purshad, a +Brahmin, who had fled from Palpore, in Deogon, and gone for shelter +to the Bazaar of Ottergow; and after cutting off his nose, he put +him on an ass with a young pig tied to his neck, and paraded him +through the bazaar, with a drummer before him, to render him an +outcast.</p> +<p>In the same year, 1848, he seized Rampurshad Tewaree, and his +son Runghoor, cultivators of Deogon, and demanded from them four +times the rent due for the land they tilled; and when they could +not pay, be sold all their cattle, grain, and other property, and +had iron spikes driven up under their nails. Unable to extort money +by this means, he caused Sotun Bhurbhoonja, or grain-parcher, to +——— in his father's face, and then released +him.</p> +<p>In 1848 he demanded from Junga Salor, a cultivator of Bhudalmow, +in Deogon, double rent for the land he tilled; and when he could +not pay, seized and took off his wife, and cohabited with her four +or five days, and then made some of the followers do the same +before he released her.</p> +<p>In the same year, 1848, he and his gang attacked the village of +Byrampore, in the Kisnee purgunna, and seized Omrow Sing, a Bys +Rajpoot, and Boodhea, a Goojur, and all the respectable inhabitants +they could get hold of, with their families. After torturing the +rest for eight days, and extorting from them all they could pay, he +let them go; but detained Omrow Sing, and had him flogged every day +till he reduced him to a dying state, when he let him go. He was +taken off to his home; but he died as soon as he entered the house +and saw his family. The wife of Boodheea, the Goojur, he confined +and violated. Bukhtawur deposes that he saw all this while he was +in confinement.</p> +<p>He, in 1848, seized and carried off to his stronghold Kaseeram, +a Brahmin, of Deogon, and cut off his nose, and tortured him with +hot irons till he got from him all that he and his relations could +be made to pay, and then let him go.</p> +<p>In the same year and month be attacked and plundered the village +of Puttee, in the Jugdeespore purgunna, carried off all the +shopkeepers of the place, and tortured them till they paid him +altogether three thousand rupees.</p> +<p>In the same year he attacked the village of Koteea, in the +Rodowlee district, carried off one of the shopkeepers, and drove +iron pins up under his nails till he paid a ransom of one hundred +and fifty rupees. He drove off and sold all the cattle of the +village.</p> +<p>In the same year he attacked and plundered the village of +Budulgur, in the Jugdeespore purgunna, in the same way.</p> +<p>In the same year he attacked and plundered the village of +Khorasa, in Rodowlee, carried off Sopae, the Putwaree, with his +mother and wife, and tortured them till they paid a ransom of two +hundred rupees. He murdered about the same time the son of Buksh +Khan, the holder of the village of Gaepore, and two members of the +family of Poorae, a carpenter of Almasgunge, in Deogon.</p> +<p>After plundering the house of Sungum Doobee, a respectable +Brahmin of Mukdoompore, he seized him and his nephew, took them off +to his fort, and, because they could not pay the ransom he +demanded, he caused melting lead to be poured into their ears and +noses till they died. About the same time he, with his own hands, +for some slight offence, cut the throat of his table-attendant, +Kbyratee, of Kunhurpore.</p> +<p>About the same time he seized two travellers; and, because they +could not pay the ransom demanded, he suspended one of them to a +tree in the village of Sathnee, on the bank of the Goomtee river, +and the other to a tree in the village of Mukdoompore. He had their +arms first broken with bludgeons, and then their feet cut off, and +at last they were beaten over the head till they died.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[Bhooree Khan, in March, 1850, went with a gang of three hundred +men to assist Gunga Buksh and his family in the defence of +Kasimgunge and Bhetae; but he was too late. On his way back, in the +beginning of April, he left his gang in a grove, six miles from +Lucknow, and entered the city alone in a disguise to visit a +celebrated dancing-girl of his acquaintance, named Bunnee. He had +been with her two days, and on the 15th of April he went to see the +magnificent tomb of Mahommed Allee Shah, of which he had heard +much. While sauntering about this place he was recognised by three +or four persons belonging to another dancing-girl of his +acquaintance, named the Chhotee Gohur, or "little Gem," whom he had +formerly visited. They seized him. As soon as Bunnee heard of this +she sent ten or twelve of her own men, and rescued him from the +followers of the "Little Gem." They took him to Bunnee, who made a +virtue of necessity, and went off with him forthwith to the +Minister, who rewarded her with a pair of shawls, and made suitable +presents to her followers.</p> +<p>It is said that he was pointed out to the followers of the +"Chhotee Gohur" by Peer Khan, of Khanseepore, in Deogon, whom +Bhooree Khan had some time before plundered and tortured for a +ransom, as already stated. Bhooree Khan was sentenced to +transportation beyond seas for life, and sent off in October, +1851.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>After reading such narratives, an Englishman will naturally ask +what are the means by which such atrocious gangs are enabled to +escape the hands of justice. He will recollect the history of the +MIDDLE AGES, and think of strong baronial castles, rugged hills, +deep ravines, and endless black forests. They have no such things +in Oude.* The whole country is a level plain, intersected by +rivers, which, with one exception, flow near the surface, and have +either no ravines at all, or very small ones. The little river +Goomtee winds exceedingly, and cuts into the soil in some places to +the depth of fifty feet. In such places there are deep ravines; and +the landholders along the border improve these natural difficulties +by planting and preserving trees and underwood in which to hide +themselves and their followers when in arms against their +Government. Any man who cuts a stick in these jungles, or takes his +camels or cattle into them to browse or graze without the previous +sanction of the landholder, does so at the peril of his life. But +landholders in the open plains and on the banks of rivers, without +any ravines at all, have the same jungles.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The Terae forest, which borders Oude to the north, is too +unhealthy to be occupied by any but those who have been born and +bred in it. The gangs I am treating of are composed of men born and +bred in the plains, and they cannot live in the Terae forest.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the midst of this jungle, the landholders have generally one +or more mud forts surrounded by a ditch and a dense fence of living +bamboos, through which cannon-shot cannot penetrate, and man can +enter only by narrow and intricate pathways. They are always too +green to be set fire to; and being within range of the matchlocks +from the parapet, they cannot be cut down by a besieging force. Out +of such places the garrison can be easily driven by shells thrown +over such fences, but an Oude force has seldom either the means or +the skill for such purposes. When driven out by shells or any other +means, the garrison retires at night, with little risk, through the +bamboo fence and surrounding jungle and brushwood, by paths known +only to themselves. They are never provided with the means of +subsistence for a long siege; and when the Oude forces sent against +them are not prepared with the means to shell them out, they sit +down quietly, and starve or weary them out. This is commonly a very +long process, for the force is seldom large enough to surround the +place at a safe distance from the walls and bamboo fence, so as to +prevent all access to provision of all kinds, which the garrison is +sure to get from their friends and allies in the neighbourhood, the +garrison generally having the sympathy of all the large landholders +around, and the besieging force being generally considered the +common and irreconcilable enemy of all.</p> +<p>As soon as the garrison escapes, it goes systematically and +diligently to work in plundering indiscriminately all the village +communities over the most fertile parts of the surrounding country, +which do not belong to baronial proprietors like themselves till it +has made the Government authorities agree to its terms, or reduced +the country to a waste. The leaders of the gang may sometimes +condescend to quicken the process by appropriating a portion of +their plunder to bribing some influential person at Court, who gets +an injunction issued to the local authorities to make some +arrangement for terminating the pillage and consequent loss of +revenue, or he will be superseded or forfeit his contract. The +rebel then returns with his followers, repairs all the mischief +done to his fort, improves its defences, and stipulates for a +remission of his revenue for a year or more, on account of the +injury sustained by his crops or granaries. The unlucky Amil, whose +zeal and energy have caused the necessity for this reduction, is +probably thrown into gaol till "he pays the uttermost farthing," or +bribes influential persons at Court to get him released on the +ground of his poverty.</p> +<p>I may here mention the jungles in Oude which have been created +and are still preserved by landholders, almost solely for the above +purposes. They are all upon the finest soil, and in the finest +climate; and the lands they occupy might almost all be immediately +brought into tillage, and studded by numerous happy village +communities.</p> +<p>I may, however, before I begin to describe them, mention the +fact that many influential persons at Court, as well as the +landholders themselves, are opposed to such a salutary measure. If +brought under tillage and occupied by happy village communities, +all the revenue would or might flow in legitimate channels into the +King's treasury; whereas in their present state they manage to fill +their own purses by gratuities from the refractory landholders who +occupy them, or from the local authorities, who require permission +from Court to coerce them into obedience. Of these gratuities such +a salutary measure would deprive them; and it is, in consequence, +exceedingly difficult to get a jungle cut down, however near it may +be to the city where wood is so dear, and has to be brought from +jungles five or ten times the distance.</p> +<p><i>In the Sultanpore District</i>.</p> +<p><i>1st</i>.—The Jungle of Paperghat, about one hundred +miles south-east from Lucknow, on the bank of the Goomtee river, +ten miles long, and three wide, or thirty square miles.</p> +<p>In this jungle Dirgpaul Sing, tallookdar of Nanneemow, has a +fort; and Rostum Sing, tallookdar of Dera, has another.</p> +<p><i>2nd</i>.—The Dostpore Jungle, one hundred and twenty +miles south-east from Lucknow, on the bank of the Mujhoee river, +twelve, miles long, and three broad, or thirty-six square +miles.</p> +<p><i>3rd</i>.—The Khapra Dehee Jungle, one hundred miles +south-east from Lucknow, on the plain, about ten miles long, and +six miles broad, or sixty square miles.</p> +<p><i>4th</i>.—The Jugdeespore Jungle, on the bank of the +Goomtee river, fifty miles south-east from Lucknow, sixteen miles +long, and three miles broad, forty-eight square miles.</p> +<p>Allee Buksh Khan, tallookdar, has the fort of Tanda in this +jungle, on the bank of the Kandoo rivulet, which flows through it +into the Goomtee. The fort of Bechoogur in this jungle is held by +another tallookdar.</p> +<p><i>5th</i>.—Gurh Ameytee, seventy miles from Lucknow, +south-east, on the bank of the Sae river, nine miles long and three +broad, or twenty seven square miles.</p> +<p>Rajah Madhoe Sing has a fort in this jungle, and is one of the +very worst, but most plausible men in Oude.</p> +<p><i>6th</i>.—Daoodpoor Jungle, seventy miles south-east +from Lucknow, on the plain, four miles long and three broad, or +twelve square miles.</p> +<p>The Beebee or Lady Sagura has her fort and residence in this +jungle.</p> +<p><i>7th</i>.—Duleeppore Jungle, one hundred and ten miles +east from Lucknow, on the bank of the Sae river, ten miles long, +and three miles wide, thirty square miles.</p> +<p>Seetla Buksh, who is always in rebellion, has a fort in this +jungle.</p> +<p><i>8th</i>.—The Matona Jungle, fifty miles south-east from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Goomtee river, twelve miles long and +three wide—square miles, thirty-six.</p> +<p>Allee Buksh Khan, a notoriously refractory tallookdar, has a +fort in this jungle.</p> +<p><i>In the Uldeemow District</i>.</p> +<p><i>9th</i>.—Mugurdhee Jungle, one hundred and forty miles +east from Lucknow, on the bank of Ghogra river, eight miles long +and three broad—square miles, twenty-four.</p> +<p><i>10th</i>.—Putona Jungle, one hundred and twenty miles +east from Lucknow, on the bank of the Tonus river, eight miles long +and four miles broad—square miles, thirty-two.</p> +<p><i>11th</i>.—Mudungur Jungle, one hundred and twenty miles +east from Lucknow, on the bank of the Tonus river, six miles long, +and three miles broad—square miles, eighteen.</p> +<p>Amreys Sing and Odreys Sing, sons of Surubdowun Sing (who was +killed by the King's troops thirty years ago), hold the fort of +Mudungur in this jungle.</p> +<p><i>12th</i>.—Bundeepore Jungle, east from Lucknow one +hundred and forty miles, on the plain, seven miles long and one +broad—seven square miles.</p> +<p><i>13th</i>.—Chunderdeeh, south-east from Lucknow one +hundred and ten miles, on the bank of the Goomtee river, seven +miles long, and three miles wide—square miles, +twenty-one.</p> +<p><i>In the Dureeabad District</i>.</p> +<p><i>14th</i>.—Soorujpore Behreyla Jungle, east from Lucknow +forty miles, on the bank of the Kuleeanee river, sixteen miles +long, and four miles broad—square miles, sixty-four.</p> +<p>Chundee Sing has a fort in this jungle, and the family have been +robbers for several generations. The widow of the late notorious +robber, Rajah Singjoo, the head of the family, has a still stronger +one.</p> +<p><i>15th</i>.—Guneshpore Jungle, sixty miles south-east +from Lucknow, on the bank of the Goomtee river, six miles long and +two broad—twelve square miles.</p> +<p>Maheput Sing, an atrocious robber, holds his fort of Bhowaneegur +in this jungle.</p> +<p><i>In the Dewa Jahangeerabad District.</i></p> +<p><i>16th</i>.—The Kasimgunge and Bhetae Jungle, eighteen +miles north-east from Lucknow, sixteen miles long, and four miles +wide—square miles, sixty-four, on the bank of the little +river Reyt.</p> +<p>Gunga Buksh holds the forts of Kasimgunge and Atursae in this +jungle; Thakur Purshad those of Bhetae and Buldeogur; and Bhugwunt +Sing that of Munmutpore. Other members of the same family hold +those of Ramgura Paharpore. The whole family are hereditary and +inveterate robbers.</p> +<p><i>In the Bangur District</i>.</p> +<p><i>17th</i>.—Tundeeawun Jungle, on the plain, west from +Lucknow, seventy-two miles, twelve miles long and six +broad—square miles, seventy-two.</p> +<p><i>In the Salone District.</i></p> +<p><i>18th</i>.—The Naen Jungle, eighty miles south from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Sae river, sixteen miles long and three +wide—square miles, forty-eight.</p> +<p>Jugurnath Buksh, the tallookdar, holds the fort of Jankeebund, +in this jungle; and others are held in the same jungle by members +of his family.</p> +<p><i>19th</i>.—The Kutaree Jungle, on the bank of the Kandoo +river, south-east from Lucknow sixty miles, eight miles long and +three broad—square miles, twenty-four.</p> +<p>Surnam Sing, the tallookdar, has a fort in this jungle.</p> +<p><i>In the Byswara District</i>.</p> +<p><i>20th</i>.—The Sunkurpore Jungle, south of Lucknow +seventy miles, on the plain, ten miles long and three +wide—square miles, thirty.</p> +<p>Benee Madhoe, the tallookdar, has three forts in this +jungle.</p> +<p><i>In the Hydergur District</i>.</p> +<p><i>21st</i>.—The Kolee Jungle, fifty miles south-east from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Goomtee river, three miles long and one +and a half wide—square miles, four and a half.</p> +<p>The rebels and robbers in this jungle trust to the natural +defences of the ravines and jungles.</p> +<p><i>22nd</i>.—Kurseea Kuraea Jungle, south-east from +Lucknow fifty miles, on the bank of the Goomtee river, three miles +long and one wide—square miles, three.</p> +<p>The landholders trust in the same way to natural defences.</p> +<p><i>In the Khyrabad and Mahomdee Districts</i>.</p> +<p><i>23rd</i>.—Gokurnath Jungle, north-west from Lucknow one +hundred miles, extending out from the Terae forest, and running +south-east in a belt thirty miles long and five wide—square +miles, one hundred and fifty.</p> +<p>Husun Rajah, the tallookdar of Julalpore, has a fort in this +jungle. Sheobuksh Sing, the tallookdar of Lahurpore, holds here the +fort of Katesura; and Omrow Sing, the tallookdar of Oel, holds two +forts in this jungle.</p> +<p><i>In the Baree and Muchreyta Districts</i>.</p> +<p><i>24th</i>.—The Suraen Jungle, north-west from Lucknow +thirty-four miles, along the banks of the Suraen river, twelve +miles long and three miles wide—square miles, thirty-six.</p> +<p>In this jungle Jowahir Sing holds the fort of Basae Deeh; +Khorrum Sing, that of Seogur; Thakur Rutun Sing, that of Jyrampore. +They are all landholders of the Baree district, and their forts are +on the <i>north</i> bank of the Saraen river. Juswunt Sing holds +the fort of Dhorhara; Dul Sing, that of Gundhoreea; Rutun Sing +holds two forts, Alogee and Pupnamow.—They are all +landholders of the Muchreyta district, and their four forts are on +the <i>south</i> bank of the Saraen river.</p> +<p>This gives twenty-four belts of jungle beyond the Terae forest, +and in the fine climate of Oude, covering a space of eight hundred +and eighty-six square miles, at a rough computation.* In these +jungles the landholders find shooting, fishing, and security for +themselves and families, grazing ground for their horses and +cattle, and fuel and grass for their followers; and they can hardly +understand how landholders of the same rank, in other countries, +can contrive to live happily without them. The man who, by +violence, fraud, and collusion, absorbs the estates of his weaker +neighbours, and creates a large one for himself, in any part of +Oude, however richly cultivated and thickly peopled, provides +himself with one or two mud forts, and turns the country around +them into a jungle, which he considers to be indispensable as well +to his comfort as to his security.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* The surface of the Oude territory, including the Terae +forest, is supposed to contain twenty-three thousand seven hundred +and thirty-nine square miles. The Terae forest includes, perhaps, +from four to five thousand miles; but within that space there is a +great deal of land well tilled and peopled.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The atrocities described in the above narrative were committed +by Bhooree Khan, in the process of converting his estate of Dewa +into a jungle, and building strongholds for his gang as it +increased and became more and more formidable. Having converted +Deogon into a jungle, and built his strongholds, he would, by the +usual process of violence, fraud, and collusion with local +authorities, have absorbed the small surrounding estates of his +weaker neighbours, and formed a very large one for himself. The +same process, no doubt, went on in England successively under the +Saxons, Danes, and Normans; and in every country in Europe, under +successive invaders and conquerors, or as long as the baronial +proprietors of the soil were too strong to be coerced by their +Sovereign as they are in Oude.</p> +<p>An Englishman may further ask how it is that a wretch guilty of +such cruelties to men who never wronged him, to innocent and +unoffending females and children, can find, in a society where +slavery is unknown, men to assist him in inflicting them, and +landholders of high rank and large possessions to screen and +shelter him when pursued by his Government. He must, for the +solution of this question, also go back to the MIDDLE AGES, in +England and the other nations of Europe, when the baronial +proprietors of the soil, too strong for their sovereigns, committed +the same cruelties, found the same willing instruments in their +retainers, and members of the same class of landed proprietors, to +screen, shelter, and encourage them in their iniquities.</p> +<p>They acquiesce in the atrocities committed by one who is in +armed resistance to the Government to-day, and aid him in his +enterprises openly or secretly, because they know that they may be +in the same condition, and require the same aid from him +to-morrow—that the more sturdy the resistance made by one, +the less likely will the Government officers be to rouse the +resistance of others. They do not sympathise with those who suffer +from his depredations, or aid the Government officers in protecting +them, because they know that they could not support the means +required to enable them to contend successfully with their +Sovereign, and reduce him to terms, without plundering and +occasionally murdering the innocent of all ages and both sexes, and +that they may have to raise the same means in a similar contest +to-morrow. They are satisfied, therefore, if they can save their +own tenants from pillage and slaughter. They find, moreover, that +the sufferings of others enable them to get cultivators and useful +tenants of all kinds upon their own estates, on more easy terms, +and to induce the smaller allodial or khalsa proprietors around, to +yield up their lands to them, and become their tenants with less +difficulty. It was in the same manner that the great feudal barons +aggrandised themselves in England, and all the other countries of +Europe, in the MIDDLE AGES.</p> +<p>In Oude all these great landholders look upon the Sovereign and +his officers—except when they happen to be in collusion with +them for the purpose of robbing or coercing others—as their +natural enemies, and will never trust themselves in their power +without undoubted pledges of personal security. The great feudal +tenants of the Crown in England, and the other nations of Europe, +did the same, except when they were in collusion with them for the +purpose of robbing others of their rights; or fought under their +banners for the purpose of robbing or destroying the subjects and +servants of some other Sovereign whom he chose to call his +enemy.</p> +<p>Only one of these sources of union between the Sovereign and his +great landholders is in operation in Oude. Some of them are every +year in collusion with the governors of districts for the purpose +of coercing and robbing others; but the Sovereign can never unite +them under his banners for the purpose of invading and plundering +any other country, and thereby securing for himself and them +present <i>glory</i>, wealth, and high-sounding titles, and the +admiration and applause of future generations. The strong arm of +the British Government is interposed between them and all +surrounding countries; and there is no safety-valve for their +unquiet spirits in foreign conquests. They can no longer do as Ram +did two thousand seven hundred years ago—lead an army from +Ajodheea to Ceylone. They must either give up fighting, or fight +among themselves, as they appear to have been doing ever since +Ram's time; and there are at present no signs of a disposition to +send out another "Sakya Guntama" from Lucknow, or Kapila vastee to +preach peace and good-will to "all the nations of the earth." They +would much rather send out fifty thousand more brave soldiers to +fight "all the nations of the east," under the banners of the +Honourable East India Company.</p> +<p>An English statesman may further ask how it is that so much +disorder can prevail in a small territory like Oude without the +gangs, to which it must give rise, passing over the border to +depredate upon the bordering districts of its neighbours. The +conterminous districts on three sides belong to the British +Government, and that on the fourth or north belongs to Nepaul. The +leaders of these gangs know, that if the British Government chose +to interpose and aid the Oude Government with its troops, it could +crush them in a few days; and that it would do so if they ventured +to rob and murder within its territory. They know, also, that it +would do the same if they ventured to cross the northern border, +and rob and murder within the Nepaul territory. They therefore +confine their depredations to the Oude territory, seeing that, as +long as they do so, the British Government remains quiet.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="Chapt2-6" id="Chapt2-6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> +<br> +<p>Adventures of Maheput Sing of Bhowaneepoor—Advantages of a +good road from Lucknow to Fyzabad—Excellent condition of the +artillery bullocks with the Frontier Police—Get all that +Government allows for them—Bred in the Tarae—Dacoits of +Soorujpoor Bareyla—The Amil connives at all their +depredations, and thrives in consequence—The Amil of the +adjoining districts does not, and ruined in consequence—His +weakness—Seetaram, a capitalist—His account of a +singular <i>Suttee</i>—Bukhtawar Sing's notions of +<i>Suttee</i>, and of the reason why Rajpoot widows seldom become +<i>Suttees</i>—Why local authorities carry about prisoners +with them—Condition of prisoners—No taxes on +mango-trees—Cow-dung cheaper than wood for fuel—Shrine +of "Shaikh Salar" at Sutrik—Bridge over the small river +Rete—Recollection of the ascent of a balloon at +Lucknow—End of the pilgrimage.</p> +<p>Poorae Chowdheree, of Kuchohee, held a share in the lands of the +village of Bhanpoor in Radowlee. He mortgaged it in 1830, to a +co-sharer, who transferred the mortgage to <i>Meherban Sing</i>, of +Guneshpoor. Poorae disliked the arrangement, and made all the +cultivators desert the village of Bhanpoor, and leave the lands +waste. Meherban attacked the village of Kuchohee in consequence, +killed Porae, and seized upon all the lands of Bhanpoor for +himself. Rajah Ram, one of the ousted co-sharers in these lands, +attacked and killed Meherban in 1832, and seized upon all the +lands of Bhanpoor.</p> +<p>After the death of his first wife, Meherban had attacked the +house of Bhowanee Sing, Rajpoot, of Teur, carried off his daughter, +who had been affianced to another, and forcibly made her his wife. +By her he had one daughter and one son, named <i>Maheput Sing</i>, +who now inherited from his father a fifteenth part of one of the +six and half shares into which the lands of Guneshpoor were +divided. He, by degrees, murdered, or drove out of the village, all +his co-sharers, save Gunbha Sing and Chungha Sing, joint +proprietors of a small part of one of the shares, known by the name +of the Kunnee Puttee. From the year 1843, Maheput Sing became a +robber by profession, and the leader of a formidable gang; and in +three years, by a long series of successful enterprises, he +acquired the means of converting his residence, on the border of +the town of Guneshpoor, into a strong fort, among the deep ravines +of the Goomtee river. This fort he called <i>Bhowaneegur</i>, after +Bhowanee, the patroness of the trade of murder and robbery, which +he had adopted.</p> +<p>I shall now mention, more circumstantially, a few of the many +atrocities committed by him and his gang, during the last few years +of his career, as illustrative of the state of society in Oude. +Bulbhudder Sing, a subadar of the 45th Regiment of Bengal Native +Infantry, resided at Rampoor Sobeha, in the Dureeabad district. By +degrees he purchased thirteen-sixteenths of the lands of these two +small villages, which adjoin each other, out of the savings from +his pay, and those of his nephew, Mugun Sing, havildar of the 43rd +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry. On his being transferred to the +invalid establishment, the subadar resided with his family in +Rampoor, and in May, 1846, his nephew, Mugun Sing, came home on +furlough to visit him. Gujraj, an associate of Maheput Sing's, held +the other three-sixteenths of the lands of these two villages; and +by the murder of the subadar and all his family, he thought he +should be able to secure for himself the possession of the whole +estate in perpetuity. The family consisted of the subadar and his +wife,—Mugun Sing, the son of his deceased brother, Man Sing, +and his wife; and his son Bijonath and his wife,—Dwarka Sing, +son of Ojagur Sing, another deceased brother of the +subadar,—Mahta Deen, the son of Chundun Sing, another +deceased brother of the subadar, and his wife and young son, +Surubjeet Sing, seven years of age,—Kulotee Sing, son of +Gobrae, another deceased brother of the subadar,—Bag Sing, a +relative,—Bechun Sing, a servant,—Seo Deen, the +gardener,—Jeeawun Sing, the barber, and the widow of Salwunt +Sing, another son of Mugun Sing, havildar.</p> +<p>When the family were all assembled, Maheput Sing, with Gujraj +and other associates, and a gang of one hundred and fifty armed +followers, proceeded to the village at midnight, and carefully +reconnoitred the premises. It was, after consultation, determined +to defer the attack till daybreak, as the subadar and his nephews +were known to be brave and well-armed men, who kept watch till +towards morning, and would make a desperate resistance, unless +taken by surprise. They remained concealed within the enclosure of +Gujraj's house, till just before daylight, when they quietly +surrounded the subadar's house. As day dawned the subadar got up, +opened the door and walked out, as usual, to breathe the fresh air, +thinking all safe. He was immediately shot down, and on Mugun +Sing's rushing out to assist his uncle, he received a shot in the +eye, and fell dead on his body. The robbers then rushed in, cut +down Jeeawun, the barber, while attempting to shut the door, and +wounded Kulotee Sing,* Bag Sing, and others of the party. Finding +that they could no longer stand against the numbers, rushing in at +the doors and windows, the defenders climbed from the inside to the +flat roof of the house, over the apartments of the men, fired down +upon the robbers, who were still inside, and shot one of them. The +robbers, finding they could not otherwise dislodge them, set fire +to that part of the house, and the men were obliged to leap off to +save themselves. In doing this, Bag Sing hurt his spine, and Seo +Deen sprained his ankle, and both lay where they fell, pretending +to be dead, till night. The others all went off in search of +succour.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Kulotee Sing was murdered, a few days afterwards, by Maheput +and Gujraj, as he was superintending the cultivation of his +lands.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The robbers found the boy, Surubjeet, lying sick on his bed, +attended by his mother. They seized him and dashed his head against +the ground; and when he still showed signs of life, Gujraj cut him +to pieces with his sword. They then seized and stripped the females +naked, and sprinkled boiling oil over their bodies, till they +pointed out all the property concealed in the house. Seventeen +hundred rupees were found buried in the floor; and the rest of the +property in clothes, gold and silver ornaments, and brass utensils, +amounted to about ten thousand rupees.</p> +<p>About noon, while the robbers were still in the house, the Amil +of Mohlara came with a large force and one gun, and surrounded +them; but stood at a safe distance, whence he kept up for some time +a fire from his gun and his matchlocks, which had no effect +whatever. The robbers fired in return from the house, merely to +show that they were not to be frightened from their booty in that +way. This went on till after dark in the evening, when the robbers +all retired to the jungles with their booty, unmolested by the +Amil.</p> +<p>Byjonath, who had brought the Amil to the spot, urged him on as +much as he could to save the property and females, and avenge the +death of those who had fallen, and he killed one man and seized +another, the son of one of the leaders; but he was obliged to give +him up to the Amil as an hostage, for the recovery of the property, +and a witness to the robbery. The Amil kept him for six months, and +then let him go on the largest ransom he could get for him from his +father. The circumstances were all represented, through the +Resident, to the Durbar, and redress prayed for, but none was ever +obtained.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* When the Resident visited this place, in his tour, in +January, 1850, Dwarka Sing and other members of the family +described all the circumstances of this attack, and they were taken +down; and have been confirmed since by a judicial +investigation.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In May 1846, Maheput attacked the house of Seobuksh, a gardener, +and after plundering it, he seized and carried off to the jungle +the gardener's brother, Puroutee, and tortured him to death with +hot irons, because he could not raise the sum demanded for his +ransom.</p> +<p>In August 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Meherban Tewaree, subadar of the Gwalior Contingent, in the village +of Hareehurpoor, in the district of Rodowlee. It was about ten at +night, and the whole family were asleep. The subadar lay on his cot +below, near the door, his brother, Angud Tewaree, slept on the +upper story. Some placed ladders and entered the upper story +through a window; Maheput, with others, broke open the door, near +which the subadar slept below. The brother got a sword-cut in the +hand, and called out from the upper story as loud as he could for +help; but their neighbours were all too much alarmed to come to +their aid. Maheput seized and bound the subadar with his own +waistband, and commanded his brother to come down, saying, that he +need not call for help, as the villagers all knew him too well to +molest him; and if he did not come down instantly he would set fire +to the house. Seeing no chance of help, he came down, and was bound +with his own waistband in the same manner. When the subadar +remonstrated against this treatment, Maheput struck him over the +face. They then plundered the house of all the property it +contained, to the value of six hundred and fifty rupees; and took +the subadar and his brother to the jungles; and, in the morning, +demanded a ransom of one thousand rupees. At last they came down to +four hundred rupees and the horse, which the subadar kept for his +own riding. The subadar consented, and his brother was released to +get the money and horse. He borrowed the money and sent it with the +horse through Bhowanee Deen Tewaree, landholder of Ladeeka Poorwa, +and the subadar was released. He presented three petitions, through +the Resident, and orders were sent from the Durbar to the local +authorities, Hurdut Sing and Monna Lal, but they were both in +league with the robbers, and tried to get the subadar made away +with, to save further trouble, and he sought security with his +regiment.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Meherban Tewaree, subadar, was present, as a witness at the +subsequent trial of Maheput and Gujraj, who were sentenced to +transportation beyond seas for life.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In January 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the village of +Bahapoor, in the Rodowlee district; and after plundering all the +houses, seized and carried off among others Seetul, the +spirit-dealer, and the two sons of Reehta, the widow of Bhosoo, one +twenty-two years of age, and the other eighteen. They tortured them +with red-hot irons, and tied bamboos round their necks every day +for fifteen days. Maheput then shot the eldest son, and cut his +body to pieces with his sword. The younger son, at night, made his +escape while they were asleep, and returned to tell the tale of his +brother's murder to his mother. Seetul, the Kalwar, got his uncle +to lend him twenty-eight rupees, for which he was released.</p> +<p>In April 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Ramoutar, Brahmin, of the Brahmin village of Guneshpoor, in +Rodowlee; plundered it of properly valued at one hundred rupees, +and then bound Ramoutar, his father and two sons, and took them off +to the jungles; and there tortured them all for seven days. He then +had the two boys, one nine years old and the other five, suspended +to a tree and flogged; and Ramoutar himself tied to a thorny tree +and beaten till the blood flowed down and drenched his waistband, +because he could pay nothing, and would not sign a bond to pay two +thousand rupees. His sufferings and the sight of those of his two +sons made him at last sign one for one thousand rupees. He was +flogged again till his friends brought four hundred out of the +thousand, and Cheyt Sing, Thakoor, a respectable landholder of +Koleea, in Rodowlee, consented to give security for the payment of +two hundred and forty-two rupees more. Ramoutar and his family were +then released, after they had been confined and tortured for +thirty-six days, and they went off and resided at Bookcheyna in +Khundasa. A year after his house was there attacked by Maheput Sing +and his gang, and plundered of all it contained; and his brother +Seetul, and his youngest son were seized and taken off to his fort +at Bhowaneegur, and there tortured and starved for six months. +Ramoutar then borrowed one hundred and sixty rupees, and obtained +the release of his brother Seetul, and a year after he was able to +raise forty-seven rupees more, with which he ransomed his son.</p> +<p>In May 1847, Maheput Sing attacked the house of Seolal Tewaree +of Torsompoor, in Rodowlee, at midnight; and after plundering it +and stripping his mother and wife, and the wife of his brother, +Jurbundun Sing, of all the clothes and ornaments they had, he bound +and carried off to the jungle the two brothers, Seolal and +Jurbundun. They were flogged, and had hot irons applied to their +bodies every day for twenty days, and had only a little flour to +eat and water to drink, once in three days. After twenty days they +contrived to make their escape one dark and stormy night, and got +home; but three days after he again attacked their house and burnt +it to the ground, with all they possessed. He, at the same time, +burnt down the house of their uncle, in the same village, and that +of one of their ploughmen; and two cows and one bullock were burnt +to death in the flames.</p> +<p>In July 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Chubbee Lal, Brahmin, in the village of Bunnee, in the Rodowlee +district, and after plundering it of property to the value of five +hundred rupees, he bound and took the old Brahmin off to the +jungles, and demanded from him a ransom of eight thousand rupees. +This sum the old man could not pay, and he was flogged with thorns, +and had red-hot irons applied to his body every day. Maheput then +sent a letter to the old man's son, Dwarka, desiring him to send +the eight thousand rupees if he wished his father to live. The +house having been plundered, the family had nothing left, and could +persuade no one to lend them. On receiving a reply to this effect, +Maheput had the old man's body plastered all over with moist +gunpowder, and made him stand in the sun till it was dry. He then +set fire to the powder, and the poor man was burnt all over. He +then cut off both his hands at the wrists, and his nose, and sent +them to his family, and in this condition be afterwards sent the +poor man to his home upon a cot. The son met his father at the +door, but the old man died as soon as his son had embraced him.</p> +<p>Maheput carried off Pem, the son of Teeka, at the same time, and +tortured him till his family paid the ransom demanded. He was +witness to the tortures of the old Brahmin.</p> +<p>In August 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the house of +Bichook, a Brahmin, in the village of Torsompoor, in Rodowlee, at +midnight, while he was sleeping, and bound and carried him off to +the jungle. The next day, when he was about to have him tortured +for a ransom, one of his followers interceded for him, and he was +released. But a month after, Maheput and his gang again attacked +his house, and after plundering it of all it contained, they burnt +it to the ground. Bichook had run off on hearing their approach, +and he escaped to Syudpoor.</p> +<p>In November, 1846, Maheput Sing attacked the house of Sook +Allee, in Guneshpoor, at midnight, with a gang of one hundred men; +and, after plundering it of all the property it contained, to the +amount of four hundred rupees, he burnt it to the ground, and bound +and carried off Sook Allee to the house of his friend, Byjonath +Bilwar, a landholder in the village of Kholee, eight miles distant. +He there demanded a ransom of five hundred rupees; and on his +declaring that he neither had nor could borrow such a sum, he had +him tortured with hot irons, and flogged in the usual way. He kept +him for two months at Kholee, and then took him to Tukra, in the +Soorajpoor purgunnah, where he kept him for another month, +torturing, and giving him half a meal every other day. At the end +of three months, Akber Sing and Bhowanee Deen, Rajpoot landholders +of Odemow, contrived to borrow two hundred rupees for Sook Allee, +and he was released on the payment of this sum. The marks of the +hot irons, applied to his body by Maheput Sing, with his own hands, +are still visible, and will remain so as long as he lives.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* I saw these marks on the sufferer.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>About the same time—the latter end of 1846—Maheput +Sing sent to Sheik Sobratee, of the same place, a message through a +pausee, named Bhowanee Deen, demanding twenty-five rupees. This sum +was sent; but six weeks had not elapsed, before Sheik Sobratee +received another demand for the same amount, through the same +person. He had no money, but promised to send the sum in ten days. +At midnight, on the fourth day after this, Maheput and his gang +attacked his house, and plundered it of all they could find, female +ornaments, and clothes, and brass utensils. Sobratee was that night +sleeping at the house of his friend Peree, the wood-dealer, in the +same town. Maheput tried to make his mother and wife point out +where he was, by torturing them, but they either would not or could +not do so. After some search, however, they discovered him, and +bound and took him off, with handcuffs, and an iron collar round +his neck, to the Kurseea jungle, in the Hydergur pergunnah. His +son, a boy, had escaped. After torturing him in the usual way for +eight days, they sent a message to his mother by Maheput's servant, +Salar, to say, that unless she sent a ransom of five hundred +rupees, her son's nose and hands should be cut off and sent to her +as those of <i>Chubbee Lal</i>, Brahmin, of Bunnee, had been. She +prevailed upon Baroonath Gotum to lend the money; and Maheput sent +Sobratee to him, accompanied by one of his armed retainers, with +orders to make him over to the Gotum, if he pledged himself in due +form to pay. He did so, and Sobratee was made over to him, and the +next day sent home to his wife and mother. Some months after, +however, when he had completed his fort of Bhowneegur, Maheput sent +to demand two hundred rupees more from Sobratee, and when he found +he could not pay, he had his house pulled, down, and took away all +the materials to his fort. What he did not require he caused to be +burnt. He got from Sobratee, in ransom and plunder, more than three +thousand rupees; and he has been ever since reduced to great +poverty and distress.</p> +<p>In November 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang seized and carried +off Khosal, a confectioner, of Talgon, in Rodowlee, who had gone to +his sister at Buhapoor, near Guneshpoor, to attend a +marriage—took him to the jungle, and tortured and starved him +in the usual way for five weeks. He had him burnt with red-hot +irons, flogged and ducked in a tank every day, and demanded a +ransom of two hundred rupees. At last, his brother, Davey Deen, +borrowed thirty-three rupees from Rambuksh, a merchant of Odermow, +and offered to pay it for his ransom. Maheput sent Khosal, with his +agent, Bhowanee Deen, to Rambuksh, and he released him on getting +the money. He still bears on his body the marks of the stripes and +burnings.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* These marks I have seen.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In December 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the house of +Motee Lal Misser, a Brahmin, in the village +of———, and after robbing it of all that it +contained, he seized and carried off his nephew, Ram Deen, a boy of +seven years of age, and tortured him for a month in the jungle. He +then cut off his left ear and the forefinger of his right hand, and +sent them to the uncle in a letter, stating, that if he did not +send him one thousand rupees, he would send the boy's head in the +same manner. The boy's father had died, and his uncle, with great +difficulty, prevailed upon his friends and neighbours to lend him +two hundred and twenty rupees, which he sent to Maheput, and his +nephew was released. The boy declares to me that Maheput cut off +his ear and finger with his own hands.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* This boy was present, as a witness, at the trial of +Maheput.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In June 1848, Forsut Pandee, of Resalpandee-ka-Poorwa, in +Rodowlee, accompanied Girwar Sing, a Rajpoot of Bowra, in Rodowlee, +to Guneshpoor, on some business. They were smoking and talking +together at the house of Mungul Sing, Thakoor, a large landholder +of that place, when five of Maheput's armed men came up, and told +Forsut Pandee to attend them to their master. Girwar Sing +remonstrated and declared that his honour had been pledged for +Forsut Pandee's personal safety. Mungul Sing, Thakoor, however, +told him, that he must offer no opposition, as they seized all +travellers who came that way, and it was dangerous to oppose them. +He was taken to Maheput Sing, in his fort at Bhowaneegur, situated +half a mile from Guneshpoor. Maheput told him that he had heard of +his having a good flint gun, and a shawl in his house, and that he +must have them. Forsut Pandee swore on the Ganges that he had no +such things. He then had him tied up to a tree and flogged him with +his own hands with thorny bushes, the scars of which are still +visible. He then demanded a ransom of three hundred rupees, and had +him flogged and tortured every day for a month, while he gave him +to eat only half a pound of flour every two or three days. The +prisoner's brother, Bhoree Pandee, sold all the clothes and +ornaments of his family, utensils, and furniture, and their +hereditary mango and mhowa grove, and raised two hundred and six +rupees, which he sent to Maheput, through Baldan Sing, a landholder +of Bharatpoor, two miles from Guneshpoor. On the receipt of this +Forsut Pandee was released.</p> +<p>In October 1848, Maheput Sing sent ten of his gang to seize a +cultivator, by name Khosal, who was engaged in cultivating his land +in a hamlet, one mile south of the town of Syudpoor. They seized +and bound him and took him off to their leader, Maheput, who had +him tortured for a month in the usual way. He had him tied up to a +ladder and flogged. He had red-hot irons applied to different parts +of his body—he put dry combustibles on the open palms of his +hands and set fire to them, so that he has lost the use of his +fingers for life. For the whole month he gave him only ten pounds +of flour to eat; but his friends contrived to convey a little more +to him occasionally, which he ate by stealth. He was reduced, by +hunger and torture, to the last stage, when his family, by the sale +of all they had in the world, and the compassion of their friends, +raised the sum of one hundred and twenty-six rupees, which they +sent to Maheput, by Thakoor Persaud, a landholder of the village of +Somba, and obtained his release. The tortures have rendered him a +cripple, and the family are reduced to a state of great +wretchedness.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* This man was a witness at the trial of Maheput, and I saw the +signs of his sufferings.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The village of Guneshpoor yielded a revenue to Government of +twenty-one thousand rupees a-year, and was divided into six and +half shares each, held by a different person. One belonged to Omrow +Sing, Rajpoot, the father of Hunmunt Sing, a corporal in the 44th +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, and descended to Omrow Sing's +eldest son, Davey Sing. One share was held, jointly, by Maheput +Sing and Chotee Sing, when, in October 1848, Maheput assembled a +gang of about two hundred men, and attacked the house of Davey +Sing, while his brother Hunmunt Sing was at home on recruiting +service. There were in the house the corporal and his three +brothers, and all mounted, with their friends, to the top of the +house, with their swords and spears, but without fire-arms. The +robbers, unable to ascend from the outside, broke open the doors, +but the brothers descended and defended the passage so resolutely, +that the gang was obliged to retire and watch for a better +opportunity.</p> +<p>Three months after, in January 1849, Maheput attacked the house +again, with a gang of five hundred men and good scaling-ladders. +Some ascended to the top on the ladders, while others broke open +the doors and forced their way in. The brothers and the other male +members of the family defended themselves resolutely. One of the +brothers, Esuree Sing, his uncle, Runjeet Sing, sipahee of the 11th +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, his cousin, Beetul Sing, sipahee +of the 8th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry, were all killed, and +hacked to pieces by Maheput and his gang. No person came to the +assistance of the family, and the robbers retired with their booty, +consisting of five hundred and ten rupees in money, four muskets, +and four swords, and twelve hundred maunds of corn, and all the +clothes, ornaments, and utensils that could be found. They burnt +down the house, and dispossessed the family of their share in the +estate, and plundered all the cultivators. Davey Sine the eldest +brother, went to reside at Bhanpoor, in the neighbourhood. While he +was engaged in cutting a field of pulse, in the morning, about +seven o'clock, in the month of March following, Maheput Sing, with +a gang of two hundred men, attacked his house, killed his two +brothers, Gordut and Hurdut Sing, and their servant, Omed, and shot +down his nephew, Gorbuksh Sing. Ramsahae, the nephew of Maheput +Sing, ran up to despatch him with his sword, but Gorbuksh rose, cut +him down, and killed him with his sword before he himself +expired.</p> +<p>The corporal, Hunmunt Sing, of the 44th Native Infantry, +described all these things in several petitions to the Resident, +and prayed redress, but no redress was ever obtained. Saligram and +other relatives of the corporal had been plundered and wounded by +Maheput Sing and his gang, and he describes many other atrocities +committed by the same gang. His petition of the 27th September +1849, was sent to the King by the Resident, who was told, that the +Amil of the district of Dureeabad, Girdhara Lal, had been ordered +to seize Maheput Sing and his gang. This Amil was always in league +with them.</p> +<p>In December 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house +of a female, named Arganee, the widow of Sheik Rozae, in the +village of Pertab Pahae. It was midnight, and she was sleeping with +her two grandchildren, the sons of her son, who was a sipahee in +the 66th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry. They bound her hands: +and leaving her young grandchildren alone, took her off to the +jungle eight miles distant. There Maheput demanded from her the +seven hundred rupees which she was said to have accumulated; and +when she pleaded poverty, and said that the sipahee's pay was their +only means of subsistence, he had her stripped naked and flogged in +the usual way. For a month he had her stripped and flogged in the +same manner every day. She then signed a bond to pay one hundred +rupees on a certain day, and was released. She sold all she had, +and borrowed all she could, and on the fourth day sent him fifty, +and the other fifty on the fifteenth day; but he afterwards had the +poor widow's house pulled down and all the wood-work carried to his +fort of Bhowaneegur.</p> +<p>In April 1849, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Seodeen Misser, sipahee of the 63rd Regiment Bengal Native +Infantry; and after plundering it, seized and carried off to the +jungle his brother and that brother's two sons—one seven +years of age and the other five—and his sister. He sold the +two boys as slaves for two hundred rupees to a person named Davey +Sookul, of Guneshpoor; and tortured the brother and sister till the +sipahee and his friends sold all they had in the world for their +ransom, when he released them.</p> +<p>In the month of May 1849, Maheput Sing and his gang at midnight +attacked the house of Eseree Sing, a Rajpoot of the Chouhan tribe, +in the village of Salpoor, in Dureeabad; and after stripping his +mother and all the other females of the family of their clothes and +ornaments, plundering the house of all it contained, rupees, +twenty-five in money, two handsome matchlocks, two swords, two +spears, and two shields, and brass utensils, weighing one hundred +and sixty pounds, he bound Eseree Sing himself, and took him off +with his sister, four years of age, and his daughter, only three, +to a jungle, four miles distant. He there released Eseree Sing +himself, but took on the girls, and made over his daughter to +Akber, one of his followers, and his sister to Bechoo, another of +his gang, to be united to them in marriage. It was at their +instigation, and for that purpose chiefly, that he made the +attack.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Akber and Bechoo are now in prison, with Maheput, at +Lucknow.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In August 1849, Maheput and his gang attacked the houses of +Seetul, Gorbuksh, and Sook Lal, Brahmins, of Guneshpoor; and after +plundering them, he carried off Gorbuksh and his son, Ram Deen, and +Bhowanee, the son of Seetul, and Sook Lal, and murdered them. He +carried off and tortured, in a shocking manner, Benee, of the same +place, till he paid a ransom; and Ongud, son of Khunmun, an invalid +Khalasie, of the 26th Regiment Native Infantry.</p> +<p>In September 1849, Maheput attacked and plundered the house of +Ongud Sing, sipahee of the 24th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, +and confined the sipahee for some time. His petition was sent to +the King on the 11th November 1849.</p> +<p>On the 15th of December 1849, Monowur Khan, havildar of the 62nd +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, complained that Maheput Sing had +seized him as he was walking on the high road, and extorted eleven +rupees from him. His petition was sent to the King, with a request, +that all local authorities might be urged to aid in his arrest; and +orders were again sent to the Frontier Police.</p> +<p>On the 24th December 1849, Madho Sing, sipahee of the 11th +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, complained that Maheput Sing had +attacked and plundered his house twice, burnt it down, and cut down +all the trees which the family had planted for generations, and +turned them all out of the village—that in the second attack +he had murdered his daughter, a girl of only nine years of age. His +petition was sent to the King, who, on the 13th of February 1850, +replied that he had proclaimed Maheput as a robber and murderer, +and offered a reward of three thousand rupees for his arrest.</p> +<p>On the 16th of March 1850, Goverdhun complained, that Maheput +had attacked and plundered his house, and carried off his father to +the jungles, and extorted from him a ransom of one hundred and ten +rupees. His petition was sent to the King, who, on the 27th March, +replied, that he had given frequent and urgent orders for the +arrest of Maheput Sing.</p> +<p>Gunga Deen, a trooper of the Governor-General's body-guard, +complained to the Resident, on the 9th of August 1844, that Maheput +Sing had attacked and killed with his own hand his agent, Thakoor +Sing, while he was taking seven hundred and seventy-four rupees to +the revenue-collector. On the 11th of September 1849, he again +complained to the Resident, that Maheput Sing had plundered +Bhurteemow and other villages, in Dureeabad, of property to the +value of six thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine rupees, and +murdered five men, besides Thakoor Sing, his servant, and had +committed numerous robberies in other villages during the year +1848. Among them one in Bhurteemow, in which he killed Ramjeet and +four other men—that he had soon after committed a robbery in +which no less than twenty-two persons were killed and wounded, and +property to the value of two thousand rupees was carried off. The +King was frequently pressed most earnestly to arrest this atrocious +robber; and on the 9th of December 1849, the Frontier Police was, +at the Kings request, directed to do all in their power to seize +him.</p> +<p>In July 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Mungul Sookul, a corporal of the 24th Regiment of Bengal Native +Infantry, at midnight, robbed it of property to the value of five +hundred rupees, and so rent the ears of his little son, by the +violence with which he tore the gold rings from them, that the boy +was not likely to live. The commanding officer of the regiment sent +the corporal's petition for redress, through the Resident, to the +Durbar; and orders were sent to the local authorities to afford it, +but they were unable or unwilling to do anything.</p> +<p>Gunga Aheer, of Buroulee, in the district of Rodowlee, had been +for three years a sipahee in the 48th Regiment of Bengal Native +Infantry, under the name of Mata Deen. Continued sickness rendered +him unfit for duty, and he obtained his discharge, and came home to +his family. In March 1850, having been long without employment, and +reduced, with his family, to great distress, he went to his +relation, Ramdhun, of the Intelligence Department, in the service +of the King of Oude, and then; on duty at Dureeabad, with the Amil. +A reward of three thousand rupees having been offered by the King +for the arrest of Maheput Sing, the Amil ordered Ramdhun to try his +best to trace him out, and he took Gunga Aheer with him to assist, +on a promise of securing for him good service if they succeeded. +They went to a jungle, about two miles from Guneshpoor, and near +the foot of Bhowaneegur. While they were resting at a temple in the +jungle, sacred to Davey, Maheput came up, with twenty followers, to +offer sacrifice; and as soon as they recognized the Harkara, +Ramdhun, they seized both, and took them off in the evening to a +jungle, four miles distant. In the hope of frightening Maheput, the +Harkara pretended to be in the service of the Resident at Lucknow; +but as the reward for his arrest had been<br> +offered on the requisition of the Resident, on the application of +injured sipahees of the British army, this did not avail him. Their +hands were tied behind their backs, and as soon as it became dark, +they took Ramdhun off to a distance of twenty paces from where +Maheput Sing sat, and made him stand in a circle of men with drawn +swords. One man advanced, and at one cut with his sword, severed +his right arm from his body, and it fell to the ground. Another cut +into the side, under the stump, while a third cut him across the +left side of the neck with a back cut, he all the time calling out +for mercy, but in vain. On receiving the cut across the neck he +fell dead, and the body was flung into the river Goomtee. Maheput +sat looking on without saying a word.</p> +<p>They then amused themselves for some time by flogging Gunga +Aheer with thorn bushes, while he in agony cried for mercy. The +next day, by Maheput's orders, they laid him upon a bed of thorns +and beat him again, while he screamed from pain, and they laughed +at his cries. One of the followers told Maheput, that they had been +cautioned by the outlaw, Jugurnath, the chuprassie, not to murder +Ramdhun and his companion, or the English would some day avenge +them; but he laughed and said that spies must be punished, to deter +others from pursuing them. One of his followers then sat on Gunga's +chest while another held his arms, and a third his legs, while a +fourth cut off his nose, and one of his hands at the wrist, and the +fingers of the other hand. He became senseless, and Maheput and his +followers all left him in this state. In the evening a servant of +Seochurn Chowdheree, of Bhowaneepoor, on his way to the jungle, saw +him and reported his condition to his master, who sent people and +had him taken to him on a litter. He had his wounds dressed by a +village surgeon, and the next day sent him home to his wife and +mother. The landlord of the village reported the case to Captain +Orr, of the Frontier Police, at Fyzabad, who had Gunga taken off to +the hospital at Lucknow, where he remained under the care of the +Residency surgeon till he recovered. This poor man had to support +his mother, wife, and daughter by his labour. His mother came in +with him, and attended him in hospital, while his wife and child +remained at their village.</p> +<p>While in hospital recovering, Maheput Sing was brought before +him, by the Frontier Police, to be recognized. As soon as he saw +him all the terrible scene of Ramdhun's murder and his own torture +came so vividly before him, that he trembled from head to foot, +like a man in an ague fit, and was for some time unable to speak. +At last, when he saw the fetters on Maheput's legs, and the +handcuffs on his wrists, and armed Government servants around him, +he recovered his senses; and by degrees, recorded what he had +witnessed and suffered at his hands.</p> +<p>On the 25th March 1850, Rajah Maun Sing, under orders from the +Durbar, with all the force he could muster, invested the fort of +Bhowaneegur, while the force under Captains Weston, Thomas, +Bunbury, and Magness, attacked the three forts belonging to Rajah +Prethee Put, of Paska. Maheput Sing left the fort on the 27th, with +eleven followers, to collect reinforcements and harass the +besiegers, and the garrison was commanded by his nephew.</p> +<p>On the 28th, Maun Sing had three men killed and several wounded, +from the fire of the garrison, and wrote for reinforcements to +Captain Weston, who was at Dureeabad, twelve miles distant. As soon +as he got the letter, he mounted his horse, and leaving the force +to follow, rode with his Assistant, Captain Orr, to the place, +which is half a mile from Guneshpoor south, and two hundred yards +from the left bank of the Goomtee river north. They were attended +by a few sowars, under Seo Sing, and they reached the place before +daybreak, on the 29th; and as soon as day appeared, proceeded with +Captain Magness, who had galloped on in advance of his regiment to +reconnoitre the fort, and were fired upon by the garrison wherever +they were seen. Maun Sing's people had retired after the loss of a +few men, to the distance of a mile, and lay scattered over the +jungle.</p> +<p>The Infantry came up before sunset, and the guns before it grew +dark, and all were placed in position, and a fire opened upon the +fort till it grew too dark to point the guns. The garrison soon +after attempted to escape by the west side, and were fired upon by +the parties posted on that quarter. Captain Weston, hearing the +fire, collected all the men he could, and getting with difficulty +into the fort, found it empty. In the attempt to cut their way +through, the garrison had two men killed and fifteen wounded and +taken, and five managed to escape, under cover of the night, into +the thick jungle. Bikhai, one of the most atrocious of Maheput's +followers, was killed; but he killed two of the besiegers, and +wounded two more before he fell. Akber Sing, the most atrocious of +all the gang, had his arm taken off by a cannon-shot, and was +seized. Maheput's nephew, the commandant of the garrison, was +taken, with one of Maheput's secretaries and advisers.</p> +<p>Of Maun Sing's party, four were killed and thirteen wounded, and +Captain Magness had one havildar severely wounded. The fort was +levelled, and the jungle around cut down. The force then proceeded +and took possession of the forts of Futtehpoor, Oskamow, Sorrea, +Dyeepoor, and Etonja, all belonging to Jugurnath Chuprassie, +another leader of banditti of that district They were only a few +miles distant from Bhowaneegur, and were deserted by his gangs on +their seeing a British force and hearing the guns open upon +Bhowaneegur. Two hundred head of stolen cattle were found in the +forts of Jugurnath, and restored to their proper owners. Parties +were sent in pursuit of Maheput Sing, and two of his followers were +secured; but he himself escaped for the time. The forts were all +destroyed. Captain Orr, the Assistant Superintendent, in charge of +the Frontier Police at Fyzabad, had been long in pursuit of Maheput +Sing, and his parties, knowing all his haunts and associates, gave +him no rest. His subadar, Seetul Sing, became acquainted with +Prethee Paul, tallookdar of Ramnuggur, who had been deprived of his +estate for defalcation, and become associated with Maheput Sing. +The subadar persuaded this landholder that it would be to his +advantage to aid in the arrest of so atrocious a robber and +murderer; and when Maheput next came to him to seek some repose +from his pursuers, and consult about future plans, he sent +intimation to Seetul Sing, whose detachment of sipahees was at no +great distance. On receiving the intimation, the subadar marched +forthwith, and reached the place at the dawn of day, on the morning +of the 1st of July 1850. Maheput Sing had just left the house to +perform his ablutions, but on seeing them, he suspected their +designs and re-entered the house. The subadar's party saw him, +immediately surrounded the house, and demanded his surrender, +Maheput Sing begged Prethee Paul to join him in defending the house +or cutting their way through; but Prethee Paul told him that he had +ruined himself by his atrocities, and must now submit to his fate, +since he could not involve himself and all his family in ruin +merely to assist him. Prethee Paul then took him by the arm, +brought him out, and made him over to Seetul Sing, who had +threatened to set fire to the house, forthwith unless he did so. He +was then secured and taken off, well guarded, and in all possible +haste, to Captain Orr, lest his gang might collect and attempt a +rescue. Captain Orr sent him off, under a strong guard and well +fettered, to Lucknow, to Captain Weston, the Superintendent of the +Frontier Police.</p> +<p>Prethee Paul, the tallookdar, for the good service, got back his +estate from the Oude sovereign, and an addition of five hundred +rupees a-year to his nankar or personal allowance. Gunga Aheer is +now a pensioner on the Residency fund, and his family has been +provided for. Maheput Sing and his associate Gujraj were sentenced +to transportation beyond seas, and sent off in October 1851.</p> +<p>It is remarked by the people, that few of these baronial robbers +ever die natural deaths—that they either kill each other, or +are killed sooner or later by the servants of Government. More +atrocious crimes than those which they every month commit it is +difficult to conceive. In the Bangor district, through which we +passed last month, this class of landholders are certainly as +strong and as much disposed to withhold the just dues of +Government, and to resist its officers and troops, as they are +here, but they do not plunder and burn down each other's villages, +and murder and rob each other's tenants so often as they do here. +The coalition has introduced among them a kind of <i>balance of +power</i>, which makes them respect each other's rights, and the +rights of each other's tenants, for the chiefs are dependent upon +the attachment and fidelity of their respective tenants. The above +list contains only a part of the leaders of gangs, by which the +districts of Dureeabad, Rodowlee, Sidhore, Pertabgunge, Deva, and +Jehangeerabad, are infested. We have seen no manufacture of any +exportable commodity in Oude, nor have we seen traffic on any road +in Oude, save that leading from Cawnpore to Lucknow.</p> +<p>In consequence of some bad seasons, a good deal of the grain +required at the Capital, and in the districts to the north-cast, +comes from Cawnpore over this road. Were the road from Fyzabad to +Lucknow good and safe, a good deal of land produce would, in +ordinary seasons, come over it from the Goruckpoor district, and +those intervening between Lucknow and Fyzabad. It would, however, +be useless to make the road till the gangs which infest it are put +down. A good and secure road from Lucknow through Sultanpoor to +Benares, would be of still greater advantage.</p> +<p><i>February 25</i>, 1850.—Halted at Dureeabad. I here saw +the draft-bullocks attached to the guns, with Captain Orr's +companies of Frontier Police. They are of the best kind, and in +excellent condition. They have the same allowance of a seer and +half of grain a-day, which is drawn for every bullock attached to +his Majesty's artillery. The difference is that they get all that +is paid for in their name, while the others get one-third; and +really got none when on detached duty till lately. On Fridays, +Captain Orr's bullocks get only half; and this is, I believe, the +rule with all the others that get any at all. His bullocks are bred +in the Nanpara, Nigasun, Dhorehra, and other districts in the Oude +Tarae, and are of an excellent quality for work. They cost from 40 +to 75 rupees a-pair. In these districts of the Tarae forest, the +cows are allowed to go almost wild in large grass preserves, where +they are defended from tigers; and the calves are taken from them, +when a year old, to be taken care of at home, till sold for the +dairy or for work. Captain Orr's bullocks have no grazing-ground, +nor are they sent out at all to graze—they get nothing but +bhoosa (chaff) and corn. Of bhoosa they get as much as they can +eat, when on detached duty, as they take it from the peasantry +without payment; but when at Lucknow, they are limited to a very +small quantity, as Government has to pay for it. On the 15th of +May, 1833, the King prohibited any one from taking bhoosa without +paying for it, either for private or public cattle; and directed +that bhoosa, for all the Artillery bullocks, should be purchased at +the harvests, and charged for in the public accounts; but the order +was disregarded like that against the murder of female +children.</p> +<p><i>February 26</i>, 1850—Sidhore, sixteen miles, W.S.W. +The country, a plain, covered as usual with spring crops and fine +foliage; but intersected midway by the little river Kuleeanee, +which causes undulations on each side. The soil chiefly doomut and +light, but fertile. It abounds more in white ants than such light +soil generally does. We passed through the estate of Soorujpoor +Behreylee, in which so many of the baronial robbers above described +reside, and through many villages beyond it, which they had lately +robbed and burnt down, as far as such villages can be burnt. The +mud-walls and coverings are as good as bomb-proofs against the +fire, to which they are always exposed from these robbers. Only +twenty days ago, Chundee Behraleea and his party attacked the +village of Siswae, through which we passed a few miles from +this—plundered it, and killed three persons, and six others +perished in the flames. They served several others in the +neighbourhood in the same manner; and have, within the same time, +attacked and plundered the town of Sidhore itself several +times.</p> +<p>The boundary which separates the Dureeabad from the Sidhore +district we passed some four miles back; and the greater part of +the villages lately attacked are situated in the latter, which is +under a separate Amil, Aga Ahmud, who is, in consequence, unable to +collect his revenue. The Amil of Dureeabad, Girdhara Sing,* on the +contrary, acquiesces in all the atrocities committed by these +robbers, and is, in consequence, able to collect his revenue, and +secure the favour of the Court. Some of the villages of the estate, +held by the widow of Singjoo, late Rajah of Soorujpoor, are under +the jurisdiction of the Sidhore Amil; and, as she would pay no +revenue, the Amil took a force a few days ago to her twelve +villages of Sonowlee, within the Dureeabad district, and seized and +carried off some three hundred of her tenants, men, women, and +children, as hostages for the payment of the balance due, and +confined them pell-mell, in a fort. The clamour of the rest of the +population as I passed was terrible, all declaring that they had +paid their rents to the <i>Ranee</i>, and that she alone ought to +be held responsible. She, however, resided at Soorujpoor, within +the jurisdiction, and under the protection of the Amil of +Dureeabad.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Girdhara Sing's patron is Chundee Sahaee, the minister's +deputy, whose influence is paramount at present.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Behraleea gangs have lately plundered the five villages of +Sadutpoor, Luloopoor, Bilkhundee, and Subahpoor, belonging to +Soorujbulee, the head Canoongo, or Chowdheree of Dureeabad, who had +never offended them. Both the Amils were with me for the latter +part of the road; and the dispute between them ran very high. It +was clear, however, that Girdhara Sing was strong in his league +with the robbers, and conscious of being able to maintain his +ground at Court; and Aga Ahmud was weak in his efforts to put them +down, and conscious of his being unable much longer to pay what was +required, and keep his post. He has with him two Companies of +Nujeebs and two of Telingas, and eight guns. The guns are useless +and without ammunition, or stores of any kind; and the Nujeebs and +Telingas cannot be depended upon. The best pay master has certainly +the best chance. It is humiliating and distressing to see a whole +people suffering such wrongs as are every day inflicted upon the +village communities and town's people of Dureeabad, Rodowlee, +Sidhore, and Dewa, by these merciless freebooters; and impossible +not to feel indignant at a Government that regards them with so +much indifference.*</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Poor Aga Ahmud was put into gaol, for defalcation, at the end +of the season; but Girdhara Sing was received with great favour by +the Court. The government of the district, for the next season, was +confirmed, and the usual dress of honour was conferred upon him, +but the Resident deemed it to be his duty to interpose and insist +upon his not being sent out. The government of the district was, in +consequence, taken from him, and made over to Rajah Maun Sing.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A respectable young agricultural capitalist from Biswa, +Seetaram, rode along by my side this morning, and I asked him, +"over whom these suttee tombs, near Biswa, and other towns were for +the most part raised."—"Sir," said he, "they are chiefly over +the widows of Brahmins, bankers, merchants, Hindoo public officers, +tradesmen, and shopkeepers." "Are there many such tombs in Oude, +over the widows of Rajpoot landholders?"—"I have not seen +any, sir, and have rarely heard of the widow of a Rajpoot +landholder burning herself." "No, sir," said Bukhtawar Sing, "how +should such women be worthy to become suttees? They dare not become +suttees, sir, with the murder of so many innocent children on their +heads. Sir, we Brahmins and other respectable Hindoos feel honoured +in having daughters; and never feel secure of a happy life +hereafter till we see them respectably married. This, sir, is a +duty the Deity demands from us, and the neglect of which we do not +believe he can ever excuse. When the bridegroom comes sir, to fetch +our daughter, the priest reads over the marriage-service, and the +parents of the girl wash her feet and those of her bridegroom; and, +as they sit together after the ceremonies, put into her arms a tray +of gold and silver jewels, and rich clothes, such as their +condition in life enables them to provide; and then invoke the +blessing of God upon their union; and then, and not till then, do +they feel that they have done their duty to their child. What can +men and women, who murder their daughters as soon as they are born, +ever hope for in this life or in a future state? What can widows, +conscious of such crimes, expect from ascending the funeral pile, +with the bodies of their deceased husbands who have caused them to +commit such crimes?" "And you think that there really is merit in +such sacrifices on the part of widows, who have done their duties +in this life?"—"Assuredly I do, sir; if there were none, why +should God render them go insensible to the pain of burning? I have +seen many widows burn themselves in my time, and watched them from +the time they first declared their intention to their death; and +they all seemed to me to feel nothing whatever from the flames: +nothing, sir, but support from above could sustain them through +such trials. Depend upon it, sir, that no widow of a Rajpoot +murderer of his own offspring would ever be so supported; they knew +very well that they would not be so; and, therefore, very wisely +never ventured to expose themselves to the trial: faithful wives +and good mothers only could so venture. The Rajpoots, sir, and +their wives were pleased at the prohibition, because others could +no longer do what they dared not do!" "What do you think, +Seetarum?"—"I think, sir, that this crime of infanticide had +its origin solely in family pride, which will make people do almost +anything. These proud Rajpoots did not like to put it into any +man's power to call them <i>salahs</i> or <i>sussoors</i>,* +(brothers-in-law or fathers-in-law).</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* These are terms of abuse all over India. To call a man +sussoor or salah, in abuse, is to say to him, I have dishonoured +your daughter or your sister!]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>"I remember an instance of a woman burning herself at Lasoora, +six miles from Biswa, when I was fifteen years of age, and I am now +twenty-five. She certainly seemed to suffer no pain. One forenoon +she told her husband that in a former birth she had promised him +that when he should be born a <i>maha brahman</i> at Biswa, she +would unite herself in marriage to him, and live with him as his +wife for twelve years; that these twelve years had now expired, and +that she had that night received intimation from Heaven that her +real husband, <i>Rajah Kirpah Shunker</i>, of Muthura, had died +without having been married in this birth; that she was in reality +his wife, and had already burnt herself five times with his body, +and would now mix her ashes with his for the sixth time, and he +must forthwith send her to the village of Lasoora, where she would +become a suttee. The husband was astounded, for they had always +lived together on the best possible terms, and out of the four +children they had had two still survived. He and all their +relations did all they could to dissuade her, but she disregarded +them, and ran off to the Sewala (temple) in Biswa, which was built +by my father. Thence she sent a Brahmin, by name Gokurn, to call me +and my elder brother, Morlee Munohur, then seventeen years of age. +We went, and she told us that she had been our mother in a former +birth, and wished to see us once more before she died; she blessed +us, and prayed that we might have each five sons, and then told us +to arrange for her funeral pile at Lasoora, as all her former five +suttees had been performed at that place.</p> +<p>"We thought she was delirious, and no one supposed that she +would really burn herself. She, however, left the temple and +proceeded towards Lasoora on foot, followed by a party of women and +children, and by her husband, who continued to implore her to +return home with him. He had a litter with him to take her, but she +would not listen to him or to any one else. We reached Lasoora +about an hour and a half before sunset, and she ordered the people +to collect a large pile of wood for her, and told them that she +would light it with a flame from her own mouth. They seemed to +regard her as an inspired person, and did so. She mounted the pile, +and it soon took fire, how I know not! Many people said they saw +the flame come from her month, and all seemed to believe that it +did so. The flames ascended, for it was in the month of March, and +the wood was dry, and she seemed to be quite happy as she sat in +the midst of them, and was burnt to death. Her husband told us, +that she had lost one son some years before, and another only four +days before she burnt herself, and that she had been much afflicted +at his death. Whether there really had been such a person as Rajah +Kirpah Shunker, no one ever thought it necessary to inquire. Her +suttee tomb still stands at Lasoora among many others. Our mother +was alive, though our father had been dead many years, and she used +to say that the poor woman must have become deranged at the death +of her child. The people all believed that she told the truth, and +the husband was obliged to yield, though he seemed much afflicted. +Her two sons still live, and reside at Biswa." *</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Moorlee Monowur, a very respectable agricultural capitalist, +tells me, that all that his younger brother, Seetaram, told me, +about the suttee, if strictly true, and can be proved by a +reference to the poor woman's husband and sons, who still survive, +and to the people of Bilwa and Lasoora.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I asked the Amil, "How he fed, clothed, and lodged his +prisoners?" He said, "We always take them with us in our marches, +secured in stocks or fetters. We cannot leave them behind, because +we have no gaols or other places to keep them in, and require all +our troops to move with us. As to food and clothing, they are +obliged to provide themselves, or get their families or friends to +provide them, for Government will not let us charge anything for +their subsistence and clothing in the accounts."</p> +<p>"I understand that you and all other public servants who have +charge of prisoners not only make them provide themselves with food +and clothing, but make them pay for lamp-oil, whether they have a +lamp burning at night or not?"—"When they require a lamp they +must of course pay for it, sir; prisoners are always a source of +much anxiety to us, for if we send them to Lucknow, they are almost +sure to be let out soon, on occasions of thanksgiving, or on +payment of gratuities, and enabled to punish all who have assisted +us in the arrest; and with hosts of robbers around us, we are +always in danger of an attempt to rescue them, which may cost us +many lives." "If the gaol darogahs at Lucknow had not the power to +sell his prisoners, sir," said Bukhtawar Sing, "how should he be +able to pay so much as he does for his place? He is obliged to pay +five hundred rupees or more for his place, and is not sure of +holding it a month after he has bought it, so many are the +candidates for a place so profitable!" "But he gets a share of the +subsistence money, paid for the prisoners from the Treasury, does +he not?"—"Yes, sir; of the four pice a-day paid for them by +the King, he takes two, and sends them to beg through the city for +what more they require." "If they get more than what he thinks they +require from the public or their friends, he takes the surplus from +them, I am told?"—"It is very true, sir, I believe. Fellows, +sir, who have no substantial friends, and cannot and will not beg, +soon sink under this scanty supply of food."</p> +<p><i>February 27</i>, 1850—Sutrick, sixteen miles west, over +a plain of muteear soil, tolerably well cultivated, and very well +studded with trees of the finest kinds, single, in clusters and in +groves. The mango-trees are in blossom, and promise well. The trees +are said to bear only one season out of three, but some bear in one +season, and others in another, so that the market is always +supplied, though in some seasons more abundantly than in others. A +cloudy sky and easterly wind, while the trees are in blossom, are +said to be very injurious. A large landholder told me that they +never took a tax upon any of the trees, not even the mhowa-trees, +but the owner could not, except upon particular occasions, dispose +of one to be cut down, without the permission of the zumeendar upon +whose lands it stood. He might cut down one without his permission +for building or repairing his house, or for fuel, on any occasion +of marriage in his family, but not otherwise. A good many fine +trees were, he said, destroyed by the local officers of Government. +Having no tents, they collected the roofs of houses from a +neighbouring village in hot or bad weather, cut away the branches +to make rafters, and left the trunks as pillars to support the +roofs, and under this treatment they soon died. He told me that +cow-dung was cheaper for fuel than wood in this district, and +consequently more commonly used in cooking; but that they gathered +cow-dung for fuel only during four months in the year, November, +December, January, and February; all that fell during the other +eight months was religiously left, or stored for manure. In the +pits in which they stored it, they often threw some of the inferior +green crops of autumn, such as kodo and kotkee; but the manure most +esteemed among them was <i>pigs' dung</i>—this, he said, was +commonly stored and sold by those who kept pigs. The best muteear +and doomut soils, which prevail in this district, are rented at two +rupees a kutcha beegah, without reference to the crop which the +cultivator might take from them; and they yielded, under good +tillage, from ten to fifteen returns of the seed in wheat, barley, +gram, &c. There are two and half or three kutcha beegahs in a +pucka beegah; and a pucka beegah is from 2750 to 2760 square +yards.</p> +<p>Sutrick is celebrated for the shrine of Shouk Salar, alias +<i>Borda Baba</i>, the father of Syud Salar, whose shrine is at +Bahraetch. This person, it is said, was the husband of the sister +of Mahmood, of Ghuznee. He is supposed to have died a natural death +at this place, while leading the armies of his sovereign against +the Hindoos. His son had royal blood in his veins, and his shrine +is held to be the most sacred of the two. A large fair is held here +in March, on the same days that this fair takes place at Bahraetch. +All our Hindoo camp followers paid as much reverence to the shrine +as they passed as the Mahommedans. It is a place without trade or +manufactures; but a good many respectable Mahommedan families +reside in it, and have built several small but neat mosques of +burnt bricks. There is little thoroughfare in the wretched road +that passes through it.</p> +<p>The Hindoos worship any sign of manifested might or power, +though exerted against themselves, as they consider all might and +power to be conferred by the Deity for some useful purpose, however +much that purpose may be concealed from us. "These invaders, +however merciless and destructive to the Hindoo race, say they must +have been sent on their mission by God for some great and useful +purpose, or they could not possibly have succeeded as they did: had +their proceedings not been sanctioned by Him, he could at any +moment have destroyed them all, or have interposed to arrest their +progress." These, however, are the speculations of only the +thinking portion. At the bottom of the respect shown to such +Mahommedan shrines, by the mass of Hindoos, there is always a +strong ground-work of <i>hope</i> or <i>fear</i>: the soul or +spirit of the savage old man, who had been so well supported on +earth, must still, they think, have some influence at the Court of +Heaven to secure them good or work them evil, and they invoke or +propitiate him accordingly. They would do the same to the tomb of +Alexander, Jungez Khan, Tymour, or Nadir Shah, without any +perplexing inquiries as to their creed or liturgy.</p> +<p><i>February 28</i>, 1850.—Chinahut, eleven miles west, +over a plain intersected by several small streams, the largest of +which is the Rete, near Sutrick. There is a good deal of +kunkur-lime in the ground over which we have passed today; but the +tillage is good where the land is at all level, and the crops are +fine. The plain is cut up here and there by some ravines, but they +are small and shallow, and render but a small portion of the +surface unfit for tillage. The banks of the small streams are, for +the most part, cultivated up to the water's edge.</p> +<p>We passed the Rete over a nice bridge, built by Rajah Bukhtawar +Sing twenty-five years ago, at a cost of twenty-five thousand +rupees, out of his own purse. He told me that one morning, in the +rains, he came to the bank of this river, on his way to Lucknow +from Jeytpoor, a town which we passed yesterday, and found it so +swollen that he was obliged to purchase some large earthen jars, +and form a raft upon them to take over himself and followers. While +preparing his raft, which took a whole day, he heard that from five +to ten persons were drowned, in attempting to cross this little +river, every year, and that people were often detained upon the +bank for four or five days together. He resolved to save people +from all this evil; and as soon as he got home set about building +this bridge, and got it ready before the next rains. It is a +substantial work, with three good arches. About two miles on this +side of the bridge he pointed out to me the single tree, near a +mango-grove, where some eighteen or twenty years ago he overtook a +large balloon, which the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, had got made +in the Dilkosha Park at Lucknow. It was made, he tells me, by a +tall and slender young English gentleman, who visited Lucknow, with +his uncle, for the special purpose of constructing and ascending in +this machine. "When it was all ready, sir, the young man got into a +small boat that was suspended under it, taking with him a gun and +some artificial fish. We asked him what he intended to do with a +gun in the clouds; and he told us, that in the sky he was in danger +of meeting large birds that might hurt the balloon, and the gun was +necessary to frighten them off. As the balloon began to ascend the +old gentleman's eyes filled with tears, and I asked him why. He +told me, that this young man's father had fallen into the sea, and +been drowned; and he was always afraid, when the son went up, that +he might never see him alive again.</p> +<p>"The King was sitting at the window in the upper story of the +Dilkosha house, with some English gentlemen, when the balloon +passed up close by, and the gentleman took off his hat and bowed +gracefully as he passed, at which the King seemed much pleased. I +commanded a regiment of Dragoons, and the King told me to take a +party of my boldest and best-mounted men and follow the balloon. I +selected seventeen, and we were all ready in our saddles. The +balloon went straight up, and we lost sight of the man and the boat +in which he sat. The machine, though it was sixty feet long, +including boat and all, and twelve feet wide, seemed at last to be +no larger than a small water-jug. Below we had no wind, but we soon +saw the balloon driven by an upper current to the eastward, along +the Fyzabad road. We followed as fast as the horses could carry us, +crossed the Goomtee river over the old stone bridge, and passed +many travellers on the road staring at the extraordinary machine, +for they had heard nothing about it, and we had no time to tell +them. When we had gone about seventeen miles, the balloon began to +descend. It was in the month of March, and the weather was hot, and +I had lost three horses before it came to the ground. The young man +then began to let go his fish, and they came fluttering down, while +the oil-cloths about the balloon made a noise like the growling of +a wild beast. Seeing the enormous machine going at this rate, +followed by us at full speed, the people along the road, who are +always numerous in the morning, became so panic-struck that a great +many fell down senseless upon their faces, and some of them could +not be got to rise for some hours afterwards.</p> +<p>"We were not far from it when it approached the ground, and +swept along on the border of this grove, on our left. Fortunately +for the young man, it did not strike any trees. He was dressed all +in black, and a very tall, handsome young man he was. As soon as he +found himself near enough to the ground, he jumped out, holding one +rope in his hand, and tried to stop the balloon, calling out to the +people on the road, as loud as he could, <i>puckaro, +puckaro!</i>—seize, seize! We were then within two hundred +yards of it, and at full speed; and, instead of helping the young +man, the people on the road, thinking the order was to seize them, +fell down flat on their faces, unable to look upon the balloon, or +utter a word. They all thought that it was some terrible demon from +above come to seize and devour them. When we had headed it a +little, we all sprang from our saddles, joined the young man at the +ropes, and lashed them round anything we could find, as we were +being dragged along. The young man took out his penknife, and gave +the balloon a gash in the side, to let out the <i>smoke</i> that +inflated it, and it collapsed and stopped. The first thing, sir, +that the young man did was to call for fire, take a cigar from his +waistcoat pocket, and begin to smoke, while we went to the +assistance of the panic-struck travellers, many of whom were still +lying senseless on the ground. We got water, and threw it in their +faces; and when they were able to sit up, we mounted the young man +upon one of our horses, and took him back slowly to Lucknow. He +told me that it was so very cold above, that it gave him a severe +headache, and that he found a cigar a good thing to remove it. The +King was very glad when we brought him back, and he gave him +several thousand rupees over and above the cost of making the +balloon, and providing him and his uncle during their stay. They +soon after left Lucknow for Lahore, and what became of them I know +not."</p> +<p>Passing a Mahommedan village, I asked some of the landholders, +who walked along by the side of my elephant, to talk of their +grievances, whether they ever used pigs' dung for manure. They +seemed very much surprised and shocked, and asked how I could +suppose that Mahommedans could use such a thing. "Come," said +Bukhtawar Sing, "do not attempt to deceive the Resident. He has +been all over India, and knows very well that Mahommedans do not +keep or eat pigs; but he knows, also, that there is no good +cultivator in Oude who does not use the dung of pigs for manure; +and you know that there is no other manure, save' pigeons' dung, +that is so good." "We often purchase <i>manure</i> from those who +prepare it," said the landholders, "and do not ask questions about +what it may be composed of; but the greater part of the manure we +use is the cow-dung which falls in the season of the rains, and is +stored exclusively for that purpose. In the dry months, sir, the +dung of cows, bullocks, buffaloes, &c., is gathered, formed +into cakes, and stacked for fuel; but in the rains it is all thrown +into pits and stored for manure."</p> +<p>Chinahut is the point from which we set out on the 2nd of +December, and here I was met by the prime minister, Nawab Allee +Nakee Khan, and the chancellor of the exchequer, Maharajah +Balkrishun, to whom I explained my views as to the measures which +ought to be adopted to save the peaceful and industrious portion of +his Majesty's subjects from the evils which now so grievously +oppress them.</p> +<p>Here closes my pilgrimage of three months in Oude; and I can +safely say that I have learnt more of the state of the country, and +the condition and requirements of the people, than I could possibly +have learnt in a long life passed exclusively at the capital of +Lucknow. Any general remarks that I may have to make on what I have +seen and heard during the pilgrimage I must defer to a future +period.</p> +<p>At four in the afternoon, I left Chinahut, and returned to +Lucknow. At the old race-stand, about three miles from the +Residency, I was met by the heir-apparent, and drove with him, in +his carriage, to the Furra Buksh Palace, where we alighted for a +few minutes, to go through the usual tedious ceremonies of an +Oriental Court. On the way we were met by Mr. Hamilton, the +chaplain, and his lady. Dr. and Mrs. Bell, and Captain Bird, the +First Assistant, and his brother and guest. After the ceremony, I +took leave of the Prince, and reached the Resident at six o'clock. +My wife and children had left me at Peernuggur, to return, for +medical advice, to the Residency, where I had the happiness to find +them well, and glad to see me. Having broken my left thigh hone, +near the hip joint, in a fall from my horse, in April, 1849, I was +unable to mount a horse during the tour, and went in a tonjohn the +first half of the stage, and on an elephant the last half, that I +might see as much as possible of the country over which we were +passing. The pace of a good elephant is about that of a good +walker, and I had generally some of the landholders and cultivators +riding or walking by my side to talk with.</p> +<br> +<br> +<p align="center"><big>END OF THE TOUR.</big></p> +<br> +<a name="Private2" id="Private2"></a><br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE</h2> +<br> +<h3>RELATING TO THE ANNEXATION OF THE KINGDOM OF OUDE TO BRITISH +INDIA.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Camp, Nawabgunge, 5th December, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Bird,</p> +<p>I had heard from Mahomed Khan what you mention regarding the +imposition practised on the King by the singers; but from his +having conferred a khilaut on the knaves, they supposed that he +had, as usual, pardoned all. If you have grounds to believe that +the King is prepared to punish them, or to acquiesce in their +punishment, pray ask an audience and ascertain his Majesty's +wishes. When we last went, I was in hopes that he would tell me +that he wished to be relieved of their presence, and did all I +could to encourage him to do so. If the King wishes to have them +removed, encourage him to give immediate orders to the minister to +confine them; and offer any assistance that may be required to take +them across the Ganges, or put them into safe custody. When it is +done, it must be done promptly.</p> +<p>As to the Taj Mahal, I went on an order by Richmond, "that the +King should put a Mahaldarnee upon her if he wished." I was told +that such was Richmond's order, and I give mine in consequence. I +will refer to the Dufter for his order. But you must at once insist +upon all sipahees being withdrawn from her house. This order was +given by me and should be enforced by you. I said that the +Mahaldarnee might remain, but it must be alone, without sipahees, +&c.</p> +<p>On emergency, act of course on your own discretion I only wish +that the King may be induced to consent to the removal of all the +singers, and meddling eunuchs also.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Captain Bird,<br> +First Assistant.</p> +<p>Sadik Allee should be secured, and punished with the rest.</p> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Camp, Bahraetch, 10th December, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Bird,</p> +<p>The conduct of the singers which exasperated the King had no +reference to public matters with which he was pledged not to permit +them to interfere; and my only request was, that you should offer +your aid in removing them should his Majesty indicate any wish for +it. The King said he would himself punish them for their conduct by +banishment across the Ganges, and he must be left to do so: it was +not from any demand made by us, but from resentment for a personal +affront, or an affront to his understanding. We cannot call upon +the King to do what he said he would do under such circumstances, +but must leave it to himself. The removal of two out of a dozen +fellows of this description will be of no use—their places +will soon be filled by others. Any attempt on your part to supply +their places by better men will only tend to indispose the King +towards them; and it is no part of our duty to dictate to his +Majesty with whom he shall associate in his private hours.</p> +<p>I have had abundant proof that, to reduce the influence of the +present favourites, has no tendency to throw the power into better +hands—no authority of any kind taken from them has, by the +minister, been confided to better men; the creatures of one are not +a whit better than the creatures of the other. If his Majesty were +to rouse himself, and apply his own mind to business, we might hope +for some good, and I see little chance of this.</p> +<p>You are not to order that the King fulfil his promise, because, +as I have said, it was no pledge made on the requisition of our +Government on the Resident. If he does not fulfil it, it is only +one proof more added to a hundred of his exceeding weakness. There +are at least a dozen worse men now influencing all that the King +and minister do than Kotab Alee and Gholam Ruza. The last order +given regarding Taj Mahal by me was, that she should admit a +Mahaldarnee from the King, but that no sipahees should be forced +upon her. I wrote to the King to this effect, and my order must be +enforced. I am told by the moonshee, that when the King expressed a +wish to have such guardians upon many, Richmond replied that he +might have one upon Taj Mahal, who had given such proof of +profligacy. It was not a judicial decision, to be referred to as a +guide under all circumstances, but a mere arrangement which might +any day require to be altered. Taj Mahal is so profligate and +insolent a woman, that if she refuses to obey my order, and receive +the King's Mahaldarnee, I shall withdraw the Residents.</p> +<p>After what the Governor-General had told the King in November, +1847, regarding what our Government would feel itself bound to do, +unless his Majesty conducted the duties of a sovereign better than +he had hitherto done; and after the experience we have since had of +his entire neglect of those duties, you should not, I think, have +said what you mention having said to him, that our Government had +no wish to deprive him of one iota of the power he had. It was a +declaration not called for by the circumstances, or necessary on +the occasion, and should have been avoided, as it is calculated to +impair the impression of his responsibility for the exercise of his +power. No sovereign ever showed a greater disregard for the duties +and responsibilities of his high office than he has done hitherto, +and as our Government holds itself answerable to the people of Oude +for a better administration, he should not be encouraged in the +notion that he may always show the same disregard with +impunity—that is, continue to retain every iota of his power +whether he exercised it properly or not. No man, I believe, ever +felt more anxious for the welfare of the King, his family, and +country, than I do; but unless he exercises his fearful power +better, I should be glad, for the sake of all, to see the whole, or +part of it, in better hands.</p> +<p>The minister has his Motroussil with me, and I have daily +communications of what is done or proposed to be done, and you may +be sure that I lose no occasion of admonition. I did not mention +anything you said regarding your interview with the King in your +letter to Mahomed Khan; but in a few hours after your letter came +he got the whole from the minister, and reported it to me. He wants +us to undertake the work of turning out the King's favourites, that +he may get all the power they lose, without offending his master by +any appearance of moving in the matter.</p> +<p>We go hence to-morrow; hope to be at Gonda on the 14th, and +Fyzabad on the 18th. I have requested the post-master to send all +our letters to Fyzabad by the regular dawk from Thursday next, the +13th. From Fyzabad I will arrange for their coming to my camp.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Captain Bird,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Camp, Ghunghole, 12th December, 1849. </p> +<p>My Dear Bird,</p> +<p>I got your letter of the 9th instant last night, at our last +ground. In what you have done, you have not, I think, acted +discreetly. You asked me whether, in any case of emergency, you +should act on your discretion, and I told you in reply that you +might do so; but surely, whether the King should have a dozen +singers or only ten could not be considered one of such pressing +emergency as not to admit of your waiting for instructions from me, +or, at least, for a reply to your letter. The King has told you +truly, that the matter in which the offenders had transgressed had +reference to his house, and not to his Government or ours. This is +a distinction which you appear to have lost sight of from the +first. If I demand reparation from another for wrong or insults +suffered from his servants, and he promises to punish them by +dismissal from his service but afterwards relents and detains them, +I consider it due to myself and my character to insist upon the +fulfilment of his promise; but if I voluntarily visit any friend +who has at last become sensible of the impositions of his servants +which had long been manifest to all his neighbours, with a view to +encourage him in his laudable resolution to dismiss them from his +service, and to offer my aid in effecting the object should he +require it, and he promises me not to swerve from it, but +afterwards relents and retains the impostors, I pity his weakness, +but I do not consider it due to myself, or to my character, to +insist upon his fulfilling his promise. By considering two cases so +very distinct, the same, you have placed yourself in a disagreeable +situation, for I cannot support you; that is, I can neither demand +that the requisitions made by you be complied with, nor can I tell +the King that I approve of them. Had you waited for my reply, which +was sent off from Bahraetch on the 10th, you would have saved +yourself all this annoyance and mortification. It has arisen from +an overweening confidence in your personal influence over his +Majesty; the fact is, I believe that no European gentleman ever has +had or ever will have any personal influence over him, and I very +much doubt whether any real native gentleman will ever have any. He +never has felt any pleasure in their society, and I fear never +will. He has hitherto felt easy only in the society of such persons +as those with whom he now exclusively associates, and to hope that +he will ever feel easy with persons of a better class is vain. I am +perfectly satisfied, in spite of the oath he has taken in the name +of his God, and on the head of his minister, that he made to you +the promise you mention; and I am no less satisfied that the +minister wished for the removal of the singers, provided it should +be effected through us without his appearing to his master to move +in the matter, and that he wished their removal solely with a view +to acquire for himself the authority they had possessed. You should +not have any more audiences with the King without previous +reference to me; nothing is likely to occur to require it.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Captain Bird,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Camp, Fyzabad, 18th December, 1819. </p> +<p>My Dear Bird,</p> +<p>I send you the letter which you wish to refer to. As you quote +my first letter, pray let me see it. I kept no copy, but have a +distinct recollection of what I intended to say in it regarding +this affair of the singers. It shall be sent back to you. The term +"indiscreet" had reference only to your second visit, and demand +from the King of the fulfilment of his promise. I had no fault +whatever to find with your first visit. The term "private" must +have had reference, not to the promise or to the person to whom it +was made, but to the offence with which the singers stood charged. +It was an affront offered to the King's understanding that he took +affront at, and whether he had made a promise to resent it as such +to me, or to you could make no difference. If he did not fulfil it, +we should pity this further instance of his weakness, but could +have no right to insist upon his doing so. Even had the offence +been an interference in public affairs, and breach of the King's +engagements, I should not have demanded their banishment without a +reference to the Governor-General, because the delay of waiting for +instructions involved no danger or serious inconvenience; that is, +I should not have demanded it when the King was so strongly opposed +to it. I must distinctly deny that you demanded the King's +fulfilment of his promise in conformity to any instructions +received from me, or in accordance with my views of what was right +or expedient in this matter. Your second visit and demand were +neither in conformity to the one nor in accordance with the other. +You must have put a construction upon what I wrote which it cannot +fairly bear. By "requisitions" I mean your requirements that the +two men should be banished by the King, according to his promise. +No notice has been made to me of your visit by the Court, and I +have therefore had no occasion to say anything whatever about it in +my communications to the Court, nor shall I have any I suppose. In +your letter of the 4th instant, you say, with regard to the Taj +Mahal's case, "Not knowing whether you do or do not wish me to act +in any sudden emergency during your absence, I suppose, therefore, +that had you had any such wish you would have instructed me on the +subject." In reply, I requested that you would so act on your own +discretion in any such sudden case of emergency.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Captain Bird,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Camp, Mahomdee, 2nd February, 1850. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir Erskine,</p> +<p>Had it not been too late for you to join my camp conveniently, I +should have asked you to run out and see a little of the country +and people of Oude, after you had seen so much of those of the +Honourable Company's dominions. A few years of tolerable government +would make it the finest country in India, for there is no part of +India with so many advantages from nature. I have seen no soil +finer; the whole plain of which it is composed is capable of +tillage; it is everywhere intersected by rivers, flowing from the +snowy chain of the Himmalaya, which keep the moisture near the +surface at all times, without cutting up any of the land on their +borders into deep ravines; it is studded with the finest groves and +single trees, as much as the lover of the picturesque could wish; +it has the boldest and most industrious peasantry in India, and a +landed aristocracy too strong for the weak and wretched Government; +it is, for the most part, well cultivated; yet with all this, one +feels, in travelling over it, as if he was moving among a people +suffering under incurable physical diseases, from the atrocious +crimes every day perpetrated with impunity, and the numbers of +suffering and innocent people who approach him, in the hope of +redress, and are sent away in despair.</p> +<p>I think your conclusion regarding the source of the signs you +saw of beneficial interference in the north-west provinces a fair +one. A Lieutenant-Governor is able to see all parts of the country +under his charge every year, or nearly all; and while he is +sufficiently "monarch of all he surveys" to feel an interest in, +and to provide for the general good, he has a sufficient knowledge +of the internal management of particular districts to control the +proceedings of the local officers. He is also well seconded in a +very efficient Board of Revenue. But I must not indulge in these +matters any further, till I have the pleasure of meeting you where +we can talk freely about them.</p> +<p>I trust that all at Lucknow will be conducted to your +satisfaction and that of Mrs. Erskine. I have this morning received +a note from Mr. Erskine, who left you, it appears, before the +little heir-apparent returned your visit. I expect to complete my +tour and return to Lucknow on the 20th, when I shall have seen all +that I required to see, to understand the working of the existing +system, and the probable effects of any suggested changes.</p> +<p>With kind regards to Mrs. Erskine,</p> +<div class="s2">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s3">Yours very sincerely,</div> +<div class="s2">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir Erskine Perry.</p> +<p>P.S.—I must not omit to thank you for the expression of +your favourable opinion of the "Rambles." There is one thing of +which I can assure you, that the conversations mentioned in it are +genuine, and give the real thoughts and opinions of the people on +the subjects they embrace.<br></p> +<div class="s4">W. H. S.</div> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 26th April, 1850. </p> +<p>My Dear Elliot,</p> +<p>I did not send Weston's letters with the other papers, because +they were not written in an official form. He was the senior +officer with the force, and had authority from the Durbar to call +upon all local, civil, and military authorities to co-operate in +the work; but he did not take upon himself the command, or write in +official form. He inspired all with harmony and energy, and brought +the whole strength of the little force to bear upon the right +points at the right time.</p> +<p>The head of Prethee Put of Paska was cut off by Captain +Magness's sipahees after his death, to be sent to the King as a +trophy, but Captain Weston would not let it come in. The body was +offered to his family and friends for interment, but none of the +family or tribe (Kolhun's Rajpoots) would have anything to do with +the funeral ceremonies of a man who had murdered his eldest brother +and the head of his tribe. The body was, with the head, put into a +sheet, taken to the river Ghagra, and committed to the stream, to +flow to the Ganges, as the best interment for a Hindoo. These +sipahees knew nothing of the man's history; but the people who saw +the affair from the Dhundee Fort mentioned that the body was thrown +into the river at the precise place where he had thrown in that of +his eldest brother, after murdering him in the boat with his own +hands, as stated in the extract from my Diary; and all believe that +this retribution arises from an interposition from above. The +eldest son of the murdered brother will, I hope, be put into +possession of the estate.</p> +<p>The Governor-General may like to peruse these letters, and I +send them. They give, perhaps, a fuller and better account of what +was done, and the manner in which it was done, than more studied +compositions, in an official form, would have given.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 8th July, 1850. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir James,</p> +<p>I feel that my Indian career, which has now lasted forty years, +must be drawing to a close, and I am anxious for the settlement in +life of my only son, now between seventeen and eighteen years of +age. Having no personal claims upon any member of the Home +Government of India, I solicit the insertion of his name on his +Grace the Duke of Wellington's list of candidates for a commission +in the Dragoons; and he is now preparing for his examination under +the care of Mr. Yeatman, at Westow Hill, Norwood, Surrey, near +London. But he is ambitious to obtain an appointment to Bengal, +where his father has served so long, and may, possibly, have +friends and recollections that might be useful to him in the early +part of his career. It falls to the lot of few to have the +opportunities that I have had to carry out the benevolent views of +Government in measures of great and general benefit to the people, +and to secure their gratitude and affection to their rulers. All +the measures which I have been employed to carry out have tended to +display the benevolent solicitude of the Government of India for +the welfare of the people committed to its charge; the object of +all has been the greater security of life and property throughout +the country, the greater confidence of the people in the wisdom and +efficiency of our rule, and their greater feeling of interest in +this stability. These measures, as far as they have been confided +to my care, have all succeeded; but, as I have stated (p. 79) in a +printed report, a copy of which will be sent to you, they have +neither flattered the vainglory of any particular nation, nor +enlisted on their side the self-love of any influential class or +powerful individual, and they have, in consequence, been attended +with little <i>éclat</i>. They have, however, tended to +secure to the Government the gratitude and affection of the people +of India, and are measures of which that Government may justly feel +proud. The stability of our Government in India must depend less +upon our military victories than upon the confidence and affection +with which our civil and political administration may inspire the +great mass of the people. The general belief is, that our object is +their substantial good, and that we are instruments in the hands of +Divine Providence to effect that object. In our military glory they +can feel no sympathy, and in our territorial acquisitions little +interest; but they can and do appreciate every measure which tends +to improve the security of life, property, and industry through the +land—to restore the bond of good feeling between the +Government and governed, where it has for a time been severed or +impaired by accident—to provide the people with works tending +to improve their comfort and convenience—to mitigate +sufferings from calamities of season, and to encourage all to exert +themselves honestly in their proper sphere. In carrying out the +views of Government in such measures, and such only, has my life in +India been spent; and for doing so to the best of my humble ability +I have, I believe, done much to make its rule revered throughout +India. It is by such measures that the respect and confidence of +the great mass of the people have been secured, so as to enable +Europeans, male and female, to pass from one end of the country to +the other with the assurance, not only that they will suffer no +personal injury, but no mark of disrespect. Should anything occur +to deprive us of this confidence and respect among the great mass +of the people, the recollection of our victories, and assurance of +our superior military organization will avail us but little; and it +is as one who has zealously and successfully aided Government in +securing them, that I now venture to address you, in the hope that +you will—if you can do so consistently with your public +duties and pledges to others—open to my son the same career +of usefulness by conferring upon him a nomination to the civil +service of India. He is now five months above seventeen years of +age; and by the time he is eighteen, he will, I hope, under Mr. +Yeatman's judicious care, be able to pass his examination for +Haileybury, should he, through your means, obtain this the utmost +object of his ambition. Over and above the desire to follow his +father's footsteps in India, he is anxious to avoid the necessity +of encroaching so much upon the small means I have to provide for +his four sisters, by entering so expensive a branch of the public +service as the Dragoons. I know the great nature of the favour I +ask from you. It is the first favour that I have ever asked from +any member of the Home Government of India; and I solicit it from +you solely on the ground of service rendered to the Government and +people of India. I am told that I must address my application to an +individual; and I address it to you, under the impression that you +are the member with whom such ground is likely to meet with most +consideration;— not that I think any member of the Honourable +Court would disregard it; for I believe, after long and varied +experience in public affairs, and much thought and reading, that no +body intrusted with the Government of a distant possession ever +performed their duties with more earnest solicitude for its welfare +than the Court of Directors of the Honourable East India Company; +but because your public career has inspired me with more confidence +than that of any other member of the Court as now constituted. If +you cannot grant me the favour I ask, you will, I know, pardon the +liberty I have taken in asking it.</p> +<div class="s1">And believe me, with great respect,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours faithfully,</div> +<div class="s2">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 20th September, 1850. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir Charles,</p> +<p>The papers give us reason to hope that it is your intention to +visit Lucknow on your way down from the hills, and if you can make +it convenient to come, I shall be rejoiced to have the opportunity +of showing you all that is worth seeing, and be able to afford all +who come with you, ladies and gentlemen, accommodation.</p> +<p>The only road to Lucknow for carriages is from Cawnpore, and if +you come that way, I will have carriages sent for you. If you come +by any other road, I will have elephants sent to whatever place you +may mention, and tents if required. It has been usual, when the +Commander-in-chief visits Lucknow, for Government to intimate the +intention to the King through the Resident in Oude, that +preparation may be made for his reception in due form.</p> +<p>I mention this that you may make known your wish or intention to +the Governor-General, in time for me to prepare the King and his +Court.</p> +<p>From Cawnpore to this is only a drive of six hours, the distance +being fifty miles, and the road good. All officers, &c., will +be glad to have an opportunity of paying their respects to their +distinguished Chief.</p> +<div class="s1">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s3">Yours very faithfully,</div> +<div class="s2">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To his Excellency<br> +Sir Charles Napier, G.C.B.,<br> + &c. &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 7th November, 1850. </p> +<p>My Dear Allan,</p> +<p>In the "Englishman" of the 28th, and the "Hurkara" of the 29th, +there are some strictures on Oude affairs. The editors of both +papers are, I believe, sturdy, honest men; but their correspondents +are not acquainted with the merits of the particular case referred +to, or with Oude affairs generally. I vouch for the truth of +everything stated in the enclosed paper, and shall feel obliged if +you will give it to the one most likely, in your opinion, to make a +fair use of it. There can be no harm in putting an editor in +possession of the real truth in a question involving not only +individual but national honour; for he must be anxious to make his +paper the vehicle of truth on all such questions.</p> +<p>I do not like to address either of the editors, because +Government expect all their servants will abstain from doing so in +their own vindication, and will leave their honour in their +keeping. I have done so since 1843, and should now do so were I +alone concerned in this affair. You may mention my name as +authority for what is stated, but pray let it be mentioned +confidentially. Government has been informed of the truth, and it +is well that the public should be so.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN</div> +<p>To J. Allan, Esq.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 17th November, 1850. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir James,</p> +<p>I thank you for your very kind letter of the 7th ultimo: my son +is preparing for his examination, and expects his commission in +some regiment of cavalry very soon. He has not only become +reconciled to it, but would, I believe, now prefer remaining at +home as a cavalry officer to coming to India in any capacity. As I +have only one son, and he has four sisters to look after, I should +be unwilling to have him sent out to India as a cadet, were he +anxious to be so. A good regiment is an excellent school for a +young man, but no school could be worse than a bad regiment; and +among so many, there must always be some bad. I have seen some of +the sons of my old friends utterly ruined in character and +constitution by being posted to such regiments when too young to +think for themselves. I feel, however, as grateful to you for your +very kind offer as I should be, were I to avail myself of it.</p> +<p>If I return to England, I shall take advantage of the earliest +opportunity to pay my respects and become personally acquainted +with you; but I have no intention to leave India as long as I feel +that I can perform efficiently the duties intrusted to me.</p> +<p>I had a few days ago, in referring to Government an important +question that must some day come before you, occasion to mention an +important and interesting fact. During the last collision with the +Seiks, I found that the Government securities kept up their value +here, while in Calcutta they fell a good deal; and the merchants +here employed agents in Calcutta to purchase largely for sale here. +Paper to the value of more than three millions sterling, or three +crores of rupees, is held by people residing in the city of +Lucknow, and the people had never the slightest doubt that we +should be ultimately triumphant. The question was whether heirs and +executors of persons domiciled here and leaving property in +Government securities, should apply to Her Majesty's Supreme Court +in Calcutta, for probates to wills and letters of administration, +or whether an act should be passed to render the decision of the +highest Court at Lucknow, countersigned, by the Resident, as valid +as the certificate of a judge in our own provinces, as far as such +property in Government securities might be concerned. A provision +of this sort had been omitted in Act 20 of 1841, which was +considered applicable to all British India, of which the kingdom of +Oude was held to form a part.</p> +<p>We have now a fair prospect of long peace, during which I hope +our finances will improve. The lavish life-pensions granted after +wars in Central and Southern India will be lapsing with the death +of the present incumbents, many of whom are becoming old and +infirm, and our means of transit and irrigation will increase with +the new works which are being formed, and we shall always have it +in our power to augment our revenue from indirect taxation, as +wealth and industry increase.</p> +<div class="s2">Believe me, My Dear Sir James,</div> +<div class="s1">Very faithfully and obligedly yours,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 2nd March, 1851. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>The mail of the 24th January has just come in, and I find my +only son Henry Arthur gazetted for the 16th Dragoons. He told me by +the last mail that he was to be so if he passed his examination on +the 10th of that month, which he hoped to do; but I deferred +writing to thank you for your kind exertions in his behalf till his +name should appear in the "Gazette." I pray your Lordship to accept +my most grateful acknowledgments for this act of kindness, added as +it has been to the many others which I have received at your hands. +It is not the less valuable that it is the only favour I have +received from England since I left it more than forty years ago, +though, I believe, few have done more to benefit the people of its +eastern dominions, and to secure for it their esteem and +affection.</p> +<p>I trust that my son will never do anything to make your Lordship +regret the favour conferred upon me and him on this occasion. He +is, I believe, in disposition, manners, and education a little +gentleman; and in time he will, I hope, become a good officer.</p> +<p>If I might take the liberty, I would pray your Lordship to +offer, in such terms as may appear to you suitable, my grateful +acknowledgments for the consideration I have received, to his Grace +the Duke of Wellington, and to Lord Fitzroy Somerset. My London +Agents, Messrs. Denay, Clark, and Co., of Austin Friars, have been +instructed to pay for my son's commission and outfit, and to +provide him with the funds indispensably necessary in addition to +his pay.</p> +<p>We shall now look with much interest to the Parliamentary +discussions on Indian affairs, for we must expect some important +changes on the renewal of the Charter. Whatever these changes may +be for the home or local Government, I trust the benefit of the +people of India will be considered the main point, and not the +triumph of a party. The statesman who shall link India more closely +with New Zealand will be a benefactor to both England and India, +and that colony also. It might, with advantage to itself, take +those children of Indian officers who cannot find employment of any +kind in India, and ought not to be thrown back upon the +mother-country. With this view, it might be useful to transfer our +orphan institutions to that island, to direct that way our invalid +and pensioned officers, who, while subsisting upon their pensions +or stipends, would be able to establish their children in a climate +suitable to the preservation of their race, which that of India +certainly is not.</p> +<p>India is at present tranquil, and likely to remain so. We have +no native chiefs, or combination of native chiefs, to create +uneasiness; and if we continue to satisfy the great body of the +people that we are anxious, to the best of our ability, to promote +their happiness and welfare, and are the most impartial arbitrators +that they could have, we shall have nothing to fear. The moment +that this mass is impressed with the belief that we wish to govern +India only for ourselves, or as the French govern Algiers, from +that moment we must lose our vantage ground and decline. We may war +against the native chiefs of India, but we cannot war against the +people—we need not fear what may be called political dangers, +but we must guard carefully against those of a social character +which would unite against us the members of all classes and all +creeds.</p> +<p>But I must no longer indulge in speculations of this sort, in +which you can now feel little interest amidst the important changes +which are now taking place in the institutions and relations of +European nations. With grateful recollections of kindness received, +and great respect,<br></p> +<div class="s1">I remain,</div> +<div class="s2">Your Lordship's obedient servant,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Right Hon.<br> +the Earl of Ellenborough.</p> +<p>P.S.—Since writing the above, I have received your +Lordship's letter of the 18th of January, and have been much +gratified with the favourable opinion you entertain of the +commandant and officers. It is the best assurance I could have of +my boy being safe. Nothing could be more auspicious than the +opening of the lad's career, and I trust he will profit by the +advantage.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 18th March, 1851. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir Erskine,</p> +<p>I have read over with much interest the two small works you have +done me the favour to send me, the one on Buddhism, and the other +on Law Reform; but I have not ventured upon the Seventh Report of +the Board of Education yet, because I have had a good deal to do +and think about; and a good deal of it is in small print, very +trying for my eyes, which are none of the strongest. I shall, +however, soon read it.</p> +<p>I concur in all your views about the necessity of throwing +overboard the whole system of special pleading, and have been +amused with Sir J. P. Grant's horror of your proposed innovations. +It is not less than that which he expressed at the little Macaulay +Code, intended to blow up the whole pyramid raised by "the wisdom +of our ancestors," in which so many illustrious characters he +entombed. He was, indeed, as you say, "a great <i>laudator temporis +acti</i>;" but the number of those like him at all times in England +and its distant possessions is fearful. One likes to look to +America in this as in all things tending to advancement; but there +the "damned spot" stares us in the face, blights our hopes, and +crushes our sympathies—hideous slavery—hideous alike in +the recollection of the past, the contemplation of the present, and +the anticipation of the future. I wish two things—1. That you +would write a work on the subject less "sketchy and perfunctory," +as you call it, so that any one not versed in English law and +procedure might be able to understand it and appreciate it +thoroughly. 2nd. That you would, when relieved from your present +office, come out as our law member of council, to press your views +on our Government with effect. With these law reforms, as with +railroads, there were less impediments in India than in England; +but there is one thing that I would observe. In our own Indian +Courts our judges would—for a time at least—want the +aid of honest <i>masters</i> to condense and report upon cases +under trial. Such men would be made in time; and in considering +such things, we must recollect that almost the only persons in +India who can send agents into all parts of it, with a perfect +assurance of honest dealing, are the native merchants and bankers. +But I won't dwell on this subject. I can't find amongst the +numerous Buddhists here, one who knows anything about "Kapila +vasta," which you place near to Lucknow. I should like to visit the +birth-place of a man who did so much for mankind as Sakeen +Gantama.</p> +<p>He would hardly have done as I have, placed my only son in the +16th Lancers. However, I may console myself, for he may be in it a +long time without doing much mischief, for I do hope that the +people of the nations of modern Europe are too strong and too wise +to let their sovereigns and ministers play such fantastic tricks as +they were "wont to play," when George the 3rd, and Edward the 3rd, +and Henry the 5th were kings. Property, good sense, and good +business have greatly increased and spread, and are every day +producing good fruits.</p> +<div class="s2">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s3">Yours very trusting,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir Erskine Perry,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 31st March, 1851. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir,</p> +<p>I grieve to say that I can do nothing whatever for the son of my +late friend Colonel Ouseley, and have been obliged to write to him +to that effect, as to many other sons of old and valued friends +whom I should be glad to aid if I could.</p> +<p>Tens of thousands of the most happy families I have seen in +India owe all they have to the able and judicious management of the +late Colonel Ouseley when in the civil charge of the districts of +Houshengabad and Baitool, in the Saugor territories; and no man's +memory is more dear to the people of those districts than his now +is. The family of a man who had done so much to make his government +beloved and respected over so large a field should never want if I +could prevent it; but I have no situations whatever in my gift, nor +have I any influence over any persons who have such situations to +bestow.</p> +<div class="s2">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s3">Yours truly,</div> +<div class="s1">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Captain Harrington.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 24th November 1851. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>Lucknow affairs are now in a state to require the assumption of +the entire management of the country; and the principal question +for your Lordship's consideration is, whether this shall be done by +a new treaty or by simple proclamation. Treaties not only justify +but enjoin the measure; our pledges to the people demand it; and +all India are, I believe, satisfied of its justice, provided we +leave the revenues for the maintenance of the royal family in +suitable dignity, and for the benefit of the people.</p> +<p>We may disencumber our Government of the pay of two regiments of +Oude Local Infantry, and incorporate them with the Oude force to be +raised, and of that of the officers of the residency, altogether +about two lacs and a-half of rupees; and when things are settled +down a little, the brigade now here—of three infantry +regiments and a company of artillery, costing some four lacs +more—may be dispensed with, perhaps.</p> +<p>If I may be permitted to give an opinion as to the best mode of +the two, I should say proclamation, as the more dignified.</p> +<p>I have prepared all the information I believe your Lordship will +require, and am ready to wait upon you with it when and where it +may seem most convenient.</p> +<p>The treasury is exhausted, and fifty lacs are required to pay +the stipendiaries of the royal family and establishments; and +assuredly all the members of that family, save the King's own +household, are wishing for some great measure to place them under +the guarantee of the British Government. The people all now wish +for it, at least all the well-disposed, for there is not a man of +integrity or humanity left in any office. The King's understanding +has become altogether emasculated; and though he would not +willingly do harm to any one, he is unable to protect any one. He +would now, I believe, willingly get rid of his minister; and, +having exhausted the treasury, the minister would not much dislike +to get rid of him. I shall do my best to prevent his being released +from the responsibility of his misdoings till I meet your Lordship. +I should like, if possible, to meet your Lordship where there is +likely to be the least crowd of expectants and parade to take up +your time and distract your attention. If at Cawnpore, I hope you +will permit me to have my camp on the Oude side of the river, with +a tent in your camp for business during the day. With your +Lordship's commands to attend, it will be desirable to have an +order to make over my treasury to the First Assistant, to prevent +delay. Should you desire any memoranda to be sent, they shall be +forwarded as soon as ordered. If any further public report upon the +state of Oude affairs appears to be required, I must pray your +Lordship to let me know as soon as convenient. I shall not propose +any native gentlemen for the higher offices; but it will be +necessary to have a great many in the subordinate ones, to show +that your Lordship wishes to open employment in all branches of the +new administration to educated native gentlemen.</p> +<div class="s4">I remain,</div> +<div class="s1">Your Lordship's obedient servant,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie,<br> +Governor-General,<br> + &c. &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 18th March, 1852. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>I was favoured with your Lordship's letter of the 24th ultimo in +due course, and did not reply immediately as I had stated, or was +about to state, in a public form, all that seemed to be required +about Captain Bird and Dr. Bell. Dr. Bell had apologised for +indiscretions in conversation, but denied ever having authorised +Mr. Brandon to make use of his name; and pretended utter ignorance +of the intrigues which he was carrying on at the time that he was +doing his utmost to convey wrong impressions to the Durbar. I feel +grateful for the support your Lordship has given me. I cared +nothing about the intrigues of these very silly men while under the +impression that it was your intention to interpose effectually for +the benefit of the people of Oude, because the new arrangements +would have rendered them harmless; but when I found that you could +not do so at present, it became necessary, for my own dignity and +that of the Government, to do my best to put a stop to them. Most +assuredly Captain Bird had been trying hard to persuade the King +and his minister that our Government could not interfere, and that +all the threats of the Governor-General would continue to be what +they had hitherto been, and might be disregarded.</p> +<p>I find that your Lordship has departed slightly from your +original plan in regard to Burmah, by sending a detachment to make +a demonstration upon Rangoon and Martaban. There is no calculating +upon the result of such a demonstration in dealing with a +Government so imbecile, and so ignorant of our resources. The +places are too far from the capital, and the war party may succeed +in persuading the King that in this demonstration we put forth all +our strength. I can appreciate your motive—the wish to avoid, +if possible, a war of annexation, which a war upon any scale must +be. We should have to make use of a vast number of suffering +people, whom we could not abandon to the mercy of the old +Government.</p> +<p>In the last war our great difficulties were the want of quick +transit for troops and stores by sea, the want of carriage cattle, +and sickness. These three impediments will not now beset us. Our +own districts on the coast will supply land-carriage, steam-vessels +will carry our troops and stores, and subsequent experience will +enable us to avoid sources of endemial diseases. I have no map of +the country; but some letters in the papers about the Busseya river +interested me much. Our strong point is steam; and the discovery of +a river which would enable us to use it in getting in strength to +the rear or flank would be of immense advantage. There must be +healthy districts; indeed Burmah generally must be a healthy +country, or the population would not be so strong and intelligent +as they are known to be. In religious feeling they are less opposed +to us than any other people not Buddhists. Indeed, from the people +we should have nothing to fear; and the army must be insignificant +in numbers as well as equipments. I am very glad to find that so +able and well-trained a statesman as Fox Maule has been put at the +head of the Board of Control; and trust that your Lordship will +remain at our head till the Burmah affair is thoroughly +settled.</p> +<p>The little affair of the Moplars, on the Malabar coast, may grow +into a very big one unless skilfully managed. A brother of the +Conollys is the magistrate, I believe. We can learn nothing of the +cause of the strong feeling of discontent that prevails among this +fanatical people. No such strong feeling can exist in India without +some "canker-worm" to embitter the lives and unite the sympathies +of large classes against their rulers or local governors, and make +them think that they cannot shake it off without rebelling and +becoming martyrs. I must pray your Lordship to excuse this long +rambling letter, and</p> +<div class="s1">Believe me, with great respect,</div> +<div class="s4">Your obedient servant,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie,<br> +Calcutta.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 4th April, 1852. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir James,</p> +<p>Your present of the cadetship for her son made the poor widow's +heart glad, and I doubt not that she has written to express her +grateful feelings. The young man will, I hope, prove himself +deserving of the favour you have conferred upon him so gracefully. +The Court has called for a copy of my Diary of the tour I made +through Oude soon after I took charge of my office; and I have sent +off two copies, one for Government and the other for the Court. I +purchased a small press and type for the purpose of printing it in +my own house, that no one but myself and the compositor might see +it. I will send home two copies for yourself and the chairman as +soon as they can be bound in Calcutta. The Diary contains a +faithful picture of Oude, its Government, and people, I believe. I +have printed only a few copies, and they will not be distributed +till I learn that the Court consider them unobjectionable. In +spirit they will be found so. I intend, if I can find time, to give +the history of the reigning family in a third volume. My general +views on Oude affairs have been given in my letters to Government, +which will, I conclude, be before the Court. A ruler so utterly +regardless of his high duties and responsibilities, and of the +sufferings of the people under his rule, as the present King, I +have never seen; nor have I ever seen ministers so incompetent and +so unworthy as those whom he employs in the conduct of his affairs. +We have threatened so often to interpose for the benefit of the +poor people, without doing anything, that they have lost all hope, +and the profligate and unprincipled Government have lost all fear. +The untoward war with Burmah prevents our present Governor-General +from doing what he and I believe the Honourable Court both wish. We +certainly ought not any longer to incur the odium of supporting +such a Government in its iniquities, pledged as we are by treaties +to protect the people from them. I do not apprehend any serious +change in the constitution of the Court of Directors in the new +charter. No ministers would hazard such a change in the present +state of Europe. The Court is India's only safeguard. No foreign +possession was ever so governed for itself as India has been, and +this all foreigners with whom I have conversed, admit. The +Governor-General of the Netherlands India was with me lately on his +way home. He is a first-rate statesman, and he declared to me that +he was impressed and delighted to see a country so governed, and +apparently so sensible of the benefits conferred upon it by our +paternal rule. He will tell you the same thing if you ever meet +him. His name is Rochasson. The people appreciate the value of the +Court of Directors, and no act, as far as it is known to them, has +tended more to strengthen their confidence in it than that which +has brought retribution on the great sinner in Scinde, Allee Murad. +No punishment was ever more just or merited. Scinde, however, is +too remote for the people in general to feel much interest in its +affairs or families. Our weak points in the last Burmese war +were:—1. The want of transport for troops and stores; 2. The +want of carriage by land, for arms and stores; 3. Sickness. All +these things have been remedied, and the war, when begun in +earnest, can last but a short time. We know more of the country and +shall avoid the sources of endemial disease; our steam provides for +the rapid transport of troops and stores; and draft-cattle will be +supplied from our own districts on the coast. Where our Government +has no representative as Resident or Consul, all Europeans should +be told that they remain entirely on their own responsibility. +Unless this is done, the Governments must be eternally in +collision. If war be carried on in earnest, it must be one of +annexation: we must make use of persons whom we cannot abandon to +the mercy of the Burmese Government. We have nothing to fear from +the people: they have no religious feeling against us, being all +Buddhists; and they have seen too much of the benefits conferred by +us on the territories taken during the last war to have any dead of +our dominion. Lord Dalhousie has, I believe, been most anxious to +avoid a war—it has been forced upon him.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours very faithfully,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir James W. Hogg,<br> +Deputy Chairman,<br> +India House.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 6th April, 1842. </p> +<p>My Dear Mr. Halliday,</p> +<p>We are all wrong here in the Martinière institution, and +you have now an admirable opportunity of setting all right and +doing an infinite deal of good with little trouble. I know how +little you have of time and attention to devote to such things, and +conclude that Mr. Devereux cannot have much more, and you may feel +assured that I shall do all in my power to assist you. We are here +attempting to give the education of gentlemen to beggar-boys, who +must always depend upon their daily work for their daily bread. The +senior boys are in despair, for they find that they have learnt +hardly anything to fit them for the only employments open to them, +and this tends to discourage the younger ones. The Roorkee Civil +Engineering School seems to have been eminently successful, and a +fine field is open to all who are taught in it. We shall no doubt +have a similar field open in Oude when Government interposes in +behalf of the suffering people, and we might prepare for it by +converting the Martinière into a similar school or college. +The committee has just expressed to you a hope that Mr. Crank, the +officiating principal, may be able to pass an examination in the +native languages. This hope can never be realised; and if he does I +shall have to record my opinion that he is otherwise unfitted. The +power of nominating a principal rests entirely with the trustees; +and if you concur in my views you might at once prepare for the +change by getting a man from England or elsewhere, such as Mr. +Maclagan, the late superintendent of the Roorkee school, fitted to +teach civil engineering in all its branches. You have the command +of funds to provide him with assistants of all kinds; and we have +accommodations and funds to raise more, and provide machinery, +books, &c. The thing might be set going at once, after you send +a competent man to superintend it; and the work will be honourable +to our Government and ourselves, and of vast benefit to the boys +brought up at this Martinière, and to their parents and +families. If you think favourably of the proposed change, and will +direct the committee to take it into consideration, I will do my +best to make it respond cordially to your call; or if you direct +the measure to be adopted at once, I will see that it is worked out +as it should be. Mr. Crank has a good knowledge of mathematics and +mechanics, and will make a good second under a good first; but he +would be quite unfit for a first. Mr. Maclagan intended going home, +via Bombay, as soon as relieved by Captain Oldfield, and has +embarked by this time. He might be written to, to send out a +competent person and the required machinery. Constantia is +admirably adapted for such an establishment; the river Goomtee +flows close under it; the grounds are ample, open, and level, and +the climate fine. It would interest the whole of the Oude +aristocracy, and induce them to send their sons there for +instruction. It would be gratifying to the Judges of the Supreme +Court to know that the funds available were devoted to a purpose so +highly useful; and you would carry home with you the agreeable +recollection of having engrafted so useful a branch upon the almost +useless old trunk of the Martinière.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours very truly,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To F. J. Halliday, Esq.<br> +Secretary to Government,<br> +Calcutta.</p> +<p>Mr. Maclagan is a Lieutenant of Engineers, and lives in +Edinburgh.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow. 10th April, 1852. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>In September 1848, I took the liberty to mention to your +Lordship my fears that the system of annexing and absorbing native +States—so popular with our Indian service, and so much +advocated by a certain class of writers in public +journals—might some day render us too visibly dependent upon +our native army; that they might see it, and that accidents might +occur to unite them, or too great a portion of them, in some +desperate act. My only anxiety about Burmah arises from the same +fears. Our native army has been too much <i>petted</i> of late; and +they are liable to get into their heads the notion that we want +them more than they want us. Had the 38th been at first ordered to +march to Aracan, they would, in all probability, have begged their +European officers to pray Government to permit them to go by +water.</p> +<p>We committed a great mistake in not long ago making all new +levies general service corps; and we have committed one not less +grave in restricting the admissions into our corps to high-caste +men: and encouraging the promotion of high-caste men to the +prejudice of men equally deserving but of lower caste. The Brahmins +in regiments have too much influence, and they are at the bottom of +all the mischief that occurs. The Rajpoots are too numerous, +because they are under the influence of the Brahmins, and feel too +strong from their numbers.</p> +<p>We require stronger and braver men than the Madras Presidency +can afford, with all their readiness for general service. The time +may not be distant when England will have to call upon India for +troops to serve in Egypt; and the troops from Madras, or even from +Bombay, will not do against Europeans. Men from Northern or Western +India will be required, and, in order to be prepared, it would be +well to have all new corps—should new corps be +required—composed of men from the Punjaub or the Himmalayah +chain, and ready for any service. Into such corps none but Seiks, +Juts, Goojurs, Gwalas, Mussulmans, and Hillmen should be enlisted. +Too much importance is attached to height, merely that corps may +look well on parade. Much more work can be got out of moderate +sized than tall men in India. The tall men in regiments always fail +first in actual service—they are fit only for display at +reviews and on parades: always supposing that the moderate-sized +men are taken from Western and Northern India, where alone they +have the strength and courage required.</p> +<p>No recruit should henceforward be taken except on condition of +general service; and by-and-by the option may be given to all +sipahees, of a certain standing or period of service, to put their +names down for general service, or retire. This could not, of +course, be done at present. No commanding officer can say, at +present, what his regiment will do if called upon to aid the +Government in any way not <i>specified in their bond</i>. They have +too commonly favourites, who persuade them, for their own selfish +purposes, that their regiments will do anything to meet their +wishes, at the very time that these regiments are watching for an +occasion to disgrace these favourites by refusal. I have known many +occasions of this. None but general service corps or volunteers +should be sent to Burmah from Bengal during this campaign, or we +shall hazard a disaster. There are, I believe, several that your +Lordship has not yet called upon. They should be at hand as soon as +possible, and their present places supplied by others. In the mean +time, corps of Punjaubies and Hillmen should be raised for general +service. Not only can no commanding officer say what his corps will +do under circumstances in which their religion or prejudices may +afford a pretext for disobedience, but no officers can say how far +their regiments sympathise with the recusant: or discontented, +corps, and are prepared to join them.</p> +<p>In case it should ever be proposed to make all corps general +service corps, in the way I mention, a donation would, of course, +be offered to all who declined of a month's pay for every year of +past service, or of something of that kind. A maximum might be +fixed of four, five, or six months. It would not cost much, for but +few would go. I must pray your Lordship to excuse the liberty I +take in obtruding my notions on this subject, but it really is one +of vital importance in the present state of affairs in India, as +well as in Europe.</p> +<div class="s2">With great respect, I remain, &c.,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Moat Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.<br> +Governor-General of India,<br> +Calcutta.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<center><i>Memorandum.</i></center> +<p>In the year 1832 or 1833 the want of bamboos of large size, for +yokes for artillery bullocks, was much felt at Saugor and the +stations of that division; and the commissariat officer was +authorised to form a bamboo grove, to be watered by the +commissariat cattle, in order to supply the deficiency for the +future. Forty beegas, or about twenty acres of land, were assigned +for the purpose, and Government went to the expense of forming +twelve pucka-wells, as the bamboos were planted upon the black +cotton-soil of Central India, in which kutcha-wells do not stand. +The first outlay was, therefore, greater than usual, being three +thousand rupees. The establishment kept up consisted of one +gardener, at five rupees a month, and two assistants at three +rupees each. The bamboos were watered by the artillery bullocks and +commissariat servants.</p> +<p>In a few years the bamboos became independent of irrigation, and +no outlay has since been incurred upon them. The bamboos are now +between forty and fifty feet high, and between four and five inches +in diameter. They are used by the commissariat and ordnance +departments at Saugor, but are not, I believe, required for yokes +for the artillery bullocks.</p> +<p>There is a grove of sesum trees near the Lucknow cantonments +formed in the same way, but with little or no outlay in irrigation. +The trees were planted, and all the cost incurred has been in the +people employed to protect them from trespass. In a dryer climate +they might require irrigation for a few years. Groves of saul, +<i>alias</i> sukhoo trees, might be formed in the same manner in +the vicinity of all stations where there are artillery bullocks; +and the bullocks themselves would benefit by being employed in the +irrigation. The establishments kept up for the bullocks would be +able to do all the work required.</p> +<p>The complement of bullocks for a battery of 6 guns, 6 waggons, +and 2 store carts, is 106. The number yoked to each gun and waggon +is 61, [transcriber's note, should be 6], and to each cart 4, +leaving a surplus of 26 for accidents. +There would, therefore, be always a sufficient number of bullocks +available for the irrigation of such groves where such a battery is +kept up. These bullocks are taken care of by 4 sirdars and 59 +drivers; and an European sergeant of artillery is appointed as +bullock-sergeant to each battery, to superintend the feeding, +cleaning, &c. &c. The officer on duty sees the bullocks +occasionally, and the commanding officer sometimes. Such groves +might be left to the care of the commandant of artillery at small +stations, and to the commissariat officer at large ones.</p> +<p>At every large station there might be a grove of sesum, one of +sakhoo, and one of bamboos, each covering a hundred acres; and at +all stations with a battery, three groves of the same kind, +covering each twenty acres or more. For the convenience of carriage +by water, such groves might be formed chiefly in the vicinity of +rivers, or in that of the places where the timber is most likely to +be required; but no battery should be without such groves. The men +and bullocks would both benefit by the employment such groves would +give them. The men, to interest them, might each have a small +garden within the grove which he assists in watering.</p> +<p>Such groves would tend to improve the salubrity of the stations +where they are formed, and become agreeable and healthful +promenades for officers and soldiers. In most stations, +kutcha-wells, formed at a cost of from 20 to 50 rupees, would +suffice for watering such groves. They might be lined, like those +of the peasantry, by twisted cables of straw and twigs; and the men +who attend the bullocks might be usefully employed in weaving them, +as all should learn to make fascines and gabions. Willows should be +planted near all the wells, to supply twigs for making the cables +for lining the wells, and the manure of the artillery +draft-bullocks should be appropriated to the groves.</p> +<p>[Submitted to the Governor-General through the Private +Secretary, in March, 1852, with reference to a conversation which I +had with his Lordship in his camp.]</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 23rd August, 1852. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>Permit me to offer my congratulations, not only on the success +which has hitherto attended your Lordship's arrangements in Burmah, +but on the very favourable impression which that success has made +upon the Sovereign and people of England. It has enabled you to +show that the war is not with the people of Burmah, but with a +haughty, insolent, and incompetent Government, with whom that +people has no longer any sympathy; and that, should circumstances +render the annexation of any portion of its territory necessary, +the people of that portion would consider the measure a blessing, +and be well pleased to live in harmony under the efficient +protection of the new rule.</p> +<p>They are not in any way opposed to us from either religions or +political feelings, for they seem to consider Christianity as a +branch only of their own great system of Buddhism, which includes +almost half of the human race; and they are evidently weary of the +political institutions under which they now live, and which have +ceased to afford them protection of any kind. In the annexation of +Pegu—should it be forced upon your Lordship—there would +be nothing revolting to the feelings of its people or to those of +the people of England; on the contrary, both would be satisfied, +after the disposition the people of Pegu have manifested towards +us, that the measure was alike necessary to their security and to +the honour and interest of our Government.</p> +<p>Nor do I think that there would be any ground to apprehend that +the resources of the territory taken would not, after a time, be +sufficient to defray the costs of the establishments required to +retain and govern it. Among the people of Pegu we should find men +able and willing to serve us faithfully and efficiently in both our +civil and military establishments, and the drain for the +maintenance of foreigners would not be large. I have heard the +mental and physical powers of the men of Pegu spoken of in the +highest terms by persons who have spent the greater part of their +lives among them; and a country which produces such men cannot be +generally insalubrious. This early demonstration has enabled your +Lordship to ascertain and expose the determination of the +Government of Ava not to grant the redress justly demanded for +wrongs suffered, so as to enlist on our side the sympathy of all +civilized nations, and at the same time to discover the real +weakness of the enemy and the facilities offered to us, in their +fine rivers, for the use of our strong arm—the steam navy. +Not a single "untoward event" has yet occurred to dispirit our +troops, or give confidence to the enemy, or to prejudice the people +of Burmah against us: and there certainly is nothing in this war to +make us apprehend "that our political difficulties will begin when +our military successes are complete." It is not displeasing to +perceive the strong tendency to an early onward move, while your +Lordship has so prudent a leader in General Godwin to restrain it +within due bounds.</p> +<div class="s4">I remain, &c.,</div> +<div class="s3">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.<br> +Governor-General of India.<br> +Calcutta.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, September, 1852. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>The longer the present King reigns, the more unfit he becomes to +reign, and the more the administration and the country deteriorate. +The State must have become bankrupt long ere this, but the King, +and the knaves by whom he is governed, have discontinued paying the +stipends of all the members of the royal family, save those of his +own father's family, for the last three years; and many of them are +reduced to extreme distress, and without the hope of ever getting +their stipends again unless our Government interferes. The females +of the palaces of former sovereigns ventured to clamour for their +subsistence, and they were, without shame or mercy, driven into the +streets to starve, beg, or earn their bread by their labour. This +deters all from complaining, and they are in a state of utter +dismay. No part of the people of Oude are more anxious for the +interposition of our Government than the members of the royal +family; for there is really no portion more helpless and oppressed: +none of them can ever approach the King, who is surrounded +exclusively by eunuchs, fiddlers, and poetasters worse than either; +and the minister and his creatures, who are worse than all. They +appropriate at least one-half of the revenues of the country to +themselves, and employ nothing but knaves of the very worst kind in +all the branches of the administration. The King is a crazy +imbecile, who is led about by these people like a child, and made +to do whatever they wish him to do, and to give whatever orders may +best suit their private interests. At present, the most powerful of +the favourites are Decanut od Doula and Husseen od Doula, two +eunuchs; Anees od Doula and Mosahib od Doula, two fiddlers; two +poetasters, and the minister and his creatures. The minister could +not stand a moment without the eunuchs, fiddlers, and poets, and he +is obliged to acquiesce in all the orders given by the King for +their benefit. The fiddlers have control over the administration of +civil justice; the eunuchs over that of criminal justice, public +buildings, &c. The minister has the land revenue; and all are +making enormous fortunes. The present King ought not certainly to +reign: he has wilfully forfeited all right to do so; but to set him +aside in favour of his eldest, or indeed any other son, would give +no security whatever for any permanent good government A +well-selected regency would, no doubt, be a vast improvement upon +the present system; but no people would invest their capital in +useful works, manufactures, and trades, with the prospect of being +handed over a few years hence to a prince brought up precisely in +the same manner the present King was, and as all his sons will be. +What the people want, and most earnestly pray for is, that our +Government should take upon itself the responsibility of governing +them well and permanently. All classes, save the knaves, who now +surround and govern the King, earnestly pray for this—the +educated classes, because they would then have a chance of +respectable employment, which none of them now have; the middle +classes, because they find no protection or encouragement, and no +hope that their children will be permitted to inherit the property +they may leave, not invested in our Government securities; and the +humbler classes, because they are now abandoned to the merciless +rapacity of the starving troops, and other public establishments, +and of the landholders, driven or invited into rebellion by the +present state of misrule. There is not, I believe, another +Government in India so entirely opposed to the best interest's and +most earnest wishes of the people as that of Oude now is; at least +I have never seen or read of one. People of all classes have become +utterly weary of it. The people have the finest feelings towards +our Government and character. I know no part of India, save the +valley of the Nurbuddah, where the feeling towards us is better. +All, from the highest to the lowest, would, at this time, hail the +advent of our administration with joy; and the rest of India, to +whom Oude misrule is well known, would acquiesce in the conviction, +that it had become imperative for the protection of the people. +With steamers to Fyzabad, and a railroad from that place to +Cawnpore, through Lucknow, the Nepaul people would be for ever +quieted, with half of the force we now keep up to look after them; +and the N. W. Provinces become more closely united to Bengal, to +the vast advantage of both. I mentioned that we should require a +considerable loan to begin with; but I think that an issue of paper +money, receivable in Oude in revenue, and payable to public +establishments in Oude, might safely be made to cover all the +outlay required to pay off odd establishments and commence the new +work. Little money goes out of Oude, and the increased circulating +medium, required for the new public works and new establishments, +would soon absorb all the paper issued. It might be issued at +little or no cost by the financial department of the new +administration. Though everybody knows that the King has become +crazy and imbecile, it would be difficult to get judicial proof +that he is so, where the life and property of every one are at his +mercy and that of the knaves who now govern him. His every-day +doings sufficiently manifest it. There is not the slightest ground +for hope that he will ever be any other than what he now is, or +that his children will be better. There are too many interested in +depriving them of all capacity for a part in public affairs that +they may retain the reins in their own hands when the children come +of age to admit of their ever becoming better than their father is. +I have not lately made the reports which Lord Hardinge directed the +Resident to make periodically, but shall be prepared to resume them +whenever your Lordship may direct. I suspended them on account of +hostilities with Burmah. I have printed eighteen copies of the +establishments, as they are and were last year, and as I proposed +for the new system. I shall not let any one have a copy till your +Lordship permits it, and they are all at your disposal if required. +This, and the "Substantive Code," are the only papers connected +with Oude, except the Diary that I have had printed, or shall have +printed, unless ordered by you.</p> +<div class="s3">I remain, with great respect,</div> +<div class="s4">Your Lordship's obedient servant,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>P.S.—I believe that it is your Lordship's wish that the +whole of the revenues of Oude should be expended for the benefit of +the royal family and people of Oude, and that the British +Government should disclaim any wish to derive any pecuniary +advantages from assuming to itself the administration.</p> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.<br> +Governor-General,<br> + &c. &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 21st September, 1852. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir,</p> +<p>I will reply to the queries contained in your letter of the 16th +instant to the best of my recollection. I was in Calcutta in +January, 1838, when the late Dyce Sombre was there, and about to +embark for England. I had seen a good deal of him at Sirdhanah, in +March 1836, soon after the Begum Sumroo's death, and he afterwards +spent a short time with me at Mussoorie, and consulted me a good +deal on the subject of a dispute with his father.</p> +<p>Colonel James Skinner and Dr. Drener were, I believe, executors +to his will. Colonel Skinner was at Delhi, and Dr. Drener had +either gone home or was going, I forget which, and Dyce Sombre +asked me to consent to become one of his trustees, for the conduct +of his affairs in this country. I consented, and I think the +circumstance was inserted in a codicil or memorandum added to his +will or deed; but my recollection on this point is not +distinct.</p> +<p>I had, however, nothing to do with the conduct of his affairs in +this country until the death of Colonel James Skinner, which took +place in December, 1841, when Mr. Reghilini, the overseer or agent +at Sirdhanah, got my sanction to the outlay for establishments, +&c. At this time I corresponded with Dyce Sombre, and continued +to do so until his affairs were thrown into Chancery. I then sought +a lawyer's opinion as to my proper course, and refused to give Mr. +Reghilini any further orders. The opinion was, "that my only safe +course was to do nothing whatever in the conduct of his affairs;" +and I never afterwards did anything. I never heard of any Colonel +Sheerman, and his name may have been inserted by mistake for mine; +but I was then (1838) only a major, and was not promoted until +1843. I never heard of any desire on the part of Dyce Sombre, or +the Begum Sumroo, to found a college other than as an appendage to +the Sirdhanah church, nor of his having given the residue of his +property for the purpose; at least, I have no recollection of +having heard of such desire. I always hoped, and expected, until I +heard of his marriage, that he would return and reside at +Sirdhanah.</p> +<p>Dyce Sombre always spoke to me of Mrs. Troup and Mrs. Soloroli +as his sisters: he regarded them alike as such, and so did the +Begum Sumroo. I always understood them to be the children of the +same mother; but the question was never mooted before me, and I +have always heard that Mrs. Troup was very like Dyce Sombre in +appearance, and that Mrs. Soloroli was not so.</p> +<p>Mr. Reghilini, who is, I believe, still at Sirdhanah, may know +whether a Colonel Sheerman was appointed executor or not. Dr. +Drener must know. The notes which passed between me and Dyce +Sombre, after he left India, were on the ordinary topics of the +day, and were destroyed as soon as read. I have none of them to +refer to, nor would they furnish any confirmation on the matter in +question if I had.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me, yours, very truly,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>Charles Prinsep, Esq.,<br> +Barrister-at-Law,<br> +Calcutta.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="center"><i>To Messrs. Molloy, Mackintosh, and Poe, +Calcutta</i>.</p> +<p>Dear Sirs,</p> +<p>In reply to your letter of the 16th instant, I enclose the copy +of a letter addressed by me on the 21st ultimo to Mr. Charles +Prinsep, in reply to similar queries. To what I stated in that +letter I can add but little.</p> +<p>Dyce Sombre always spoke to me of Mrs. Soloroli and Mrs. Troup +as his sisters, and of the former as the eldest of the two; and +Mrs. Troup spoke of Mrs. Soloroli as her eldest sister. They were +always treated by the Begum Sumroo as his sisters; and when Dyce +Sombre went to England I think he left the same provision for both +in addition to what they had received from the Begum.</p> +<p>I was introduced to Mrs. Troup by her husband as an old friend +on my way back from Mussoorie in November, 1837, but I did not see +Mrs. Soloroli, though she and her husband were at the same place, +Sirdhanah, at that time. They both lived under the curtain, +secluded from the sight of men, after the Hindoostanee fashion, as +long as they remained in India, I think; and I was introduced to +Mrs. Troup as a friend of the family, whom all might require to +consult. Her husband only was present during the interview. Dyce +Sombre had left the place for Calcutta. I never heard a doubt +expressed of their being sisters by the same mother and father till +the new will came under discussion at the end of last year.</p> +<p>I may refer you to pages 378 and 396 of the second volume of a +work by me, entitled "Rambles and Recollections," in which you will +find it mentioned that the grandmother of Dyce Sombre died insane +at Sirdhanah in 1838. She must have been insane for more than forty +years up to her death. Her son Zuffer Yab Khan was a man of weak +intellect, and he was the father of Dyce Sombre's mother, of whom I +know nothing whatever.</p> +<p>Dyce Sombre, showed no symptoms of derangement of mind while I +knew him; but he inherited from his grandmother a predisposition to +insanity, which I apprehended might become developed by any very +strong feelings of excitement; and I urged him to return and settle +at Sirdhanah, when he had seen all he wished to see in Europe.</p> +<p>He saw a good deal of English society in India, and understood +well the freedom which English wives enjoy in general society; but +I doubted whether he could ever thoroughly shake off his early +predilections for keeping them secluded. It would, I thought, be +always to him a source of deep humiliation to see his wife mix with +other men in the manner in which English married ladies are +accustomed to do. Since his affairs were put into Chancery I have +always felt persuaded that this must have been the principal +"exciting cause" acting upon the predisposition derived from his +grandmother, which led to it. I have never had the slightest doubt +that he suffered under an aberration of mind upon this point, +though he never mentioned the subject in any of his short letters +to me from England, nor did he in any of them show signs of such +aberration.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me, yours, faithfully,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>26th October, 1852.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 28th October, 1852. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir James,</p> +<p>Your letter of the 6th ultimo reached me by the last mail, and +I trust we shall see your hopes of an early renewal of the Charter +with few alterations realised. I entirely concur with you in +opinion that the power of recall is indispensable to the due +authority of the Court; and was much surprised to find Maddock +opposed to it. Many thinking men at home have been of opinion that +the Ministers would secure for the Queen the nomination of a +certain number to the Direction, on the ground that many of the +best men from India are deterred from becoming candidates by the +time and pledges required in the canvass. The late elections, +however, seem to have come in time to increase the Jealousy of +ministerial influence, and prevent such a measure.</p> +<p>Hostilities with Burmah have prevented my making public +periodical reports to Government about Oude affairs since I +submitted my Diary. I took the liberty to send, through my London +agents copy to yourself and the Deputy Chairman. Things have not +improved since it was written. The King is as regardless of his +high duties and responsibilities as ever: he is, indeed, an +imbecile in the hands of a few fiddlers, eunuchs, and poetasters, +and the minister, who is no better than they are, and obliged to +provide for all these men out of the revenues and patronage of the +country, and sundry women about the Court, also, to secure their +influence in his favour.</p> +<p>The King contrives to get the stipends of those immediately +about him, and of his mother, brothers, and sisters, paid out of +the revenues; but is indifferent about those of his more distant +relatives, and hardly any of them have had any stipends for the +last two and even three years. Those who happen not to have a +little Company's paper given to them by former Sovereigns, or +pensions guaranteed by our Government and paid out of our Treasury, +are starving, and pray for the day when our Government may +interpose in the administration. The expenditure is much above the +income, and the reserved treasury is exhausted; but the King has +his jewels and some personal property in Government notes, derived +from his father and grandmothers. He thinks himself the best of +kings and the best of poets, and nothing will induce him willingly +to alter his course or make room for a better ruler or better +system.</p> +<p>If our Government interpose, it must not be by negotiation and +treaty, but authoritatively on the ground of existing treaties and +obligations to the people of Oude. The treaty of 1837 gives our +Government ample authority to take the whole administration on +ourselves, in order to secure what we have often pledged ourselves +to secure to the people; but if we do this we must, in order to +stand well with the rest of India, honestly and distinctly disclaim +all interested motives, and appropriate the whole of the revenues +for the benefit of the people and royal family of Oude. If we do +this, all India will think us right, for the sufferings of the +people of Oude, under the present system, have been long notorious +throughout India; and so have our repeated pledges to relieve the +people from these sufferings, unless the system should be altered. +Fifty years of sad experience have shown to us and to all India, +that this system is incapable of improvement under the present +dynasty; and that the only alternative is for the paramount power +to take the administration upon itself.</p> +<p>Under the treaty of 1801, we took one-half of the territory of +Oude, and that half yields to us above two crores of rupees; +though, when taken, it was estimated at one hundred and +thirty-three lacs. The half retained by the Oude Sovereign was +estimated at the same; but it now yields to the Sovereign only one +crore. The rest is absorbed by the knaves employed in the +administration and their patrons at Court. All that is now so +absorbed would come to the Treasury under us, and be employed in +the maintenance of efficient establishments, and the construction +of useful public works; and we should have ample means for +providing for all the members of the royal family of Oude.</p> +<p>We should derive substantial benefit from the measure, without +in any degree violating our declaration of disinterestedness. We +now maintain five regiments of Infantry, and a company of +Artillery, at a cost of from five to six lacs a-year. We maintain +the Residency and all its establishments at a cost of more than one +lac of rupees a-year. All these would become fairly chargeable to +the Oude revenues under the new administration; and we might +dispense with half the military forces now kept up at Cawnpore and +Dinapore on the Ganges, as the military force in Oude would relieve +us from all apprehension as to Nepaul.</p> +<p>Oude would be covered with a network of fine macadamised roads, +over which the produce of Oude and our own districts would pass +freely to the benefit of the people of both; and we should soon +have the river Ghagra, from near Patna on the Ganges, to Fyzabad in +Oude, navigable for steamers: with a railroad from Fyzabad, through +Lucknow to Cawnpore, to the great benefit of the North-West +Provinces and those of Bengal.</p> +<p>Were we to take advantage of the occasion to <i>annex</i> or +<i>confiscate</i> Oude, or any part of it, our good name in India +would inevitably suffer; and that good name is more valuable to us +than a dozen of Oudes. We are now looked up to throughout India as +the only impartial arbitrators that the people generally have ever +had, or can ever hope to have without us; and from the time we +cease to be so looked up to, we must begin to sink. We suffered +from our conduct in Scinde; but that was a country distant and +little known, and linked to the rest of India by few ties of +sympathy. Our Conduct towards it was preceded by wars and +convulsions around, and in its annexation there was nothing +manifestly deliberate. It will be otherwise with Oude. Here the +giant's strength is manifest, and we cannot "use it like a giant" +without suffering in the estimation of all India. Annexation or +confiscation are not compatible with our relations with this little +dependent state. We must show ourselves to be high-minded, and +above taking advantage of its prostrate weakness, by appropriating +its revenues exclusively to the benefit of the people and royal +family of Oude. We should soon make it the finest garden in India, +with the people happy, prosperous, and attached to our rule and +character.</p> +<p>We have at least forty thousand men from Oude in the armies of +the three Residencies, all now, rightly or wrongly, cursing the +oppressive Government under which their families live at their +homes. These families would come under our rule and spread our good +name as widely as they now spread the bad one of their present +ruler. Soldiers with a higher sense of military honour, and duty to +<i>their salt</i>, do not exist, I believe, in any country. To have +them bound to us by closer ties than they are at present, would of +itself be an important benefit.</p> +<p>I can add little to what I have said in the latter end of the +fourth chapter of my Diary (from p. 187*, vol. ii.), on the subject +of our relations with the Government of Oude; and of our rights and +duties arising out of those relations. The diaries political, which +I send every week or fortnight to the Government of India, are +formed out of the reports made every day to the Durbar, by their +local or departmental authorities. The Residency News-writer has +the privilege of hearing these reports read as they come in; and +though the reports of many important events are concealed from him, +they may generally be relied upon as far as they go. The picture +they give of affairs is bad enough, though not so bad as they +deserve.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[* Transcriber's note. From the text "By the treaty of 1801 we +bound ourselves......."—to the end of the chapter IV in vol. +ii]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>There are so many worthless and profligate people about the +Court, interested in smothering any signs of common sense and good +feeling on the part of the heir apparent to the throne, in order to +maintain their ascendancy over him as he grows up, that he has not +the slightest chance of becoming fit to take any part in the +conduct of public affairs when he comes of age. The present King +has three or four sons, all very young, but it is utterly +impossible for any one of them to become a man of business; and it +would be folly to expect any one of them to make a better Sovereign +than their father. He is now only twenty-eight or twenty-nine years +of age; but his understanding has become quite emasculated by +over-indulgencies of all kinds. He may live long, but his habits +have become too inveterate to admit of his ever becoming better +than he now is or fit to be intrusted with the government of a +country.</p> +<p>I shall recommend that all establishments, military, civil, and +fiscal, be kept entirely separate from those of our own Government, +that there may be no mistake as to the disinterestedness of our +intentions towards Oude. The military establishments being like +Scindiah's contingent, in the Gwalior state, or the Hydrabad +contingent in the Nizam's. I estimate the present expenditure at, +civil and fiscal establishments, and stipendiaries, 38 lacs. +Military and police, 55. King's household, 30. Total, 123 lacs. +Establishments required for an efficient administration—civil +and fiscal—at 22 lacs. Military, 26 lacs. Families and +dependents of former Sovereigns, 12 lacs. Household of the Sovereign, +his sons, brothers, and sisters, 15 lacs. Total, 75 lacs.</p> +<p>This would leave an abundant store for public works, military +stores, contingent charges, pension establishments for the civil +and military officers employed under us, &c. To pay off all the +present heavy arrears of stipends, salaries, to provide arms, +ammunition, and stores, and to commence upon all the public works, +our Government would have either to give or guarantee a loan; or to +sanction the issue of a certain amount of paper money, to circulate +exclusively in Oude, by making it receivable in the Oude Treasuries +in taxes.</p> +<p>The revenues would be at once greatly increased, by our taking +for the treasury all that is now intercepted and appropriated by +public officers and Court favourites for their own private +purposes, by our making the great landholders pay a due portion of +their assets to the state, and by our securing the safe transit of +raw produce and manufactured goods to their proper markets.</p> +<p>By adopting a simple system of administration, to meet the +wishes of a simple people, we should secure the goodwill of all +classes of society in Oude; and no class would be more pleased with +the change than the members of the royal family themselves, who +depend upon their stipends for their subsistence, and despair of +ever again receiving them under the present Sovereign and +system.</p> +<p>I hope a happy termination of the present war with Burmah will +soon leave Lord Dalhousie free to devote his attention to Oude +affairs. As far as I am consulted, I shall advocate, as strongly as +may be compatible with my position, the measures above described, +because I think they will be found best calculated to benefit the +people of Oude, to meet the wishes of the home Government, and to +sustain his Lordship's own reputation, and that of the nation which +he represents throughout our Eastern empire.</p> +<p>You are aware of some of the difficulties that I have had to +contend with, in carrying out important measures beneficial to the +people, and honourable to the Government of India; but in no +situation in life have I ever had to struggle with so many as here, +in pursuing an honest and steady course of policy, calculated to +secure the respect of all classes for the Government which I +represent. Such a scene of intrigue, corruption, depravity, neglect +of duty, and abuse of authority, I have never before been placed +in, and hope never again to undergo; and I have had to contend with +bitter hostility where I had the best right to expect support. I +have never yet failed in the performance of any duty that +Government has intrusted to me, and, under Providence, I hope that +I shall ultimately succeed in the performance of that which I have +committed to me here.</p> +<p>Lucknow is an overgrown city, surrounding an overgrown Court, +which has, for the last half century, exhausted all the resources +of this fine country; and so alienated the feelings of the great +body of the people that they, and the Sovereign, and his officers, +look upon each other as irreconcileable enemies. Between the city, +the pampered Court and its functionaries, and the people of the +country beyond, there is not the slightest feeling of sympathy; and +if our troops were withdrawn from the vicinity of Lucknow, the +landholders and sturdy peasantry of the country would, in a few +days, rush in and plunder and destroy it as a source of nothing but +intolerable evil to them.</p> +<p>Though I have written a long letter, I may have omitted many +things which you wished me to notice. In that case I must rely upon +your letting me know; and in the mean time, I shall continue to +write whenever I have anything to communicate that is likely to +interest you.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me, dear Sir James,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours very faithfully,</div> +<div class="s5">W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart.<br> + &c. &c. &c.</p> +<p>P.S. By treaty, we are bound to keep up a certain force near the +capital for the protection of the Sovereign; and we should be +obliged, till things were quite settled under the new system, to +retain the brigade we now have of our regular troops in the +cantonments, which are three miles from the city.</p> +<div class="s5">W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 20th November, 1852. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir James,</p> +<p>To be prepared for accidents, I deem it right to send a +duplicate of the letter which I sent to you by the last mail, +addressed to the care of my London agents, Messrs. Denny and Clark, +Austin Friars. I have nothing new or interesting to communicate +from Oude. The Burmese war seems likely to divert the +Governor-General's attention from Oude and Hydrabad affairs for +some time to come; and the death of the Duke of Wellington, and +probable changes in the ministry at home, may prevent him from +venturing upon any important change in the Oude administration when +that war closes.</p> +<p>The war is an "untoward event," arising from a very small cause; +and it should prevent our ever guaranteeing British subjects in +countries where we have no accredited agents to conduct our +relations with the Government. All such subjects, and all the +subjects of our European and American allies, should in future be +made to understand that they enter such countries entirely upon +their own responsibility. Without some such precaution we must +always be liable to be involved in war with bordering countries by +adventurers of one land or another; and as war is almost always +followed by annexation or confiscation, our Indian empire, like +that of the Romans, must soon sink from its own weight. The people +will think that we are perpetually seeking pretexts for war in +order to get new territories, and the general or universal +impression will be dangerous.</p> +<p>When the public press of England abuse those who have to conduct +the present war for delay, they do not sufficiently consider our +ignorance of the state of the rivers and of the military resources +of the country in which it was to be carried on when we entered +upon it. We did not know that the rivers were navigable, nor did we +know how they were defended; nor did we know what forces Burmah +could muster, nor how they were distributed. It was not intended to +commence the war till after the rains, when it would be safe to +move troops over the country; for it was not reasonable to suppose +that the Government of the country could be so haughty and insolent +without military force to support its pretensions, and we have +often had sad experience of the danger of underrating the power of +an enemy. The object of the earlier movement was merely to secure +some points of support, at which to concentrate our forces as they +came up, and not to advance at once on the capital or into the +country at a season when no troops could move by land.</p> +<p>Our strong arm was, no doubt, the steam flotilla; but it would +have been madness in us, with our ignorance of the rivers and +resources of the country, to have calculated upon conquering Ava by +steamers alone. With what we now know, people may safely say that +General Godwin has failed to make all the use he might of the +flotilla, as Lord Gough failed to make all the use he might of his +"strong arm," the artillery, in the battles of the Punjaub; but +Lord Gough was not ignorant of the country in which he had to +operate, nor of the resources of the country he had to contend +with. According to previous calculations, the war ought not to have +begun till this month. The earlier movement has, however, been of +great advantage—it has taught us what the rivers and +resources of the country are; and, what is of still more +importance, what the people and their feelings towards their +Government and ours are. It is manifest that they fully appreciate +the value of the protection which the people, under our rule, +enjoy; and that they have neither religious nor political feelings +of hostility towards us; and that the people of Pegu, at least, +would hail the establishment of our rule as a blessing.</p> +<p>You were so kind as to express a wish to see my son. He is now +with his regiment, the 16th Lancers, in Ireland, and has lately +obtained his Lieutenancy. He will be twenty years of age in +January. I will make known to him your kind wish, and doubt not +that he will pay his respects when he visits London.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me, My Dear Sir James,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours very faithfully,</div> +<div class="s5">W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart,<br> + &c. &c. &c.</p> +<p>P.S.—In page 217, line 4, vol. i., of my Diary, the +printer has put "months" for weeks. Pray do me the favour to have +this corrected.—W. H. S.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>Your Lordship's wishes in regard to the papers on Oude affairs +shall be strictly attended to. They are locked up in my box, and no +one shall see them. I had no wish to print any but those I +mentioned in my last letter, and they are locked up with the +others, which I have not looked at since I left your Lordship's +camp; the Diary, excepted.</p> +<p>Things in Oude are just as they were; and the King's ambition +seems to be limited to the reputation of being the best +drum-beater, dancer, and poet of the day. He is utterly unfit to +reign; but he is himself persuaded that no man can be more fit than +he is for anything, and he will never willingly consent to make +over the reins of Government to any one. It would be impossible to +<i>persuade</i> him to abdicate even in favour of his own son, much +less to resign his sovereignty in perpetuity. If our Government +interpose, it must be by the exercise of a right derived from the +existing relations between the two Governments, or from our +position as the paramount power in India.</p> +<p>Of this your Lordship will have to consider and decide when your +mind is relieved from Burmese affairs, which appear to be drawing +very <i>quietly</i> to a close. I shall not write publicly about +Oude affairs generally till I have your Lordship's commands to do +so. The Diary will continue to be transmitted regularly; but the +Periodical General Report will be suspended.</p> +<p>Mr. Bushe remained a few days at Lucknow. He has since seen +Agra, Bhurtpoor, and other places, and is now on his way back to +Calcutta, well pleased with his tour.</p> +<div class="s3">With great respect,</div> +<div class="s4">Your Lordship's obedient Servant,</div> +<div class="s5">W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,<br> +Governor-General of India.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 2nd January, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir James,</p> +<p>I enclose two sets of Tables of Errata for the Diary, and must +pray you to do me the favour to have one set put into the two +volumes of the copy you have, and the other sent to the +Deputy-Chairman for insertion in his copy. I did not take the +liberty to send a copy to the President of the Board of Control, +but if you think I should do so, I will.</p> +<p>The King of Oude is becoming more and more imbecile and crazy, +and his servants continue more and more to abuse their power and +neglect their duty. The King, every day manifests his utter +unfitness to reign, in some new shape. He, on several occasions +during the Mohurrum ceremonies which took place lately, went along +the streets beating a drum tied round his neck, to the great +scandal of his family and the amusement of his people. The members +of his family have not been paid their stipends for from two to +three years, and many of them have been reduced to the necessity of +selling their clothes to purchase food. All classes, save the +knaves who surround him, and profit by his folly, are become +disgusted with and tired of him.</p> +<p>I do not interfere, except to protect our pledges and +guarantees; and to conduct the current duties of the Residency in +such a manner as to secure the respect of all classes for the +Government which I represent. While the present King reigns, or has +anything whatever to do with the Government, no interference could +produce any substantial and permanent reform. The minister is a +weak man and a great knave; but he has an influence over his +master, obtained by being entirely subservient to his vices and +follies, to the sacrifice of his own honour; and by praising all +that he does, however degrading to him as a man and a +sovereign.</p> +<p>Though the King pays no attention whatever to public affairs or +to business of any kind, and aims at nothing but the reputation of +being the best dancer, best versifier, and best drummer in his +dominions, it would be impossible to persuade him that any man was +ever more fit to reign than he is. Nothing would ever induce him +willingly to abdicate even in favour of his own son, much less to +make him willingly abdicate in perpetuity in favour of our +Government, or make over the conduct of the administration to our +Government. If, therefore, our Government does interfere, it must +be in the exercise of a right arising out of the existing relations +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 <i>right</i> to take upon itself the administration, +under present circumstances; and, indeed, imposes, upon our +Government the <i>duty</i> of taking it: but, as I have already +stated, neither these relations nor our position, as the paramount +power, gives us any right to <i>annex</i> or to <i>confiscate</i> +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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 +sufficient, in their estimation, for the purpose; and no war, +however cruel, that is not justifiable, if it has only this object +in view. If you know George Clerk or Mr. Robertson, both formerly +Governors of our North-West Provinces, they will describe to you +the school I mean. They, I believe, with me, strongly deprecate the +doctrines of this school as more injurious to India and to our +interest in it, than those of any other school that has ever +existed in India. Mr. George Campbell is one of the disciples of +this school.—See the 4th chapter of his "Modern India." The +"Friend of India" is another, and all those whom that paper lauds +most are also disciples of the same school. The Court of Directors +will have to watch these doctrines carefully; and I wish you would +speak to George Clerk and Mr. Robertson about them. They are both +men of large views and sound judgment.</p> +<div class="s2">Believe me, My Dear Sir James,</div> +<div class="s5">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Sir James Weir Hogg,<br> + &c. &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 12th January, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir James,</p> +<p>I wrote to you on the 23rd October, 20th November, and the 2nd +of this month; I mention this lest any of my letters miscarry; of +the first letter I sent a duplicate on the 2nd, but I shall not +send duplicates of the last two, or of this. I now write chiefly to +call your attention to a rabid article in the "Friend of India," of +the 6th of this month, written by Mr. Marshman, when about to +proceed to England, to become, it is said, one of the writers in +the London "Times." Of coarse, he will be engaged to write the +Indian articles; and you will find him advocating the doctrines of +the school mentioned in my last letter of the 2nd of this month. I +consider their doctrines to be prejudicial to the stability of our +rule in India, and to the welfare of the people, which depends on +it. The Court of Directors is our only safeguard against these +Machiavellian doctrines; and it may be rendered too powerless to +stem them by the new arrangements for the Government of India. The +objects which they propose for attainment—religion, commerce, +&c.—are plausible; and the false logic by which they +attempt to justify the means required to attain them, however base, +unjust, and cruel, is no less so. I was asked by Dr. Duff, the +editor of the "Calcutta Review," before he went home to write some +articles for that journal, to expose the fallacies, and to +counteract the influences of the doctrines of this school; but I +have for many years ceased to contribute to the periodical papers, +and have felt bound by my position not to write for them. Few old +officers of experience, with my feelings and opinions on this +subject, now remain in India; and the influence of this school is +too great over the rising generation, whose hopes and aspirations +they tend so much to encourage. Mr. Elphinstone, Mr. Robertson, and +George Clerk will be able to explain their danger to you. India +must look to the Court of Directors alone for safety against them, +and they will require the exertion of all its wisdom and +strength.</p> +<p>Mr. Robertson will be able to tell you that, when I was sent to +Bundelcund, in 1842, the feelings of the people of that province +were so strongly against us, under the operation of the doctrines +of this school, that no European officer could venture, with +safety, beyond the boundary of a cantonment of British troops; and +their servants were obliged to disguise themselves in order to pass +from one cantonment to another. In a brief period, I created a +feeling entirely different, and made the character of British +officers respected and beloved. In the Gwalior territories the same +result was obtained by the same means. However impulsive on other +occasions, Lord Ellenborough behaved magnanimously after his +victories over the Gwalior troops; but in sparing the State, he +acted, I believe, against the feelings of his Council, amongst whom +the doctrines of the absorbing, annexing, and confiscating schools +prevailed; and the "Friend of India" condemned him, though the +invasion was never justified, except on the ground of expediency. +Had I, on these occasions, adopted the doctrines of the absorbing +school, I might have become one of the most popular and influential +men in India; but I should, at the same time, have rendered our +rule and character odious to the people of India, and so far have +injured our permanent interest in the country. I mention all this +merely to show that my opposition to the doctrines of this school +is not new, nor in theory only, but of long standing and practice, +as far as my influence has extended. I deem them to be dangerous to +our rule in India, and prejudicial to the best interests of the +country. The people see that these annexations and confiscations go +on, and that rewards and honorary distinctions are given for them, +and for the victories which lead to them, and for little else; and +they are too apt to infer that they are systematic, and encouraged, +and prescribed from home. The native States I consider to be +breakwaters, and when they are all swept away, we shall be left to +the mercy of our native army, which may not always be sufficiently +under our control. Such a feeling as that which pervaded Bundelcund +and Gwalior in 1842 and 1843, must, sooner or later, pervade all +India, if these doctrines are carried out to their full extent; and +our rule could not, probably, exist under it. With regard to Oude, +I can only say that the King pursues the same course, and every day +shows that he is unfit to reign. He has not the slightest regard +for the duties or responsibilities of his high position; and the +people, and even the members of his own family, feel humiliated at +his misconduct, and grow weary of his reign. The greater part of +these members have not received their stipends for from two to +three years, and they despair of ever receiving them as long as he +reigns. He is neither tyrannical nor cruel, but altogether +incapable of devoting any of his time or attention to business of +any kind, but spends the whole of his time with women, eunuchs, +fiddlers, and other parasites. Should he be set aside, as he +deserves to be, three courses are open: 1. To appoint a regency +during the minority of the heir-apparent, who is now about eleven +years of age, to govern with the advice of the Resident; 2. To +manage the country by European agency during the regency, or in +perpetuity, leaving the surplus revenue to the royal family; 3. To +confiscate and annex the country, and pension the royal family. The +first plan was prescribed by Lord Hardinge, in case of accident to +the King; the second is what was done at Nagpore, with so much +advantage, by Sir Richard Jenkins in 1817; the third is what the +absorbing school would advocate, but I should most deprecate. It +would be most profitable for us, in a pecuniary point of view, but +most injurious, I think, in a political one. It would tend to +accelerate the crisis which the doctrines of that school must, +sooner or later, bring upon us. Which course the Governor-General +may prefer I know not.</p> +<div class="s4">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s3">My Dear Sir James,</div> +<div class="s5">Yours very faithfully</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN</div> +<p>To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart.,<br> + &c. &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 12th January, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir,</p> +<p>I shall send you by this mail a copy of my Diary under cover, +addressed, as you suggest, to Mr. Secretary Melvill. It is coarsely +bound, as I could find no good binder here. I printed eighteen +copies, and have sent one to Government, in Calcutta, for itself, +and one for the Court of Directors; one to the Governor-General, +and one each to the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman. I have also sent +one to a brother, and one to each of my five children. All to whom +I have sent it of my family have been enjoined to consider it as +private and confidential, and they will do so. Government may +publish any portion of it they please. A memorandum of errata has +been added to the copy to be sent to you.</p> +<p>Over and above what you justly observe as to the cultivation and +population not being much diminished, and the State not having +incurred any public debt, I may mention the fact noticed, I +believe, somewhere in the Diary, that the landed aristocracy of the +half of Oude, reserved in 1801, has been better preserved than that +of the half made over to us. Had they not combined generally +against the Government, they would all have been crushed ere this, +as ours have been. This makes me mention a school of too much +influence in India, of whose doctrines I have a great abhorrence. +They are best expounded by the so-called "Friend of India," in the +last number of which (6th January, 1851) there is a rabid article +on the subject worthy of your perusal, and that of all men +interested in the welfare of India and the stability of our rule +over it. It is in the true Machiavellian spirit, which justifies, +or would persuade the world to justify, every means, however base, +dishonest, and cruel, required to attain any object which they have +persuaded themselves to be desirable for ourselves. This school is +impatient at the existence of any native principality in India, +however related to or dependent upon us. Mr. George Campbell is a +disciple of this school, almost as rabid as the "Friend of India," +as you will see in the fourth chapter of his book on "Modern +India." If Mr. Marshman is to write the Indian articles for the +"Times," as reports give out, you will see these doctrines +advocated in that influential journal. The Court of Directors is +the only safeguard of India, and of our stability in it, against +those doctrine which, in my opinion, tend strongly to the injury of +both; and its power may be rendered too powerless to shun them.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s4">My Dear Sir,</div> +<div class="s5">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Colonel Sykes,<br> +Director Hon. East India Company,<br> +London.</p> +<p>P.S.—I have felt much interested in the geology of Central +and Southern India; and if you have seen any satisfactory account +of the origin of the stratum which caps the basaltic plateau, shall +feel obliged if you will point it out to me.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 24th April, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir,</p> +<p>By the last mail I received from a friend in London two +articles, whose merits had been much canvassed at the clubs, one +from the London "Times," of the 9th February, and the other from +the "Daily News," a Manchester paper. The "Times" article must have +been written by Mr. J. Marshman, or one of the most rabid members +of the school of which he is the great organ, and whose chief +characteristic is impatience at the existence of any native +territorial chief or great landholder in India. The other article +is a reply to it, and generally supposed to have been written by +Sir George Clerk. I feel quite sure that it was written either by +him or by Mr. T. C. Robertson, who preceded him in the government +of our North-West Provinces. The article from the "Times" has been +noticed in most of the Indian papers—the "Friend of India," +April 7th, 1853, and the "Englishman," 15th April. But I have not +seen that in the "Daily News" noticed in any Indian papers, though +admirably written. I intended to send it to you, but have mislaid +it. I think you can advocate the cause it adopts more consistently, +more powerfully, and more wisely than any other editor now in +India. I hope you will do so; for I consider the doctrines of the +"Times" disgraceful to our morality, and dangerous to the stability +of our rule. As I consider the welfare of the people of India to +depend upon the stability of our rule, I am very anxious to see the +fallacies of the atrocious doctrines which endanger it ably +exposed. In no publication are these fallacies more obvious or more +numerous than in Mr. George Campbell's "Modern India," chapter +fourth, with, perhaps, the exception of the "Friend of India." With +the "Friend," the theory of confiscation and annexation has become +a disease, and he cannot praise or even tolerate any public officer +or statesman who is not known to be a convert to the doctrines of +this school.</p> +<p>I forget the date of the "Daily News" in which Sir George +Clerk's article appeared, but it was immediately after the article +appeared in the London "Times" of the 9th February. I hope you will +give the article a prominent place in your paper, for it really +deserves to be printed in letters of gold. Though I feel that the +character of our nation, and our safety in India, are compromised +by the open avowal of such atrocious doctrines in our leading +journals, still the orders against officers in political employ +writing in the papers are so strict, that I dare not attempt to +expose the fallacies on which they are based, or express the +indignation which they excite in me, in any public paper. To my +superiors, and in the discharge of my public duties, I shall never +cease to express my abhorrence of such doctrines, for I look upon +them as worse than any that Machiavelli ever wrote.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours very sincerely,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To G. Buist, Esq.</p> +<p>P.S.—Of course, this note will be considered as +confidential.<br></p> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. S.</div> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 24th April, 1853. </p> +<p>Dear Sir,</p> +<p>An article in your paper of the 15th instant, on the subject of +the international law of India, has interested and pleased me much. +It has reference to an article in the London "Times" of the 9th +February last; and I write to invite your attention to an article +which appeared in the "Daily News," a Manchester paper, in reply to +it, written by Sir G. Clerk, lately Governor of Bombay. Both these +articles have been much discussed at the London clubs, and the +morality of the "Daily News" article has been very favourably +contrasted with that of the article in the "Times." The article in +the "Times" is supposed to have been penned by Mr. J. Marshman +himself, or by one of the most rabid members of the school whose +Machiavellian doctrine he advocates.</p> +<p>These doctrines are considered by some of our wisest statesmen +to be as dangerous to the stability of our rule in India as they +are disgraceful to our morality; and as these statesmen consider +the well-being of the people of India to depend upon that +stability, they are always glad to see their fallacies exposed and +their iniquities indignantly denounced by the moat able and steady +of our public journalists. I hope you will be able to find the able +article in the "Daily News" to which I refer, and consent to give +it a prominent place in the "Englishman." It was sent to me by a +friend in London, but I have, unfortunately, mislaid it. This note +will, of course, be considered as confidential.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s5">W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To W. C. Harry, Esq.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 5th June, 1853. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>I have read with great interest in the English journals your +Lordship's able Minute on the Burmese war, and am glad that it has +been published, as it cannot fail to disabuse the public mind at +home, and bring about a reaction in the feeling of the people +excited by some very unfair articles in the London "Times." I +attributed these articles to the Napiers, who, however talented, +are almost always wrong-headed.</p> +<p>I am persuaded that the new Sovereign will acquiesce in your +possession of Pegu, and that he would not have ceded it by treaty +under any circumstances. The old Sovereign might have done it, +though at great risk, but the new Sovereign could not dare to do +it.</p> +<p>Our own history affords us instances enough of powerful +ministers anxious, for the public good, to get rid of conquered, +but expensive and useless possessions, but deterred from proposing +the measure by the dread of popular odium, which ambitious and +factious rivals are always ready to excite.</p> +<p>There is one argument against the advance which I do not think +that your Lordship has urged with the force of the rest. While the +new Sovereign remains undisturbed in the rest of his dominions he +will maintain his authority over them, and do his best to prevent +our new frontier from being disturbed, knowing that we can advance +to his capital and punish him if he does not. But, were he to be +driven from his capital, all the rest of his dominions would soon +fall into a state of anarchy, and our frontiers would soon be +disturbed by leaders of disorderly bands, anxious to carve out +principalities for themselves, and having no other means than +plunder to maintain their followers. For the acts of such men we +could hold no one responsible, after we had driven their Sovereign +from his capital to the hills and jungles; and half a century might +elapse before order could be restored. In the mean time, wealth +would be growing up within our border to invite their aggression, +while they would become poorer and poorer from disorders, and more +and more anxious to seize upon it.</p> +<p>With regard to an advance upon Amarapoora, it will not be +difficult after the rains, if circumstances render it necessary. +The Madras cattle are much better for hard work and all climates +than those of Bengal, and sufficient could be collected for the +occasion by sea. Your Lordship's reasons for not trusting to +steamers alone are unanswerable, and it seems impossible for a land +and river force to act jointly. In this, we almost realize the +contest between the winds and the moschettoes before the court of +the genii in the Arabian tale: when the winds appeared, the +moschettoes could not, and when they appeared, the winds could not. +For the prestige of our own name in the rest of India, to advance +to the capital and then give the rest of the country to the +Sovereign might, perhaps, be the best; but for the security of our +new acquisition, and that of the people of the rest of Burmah, it +would certainly be better to stay where we are. The benefits of our +rule might, by degrees, be imparted to that of the rest of Burmah. +The Government would be obliged to treat their people better than +they have done in order to keep them.</p> +<p>Here everything still is what I have described it to be so +often; that is, as bad as it can be. The King is the same, and the +officers and favourites whom he employs are the same. I shall not +write public reports on the state of affairs till I learn that your +Lordship wishes it, which will be, I conclude, when you have +carried out your arrangements in Burmah.</p> +<p>The terrible war of races in China, to which I have been looking +forward for some years, seems to be coming slowly on. I wrote to +Sir H. M. Elliot about it some two or three years ago, and +recommended him to write a better life than we have of Jungez Khan, +in order to show what the Tartars now really are. When he led his +swarms of them over China, Central Asia, and a great part of +Europe, they worshipped the god of war; they now worship the god of +peace: but there are millions of Lamas in Tartary who would change +their crosiers for the sword at the call of a kindred genius, and +are now impatient to do so, and prophesying his advent, just at the +time that the rebels threaten the capital of China and the +extinction of the Tartar dynasty. That dynasty will throw itself +upon Tartary, and a new one will be raised by the successful +leader.</p> +<div class="s2">Your Lordship's faithful and obedient +servant,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,<br> +Governor-General.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 24th June, 1853. </p> +<p>Dear Sir,</p> +<p>Your letter of the 20th instant perplexes me a good deal. I have +no place in my own office to offer you, and I never recommended any +one for employment to the King. You cannot, according to rules laid +down for our guidance, act as an advocate in any case before the +Resident or his assistants. All landholders in Oude, except the few +whose estates are included in what is called the Hozoor Tuhseel, +transact their business through the Amils, Chuckladars, and Nazims +of districts, and have nothing to do directly with the Durbar at +Lucknow. Having nothing to do with their affairs, I cannot have +anything to say with the employment by them of wakeels, or +advocates. They, the landholders, generally employ native wakeels, +who are willing to bear a good deal of ill-treatment on the part of +Durbar officials for the sake of very small salaries. Your +situation as a wakeel on their part would be ill remunerated and +exceedingly humiliating.</p> +<p>If the son of Ghalib Jung has offered to introduce you to the +minister, and to assist in getting employment for you at Lucknow, +he must, I think, do so in the hope of being able to make use of +you in some intrigue; for those only who can aid in such intrigues +are fostered and paid at Lucknow. Honest men can get nothing, and +find no employment about the Court. If you secure employment about +the Court, I cannot hold any communication with you. I should +compromise myself by doing so. In your situation, I would rather be +a section writer in Calcutta, or at Agra, than hold any employment +in the Oude Durbar that you can get by honest means. One of the +tasks imposed on you would be, I conclude, to praise bad persons +and things, and abuse good, in the newspapers. This, of course, you +would not do, and you would be punished accordingly. I strongly +advise you to have nothing to do with Oude at present.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours very truly,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To G. Norton, Esq.,<br> +Azimgurh.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 11th August, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear Sir,</p> +<p>Your brother, the late Lieut.-Colonel Ouseley, was a valued +friend of mine. Before his appointment as Governor-General's Agent +of the south-eastern frontier districts, he had for many years held +the civil charge of different districts in the Sangor and Nerbudda +territories. I had for many years the civil charge of districts +bordering on those under his charge, and abundant opportunity of +seeing how much he had made himself beloved, and the character of +his Government respected, by the manner in which he conducted the +duties confided to him.</p> +<p>When I became Commissioner over those territories in 1844, I +passed through the districts which had so long been under his +charge, and I can honestly say that I have never known a man who +had made himself more beloved and revered by the people. Thousands +of happy families were proud to acknowledge that they owed all +their happiness to the careful and liberal revision of the +settlement of the land-revenue made by him, in which he had +provided for the interests of the higher and middle classes +connected with the land, while he secured the rights of the +humblest.</p> +<p>I visited at the same time the districts of those territories +which bordered upon his then charge of the south-east frontier, and +communed with many people from that quarter. They all spoke of him +as beloved and respected by all classes as much in his then charge +as he had been in his old one. In a country where it is the duty of +every Englishman to make the character of his Government and his +nation respected and beloved, one cannot but feel proud to hear a +countryman and fellow-labourer spoken of by tens of thousands of +respectable, contented, and happy people as your brother was and +still is. I know no part of India where the people of all classes +and all grades are so attached to our character and our Government +as that of the Saugor and Nerbudda territories, and I believe that +no man did more to establish that fine feeling than your +brother.</p> +<p>Your brother's temper was warm, and he was not always happy in +putting his thoughts and feelings to paper. Hence arose occasional +misunderstandings with his official superiors. But while those +superiors were men who could understand and appreciate his noble +nature, such occasional misunderstandings never led to serious +consequences. In the bitterness of his anguish, after his removal +from the south-east frontier, he wrote to me; and it was most +painful to me to feel that I was not in a position, or in +circumstances, to advocate his cause, and describe the value of +such a man as the representative of the Government and the national +character among a wild and half-civilized people like those over +whom he had been placed. I think it was on the representation of +the late Mr. Launcelot Wilkinson, one of the most able and +estimable members of the India Civil Service, that he was sent to +the south-east frontier. He had seen his value in the Saugor and +Nerbudda districts while he was political agent at Bhopaul, which +bordered on the districts under your brother's charge.</p> +<p>It has been to me a source of much regret that I have not had it +in my power to aid his son in getting employment in India.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours very truly,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Major Ouseley,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 14th September, 1853. </p> +<p>Dear Sir,</p> +<p>The King of Oude will certainly not assist you to get up a +newspaper at Lucknow; and you will certainly be disappointed if you +come in expectation of such assistance from him. If you can get +into his service in any other capacity, I am not aware of any +objections to it, but as I have already told you and many others, I +cannot recommend any one for employment under him. The humiliations +to which honest and respectable Christians have to submit in his +service, from the jealousies of influential persons about the +Durbar, are such as few can or ought to submit to; and I certainly +would not advise any one to enter such a service. Under whatever +pledge or whatever influence they might enter it, their tenure of +office and their pay would be altogether precarious, and the +Resident would be unable to assist them in retaining the one or +recovering the other.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours faithfully,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To G. Norton, Esq.</p> +<p>P.S.—The King of Oude and his family are in no danger from +the British Government, on whose good faith they repose. I only +wish that his honest and industrious subjects were as safe from the +officers whom he employs in all branches of the administration, and +from whom they are nowhere safe I fear.</p> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 27th September, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear James,</p> +<p>Under the circumstances you mention, I see but one course open +to you; and that is, to recommend to the Government of Bombay to do +as Lord William Bentinck did in the Bengal Presidency under similar +circumstances, appoint a special Commissioner for the trial of +offenders under Acts XX.[<i>sic</i>] of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843; or +for the revision of trials under these Acts, conducted by Sessions' +Judges.</p> +<p>The first would be the best if feasible; but the second would +do, since the Sessions' Judges seem now to be disposed to give +their aid to Government in putting down the evil, and the Sudder +Judges do not. Formerly, I believe, the Sudder Judges were so +disposed, and the Sessions Judges not. In my reply to the +Government of Bombay, you will see reference made to Lord William's +appointment of Mr. Stockwell as special Commissioner. He was at the +time Commissioner of the Allahabad division, and the work was +imposed upon him in addition to his other duties.</p> +<p>If the Bombay Government does not think it has authority to +appoint such a special Commission, they may apply to the +Legislative Council to pass an Act authorising the Government of +every Presidency to appoint such a Commission when circumstances +may render it necessary.</p> +<p>This will be better and safer than to frame and enforce new +rules of evidence for the guidance of existing Judicial Courts. The +one would be for a special emergency, and temporary; and Government +would not be very averse to it; but the other they certainly would +not venture upon, particularly at this time. A great fuss would be +made about it here and at home; and lawyers are too influential in +both places.</p> +<p>You can show that there is no alternative—that this system +of crime must be left to prosper in the Bombay Presidency, where +alone it now prevails, or such a Commission must be appointed; and +as the Acts and the machinery for giving effect to them have +succeeded in putting it down in all the rest, it would be hard to +leave the people of Bombay exposed to all the evils arising from +the want of such a special Commission. Such Commissions have been +adopted to relieve the people from the hardships of the resumption +laws, which affected but a small portion of the community; and you +hope it would not be considered unreasonable in you to propose one +for the relief of the whole community; for the life and property of +no family will be safe an hour, if these classes of offenders by +hereditary profession are assured that they may carry on their +trade with impunity, as they must be if your agency be withdrawn, +and all the prisoners be released.</p> +<p>If you make a forcible representation to the Bombay Government +in this strong case, they will adopt the measure if they have the +power, or ask the power from the supreme Government; and I think +the supreme Government will give it. I would say a special +Commission for the trial of commitments under XXX. of 1836, and +XXIV. of 1843, or a special Commission for the revision of trials +under these Acts, as may seem best to Government; but you can say +that you think the first would answer the purpose best in the +Bombay Presidency. You may offer to run down to Bombay and submit +your views to the Government in Council if required. They would not +think it necessary, but would be pleased with the offer. Where men +are committed on the general charge, it has always been thought +necessary to show that the gang committed a murder or a robbery, +though it is not so to show what part the prisoners took in them. +If your assistant has not done this, he has failed in a material +point. He should be very cautious in dealing with whole classes. +The fault of our Bombay assistants has always been a disposition to +make offenders of whole classes, when only some of the members are +so.</p> +<p>You must make your best of the present case—show the +necessity of the remedy clearly, and urge it respectfully without +pretending to find fault with the Judges; merely say that their +interpretation of the laws of evidence laid down for their +guidance, however conscientious, forms an insurmountable obstacle +to the conviction of offenders by hereditary profession, whose +system has been founded upon the experience of their ancestors in +the most successful modes of defeating these laws, and the +technicalities of ordinary Judicial Courts. This is, I think, all +that I can say on the subject at present. The Moncktons leave us +this evening, and Amelie intends to set out for the hills on the +6th proximo.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours affectionately,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Captain J. Sleeman.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 28th September, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear James,</p> +<p>On further consideration, I think that you should say nothing +about the second proposal of a special Commissioner to revise the +trials of offenders tried by Sessions Judges. You should suggest +the first proposal of a special Commissioner to try all prisoners +committed for trial under Acts XXX. of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843, and +perhaps also XI. of 1841. See my Printed Report, page 357.</p> +<p>You may mention that such Commissioner should be required to +submit his sentences for the consideration and final orders of +Government, as all political officers did till March, 1835; or +merely for the information of Government, as political officers did +after that time.</p> +<p>On the 23rd of March, 1835, the Secretary to the Government of +India forwarded to the Resident of Lucknow, for his guidance, the +copy of a letter addressed on that date to the Agent of the +Governor-General in the Saugor and Nerbudda territories, requesting +that he would carry into execution his sentences on Thugs, and not +make any reference to Government for confirmation, but merely +submit to Government abstract statements of sentences; but desiring +that the sanction of the King of Oude should be required before any +capital sentence was carried into effect. No capital sentence was +from that time passed. As all prisoners will be tried on the +general charge, no capital sentence will ever be passed by the +special Commissioner, and the Bombay Government may be disposed to +give him the same orders. But the Governor in Council at Bombay +will be the best judge of that.</p> +<p>Lord Falkland may possibly be deterred by apprehensions that +late events may have altered the tone of feeling at home towards +him; but I am persuaded that he would be glad to carry this measure +into effect. I will send you a copy of the Government letter to the +Resident here; and you may get from the agent's office a copy of +that sent on the same date to him, though you may not readily find +that office under the new arrangements. You will, I think, have a +strong case, and I wish you success in it.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours affectionately,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Captain Jas. Sleeman.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 4th November, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear Malcolm,</p> +<p>I should recommend for the Baee a money stipend for life of five +thousand rupees a-month, with the understanding that if she adopted +a child she would have to provide for him out of her savings from +this stipend, and out of her private property. All the Rajah's +private property, save what he may will away to others, will of +course be left to her, to be disposed of as she may think fit. But +this stipend should be independent of those to be continued to the +stipendiaries of the Rajah. There are several who have nothing else +to depend on but the stipends which they now receive from the +Rajah; and it must be borne in mind that they have no longer Bajee +Rao, Benaek Rao, the Jhansi and Saugor chief, to go to. This will +be the last of the Brahmin dynasties founded in that part of the +world by the Peshwas. Our Government should therefore be liberal in +taking possession of the estate as an escheat.</p> +<p>The Mahratta language in accounts should at once be done away +with; but out of the revenues of the estate, Government should +found a good school for English and Hindoo, and Persian; and, above +all, for a very good hospital and dispensary, under well educated +and tried surgeons, native and European, capable of throwing out +branches.</p> +<p>All the public officers of the Rajah should have stipends or +employment, or both, in proportion to their period of service and +respectability. If they take employment the stipends should be +deducted from their salaries while in office, as in our own +service.</p> +<p>In the case of the Baee Regent at Saugor, we continued a small +part of her pension to her adopted son,—one thousand rupees +a-month,—to enable him to provide for her non-pensioned +dependents. We took the management long before her death, and left +her only a private lady, with a large pension of, I think, eight +thousand rupees a-month; besides pensions—too large—to +the family of her manager, Benaek Rao: this will be unnecessary at +Jhansi. All the large hereditary landholders of the Jhansi estate +should have liberal settlements at fixed rates. They are all from +the landed aristocracy of Bundelcund, and should be treated with +consideration. The first settlement of the land revenue should be +very moderate. The lands will lose the most valuable market for +their produce in the breaking up of the Court and establishment of +the Rajah at the capital, and yield less money, &c., than +before. This must be borne in mind.</p> +<p>You may freely use these my views as you think best on the +Jhansi question.</p> +<p>As to the management, I should make as little changes possible, +till the final orders arrive from the Court of Directors, that you +may have nothing to undo of what you have done. I would leave the +management to Ellis, under your supervision, and interfere only on +references in special cases, except, of course, on emergency. I +know not what the system is to be, or what system the +Governor-General has recommended, except that there is to be one +head, as in Rajpootana; and that all correspondence with Government +is to go through that head, In this state of the matter I know not +what to suggest or say.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Major Malcolm,<br> + &c. &c.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 11th November, 1853. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>I feel grateful for your Lordship's letter of the 27th ult., but +cannot say that I have any hope of discovering the instruments +employed, or the employer, in the late affair. The whole power of +the Government is in the hands of men who are deeply interested in +concealing the truth, and making it appear that no attempt was +really made. The minister has, by his intrigues, put himself so +much in the power of the knave whom I suspect, that he dares not do +anything to offend him. The man could at once ruin him by his +exposures if he chose, and he would do so if he found it necessary +for his own security. The man is biding his time, as he has often +done with former ministers; and the time would have come ere this +had not the King, to save himself, married one of the minister's +pretty daughters.</p> +<p>The King's chief consort; was the niece of the minister, and her +son is the heir-apparent; so that it was her interest, and that of +her uncle, the minister, to get rid of the King as soon as +possible. She is a profligate woman, and the King's mother is +supposed to have given him a hint of his danger. He took a liking +to one of the daughters, and married her, in order to make it the +minister's interest to keep him alive as long as possible. He now +contrives to make the King believe that neither his life nor reign +can be in any danger as long as he is in his present position.</p> +<p>The night after this affair took place, a sipahee of the 35th +Native Infantry, standing sentry at one end of the house, fell +asleep while he was leaning with his right wrist on the muzzle of +his musket. The musket went off; the ball passed through his wrist, +grazed a large beam above him, struck against a stone in the roof +of the portico, and fell down flattened by the side of the sentry, +as he lay insensible and bleeding on the ground below. The wrist +was sahttered,[<i>sic</i>] and several of the arteries cut through. +He bled profusely, and when taken up he talked incoherently, +declaring that some man had fired at him from behind the railing, +twenty paces off. I have seen similar cases of incoherency, arising +from a similar cause. As soon as day appeared the ball was found, +and its marks on the beam and stone above showed the real state of +the case. His right knee was probably leaning on the lock of the +musket when he fell asleep. I have made no public or official +report of this circumstance to Government.</p> +<p>I have now before me a curious instance of the difficulty of +getting at the truth when it is the interest of the minister and +others about this Court to prevent it. A wanton attack was made in +April last by about one hundred armed men, led by one of the King's +collectors, on a native British subject coming from Cawnpore to +visit a brother in Oude. The man himself received a wound, from +which he some days afterwards died at Cawnpore; two of his +attendants were killed, and twenty thousand rupees were taken from +him. I have investigated the case myself, with the aid of my +assistant, Captain Hayes, and with the attendance of an assessor on +the part of the King. The case is a very clear one, but they have +produced about thirty witnesses to swear that no man of the poor +merchant's party was hurt; and that, instead of being attacked, he +invaded the Oude territory with more than one hundred armed +followers, and wantonly attacked the King's party of only fifteen +unoffending men, while engaged in the discharge of their duty in +collecting the revenue. I have translated the depositions with the +prospect of having ultimately to submit the case to Government, +unless the King consents to punish the offenders and afford +redress. The assessor, an old man, bewildered by the conflicting +testimony, and anxious to escape from all responsibility, slept +soundly through the greater part of the inquiry, which has been a +very tedious one.</p> +<div class="s3">I remain, your Lordship's</div> +<div class="s4">Most obedient and humble servant,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +the Governor-General of India.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 28th December, 1853. </p> +<p>My Dear Mr. Colvin,</p> +<p>I was glad to see your handwriting again, and to find that time +had made so little alteration in it. Oude affairs are, as you +suppose, much as they used to be, save that the King is now +persuaded by his minister and favourite that, had his predecessors +had men and women about them so wise as they are, they never would +have acted as if they believed that the Government of India ever +really intended to carry into effect the penalty of misgovernment, +so often threatened. Our Government has cried "wolf" so often that +no one now listens to it. The King is an utter imbecile, from +over-indulgences of all kinds; and the knaves whom he employs in +his administration contrive to persuade him that the preservation +of his life and throne depends entirely upon their vigilance and +his doing nothing. Had I come here when the treasury was full, and +Naseer-od Doon Hyder was anxious to spend his money in the manner +best calculated to do good and please our Government, I might have +covered Oude with useful public works, and much do I regret that I +came here to throw away some of the best years of my life among +such a set of knaves and fools as I have to deal with.</p> +<p>I think you will do much good in your present charge in the +subject to which you refer. In the matter of discourtesy to the +native gentry, I can only say that Robert Martin Bird insulted them +whenever he had the opportunity of doing so; and that Mr. Thomason +was too apt to imitate him in this as in other things. Of course +their example was followed by too many of their followers and +admirers; but, like you, I have been delighted to see a great many +of the elder members of the civil service, in spite of these bad +examples, treat the native gentry with all possible courtesy, and +show them that they had their sympathy as long as they deserved it +by their conduct.</p> +<p>It has always struck me that Mr. Thomason, in his system, did +all he could to discourage the growth of a middle and upper class +upon the land—the only kind of property on which a good upper +and middle class could be sustained in the present state of society +in India. His village republics and the Ryutwar system of Sir +Thomas Munro had precisely the same tendency to subdivide minutely +property in land, and reduce all landholders to the common level of +impoverishment. The only difference was that the impoverished +tenants in the North-Western Provinces were supposed to manage +their own affairs, while those at Madras had them managed by a very +mischievous class of native public officers. He (Mr. Thomason) +would have forced his village republics upon any new country or +jungle that came under his charge, and thereby rendered improvement +impossible. I would have introduced into all such new countries a +system of paternal government in imitation of our Government of +India itself, which would have rendered improvement certain, and +the growth of a middle and higher class no less so. He would have +put the whole under our judicial courts, and thereby have created a +middle class of pettifogging attorneys to swallow up all the +surplus produce of the land. I would have kept the whole of the +land in the hands of our fiscal courts, by making it all leasehold +property, and maintaining the law of primogeniture in all estates +of villages. Mr. Thomason, I am told, systematically set aside all +the landed aristocracy of the country as a set of middlemen, +superfluous and mischievous.</p> +<p>The only part of our India in which I have seen a middle and +higher class maintained upon the land is the moderately-settled +districts of the Saugor and Nerbudda territories; and there is no +part of India where our Government and character are so much +beloved and respected. You have sent Mr. Read to that part; and if +he be bigoted to Mr. Thomason's system, he will upset all this, +and, in my opinion, lay the foundation of much evil. We found a +system of paternal government in every village, and maintained and +improved it. They were all little principalities; and by the +printed rules of the Sudder Board of Revenue, which are very good, +all the sub-tenants were effectually secured in their rights.</p> +<p>In making a tour through Oude in the end of 1849 and beginning +of 1850 I had a good deal of talk with the people. Many of them had +sojourned in our territories in seasons of disturbance. The general +impression was that they would be glad to see the country taken +under British management, provided we could dispense with our +tedious procedure in civil cases. They all had a very unfavourable +impression of our civil courts, and of the cost and delay of the +procedure. Mills and Harrington, to whom the duty, which was to +have devolved on you, has been confided, may do much good, and I +hope will, for there really is nothing in our system which calls so +much for remedy. I am persuaded that, if it were to be put to the +vote among the people of Oude, ninety-nine in a hundred would +rather remain as they are, without any feeling of security in life +or property, than have our system introduced in its present +complicated state; but that ninety-nine in a hundred would rather +have our Government than live as they do, if a more simple system, +which they could understand, were promised at the same time.</p> +<p>In 1801, when the Oude territory was divided, and half taken by +us and half left to Oude, the landed aristocracy of each were about +equal. Now hardly a family of this class remains in our half, while +in Oude it remains unimpaired. Everybody in Oude believes those +families to have been systematically crushed. If by-and-by we can +get the people to take an interest in our railroads, and outlays +upon other great public works, it will tend to create the middle +class upon which I set so much value, and to give that feeling of +interest in the stability of our rule which we so much require. We +shall then have objects of common interest to talk and think about, +and become more united with them in feeling.</p> +<p>Maddock is in Ceylon, but intends to return by the steamer which +is to leave Calcutta on the 5th proximo. His speculations there +have been failures. Had he looked after his estates there instead +of joining the effete party of the Derbyites he might have done +well. He has made great mistakes, and he now suffers for them. His +support of Lord Torrington was his first.</p> +<div class="s3">Believe me,</div> +<div class="s4">Yours very sincerely,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Mr. Colvin.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 5th March, 1854. </p> +<p>My Dear Low,</p> +<p>I have to-day written to Government a letter, which you will of +course see, on the subject of a proposal made to me by Mr. B. +Government will, I have no doubt, consider the reason assigned by +me for refusing to permit him to send an European agent to Lucknow, +ostensibly to collect debts, sufficient; but whether it will +consent to adopt my suggestion, and empower the Resident to assure +the King that it will not again consent to permit Mr. B. to return +and reside at Lucknow, after he has been twice expelled for his +misdeeds, I know not. One thing is certain, that his residence at +Cawnpore, under the assurance from the minister that he shall come +back and be made wealthy if he can aid in getting rid of the +Resident, is very mischievous.</p> +<p>B., Wasee Allee, and the Minister, succeeded in persuading the +King that Shurfod Dowla, and all the most respectable members of +the Lucknow aristocracy, had signed a memorial to the Government of +India, praying that it would set aside the present King as an +incompetent fool, and put Mostafa Alee on the throne in his place. +All this was reported by me to Government on the 2nd of March, +1853.</p> +<p>The seals were all forged or filched here at Lucknow, but the +papers were written in Calcutta, under the agency, I believe, of +Synd Jan, Sir H. E.'s moonshee, from Bilgram, where his family have +long enjoyed an estate rent-free, for the aid he has given to the +minister in his intrigues. I have never been able to remove this +delusion from the mind of the imbecile King; and it is the +"<i>raw</i>" on which these knaves have been ever since acting; for +it enables the minister to persuade him that his vigilance-alone +preserves his life and crown.</p> +<p>The minister is aware that I know all this, and may some day be +able to show the King how he has been deluded and befooled by him; +and he would give all he is worth to get rid of me in any way. He +would give any sums to B. and his other agents to bribe editors to +write against me; but the only editors who have yielded have been +those of the "Mofussilite," before Mr. C. took the management. Mr. +B. complains at Cawnpore, that he gave Mr. L. a large sum to do his +dirty work at home; but that he did nothing for it. This is not +unlikely. That the minister and Wasee Alee got up the attempt at +the Residency, either to make away with me, or to alarm me into +going away, I am persuaded; but to get judicial proof of it I shall +not attempt. It would be vain here, where the minister has all the +revenues of the State to work with.</p> +<p>All the native gentlemen whose seals were forged to this +document, look to me for protection; and they have been ever since +in a state of great alarm. It was to keep up this alarm that they +tried to turn Shurfod Dowla out of Oude. I had rarely seen him +before that time; and I have only seen him once since he went to +the cantonments; and then only for five minutes during my walk in +the garden, to talk about Mulki Jahan's affairs. They punish any +one who ventures to approach the King; and they would ruin any one +who ventured to approach the Resident if they could, lest he might +open the eyes of the King to the iniquities they commit. The troops +are starved, and almost all the old members of the royal family, +who had no Government paper or guarantees, have been already +starved or driven out. Oude has never before been afflicted by a +Sovereign so utterly imbecile and regardless of his duties and the +sufferings of his people; nor has there ever been a minister so +utterly regardless of his own reputation and that of his master. He +bribes with money, power, and patronage, every one who has access +to the King, to sound his praise in prose or verse; and the King is +persuaded that his life and throne depend upon his abstaining +altogether, from interfering in the conduct of affairs.</p> +<p>When I was in the Governor-Generals camp at Futtehgur, M. H., +the son of S. A. K., came there armed, I knew, with four lacs of +rupees. He was an old acquaintance of E.'s, and he (E.) told me +that he had asked for an interview, and asked me whether he ought +to consent to see him. I told him that, if he did see him, he must +make up his mind to the man's persuading the King that he had given +him the greater part of the money, though the man himself kept all +that he did not give to his moonshee. He refused to see the man; +but he has ever since been with Mr. L. at Allahabad, intriguing +with his people to chouse men out of their ancient possessions; or +with the Oude people, to keep up the <i>raw</i> they have established +on the King's mind. The King, by over-indulgence, has reduced his +intellect below the standard of that of a boy of five years of age. +It is painful to talk to a man with a mind so utterly +emasculated.</p> +<p>Our Government would be fully authorized at any time to enforce +the penalty prescribed in your treaty of 1837, and it incurs great +odium and obloquy for not enforcing it. But Lord D. has, no doubt, +solid reasons for not taking such responsibility upon himself at +this time. I do all I can to save the people, and the people are +sensible of what I do, and grateful for it; for the Resident is the +only person they can look up to with any hope. If Government can +comply with my wish to have the King assured that it will not +permit Mr. B. to return and reside at Lucknow again, it will be of +great use to me and to the people, for the hopes held out to him +are like a premium offered for my head, or for my ruin; and one +never feels very comfortable under such offers, at any time or in +any country. The reckless lies which this man gets adventurers at +Cawnpore to write for him, and careless or corrupt editors to +publish, are apt to stagger those who do not know the vile +character of the individual, or the true nature of the facts +referred to.</p> +<p>I am glad you saw W. He is a man of high character and +first-rate ability, and has abundance of sagacity and energy. I +miss him very much. He will be a credit to his regiment if engaged +on active service.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To Colonel Low, C.B.</p> +<p>P.S.—I shall say nothing in this of your domestic +bereavement, though I have felt much for you.</p> +<div class="s5">W. H. S.</div> +<p>In my public letter, I have referred to that of the Marquess of +W. to L., when he was Resident. Do refer to it Page 388, Vol. 1., +"Despatches."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 1st June, 1854. </p> +<p>My Dear Low,</p> +<p>In my letter of the 10th of November, 1853, I solicited +permission to retain Weston with me for reasons stated therein. In +reply, I was told, in Mr. Dalrymple's letter of the 2nd of +December, "that the Governor-General in Council had every wish to +consult my views, but, for the present at least, his Lordship in +Council thinks that Lieutenant Weston must in fairness be required +to join his regiment, like other officers."</p> +<p>I am so very anxious to have his services again in the office he +filled, that I have to-day ventured, in a public letter to the +Foreign Secretary, to request that he will submit my wishes to the +Governor-General in Council, should they deem the state of affairs +in Burmah at present to be such as to admit of his being withdrawn +from his regiment I have said, in my public letter, that should any +exigency arise he could, of course, quickly join his regiment on +service again.</p> +<p>If you can give me any assistance in obtaining his services, I +shall feel very much indebted to you, for I have that confidence in +his abilities and high-mindedness which I cannot feel in those of +his <i>locum tenens</i>; and I am very anxious to keep things in +good train here till the end of the cold weather, when I must go on +leave to recruit. I am really in a very difficult position here, +not with regard to the King, for he has, I believe, entire +confidence in me; but he has become so entangled with his minister, +that he is afraid of him; and the minister would give all he has +(and he has all the revenues of the country) to get me out of the +way.</p> +<p>I carried the Government orders regarding Shurfod Dowla into +effect, and he is now, with his family, quiet and safe. The King +behaved very well, and resisted all the attempts of the minister to +persuade him to remonstrate. I am to-day to submit Shurfod Dowla's +letter of grateful thanks to Government. I hope Government will not +write to him in reply, as this might mortify and vex the King, +since he is not written to by the Governor-General.</p> +<p>I think I told you of the <i>raw</i> the minister, Wasee Alee +and Co., had established on the King's mind—the belief that a +party of the members of the royal family and native gentlemen at +Lucknow had been trying to persuade Government to set him aside, +and put his reputed brother, Mostafa Alee, on the throne. Whenever +they want to make the King angry with any one, they tell him that +he is a leader in this cabal. But the King is, by degrees, growing +out of this folly. There never was on the throne, I believe, a man +more inoffensive at heart than he is; and he is quite sensible of +my anxious desire to advise him rightly, and see justice done in +all cases. But I am a sad stumbling-block to the minister and the +other bad and incompetent officers employed in the +administration.</p> +<p>If you wish it, I will be more circumstantial about Weston's +<i>locum tenens</i>, Lieut. B., of the 1st Cavalry. For his own +repute, and that of the Government, I think the less he has to do +with the political department the better. He would be better in a +military staff appointment than a political one.</p> +<div class="s3">Yours sincerely,</div> +<div class="s4">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Hon. Colonel Low, C.B.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr width="30%" align="center" /> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="right">Lucknow, 11th September, 1854. </p> +<p>My Lord,</p> +<p>The post which this morning brought me your Lordship's letter of +the 6th instant brought me also one from Bombay, which I enclose +for your Lordship's perusal. Should you think it worth while, +Colonel Outram will be able to sift the matter to which it refers. +I have long been aware of the intrigue, and have taken care to let +the King know that I am so; but as I knew, at the same time, that +the object was merely to get money out of him, and to strengthen +his confidence in his minister, which had begun to give way, I did +not think it necessary to trouble your Lordship with any reference +on the subject. I knew that letters had been forged as from the +King of Persia to the King of Oude, proposing to divide Hindoostan +between them, and I thought it to be my duty to tell him so, in +order to warn him; but, as he denied ever having received such +letters, I told him that I should take the word of a King, and say +no more about it. He is certainly not of sound mind, and things +must, ere long, come to a crisis. His mind may have been of an +average kind when he was young, but it has long become emasculated +by over-indulgence; and the minister and his minions can make him +believe or do what they please. They know that it cannot last long, +and they have agents in Bombay and Calcutta to assist them in +fleecing the King of money on all manner of false pretences.</p> +<p>The minister, a consummate knave, and one of the most +incompetent men of business that I have ever known, has all the +revenues and patronage of the country to distribute among those who +have access to the King exclusively—they are poets, fiddlers, +eunuchs, and profligate women; and every one of them holds, +directly or indirectly, some court or other, fiscal, criminal, or +civil, through which to fleece the people. Anything so detestable +as the Government I have nowhere witnessed, and a man less +competent to govern them than the King I have never known.</p> +<p>Had your Lordship left the choice of a successor to me, I should +have pointed out Colonel Outram; and I feel very much rejoiced that +he has been selected for the office, and I hope he will come as +soon as possible. There are many honest men at Lucknow, and a finer +peasantry no country can boast. But no honest man can obtain or +retain office under Government with the present minister and heads +of departments.</p> +<p>But where the whole revenues of a fine country are available to +suborn witnesses to prove the King to be a <i>Solomon</i>, no +Resident would be able to find judicial proof of his being a fool; +but that he is so I have had abundance of, to me, satisfactory +evidence ever since I have been here. It must soon, however, become +clear, without the Resident's efforts to make it so. Where the +Government of India is so solemnly pledged to see justice done to +the people of a country, it cannot fairly permit them to be reigned +over much longer by so incompetent a Sovereign. Proofs enough of +bad government and neglected duties were given in my Diary; and a +picture more true was, I believe, never drawn of any country. The +duty of remedying the evils, and carrying out your Lordship's views +in Oude, whatever they may be, must now devolve on another.</p> +<p>No one of my present assistants knows anything whatever about +Oude, its Government, or its people; and Colonel Outram will, +therefore, labour under great disadvantages. I hope, therefore, +that your Lordship will pardon the liberty I take in suggesting +that he be allowed the aid of Captain Weston. He went over the +whole of Oude with me, and knows almost all who have made +themselves prominent for good or for evil within the last five +years. I know that, as soon as I go, some of the most atrocious +villains whom I have kept out of office will try to purchase their +way back; and there is no man too bad for the minister, provided he +pays for his restoration.—The murderer of the banker, +mentioned in my Diary, vol. i., p. 131, and the murderer of +thousands mentioned in the same volume. Captain Weston is high +minded, sagacious, energetic, hard-working, conciliatory and, to +Colonel Outram, his services in the new charge would be +invaluable.</p> +<div class="s4">I have the honour to remain,</div> +<div class="s2">Your Lordship's faithful and obedient +servant,</div> +<div class="s5">(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.</div> +<p>To the Most Noble<br> +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.<br> +Governor-General.</p> +<br> +<br> +<p align="center"><small>THE END.</small></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p align="center"><small><small>LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND +SONS, STAMFORD STREET.</small></small></p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, +Volumes I & II, by William Sleeman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KINGDOM OF OUDE *** + +***** This file should be named 16997-h.htm or 16997-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/9/16997/ + +Produced by Philip Hitchcock + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II + +Author: William Sleeman + +Release Date: November 4, 2005 [EBook #16997] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KINGDOM OF OUDE *** + + + + +Produced by Philip Hitchcock + + + + +A JOURNEY + +THROUGH THE + +KINGDOM OF OUDE, + +IN 1849--1850; + + +BY DIRECTION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE, +GOVERNOR-GENERAL. + +WITH PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ANNEXATION +OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA, &c. + +BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B. + +Resident at the Court of Lucknow + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. I. + +LONDON: +RICHARD BENTLEY, +Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. +1858. + + +[Transcriber's note: +The author's spelling of the names of places and people vary +considerably, even within a single paragraph. The spelling of place +names in the text varies from that shown on the map. The author's +spelling is reproduced as in the printed text.] + + +PREFACE + +My object in writing this DIARY OF A TOUR THROUGH OUDE was to +prepare, for submission to the Government of India, as fair and full +a picture of the real state of the country, condition, and feeling of +the people of all classes, and character of the Government under +which they at present live, as the opportunities which the tour +afforded me might enable me to draw. + +The DIARY must, for the present, be considered as an official +document, which may be perused, but cannot be published, wholly or in +part, without the sanction of Government previously obtained.* + + W. H. SLEEMAN. +Lucknow, 1852. + +* This permission was accorded by the Honourable Court of Directors +in December last. + +[Transcriber's note: _Rambles and Recollections of an Indian +Official_ by W. H. Sleeman 2nd Ed. 1915, p.xxxvi notes that the date +of the permission was not December 1851, but December 1852.] + + + + +CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + +Biographical Sketch of Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B. + +Introduction + +Private correspondence preceding the Journey through the Kingdom of +Oude + + ______________________________________________ + + + CHAPTER I. + +Departure from Lucknow--Gholam Hazrut--Attack on the late Prime +Minister, Ameen-od-Dowla--A similar attack on the sons of a former +Prime Minister, Agar Meer--Gunga Sing and Kulunder Buksh--Gorbuksh +Sing, of Bhitolee--Gonda Bahraetch district--Rughbur Sing--Prethee +Put, of Paska--King of Oude and King of the Fairies--Surafraz mahal + + + CHAPTER II. + +Bahraetch--Shrine of Syud Salar--King of the Fairies and the +Fiddlers--Management of Bahraetch district for forty-three years-- +Murder of Amur Sing, by Hakeem Mehndee--Nefarious transfer of +_khalsa_ lands to Tallookdars, by local officers--Rajah Dursun Sing-- +His aggression on the Nepaul Territory--Consequences--Intelligence +Department--How formed, managed, and abused--Rughbur Sing's +management of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846-47--Its fiscal effects--A +gang-robber caught and hung by Brahmin villagers--Murder of +Syampooree Gosaen--Ramdut Pandee--Fairies and Fiddlers--Ramdut +Pandee, the Banker--the Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor--Murder +of Mr. Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, at Bhinga, in 1823. + + + CHAPTER III. + +Legendary tale of breach of Faith--Kulhuns tribe of Rajpoots--Murder +of the Banker, Ramdut Pandee, by the Nazim of Bahraetch--Recrossing +the Ghagra river--Sultanpoor district, State of Commandants of +troops become sureties for the payment of land revenue--Estate of +Muneearpoor and the Lady Sogura--Murder of Hurpaul Sing, Gurgbunsee, +of Kupragow--Family of Rajahs Bukhtawar and Dursun Sing--Their +_bynama_ Lands--Law of Primogeniture--Its object and effect--Rajah +Ghalib Jung--Good effects of protection to Tenantry--Disputes about +Boundaries--Our army a safety-valve for Oude--Rapid decay of Landed +Aristocracy in our Territories--Local ties in groves, wells, &c. + + + CHAPTER IV. + +Recross the Goomtee river--Sultanpoor Cantonments--Number of persons +begging redress of wrongs, and difficulty of obtaining it in Oude-- +Apathy of the Sovereign--Incompetence and unfitness of his Officers-- +Sultanpoor, healthy and well suited for Troops--Chandour, twelve +miles distant, no less so--lands of their weaker neighbours absorbed +by the family of Rajah Dursun Sing, by fraud, violence, and +collusion; but greatly improved--Difficulty attending attempt to +restore old Proprietors--Same absorptions have been going on in all +parts of Oude--and the same difficulty to be everywhere encountered-- +Soils in the district, _mutteear_, _doomutteea_, _bhoor_, _oosur_-- +Risk at which lands are tilled under Landlords opposed to their +Government--Climate of Oude more invigorating than that of Malwa-- +Captain Magness's Regiment--Repair of artillery guns--Supply of grain +to its bullocks--Civil establishment of the Nazim--Wolves--Dread of +killing them among Hindoos--Children preserved by them in their dens, +and nurtured. + + + CHAPTER V. + +Salone district--Rajah Lal Hunmunt Sing of Dharoopoor--Soil of Oude-- +Relative fertility of the _mutteear_ and _doomutteea_--Either may +become _oosur_, or barren, from neglect, and is reclaimed, when it +does so, with difficulty--Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge of an +eleemosynary endowment at Salone--Effects of his curses--Invasion of +British Boundary--Military Force with the Nazim--State and character +of this Force--Rae Bareilly in the Byswara district--Bandha, or +Misletoe--Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor--Law of Primogeniture-- +Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo and Rogonath Sing-- +Bridge and avenue at Rae Bareilly--Eligible place for cantonment and +civil establishments--State of the Artillery--Sobha Sing's regiment-- +Foraging System--Peasantry follow the fortunes of their refractory +Landlords--No provision for the king's soldiers, disabled in action, +or for the families of those who are killed--Our sipahees, a +privileged class, very troublesome in the Byswara and Banoda +districts--Goorbukshgunge--Man destroyed by an Elephant--Danger to +which keepers of such animals are exposed--Bys Rajpoots composed of +two great families, Sybunsies and Nyhassas--Their continual contests +for landed possessions--Futteh Bahader--Rogonath Sing--Mahibollah the +robber and estate of Balla--Notion that Tillockchundee Bys Rajpoots +never suffer from the bite of a snake--Infanticide--Paucity of +comfortable dwelling-houses--The cause--Agricultural capitalists-- +Ornaments and apparel of the females of the Bys clan--Late Nazim Hamid +Allee--His father-in-law Fuzl Allee--First loan from Oude to our +Government--Native gentlemen with independent incomes cannot reside +in the country--Crowd the city, and tend to alienate the Court from +the people. + + + CHAPTER VI. + +Nawabgunge, midway between Cawnpoor and Lucknow--Oosur soils how +produced--Visit from the prime minister--Rambuksh, of Dhodeeakhera-- +Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor--Agricultural capitalists--Sipahees and +native offices of our army--Their furlough, and petitions-- +Requirements of Oude to secure good government. The King's reserved +treasury--Charity distributed through the _Mojtahid_, or chief +justice--Infanticide--Loan of elephants, horses, and draft bullocks +by Oude to Lord Lake in 1804--Clothing for the troops--The Akbery +regiment--Its clothing, &c.,--Trespasses of a great man's camp in +Oude--Russoolabad and Sufeepoor districts--Buksh Allee, the dome-- +Budreenath, the contractor for Sufeepoor--Meeangunge--Division of the +Oude Territory in 1801, in equal shares between Oude and the British +Governments--Almas Allee Khan--His good government--The passes of +Oude--Thieves by hereditary profession, and village watchmen-- +Rapacity of the King's troops--Total absence of all sympathy between +the governing and governed--Measures necessary to render the Oude +troops efficient and less mischievous to the people--Sheikh Hushmut +Allee, of Sundeela. + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH +of +MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN. K.C.B. + + _______________________ + + +This distinguished officer, whose career in India extended over a +period of forty years, and whose services were highly appreciated by +three Governors-General--Viscount Hardinge, the Earl of Ellenborough, +and the Marquess of Dalhousie--evinced by their appointing him to the +most difficult and delicate duties--was the son of Philip and Mary +Sleeman, and was born at Stratton, Cornwall, 8th August, 1788. In +early years he evinced a predilection for the military profession; +and at the age of twenty-one (October, 1809), through the good +offices of the late Lord De Dunstanville, he was appointed an +Infantry Cadet in the Bengal army. Thither he proceeded as soon as +possible, and was promoted successively to the rank of Ensign, 23rd +September, 1810; Lieutenant, 16th December, 1814; Brevet-Captain, +24th April, 1824; Captain, 23rd September, 1826; Major, 1st February, +1837; Lieutenant-Colonel, 26th May, 1843; Colonel, 24th November, +1853; and obtained the rank of Major-General 28th November, 1854. + +Early in his career he served in the Nepaulese war. The value of his +talents soon became known, and in 1816, when it was considered +necessary to investigate a claim to property as prize-money arising +out of that war, Lieutenant Sleeman was selected to inquire into it. +The report was accordingly made by him in February 1817, which was +designated by the Government as "able, impartial, and satisfactory." + +In 1820 he was appointed junior Assistant to the Agent of the +Governor-General at Saugur, and remained in the Civil Department in +the Saugur and Nerbudda territories, with the exception of absence on +sick certificate, for nearly a quarter of a century. Here he +manifested that, if he had been efficient in an inferior position, he +was also an able administrator in a superior post. He distinguished +himself so much by his activity in the suppression of the horrible +practice of Thuggism, then so prevalent, that, in 1835, he was +employed exclusively in the Thuggee Department; his appointment in +the Saugur and Nerbudda districts being kept open, and his promotion +going on. The very valuable Papers upon Thuggism submitted to the +Governor-General were chiefly drawn up by Sir William Sleeman, and +the department specially commissioned for this important purpose was +not only organised but worked by him. In consequence of ill-health, +however, at the end of 1836, he was compelled to resign this +appointment; but on his return to duty in February 1839, he was +nominated to the combined offices of Commissioner for the Suppression +of Thuggee and Dacoity. + +In 1842 he was employed on a special mission in Bundelcund, to +inquire into the causes of the recent disturbances there, and he +remained in that district, with additional duties, as Resident at +Gwalior, from 1844 until 1849, when he was removed to the highly +important office of Resident at the Court of Lucknow. Colonel Sleeman +held his office at Gwalior in very critical times, which resulted in +hostilities and the battle of Maharajpore. But for a noble and +unselfish act he would have received this promotion at an earlier +period. The circumstance was this: Colonel Low, the Resident at that +time, hearing that his father was dangerously ill, tendered his +resignation to Lord Auckland, who immediately offered the appointment +to Colonel Sleeman. No sooner had this occurred, however, than +Colonel Low wrote to his Lordship that, since he had resigned, the +house of Gaunter and Co., of Calcutta, in which his brother was a +partner, had failed, and, in consequence, every farthing he had saved +had been swept away. Under this painful contingency be begged to +place himself in his Lordship's hands. This letter was sent by Lord +Auckland to Colonel Sleeman, who immediately wrote to Colonel Low, +begging that he would retain his situation at Lucknow. This generous +conduct of Colonel Sleeman was duly appreciated; and Lord Auckland, +on leaving India, recommended him to the particular notice of his +successor. Lord Ellenborough, who immediately appointed Colonel +Sleeman to Jhansi with an additional 1000_l_. a-year to his income. + +Colonel Sleeman held the appointment of Resident at Lucknow from the +year 1849 until 1856. During this period his letters and diary show +his unwearied efforts to arrive at the best information on all points +with regard to Oude. These will enable the reader to form a just, +opinion on the highly-important subject of the annexation of this +kingdom to British India. The statements of Colonel Sleeman bear +inward evidence of his great administrative talents, his high and +honourable character, and of his unceasing endeavours to promote the +best interests of the King of Oude, so that his kingdom might have +been preserved to him. Colonel Sleeman's views were directly opposed +to annexation, as his letters clearly show. + +His long and arduous career was now, however, fast drawing to a +close. So early as the summer of 1854 it became evident that the +health of General Sleeman was breaking up, and in the August of that +year he was attacked by alarming illness. "Forty-six years of +incessant labour," observes a writer at this date, "have had their +influence even on his powerful frame: he has received one of those +terrible warnings believed to indicate the approach of paralysis. +With General Sleeman will depart the last hope of any improvement in +the condition of the unhappy country of Oude. Though belonging to the +elder class of Indian officials, he has never been Hindooized. He +fully appreciated the evils of a native throne: he has sternly, and +even haughtily, pointed out to the King the miseries caused by his +incapacity, and has frequently extorted from his fears the mercy +which it was vain to hope from his humanity." + +Later in the year. General Sleeman went to the hills, in the hope of +recruiting his wasted health by change of air and scene; but the +expectation proved vain, and he was compelled to take passage for +England. But it was now too late: notwithstanding the best medical +aid, he gradually sank, and, after a long illness, died on his +passage from Calcutta, on the 10th February, 1856, at the age of +sixty-seven. + +His Indian career was, indeed, long and honourable his labours most +meritorious. He was one of those superior men which the Indian +service is constantly producing, who have rendered the name of +Englishman respected throughout the vast empire of British India, and +whose memory will endure so long as British power shall remain in the +East. + +It is well known that Lord Dalhousie, on his relinquishing the Indian +Government, recommended General Sleeman and two other distinguished +officers in civil employment for some mark of the royal favour, and +he was accordingly nominated K.C.B., 4th February, 1856; of which +honour his Lordship apprised him in a highly gratifying letter. + +But, however high the reputation of an officer placed in such +circumstances--and none stood higher than Sir William Sleeman, not +only in the estimation of the Governor-General and the Honourable +Company, but also in the opinion of the inhabitants of India, where +he had served with great ability for forty years, and won the respect +and love particularly of the natives, who always regarded him as +their friend, and by whom his equity was profoundly appreciated--it +was to be anticipated, as a matter of course, that his words and +actions would be distorted and misrepresented by a Court so +atrociously infamous. This, no doubt, he was prepared to expect, The +King, or rather the creatures who surrounded him, would at all cost +endeavour to prevent any investigation into their gross malpractices, +and seek to slander the man they were unable to remove. + +The annexation of Oude to the British dominions followed, but not as +a consequence of Sir W. Sleeman's report. No greater injustice can be +done than to assert that he advised such a course. His letters prove +exactly the reverse. He distinctly states, in his correspondence with +the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, that the annexation of Oude +would cost the British power more than the value of ten such +kingdoms, and would inevitably lead to a mutiny of the Sepoys. He +constantly maintains the advisability of frontier kingdoms under +native sovereigns, that the people themselves might observe the +contrast, to the advantage of the Honourable Company, of the wise and +equitable administration of its rule compared with the oppressive and +cruel despotism of their own princes. Sir William Sleeman had +profoundly studied the Indian character in its different races, and +was deservedly much beloved by them for his earnest desire to promote +their welfare, and for the effectual manner in which, on all +occasions in his power, and these were frequent, he redressed the +evils complained of, and extended the _AEgis_ of British power over +the afflicted and oppressed. + + + __________________________ + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +THE following Narrative of a "Pilgrimage" through the kingdom of Oude +was written by the late Major-General Sir William Sleeman in 1851 +(while a Resident at the Court of Lucknow), at the request of the +Governor-General the Marquess of Dalhousie, in order to acquaint the +Honourable Company with the actual condition of that kingdom, and +with the view of pointing out the best measures to be suggested to +the King for the improvement and amelioration of the country and +people. + +So early as October, 1847, the King of Oude had been informed by the +Governor-General, that if his system of rule were not materially +amended (for it was disgraceful and dangerous to any neighbouring +power to permit its continuance in its present condition) before two +years had expired, the British Government would find it necessary to +take steps for such purpose in his name. Accordingly on the 16th +September, 1848, the Governor-General addressed the following letter +to Sir William Sleeman, commissioning him to make a personal visit to +all parts of the kingdom:-- + + "_Government House, Sept_. 16, 1848. + +"My Dear COLONEL SLEEMAN,--It was a matter of regret to me that I had +not anticipated your desire to succeed Colonel Sutherland in +Rajpootana before I made arrangements which prevented my offering +that appointment to you. I now regret it no longer, since the course +of events has put it in my power to propose an arrangement which +will, I apprehend, be more agreeable to you, and which will make your +services more _actively_ beneficial to the State. + +"Colonel Richmond has intimated his intention of immediately +resigning the Residency at Lucknow. The communication made by the +Governor-General to the King of Oude, in October, 1847, gave His +Majesty to understand that if the condition of Government was not +very materially amended before two years had expired, the management +for his behoof would be taken into the hands of the British +Government. + +"There seems little reason to expect or to hope that in October, +1849, any amendment whatever will have been effected. The +reconstruction of the internal administration of a great, rich, and +oppressed country, is a noble as well as an arduous task for the +officer to whom the duty is intrusted, and the Government have +recourse to one of the best of its servants for that purpose. + +"The high reputation you have earned, your experience of civil +administration, your knowledge of the people, and the qualifications +you possess as a public man, have led me to submit your name to the +Council of India as an officer to whom I could commit this important +charge with entire confidence that its duties would be well +performed. I do myself, therefore, the honour of proposing to you to +accept the office of Resident at Lucknow, with especial reference to +the great changes which, in all probability, will take place. +Retaining your superintendency of Thuggee affairs, it will be +manifestly necessary that you should be relieved from the duty +of the trials of Thugs usually condemned at Lucknow. + +"In the hope that you will not withhold from the Government your +services in the capacity I have named, and in the further hope of +finding an opportunity of personally making your acquaintance, + + "I have the honour to be, + "Dear Colonel Sleeman, + "Very faithfully yours, + "DALHOUSIE." + +"To Colonel Sleeman, &c., &c." + + +Immediately on receipt of this despatch, Sir William proceeded to +make the necessary inquiry. Doubtless the King (instigated by his +Ministers and favourites, who dreaded the exposure of all their +infamous proceedings) would have prevented this investigation, which, +he was aware, would furnish evidence of gross mal-administration, +cruelty, and oppression almost unparalleled; but Sir William Sleeman +was too well acquainted with the character of the people of the East +to be moved either by cajolery or menaces from the important duty +which had devolved upon him. + +Sir William Sleeman's position as Resident enabled him to ascertain +thoroughly the real state of Oude; and the great respect with which +he was universally received manifests the high opinion entertained of +him personally by all ranks. The details he has given of the +prevailing anarchy and lawlessness throughout the kingdom, would +scarcely be believed were they not vouched for by an officer of +established reputation and integrity. Firmness united to amenity of +manner were indeed the characteristics of Sir William in his +important and delicate office at such a Court--a Court where the +King, deputing the conduct of business to Ministers influenced by the +basest motives, and who constantly sacrificed justice to bribery and +low intrigues, gave himself up to the effeminate indulgence of his +harem, and the society of eunuchs and fiddlers. His Majesty appears +to have been governed by favourites of the hour selected through +utter caprice, and to have permitted, if he did not order, such +atrocious cruelties and oppression as rendered the kingdom of Oude a +disgrace to the British rule in India, and called for strong +interference, on the score of humanity alone, as well as with the +hope of compelling amendment. + +The letter addressed by Lord Dalhousie to Sir William Sleeman +expresses the desire of the Governor-General that he should endeavour +to inform himself of the actual state of Oude, and render his +Narrative a guide to the Honourable Company in its Report to the +Court of Directors. The details furnish but too faithful a picture of +the miserable condition of the people, equally oppressed by the +exactions of the King's army and collectors, and by the gangs of +robbers and lawless chieftains who infest the whole territory, +rendering tenure so doubtful that no good dwellings could be erected, +and land only partially cultivated; whilst the numberless cruelties +and atrocious murders surpass belief. Shut up in his harem, the voice +of justice seldom reached the ear of the monarch, and when it did, +was scarcely heeded. The Resident, it will be seen, was beset during +his journey with petitions for redress so numerous, that, anxious as +he was to do everything in his power to mitigate the horrors he +witnessed, he frequently gives vent to the pain he experienced at +finding relief impracticable. + +The Narrative contains an unvarnished but unexaggerated picture of +the actual state of Oude, with many remedial suggestions; but direct +annexation formed no part of the policy which Sir William Sleeman +recommended. To this measure he was strenuously opposed, as is +distinctly proved by his letters appended to the Journal. At the same +time, he repeatedly affirms the total unfitness of the King to +govern. These opinions are still further corroborated by the +following letter from his private correspondence, 1854-5, written +when Resident at Lucknow, and published in the _Times_ in November +last:-- + +"The system of annexation, pursued by a party in this country, and +favoured by Lord Dalhousie and his Council, has, in my opinion, and +in that of a large number of the ablest men in India, a downward +tendency--a tendency to crush all the higher and middle classes +connected with the land. These classes it should be our object to +create and foster, that we might in the end inspire them with a +feeling of interest in the stability of our rule. _We shall find a +few years hence the tables turned against us_. In fact, the +aggressive and absorbing policy, which has done so much mischief of +late in India, is beginning to create feelings of alarm in the native +mind; and it is when the popular mind becomes agitated by such alarms +that fanatics will always be found ready to step into Paradise over +the bodies of the most prominent of those from whom injury is +apprehended. I shall have nothing new to do at Lucknow. Lord +Dalhousie and I have different views, I fear. If he wishes anything +done that I do not think right and honest, I resign, and leave it to +be done by others. I desire a strict adherence to solemn engagements, +whether made with white faces or black. We have no right to annex or +confiscate Oude; but we have a right, under the treaty of 1837, to +take the management of it, but not to appropriate its revenues to +ourselves. We can do this with honour to our Government and benefit +to the people. To confiscate would be dishonest and dishonourable. To +annex would be to give the people a government almost as bad as their +own, if we put our screw upon them. My position here has been and is +disagreeable and unsatisfactory: we have a fool of a king, a knave of +a minister, and both are under the influence of one of the cleverest, +most intriguing, and most unscrupulous villains in India." + +Major Bird, in his pamphlet "Dacoitee in Excelsis," while +endeavouring to establish a case for the King of Oude, has assumed +that Sir William Sleeman was an instrument in the hands of Lord +Dalhousie, to carry out his purpose of annexing Oude to British +India. The letters, now first printed, entirely refute this hasty and +erroneous statement. Major Bird has, in fact, withdrawn it himself in +a lecture delivered by him at Southampton on Tuesday, the 16th of +February, 1858. + +It will be seen that Sir W. Sleeman's "Diary" commences on December +1, 1849. To preserve chronological order, the letters written before +that date are prefixed; those which refer to a later period are added +at the end of the narrative. + + + __________________________ + + +PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE +PRECEDING THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE KINGDOM OF OUDE. + + + Camp, 20th February, 1848. + +My Dear Sir, + +I thank you for your letter of the 10th instant, and am of opinion +that you may be able to make good use of Bhurut Sing under judicious +management, and strict surveillance; but you do not mention who and +what he is--whether he is a prisoner under sentence, or a free agent, +or of what caste and profession. Some men make these offers in order +to have opportunities of escape, while engaged in the pretended +search after associates in crime; others to extort money from those +whom they may denounce, or have the authority and means to arrest. He +should be made to state distinctly the evidence he has against +persons, and the way he got it; and all should be recorded against +the names of the persons in a Register. Major Riddell is well +acquainted with our mode of proceedings in all such cases, and I +recommend you to put yourself in communication, as soon as possible, +with him, and Mr. Dampier, the Superintendent of Police, who +fortunately takes the greatest possible interest in all such matters. +I have no supervision whatever over the officers of the department +employed in Bengal; all rests entirely with Mr. Dampier. You might +write to him at once, and tell him that you are preparing such a +Register as I suggest; and if he is satisfied with the evidence, he +will authorise the arrest of all or part, and well reward Bhurut Sing +for his services. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir, + With best wishes for your success, + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Capt. J. Innes, +Barrackpoor. + + _________________________ + + + Camp, 20th February, 1848. +My Dear Colonel Sutherland, + +There are at Jubulpore a good many of the Bagree decoits, who have +been sentenced as approvers, by the Courts of Punchaet, in +Rajpootana, to imprisonment for very short periods. Unless they are +ordered to be retained when these periods expire, on a requisition of +security for their future good behaviour, they will make off, and +assuredly return to their hereditary trade. The ordinary pay of the +grades open to them in our police and other establishments, will not +satisfy them when they find that we have no hold upon them, and they +become more and more troublesome as the time for their enlargement +approaches. + +I send you copies of the letters from Government of the 27th June, +1839, from which you will see that it was intended that all +professional decoits who gave us their services on a promise of +conditional pardon, should have a sentence of imprisonment for life +recorded against them, the execution of which was to be suspended +during their good behaviour, and eventually altogether remitted in +cases where they might be deemed to have merited, by a course of true +and faithful services, such an indulgence. In all other parts, as +well as in our own provinces as in native states, such sentences, +have been recorded against these men, and they have cheerfully +submitted to them, under the assurance that they and their children +would be provided with the means of earning an honest livelihood; but +in Rajpootana it has been otherwise. + +By Act 24, of 1843, all such professional gang-robbers are declared +liable to a sentence, on conviction, of imprisonment for life; and +everywhere else a sentence of imprisonment for life has been passed +upon all persons convicted of being gang-robbers by profession. This +is indispensably necessary for the entire suppression of the system +which Government has in view. Do you not think that in your Courts +the final sentence might be left to the European functionaries, and +the verdict only left to the Punchaets? The greater part of those +already convicted in these Courts will have to be released soon, and +all who are so will certainly return to their trade; and the system +will continue in spite of all our efforts to put it down. I have just +been at Jubulpore, and the bearing of the Bagree decoits, sent from +Ajmeer by Buch, is quite different from that of those who have had a +sentence of imprisonment for life passed against them in other +quarters, and is very injurious to them, for they get so bad a name +that no one will venture to give them service of any kind. Do, I pray +you, think of a remedy for the future. The only one that strikes me +is that above suggested, of leaving the final sentence to the +European officers. + +I need not say that I was delighted at your getting the great Douger +Sing by the means you had yourself proposed for the pursuit--sending +an officer with authority to disregard boundaries. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. S. SLEEMAN + +To Col. Sutherland. + + ______________________________ + + + Jhansee, 4th March, 1848. + +My Lord, + +I had the gratification to receive your Lordship's letter of the 7th +of January last, at Nursingpore, in the valley of the Nerbudda, where +I commenced my Civil career more than a quarter of a century before, +and where, of all places, I should have wished to receive so gracious +a testimonial from such high authority. I should have earlier +expressed by grateful acknowledgments, and prepared the narrative so +frequently called for, but I was then engaged in preparing a Report +on Gang-robbery in India, and wished first to make a little more +progress, that I might be able to speak more confidently of its +ultimate completion and submission to Government. In a less perfect +form this Report was, at the earnest recommendation of the then +Lieut.-Governor N.W.P., the Honourable T. Robertson, and with the +sanction of the Governor-General Lord Auckland, sent to the +Government press so long back as 1842, but his Lordship appeared to +me to think that the printing had better be deferred till more +progress had been made in the work of putting down the odious system +of crime which the Report exposed, and I withdrew it from the press +with little hope of ever again having any leisure to devote to it, or +finding any other person able and willing to undertake its +completion. + +During the last rains, however, I began again to arrange the confused +mass of papers which I found lying in a box; but in October I was +interrupted by a severe attack of fever, and unable to do anything +but the current duties of my office till I commenced my tour through +the Saugor territories, in November. I have since nearly completed +the work, and hope to be able to submit it to Government before the +end of this month in a form worthy of its acceptation. + +I am afraid that the narrative of my humble services will be found +much longer than it ought to be, but I have written it hastily that +it might go by this mail, and it is the first attempt I have ever +thought of making at such a narrative, for I have gone on quietly +"through evil and through good report," doing, to the best of my +ability, the duties which it has pleased the Government of India, +from time to time, to confide to me, in the manner which appeared to +me most conformable to its wishes and its honour, satisfied and +grateful for the trust and confidence which enabled me to do so much +good for the people, and to secure so much of their attachment and +gratitude to their rulers. + +Permit me to subscribe myself, with great respect, Your Lordship's +faithful and obedient humble servant, + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Lieut.-General the Right Hon. +Henry Viscount Hardinge, + &c. &c. &c. + + _________________________ + + + Jhansee, 4th March, 1848. +Dear Sir, + +Lord Hardinge, in a letter dated the 7th of January last, requested +me to make out a narrative of my humble services in India, and to +send it under cover to you, as he expected to embark on the 15th, +before he could receive it in Calcutta. I take the liberty to send my +reply with the narrative, open, and to request that you will do me +the favour to have them sealed and forwarded to his Lordship. + + Believe me, dear Sir, + Yours very faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To J. Cosmo Melvill, +Secretary to the East India Company, +India House, London. + + _________________________ + + + Jhansee, 28th March, 1848. + + +My Dear Elliot, + +The Court of Directors complain that decoit prisoners are not tried +as soon as they are caught, but they know little of the difficulties +that the officers under me find in getting them tried, for political +officers have, in truth, had little encouragement to undertake such +duties, and it is only a few choice spirits that have entered upon +the duty _con amore_. General Nott prided, himself upon doing nothing +whatever while he was at Lucknow; General Pollock did all he could, +but it was not much; and Colonel Richmond does nothing. There the +Buduk decoits, Thugs, and poisoners, remain without sentences, and +will do so till Richmond goes, unless you give him a fillip. If you +tell him to apply for an assistant to aid him in the conduct of the +trials, and tell him to nominate his own, he may go to work, and I +earnestly pray you to do something, or the Oude Turae will become +what it had for ages been before we cleaned it out. Davidson was +prevented from doing anything by technical difficulties, so that out +of _four Residents we have not got four days' work_. + +You will soon get my Report, and it will be worth having, and the +last I shall make on crime in India. + +If Hercules had not had better instruments he could not so easily +have cleared out his stable; but he had no "Honourable Court" to find +fault with his mode of doing the thing, I conclude. The fact is, +however, that our prisoners are pretty well tried before they get +into quod. Mr. Bird will be delighted at the manner in which he is +introduced in my first chapter, and many another good officer well +pleased. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., +Secretary to the Government of India, +Calcutta. + + _________________________________ + + + Jhansee, 29th March, 1848. + +My Dear Maddock, + +I hope you will not disapprove of the resolution to which I have come +of resigning the charge of the Saugor territories, now that +tranquillity has been restored,--the best possible feelings among the +people prevail, and the object you had in view in recommending Lord +Ellenborough to confide that charge to me has been effected,--or of +the manner in which I have tendered my resignation. Were I longer to +retain the charge, I should be subjected to humiliations which the +exigencies of the public service do not require that I should at this +time of life submit to, and I shall have enough of labour and anxiety +in the charge that will still remain to me. If an opening for Sir R. +Shakespear could be found, his salary might be saved by my residence +being transferred to Gwalior. If either Hamilton or I were to be +removed to some other post, it would be well to reduce Gwalior and +Indore to political agencies, under the supervision of an agent, as +in Rajpootana, with Bundelcund added to his charge. The latter of +these two measures has, you know, been under consideration, and was, +I think, proposed by Sutherland when you were at Gwalior with Lord +Auckland. Had the Lieutenant-Governor known more of the Saugor +territories when he wrote the paper on which Government is now +acting, he would not, I think, have described the state of things as +he has done, or urged the introduction of the system which must end +in minutely subdividing all leases, and in having all questions +regarding land tenures removed into the civil Courts, as in the +provinces. It is the old thing, "nothing like leather." I shall not +weary you by anything more on this subject. I hope a good man will be +selected for the charge. The selection of Mr. M. Smith as successor +to Mr. Brown was a good one. My letter will go off to-day, and be, I +trust, well received. I am grieved that Clerk has been obliged to +quit his post; he has been throughout his career an ornament to your +service, but his friends seem all along to have apprehended that he +could not long stand the climate of Bombay. I am anxious to learn how +long you are to remain in Council. + + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock, + &c. &c. &c. + + + _______________________________ + + + Jhansee, 2nd April, 1848. + +My Dear Elliot, + +Till I this morning got the public letter, which will go off to-day, +I never heard one word about Shakespear's intention or wish to go to +the hills, and only thirteen days remain. The orders of Government as +to his _locum tenens_ cannot reach me by the 15th, when he is to +leave, and I shall have to put in some one to take charge, as there +is a treasury under his management. + +If Government wish to take Major Stevens from the Byza Bae, and give +him some other employment, he might be sent to act for Captain Ross; +but I know nothing of his fitness for such an office. + +I believe you know Captain Ross, and I need say nothing more than +what I have said in my public letter. If he be sent to Gwalior, I +hope a good officer may be sent to act for him in Thalone, for the +duties are very heavy and responsible. Blake will do very well, and +so would his second in command, Captain Erskine, of the 73rd, who is +an excellent civil officer. I must pray you to let me have the orders +of Government on the subject as soon as possible. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + +P.S.--I should consider Major Stevens an able man for a civil charge, +but have never seen him. + + (Signed) W. H. S. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 6th May, 1848. + +My Dear Maddock, + +Your kind letter of the 21st ultimo had prepared me for the public +one of the 28th, which I got yesterday from Elliot, and I wrote off +at once, to say simply that I should be glad to suspend or to +withdraw the application contained in my letter of the 29th of March, +as might appear best to Government; and that I should not have made +it at all, had I apprehended that a compliance with it would have +been attended with any inconvenience. + +With the knowledge I have acquired of the duties of the several +officers, and the entire command of my time here at a quiet place, +and long-established methodical habits, I can get through the work +very well, though it becomes trying sometimes. Arrears I never allow +to accumulate, and regular hours, and exercise, and sparing diet, +with water beverage, keep me always in condition for office work. I +often wish that you could have half the command of your hours, mode +of living, and movements, that I have. However, they will soon be +much more free than mine. I am very glad that you have the one year +more for a wind up; and hope that good fortune will attend you to the +last. You say nothing, however, about your foot. The papers and +letters from home have just come in. I hear that Lord John is very +unwell, and will not be able to stand the work many months more, and +that Sir R. Peel is obliged to be _cupped_ once a-week, and could not +possibly take office. Who is to take helm in the troubled ocean, no +one knows. I am glad that Metternich has been kicked out, for he and +Louis Philippe are the men that have put in peril the peace and +institutions of all Europe. I only wish that the middle class was as +strong in France as it is in England; it is no doubt infinitely +stronger than it was; while the lower order is better than that of +England, I believe, for such occasions. They have good men now in the +provisional Government--so they had in 1788; and, like them, the +present men will probably be swept away by the mob. They are not, +however, likely to be embarrassed by other nations, since the days of +Pitt and George III. are passed away, and so are the feudal times +when the barons could get up civil wars for their own selfish +purposes. There are no characters sufficiently prominent to get up a +civil war, but the enormous size of the army is enough to create +feelings of disquiet. It is, however, officered from the middle +classes, who have property at stake, and must be more or less +interested in the preservation of order. + +The Government has no money to send to Algiers, and must reduce its +strength there, so that Egypt is in no danger at present; were it so, +we should be called upon to defend it from India, and could well do +so. It is evident that the whole French nation was alienated from +Louis Philippe, and prepared to cast off him and all his family, +though, as you say, I do not believe that there was anywhere any +design to oust him and put down monarchy. Had he thrown off Guizot a +little sooner, and left some able military leaders free to act, the +_emeute_ would have been put down; but those who could have acted did +not feel free to do so: they did not feel sure of the king, while +they were sure of the odium of the people. I am not at all sorry for +the change. I am persuaded that it will work good for Europe; but +still its peace and best institutions are in peril at present. We are +in no danger here, because people do not understand such things; and +because England is in a prouder position than ever, and will, I +trust, retain it. + +Lord Grey seems an able man at home, but he is, I believe, hot- +headed, and Lord Stanley is ten times worse; he would soon have up +the barricades in London. Lord Clarendon seems a safe guide, but +_Peel_ is the man for the time, if he has the stamina. Lord +Palmerston has conducted the duties of his office with admirable tact +of late; and much of the good feeling that prevails in Europe towards +England at present seems to arise from it. Amelie begs to be most +kindly remembered; she is here with her little boy--two girls at +Munsoorie, and two girls and a boy at home. + + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock, + &c. &c. &c. + + + ______________________________ + + + Jhansee, 14th May, 1848. + +My Dear Weston, + +I have been directed by Government to name an officer whom I may +consider competent to superintend the suppression of Thuggee in the +Punjaub, where a new class has been discovered, and some progress has +been made in finding and arresting them. I have, in reply, mentioned +that I should have Captain Williams, of the 29th, and Captain +Chambers, of the 21st; but their services might not be considered +available, since the prescribed number of captains are already absent +from their regiments, and, in consequence, I have you. I know not +whether you will like the duties; if not, pray tell me as soon as +possible. + +The salary is 700 rupees a-month, with office-rent 40, and +establishments 152. The duties are interesting and important; and so +good a foundation has been laid by Larkins and the other local +authorities, and all are so anxious to have the evil put down, that +you will have the most cordial support and co-operation of all, and +the fairest prospect of success. But you will have to apply yourself +steadily to work, and if you have not _passed_, you should do so as +soon as possible. I do not see P. opposite your name, and Government +may possibly object on this ground. Let all this be _entre nous_ for +the present. + +If you undertake the duties, you will have to go to Lodheeana, seeing +Major Graham at Agra, on the way, to get a little insight into the +work. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +P.S.--You will be in the most interesting scene in India, and need be +under no apprehension about the permanency of the appointment. + +To Lieut. Weston, + &c. &c. + + + + ________________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 18th May, 1848. +My Dear Maddock, + +Things are not going on so well as could be wished in the Punjaub; +and it appears to me that we have been there committing an error of +the same kind that we committed in Afghanistan--that is, taking upon +ourselves the most odious part of the executive administration. In +such a situation this should have been avoided, if possible. There is +a kind of chivalry in this--if there is anything odious to be done, +or repugnant to the feelings of the people, a young Englishman thinks +he must do it himself, lest he should be thought disposed to shift +off a painful burthen upon others; and he thinks it unbecoming of us +to pay any regard to popular feeling. Of course, also, the officers +of the Sikh State are glad to get rid of such burthens while they see +English gentlemen ready to carry them. Now, it strikes me that we +might, with a little tact, have altered all this, and retained the +good feelings of the people, by throwing the executive upon the +officers of the Sikh State, and remaining ourselves in the dignified +position of Appellate Courts for the redress of grievances inflicted +by these officers in neglect of duty or abuse of authority. Our duty +would have been to guide, control, and check, and the head of all +might have been like the sovereigns of England--known only by his +acts of grace. + +By keeping in this dignified position we should not only have +retained the good feelings of the people, but we should have been +teaching the Sikh officers their administrative duties till the time +comes for making over the country; and the chief and Court would have +found the task, made over to them under such a system, more easy to +sustain. In Afghanistan we did the reverse of all this, and became +intolerably odious to the mass of the people; for they saw that +everything that was harsh was done by us, and the officers of the +King were disposed to confirm and increase this impression because +they were not employed. The people of the Punjaub are not such +fanatics, and they are more divided in creed and caste, while they +see no ranges of snowy mountains, barren rocks, and difficult passes +between us and our reinforcements and resources; but it seems clear +that there is a good deal of excitement and bad feeling growing up +amongst them that may be very mischievous. All the newspapers, +English and native, make the administration appear to be altogether +English--it is Captain This, Mr. That, who do, or are expected to do, +everything; and all over the country the native chiefs will think, +that the leaving the country to the management of the Sirdars was a +mere mockery and delusion. + +We should keep our hands as much as possible out of the harsh and +dirty part of the executive work, that the European officers may be +looked up to with respect as the effectual check upon the native +administrators; always prepared to check any disposition on their +part to neglect their duty or abuse their power, and thereby bring +their Government into disrepute. Of course, the outrage at Mooltan +must be avenged, and our authority there established; but, when this +is done, Currie should be advised to avoid the rock upon which our +friend Macnaghten was wrecked. We are too impatient to jump down the +throats of those who venture to look us in the face, and to force +upon them our modes of doing the work of the country, and to +superintend the doing it ourselves in all its details, or having it +done by creatures of our own, commonly ten times more odious to the +people than we are ourselves. + +It is unfortunate that this outrage, and the excitement to which it +has given rise, should have come so quickly upon Lord Hardinge's +assurances at the London feast, and amidst the turmoil of popular +movements at home. It has its use in showing us the necessity of +being always prepared. + +Baba Bulwunt Row tells me that he has got a letter from you in the +form of Khureela, and claims one from me on that ground. Shall I +comply? We have avoided this hitherto, as the Pundits put him up to +claim everything that the Bae's family had, not even omitting the +Thalone principality; and hints have been dropped of a mission to +England, if the money could be got. I wish to subdue these +pretensions for his own sake, that he may not be entirely ruined by +temptations to expensive displays. He has now got the entire +management of his own affairs, and is a sensible, well-disposed lad. +He was never recognised as the Bae's successor by Government or the +Agent, nor was he written to on the Bae's death. Cunput Row Bhaca was +the person addressed in the letter of condolence. His son has run +through all he has or can borrow, and is in a bad way. Moresor Row +has the reputation of being very rich, though he pleads poverty +always. The whole of the Saugor territories, save Mundla, have +benefited by two very fine seasons, with great demand for land +produce, and the people are happy. I have asked for reductions in +Mundla, to save the little of tillage and population that has been +left. The whole revenue is a mere trifle in such a jungle as you know +it to be, and when once the people go off, there is no getting them +back. Deer destroy the crops upon the few fields left, tigers come to +eat the deer, and malaria follows, to sweep off the remaining few +families. + +I must not prose any longer at present. Amelia often talks of you, +and begs to be kindly remembered. + + Ever yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock, + &c. &c. &c. + + + ____________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 28th May, 1848. +My Dear Maddock, + +I yesterday sent off by Dawk Bangy an elaborate Report on Dacoits by +hereditary profession, and on the measures adopted by the Government +of India for their suppression, and hope it will reach Calcutta +before the rains set in heavily. Government may be justly proud of +the good which it shows to have been effected for the people of India +in the course of a brief period; and I am glad that you have for this +period been a member of it. There is much in the Report to interest +the general reader, but much of what is inserted would, of course, +have been left out by any one who had to consult the wishes of such +readers only. + +At this time last year I had not the slightest hope of ever being +able to lay such a Report before Government; for I never expected to +find leisure in my present office, and could not carry the requisite +records with me, if driven away by sickness, to where I might find +it. The papers lay mouldering in an old box, to which I had consigned +them in 1840, when I withdrew them from the press, under the +impression that Lord Auckland thought that the exposition of the +terrible evil ought not to appear till more progress had been made in +its suppression; as G. Thompson and other itinerant orators would be +glad to get hold of them to abuse the Government. The Report is +infinitely more interesting and complete than it could have been +then, and may bid defiance to all such orators. + +If printed, it will take from 400 to 450 pages, such as those of the +late Report on the Indian Penal Code, and be a neat and useful volume +for reference. I began it in the rains last year, but was stopped +short by a fever, and unable to continue it till I set out on my +tour. Three-fourths of it was written in the intervals between the +morning's march and breakfast-time during my tour through the Saugor +territories. + +The tables of dacoitees ascertained to have been committed by the +dacoits described, and of the conditionally pardoned offenders, will +follow, and be found useful for reference, but should not, perhaps, +be in the same volume with the text of the Report; of that, however, +I leave Government to judge. I thank God that I have been able to +place before it so complete and authentic a record of what has been +done to carry out its views. + + Ever most sincerely yours, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Sir T. H. Maddock, + &c. &c. &c. + + Jhansee, 15th August, 1848. + +My Lord, + +As it is possible that the letter which I addressed to your Lordship +on the 6th of March last, and sent open to Mr. Melvill, the Secretary +at the India House, may have miscarried; I write to mention that I +sent it, lest it might be supposed that I was insensible of the +kindness which induced your Lordship to write to me before leaving +India. The work which made me delay so long to reply to that letter +is now being printed in Calcutta, under the authority of Government; +and, as it contains much that is curious and entertaining, and +honourable to our rule in India, I trust at no distant day to have +the honour of presenting a copy to your Lordship. + +Amidst events of such absorbing interest as are now taking place +every day in Europe, India cannot continue long to engage much of +your thoughts; for, with the exception of the little outbreak at +Mooltan, tranquillity prevails, and is likely to do so for some time. +There has been delay in putting down the Mooltan rebels, but the next +mail will, I hope, take home news of the work having been effectually +done. This delay seems to have arisen from a notion that troops ought +not to be employed in the hot winds and rains; but when occasion +requires they can be employed at all times, and the people of India +require to be assured that they can be so. It has not, I think, been +found that troops actually employed in the hot winds and rains lose +more men than in cantonments, at least native troops. + +It was, I think, your Lordship's intention that, in the Lahore state, +we should guide, direct, and supervise the administration, but not +take all the executive upon ourselves, to the exclusion of all the +old native aristocracy, as we had done in Afghanistan. This policy +has not, I am afraid, been adhered to sufficiently; and we have, +probably, less of the sympathy and cordial good-will of the higher +and middle classes than we should otherwise have had. But I am too +far from the scene to be a fair judge in such matters. + +The policy of interposing Hindoo native states between us and the +beggarly fanatical countries to the north-west no wise man can, I +think, doubt; for, however averse our Government may be to encroach +and creep on, it would be drawn on by the intermeddling dispositions +and vainglory of local authorities; and every step would be ruinous, +and lead to another still more ruinous. With the Hindoo +principalities on our border we shall do very well, and trust that we +shall long be able to maintain them in the state required for their +own interests and ours. + +I wish England would put forth its energies to raise the colony of +New Zealand, the queen of the Pacific Ocean; for the relations +between that island and India must some day become very intimate, and +the sooner it begins the better. I am very glad to find by the last +mail that the French have put their affairs into better hands--those +of practical men, instead of visionaries. + + Believe me, with great respect, + Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Lieut.-General the Right Hon. +Henry Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B., + &c. &c. &c. + + + + ____________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 22nd August 1848. + +My Dear Sir Erskine, + +I thank you for kindly sending me a copy of your Address to the +Native Youth at Bombay and their Parents, and should have done so +earlier, but it has been in circulation among many of my friends who +feel interested in the subject. Whatever may be thought of the +question as to where we should begin, all concur in acknowledging the +truth of your conclusions as to the value and use of the knowledge we +wish to impart, and in admiring the language and sentiment of your +Address. + +There are some passages of great beauty, which I wish all persons +could read and remember; and I do not recollect ever having seen one +that has pleased me more, for its truths and elegance, than that +beginning, "But if a manufacturing population." That which begins +with--"The views, young men, as to the true object and ends to be +attained," is no less truthful and excellent. + +It is unfortunate that the education which we have to supplant in +India is so blended with the religion of the people, as far as +Hindoos are concerned, that we cannot make progress without exciting +alarm. Had a nation, endowed with all the knowledge we have, come +into Europe in the days of Galileo and Copernicus, and attempted to +impart it to the mass of the people, or to the higher classes only, +the same alarm would have been raised, or nearly the same. We must be +content with small, or slow progress; but there are certain branches +of knowledge, highly useful to the people, that are finding their way +among them from our metropolitan establishments, and working good. + +I might better have said, that had we come into Greece when Homer was +the Bible of the people, with all our astronomy, chemistry, and +physical science generally, and our literature, blended as it is with +our religion, we should have found our Greek fellow-subjects as +untractable as the Hindoos or Parsees. The fact is, that every +Hindoo, educated through our language in our literature and science, +must be more or less wretched in domestic life, for he cannot feel or +think with his family, or bring them to feel or think with him. The +knowledge which he has acquired satisfies him that the faith to which +they adhere, and which guides them in all their duties, ceremonies, +acts, and habits, is monstrous and absurd; but he can never hope to +impart to them this knowledge, or to alienate them from that faith; +nor does he himself feel any confidence in any other creed: he feels +that he is an isolated being, who can exchange thoughts and feelings +unreservedly with no one. I have seen many estimable Hindoos in this +state, with minds highly gifted and cultivated, and with abilities +for anything. For such men we cannot create communities, nor can they +create them for themselves: they can enjoy their books and +conversation with men who understand and enjoy them like themselves; +but how few are the men of this class with whom they can ever hope to +associate on easy terms! It is not so with Mahommedans. All the +literature and science in the world has no more effect on their faith +than on ours; and their families apprehend no alienation in any +member who may choose to indulge in them; and they indulge in them +little, merely because they do not find that they conduce to secure +them employment and bread. + +I think it would be useful if we could get rid of the terms +_education_, _civilization_, &c., and substitute that of _knowledge_. +It would obviate much controversy, for the greater part of our +disputes arise from the vagueness of the terms we use. All would +agree that certain branches of knowledge are useful to certain +classes, and that certain modes are the best for imparting them. The +subject is deeply interesting and important; but I must not indulge +further. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir Erskine, + With great respect, + Yours very faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + To Sir Erskine Perry, + Chief Justice, Bombay. + + + ___________________________________ + + + + Jhansee, 24th September, 1848. + +My Lord, + +I feel grateful for the offer contained in your Lordship's letter of +the 16th instant, and no less so for the gracious manner in which it +has been conveyed, and beg to say that I shall be glad to avail +myself of it, and be prepared to proceed to take charge as soon as I +am directed to do so, as I have no arrears in any of my offices to +detain me, and can make them over to any one at the shortest notice, +with the assurance that he will find nothing in them to perplex or +embarrass him. + +I shall do my best to carry out your Lordship's views in the new +charge; and though I am not so strong as I could wish, I may, with +prudence, hope to have health for a few years to sustain me in duties +of so much interest. + +I hope your Lordship will pardon my taking advantage of the present +occasion to say a few words on the state of affairs in the north- +west, which are now of such absorbing interest. I have been for some +time impressed with the belief that the system of administration in +the Punjaub has created doubts as to the ultimate intention of our +Government with regard to the restoration of the country to the +native ruler when he comes of age. The native aristocracy of the +country seem to have satisfied themselves that our object has been to +retain the country, and that this could be prevented only by timely +resistance. The sending European officers to relieve the chief of +Mooltan, and to take possession of the country and fort, seems to +have removed the last lingering doubt upon this point; and Molraj +seems to have been satisfied that in destroying them he should be +acting according to the wishes of all his class, and all that portion +of the population who might aspire to employment under a native rule. +This was precisely the impression created by precisely the same means +in Afghanistan; and I believe that the notion now generally prevalent +is, that our professed intentions of delivering over the country to +its native ruler were not honest, and that we should have +appropriated the country to ourselves could we have done so. + +There are two classes of native Governments in India. In one the +military establishments are all national, and depend entirely upon +the existence of native rule. They are officered by the aristocracy +of the country, chiefly landed, who know that they are not fitted for +either civil or military office under our system, and must be reduced +to beggary or insignificance should our rule be substituted for that +of their native chief. In the other, all the establishments are +foreign, like our own. The Seiks were not altogether of the first +class, like those of Rajpootana and Bundelcund, but they were so for +the most part; and when they saw all offices of trust by degrees +being filled by Captain This and Mr. That, they gave up all hopes of +ever having their share in the administration. + +Satisfied that this was our error in Afghanistan, in carrying out the +views of Lord Ellenborough in the Gwalior State, I did everything in +my power to avoid it, and have entirely succeeded, I believe; but it +has not been done without great difficulty. I considered Lord +Hardinge's measures good, as they interposed Hindoo States between us +and a beggarly and fanatical country, which it must be ruinous to our +finances to retain, and into which we could not avoid making +encroachments, however anxious the Government might be to avoid it, +if our borders joined. But I supposed that we should be content with +guiding, controlling, and supervising the native administration, and +not take all the executive upon ourselves to the almost entire +exclusion of the native aristocracy. I had another reason for +believing that Lord Hardinge's measures were wise and prudent. While +we have a large portion of the country under native rulers, their +administration will contrast with ours greatly to our advantage in +the estimation of the people; and we may be sure that, though some +may be against us, many will be for us. If we succeed in sweeping +them all away, or absorbing them, we shall be at the mercy of our +native army, and they will see it; and accidents may possibly occur +to unite them, or a great portion of them, in some desperate act. The +thing is possible, though improbable; and the best provision against +it seems to me to be the maintenance of native rulers, whose +confidence and affection can be engaged, and administrations improved +under judicious management. + +The industrial classes in the Punjaub would, no doubt, prefer our +rule to that of the Seiks; but that portion who depend upon public +employment under Government for their subsistence is large in the +Punjaub, and they would nearly all prefer a native rule. They have +evidently persuaded themselves that our intention is to substitute +our own rule; and it is now, I fear, too late to remove the +impression. If your Lordship is driven to annexation, you must be in +great force; and a disposition must be shown on the part of the local +authorities to give the educated aristocracy of the country a liberal +share in the administration. + +One of the greatest dangers to be apprehended in India is, I believe, +the disposition on the part of the dominant class to appoint to all +offices members of their own class, to the exclusion of the educated +natives. This has been nobly resisted hitherto; but where every +subaltern thinks himself in a condition to take a wife, and the land +opens no prospect to his children but in the public service, the +competition will become too great. + +I trust that your Lordship will pardon my having written so much, and +believe me, with great respect, your Lordship's obedient humble +servant, + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +P.S.--The Commander-in-Chief has asked me, through the Quartermaster- +General, whether any corps can be spared from Bundelcund. I shall say +that we can spare two regiments--one from Nagode, whose place can be +supplied by a wing of the regiment at Nowgow, and one from Jhansee, +whose place can be supplied from the Gwalior Contingent, if your +Lordship sees no objection, as a temporary arrangement. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Right Hon. +the Earl of Dalhousie, + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + Lucknow, 30th January, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +A salute of twenty-one guns had been fired here by the King for the +sadly dear victory over Shere Sing, and another has been fired to-day +for the fall of Mooltan. The King continues very ill, but no danger +seems to be apprehended. The disease is accompanied by very untoward +secondary symptoms, which are likely ultimately to destroy him, and +render his life miserable while it lasts. How much of these symptoms +he derives from his birth, and how much from his own excesses, is +uncertain. + +The impression regarding the minister, mentioned in my last note, was +from a talk with him while he was, it seems, under the influence of +fever. In later conversations he has been more lucid; but he is a +third-rate man, and quite unequal to the burthen that the favour of +the King has placed upon him. That favour will, however, be but of +short duration, for the King is said to have expressed great distrust +in his capacity to do any of the things he promised, more especially +to collect the immense arrears of revenue now due. + +I am preparing tables of the revenue and expenditure, and of the +machinery in all branches, and hope soon to submit a clearer view of +the state of things than Government is in the habit of getting on +such occasions; but I have to wade through vast volumes of +correspondence to ascertain what has been said and done in the +questions that will come under consideration, to conduct current +duties, and to become acquainted with the people in my new field, +European and native. + +I want to ask you whether I could, with any prospect of success just +now, propose a plan which I have much at heart in the Thuggee and +Dacoity Department. The Lieutenant-Governor, I feel assured, will +advocate it. Major Graham is about to obtain his regimental majority, +with a certain prospect of soon obtaining the command of his +regiment, which will give him twelve hundred a-month. I am anxious to +retain him; for his services have been, and would continue to be, of +vast importance to the North-West Provinces. I should like to propose +that he be made superintendent of Thuggee and Dacoity in those +provinces upon a salary of, say eleven hundred rupees a-month. I +would at the same time propose that the Shahjehanpoor office, lately +under Major Ludlow, be done up, and the duties confided to the +assistant-magistrate, with a small establishment, he to receive an +extra salary, say, one hundred rupees a-month. The same with regard +to the Azimghur office, now under Captain Ward, who could be sent to +Rajpootana. Elliot is not suited well to the work, according to those +who have seen most of him and of it; and you might be able to put him +to some other for which he is fitted. Should you think it desirable +to retain him in Rajpootana, Captain Ward may for the present remain +where he is; and the saving from the Shahjehanpoor office will more +than cover the increase for Major Graham. Pray let me know as soon as +you can whether such a proposal would be likely to be well received. +Graham's services have been and will be most valuable to all the +local authorities at and under Agra. + +I suppose the fate of the Punjaub is sealed, for though the Governor- +General might wish to spare it, the home authorities and the home +people will hardly brook the prospect or the chance of another +struggle of the same kind, particularly if the Afghans have really +joined the Seiks under Chutter Sing. The tendency to annexation, +already strong at home, will become still stronger when the news of +our late losses arrive. They indicate a stronger assurance of +national sympathy on the part of the chiefs and troops opposed to us +than was generally calculated upon. The fall of Mooltan will have +relieved the Governor-General's mind from much of the anxiety caused +by the inartistic management of the Commander-in-Chief. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + + ______________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 7th March, 1849. + +My Dear Elliott, + +I may mention what has been the state of feeling at Lucknow regarding +the state of affairs in the Punjaub, though it has become of less +interest to the Governor-General now that so decided a victory has +crowned his efforts. During the whole contest the Government five per +cent. notes have been every day sold in my office at par, and I +question whether this can be said of the offices in Calcutta. One day +during the races, on the King's firing a salute for victory, the +European gentlemen talked about it at the stand with many of the +first of the native aristocracy. They said that the Seiks could not +fight as they were fighting unless there had been some general +feeling of distrust as to our ultimate intentions with regard to the +Punjaub which united them together; and that this feeling must be as +strong with the Durbar and those who did not fight as with those who +did. I was not present, as I did not attend the races; but I found +the same opinion prevailing among all with whom I conversed. But all +seemed to be perfectly satisfied as to the utter hopelessness of the +struggle, as evinced by the great barometer of the Government paper. + +I suppose Dost Mahomed's force in Peshawur will have proceeded in all +haste to the Khyber on hearing of the defeat of their friends, and +that General Gilbert's fine division will find none of them to +contend with; and that Gholab Sing will be glad of an occasion to +display his zeal by keeping Shore Sing and his father out of the +hills. + +The river Indus will, I suppose, hardly be considered so safe a +boundary as the hills; for if any danger is to be apprehended from +the west, it would not be safe to leave the enemy so fine a field to +organize their forces upon after emerging from the difficult passes. +Well organized upon that field, a force could cross the river +anywhere in the cold and hot seasons; and the revenue of that field +would aid in keeping up a force that might in the day of need be used +against us. It was a great error committed by Lord Hastings in +allowing the Nepaulese the fertile portion of the Jurac, which then +yielded only two lacs of rupees, but now yields thirteen, and will, +ere long, yield twenty. Without this their military force would have +been altogether insignificant; but it is not so now. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + _________________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 20th March, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +The King continues much the same as when I last wrote. Under skilful +treatment he might soon get well; but the prescriptions of his best +native physicians are little attended to, and he has not yet +consented to consult an European doctor. He could not have a better +doctor than Leekie, and the natives have great confidence in him; but +his Majesty has not expressed any wish to see or consult him. If he +did so, the chances are one hundred to one against his taking his +medicine. + +I do not like to write a public letter on the subject, but am anxious +to know the Governor-General's wishes as to whether any new +engagements should be entered into in case of the King's decease, and +with whom. + +The instructions contained in your letter of the 16th August, 1847, +referred to in my last, will be carried out; but the Governor-General +may wish to have the new arrangements recorded in a former treaty, +the heads of the royal family consenting thereto, as at Gwalior, when +the regency was appointed. I have no copy of the treaty made at +Lahore, where the regency was appointed. + +I should think it desirable to give the members of the regency each +distinct duties, so that he may feel responsible for them, and take a +pride in doing them well. One should be at the head of the Revenue +Department, and another at the head of the Judicial and Police, each +having a deputy; and the Resident, as president, should have a +deputy. These would be sufficient for a regency, and could form a +court, or council, to deliberate and decide about measures of +legislation and administration. + +The mother of the King would be the best person to consult upon the +nomination of the members in the first instance; but neither she nor +any other female of the royal family should have any share in the +administration. + +All important measures adopted by the Council should be submitted for +the consideration of the Governor-General; and no member of the +Council should be removed without his Lordship's consent. No +important measure adopted by the Council, and sanctioned by the +Governor-General, should at any future time be liable to be abolished +or altered without the sanction of our Government previously obtained +through the Resident. + +On the heir-apparent attaining his majority, every member of the +regency who has discharged his duties faithfully should have for life +a pension equal to half the salary enjoyed by him while in office, +and be guaranteed in the enjoyment of this half by the British +Government. + +The measures thus adopted during the minority would form a code for +future guidance, and tend at least to give the thing which Oude most +wants--stability to good sales, and to the machinery by which they +are to be enforced. + + + +The King's brother--a very excellent man, who was Commander-in-Chief +during his father's life-time, but is now nothing--might also be +consulted with the mother of the King in the nomination of the +regency, and made a party with her to the new treaty. + +These are all the points which appear to me at present to call for +instructions. + +The harvests promise to be abundant, but the collections come in +slowly, and the establishments are all greatly in arrear. I don't +like to write publicly on these subjects, because it is almost +impossible here to prevent what is so written from getting to the +Court; but the Governor-General's instructions were sent to me in +that form without the same risk. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + ___________________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 23rd March, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +It will perhaps be well to add to the regency, in case of the King's +death, a controller of the household, making three members of equal +grade, and to have no deputy for the Resident, or President of the +Regency. It may also be well to add the mother of the heir apparent +to the persons to be consulted in the selection of the members of the +regency, though she is a person of no mark or influence in either +public or private affairs at present. + +The mother of the present King, his brother, the mother of the heir- +apparent, and the young heir-apparent himself will be enough to have +a voice in the selection. + +I conclude that it will be the Governor-General's wish that the heir- +apparent should be placed on the throne immediately after the death +of his father, for the slightest hesitation or delay in this matter +would be mischievous in such a place as Lucknow. As soon as this is +done, I can proceed to consult about the nomination of the regency. +The members will, of course, be chosen from among the highest and +most able members of the aristocracy present at the capital, and they +can be installed in office the day they are chosen. I do not +apprehend any confusion or disturbance; but measures must be adopted +immediately to pay up arrears due to the establishments, and dismiss +all that are useless. + +The, King is not worse--on the contrary, he is said to be better; but +the hot season may be too much for him. His present state, with a +minister weak in body and not very strong in mind, is very +unsatisfactory. Fortunately the harvest is unusually fine. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + + + ____________________________ + + + + + Lucknow, 8th May, 1849. +My Lord, + +Dr. Bell, has relieved Dr. Leekie from his charge, and I am glad that +so able and experienced a medical officer has been appointed to it by +your Lordship, for he will have the means of doing much good here if +he can secure the confidence and esteem of his native patients. The +way has been well paved for him by Dr. Leekie, who, in professional +ability, large experience, and perfect frankness of character, is one +of the first men I have met; and I regret exceedingly that the King +has never manifested any wish to consult him or any other European +physician. + +Being anxious that both Dr. Leekie and Dr. Bell should have an +opportunity of seeing the King, and forming some opinion as to his +state of health, I proposed that his Majesty should receive them at +the same time with Captain Bird on his taking leave previous to his +departure for Simla. As it is usual for the residency surgeon to wait +on his Majesty when he first enters on his charge and when he quits +it, I knew that such a proposal would not give rise to any feelings +of doubt or uneasiness, and he at once expressed his wish to see +them. Yesterday, about noon, all three went to the palace, and sat +for some time in conversation with the King. They found him much +better in bodily health than they expected, and in the course of +conversation, found no signs of any confusion of ideas, and are of +opinion that in the hands of a skilful European physician he would +soon be quite well. His Majesty is hypochondriac, and frequently +under the influence of the absurd delusions common to such persons; +but he is quite sane during long intervals, and on all subjects not +connected with such delusions. + +When in health, the King never paid much attention to business, and +his illness is, therefore, less felt than it would have been in the +conduct of affairs; but it is nevertheless felt, and that in a very +vital part--the collection of the revenue. The expenses of Government +are about one hundred (100) lacs a-year; and the collections this +year have not amounted to more than sixty (60), owing to this +illness, and to a deficiency in the autumn harvests. All +establishments are greatly in arrears in consequence; and the King +has been obliged to make some heavy drafts upon the reserved fund +left him by his father. I only wish none had been made for a less +legitimate purpose. The parasites, by whom he has surrounded himself +exclusively, have, it is said, been drawing upon it still more +largely during the King's illness, under the apprehension of a speedy +dissolution. The minister is a weak man, who stands somewhat in awe +of these musicians and eunuchs, who have no fear of anybody but the +Resident, whom it is, of course, their interest to keep as much as +possible in the dark. As soon as his Majesty gets stronger, I shall +see him more frequently than I have yet done, and be better able to +judge of what prospect of amendment there may be while he reigns. If +he ever conversed with his male relations, or any of the gentlemen at +the capital worthy of his confidence, I should have more hope than I +now have. + + With great respect I remain + Your Lordship's obedient humble servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Right Hon. +The Earl of Dalhousie, K.T., +Governor-General of India. + + + + ___________________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 11th June, 1849. +My Dear Elliot, + +It will be desirable to have at least the wing of a regiment sent as +soon as possible to Jhansee. Bukhut Sing, who was allowed to escape +after having been surrendered to Ellis at Kyrma, has been since +allowed to get too much a-head. He is aided by the Khereecha people +openly; and secretly, I fear, by some of the Powar Thakoors of Gigree +under the rose. There are four small fortified places between thirty +and forty miles west of Jhansee, and not far from the Sinde, held by +Powar Thakoors, who are a shade higher in caste than the Bondeylas; +and, in consequence, all the principal chiefs take their daughters in +marriage. They are needy, and as proud as Lucifer, and will always +eke out their means by robbery if they can. The Jhansee chief cannot +keep them in order without our aid. While I was there, they did not +venture to rob after the surrender of the Jylpoor man in September, +1844; and the Hareecha and Hyrwa people ventured only to send a few +highwaymen into the Gwalior state west of the Sinde river. + +The Powar places I mean are Jignee, Odgow, and Belchree. There was a +fourth near them just as bad, called Nowneer; but the Thakoors of +that place are all well disposed towards the Jbansee chief, and are +obedient. All are in the Jhansee state. If the marauders are pressed +with energy and sagacity, they will be soon put down; and you may +rely upon the native chiefs not supporting them, though, from their +marriage connection, they may afford them an asylum secretly when +fugitives. + +Who the Gwalior men are that are plundering I know not; but they are +men of no note, and, if pressed skilfully and rigorously in time, +will soon be put down. The chiefs may all be relied upon, I believe. +They are mere gangs of robbers; and you know how easily a fanatic or +successful robber may collect a body for plunder in any part of +India, where the danger of pursuit is small. Had they been dealt with +properly at first, they would never have got a-head so far: time has +been lost, and they will now give trouble, particularly at such a +season. The evil will be confined to the tract west of Jhansee +occupied by these Powars. The chiefs are to the east, north, and +south of Jhansee; and the marauders would be allowed to enter their +estates. The Governor-General need not feel uneasy about them. The +Nurwar chief was always needy, and disposed to keep and shelter +robbers. His few villages were resumed on his death last year, and +his widows pensioned; but some of his relations are, I conclude, +among the marauders. There is a wild tract west of the Sinde in the +Gwalior territory, to which the marauders will fly when hard pressed +in the Jhansee state. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + ___________________________________ + + Lucknow, 18th June, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +I was writing the last sentence of a long Report on Oude affairs when +your note came in. There are some parts that will amuse, some that +will interest, and the whole gives, I believe, a fair exposition of +the evils, with a suggestion for the best remedy that I can think of. +It is the formation of a Board, consisting of a President and two +members nominated by the King, subject to the confirmation of the +Governor-General, and not to be dismissed without his Lordship's +previous sanction. This Board to make the settlement of the revenue +proposed when Lord Hardinge was here, and to have the carrying it +out. + +This Board will be a substitute for the Regency, but not so good. The +King is well in body; and, unless he will abdicate, we cannot get the +minority for the Regency. I think, upon the whole, the Governor- +General will think the Report worth reading, and the remedy worth +considering. It will bring little additional trouble on Government, +but a good deal on the Resident, who will require to have had much +administrative experience. + +Things are coming fast to the crisis, in which I must be called upon +to advise and act, a thing which the fiddlers and eunuchs dread. I +can't trust the Report in the office, and the hand may not be so +legible as I could wish. + +The Court is very averse to the appointment of a successor to Wilcox; +and it is with reluctance they have kept on the native officers who +go on with the work. I told them either to keep them on or to pension +them. I don't think a successor should be urged upon them in the +present state of beggary to which they are reduced. Nobody sees any +use in it, while there are a vast number of useful things neglected +for want of funds; as to the instruments, the Court care nothing +about them, knowing nothing of their value; and would, no doubt, be +glad to give them to any establishment requiring them. + +The minister, singers, and eunuchs are all now sworn to be united; +but this cannot last many days. The "pressure from without," in the +clamour for pay, will soon upset the minister; but they will find it +difficult to get another to undertake the burthen of forty or fifty +lacs of balance, and a score of fiddlers and eunuchs as privy +councillors. Something must be done to _unthrone_ these wretches, or +things will be worse and worse. The best remedy that occurs to me is +to interpose an authority which they dare not question, and the King +cannot stultify; and if the King objects, to tell him that he must +abdicate in favour of his son. This, of all courses, will be the +best, and give no trouble; things would go on like "marriage bells," +without any trouble whatever to the Governor-General and your +_secretariat_. + +I am glad that the Punjaub Board goes on well. It is a scene of great +importance and interest. The only way to get the confidence and +affection of men is to show that we confide in them; and I don't +think we need fear Seik soldiers while we treat them, and govern the +country well. + +We were very anxious about Mrs. Elliot for many days, for the +accounts from Simla were bad; but she is now, I am told, quite +restored. I have suffered much less than I expected: I recovered much +sooner. The doctors tell me that I should have had no right to expect +an earlier recovery had I been twenty years younger. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To H. M. Elliot, Esq., + &c. &c. + + ___________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th July, 1849. +My Lord, + +I have to-day written to Lord Fitzroy Somerset to request that he +will do me the favour to have the name of my only son placed, if +possible, upon his Grace the Commander-in-Chiefs list of candidates +for commissions in Her Majesty's Dragoons. He was sixteen years of +age on the 6th of January last, and is now prosecuting his studies +under the care of Mr. C. J. Yeatman, Westow Hill, Norwood, Surrey, +five miles from London. + +He is an amiable and gentlemanly lad, and will, I trust, be able to +qualify himself to pass the examination required; and my agents in +London will be prepared to lodge the money for his commission when +available. He is my eldest child, and will have to take care of four +sisters when I am taken from them, as I must be ere long; and I am +anxious to place him in the position from which he can do so with +most advantage. I could wish to have had him placed in the Bengal +Civil Service. But I have no personal friend in the direction, and no +good that I may have had an opportunity of doing for the people and +government of India can be urged as a claim to any employment for my +child. + +Having carried out your Lordship's policy successfully over a large +and interesting portion of India, and to the advantage, I believe, of +many millions of people, you will not, I think, be offended at my +soliciting your Lordship's protection for my only son. He will stand +in need of it, since I know no other that I can solicit for him; and +though my name might be of some use to him in India, it can be of +none in England. With a view to his taking care of his sisters, I +could wish him to be in a regiment not likely to come to India. +General Thackwell tells me that the regiments most likely to come to +India soon are the 6th Dragoons, 9th Hussars, and 12th Lancers. +Perhaps your Lordship might be willing to speak to Lord F. Somerset, +or even to his Grace the Duke himself, in favour of my son, who will +be proud at any time when commanded to attend your Lordship. I have +the misfortune to have been with some of the most inefficient +sovereigns that ever sat upon a throne, with deficient harvests last +year, and a threat of still more deficient ones this year; and with a +Government so occupied with the new acquisitions of the Punjaub as to +be averse to interfere much with the management of any other portion +of the country. + +I remain, your lordship's most obedient, humble servant, + + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Right Hon. Gen. Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B., + &c. &c. &c. + + + + ______________________________________ + + + + + Lucknow, 24th July, 1849. + +My Lord, + +May I, request that your Lordship will do me the favour to have the +name of my only son, Henry Arthur Sleeman, placed upon his Grace the +Commander-in-Chiefs list of candidates for a commission in one of her +Majesty's Dragoon regiments? + +He was sixteen years of age on the 6th of January last; and he is now +prosecuting his studies under the care of Mr. C. J. Yeatman, at +Westow Hill, in Surrey, five miles from London, who will be +instructed to have him prepared for the examination he will have to +undergo. My agents, Messrs. Denny, Clark, and Co., Austin Friars, +London, will be prepared to lodge the money, and to forward to me any +letters with which they may be honoured by your Lordship. My rank is +that of Lieut.-Colonel in the Honourable East India Company's +service, and present situation, that of Resident at the Court of his +Majesty the King of Oude. + + I have the honour to be, + Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Lieut.-General Lord Fitzroy Somerset, G.C.B., +Military Secretary to his Grace the Commander-in-Chief, +Horse Guards, London. + + + + _________________________________ + + + Lucknow, August 1849. + +My Lord, + +1. I will answer your Lordship's queries in the order in which they +are made. + +2. The King, as I shall show in my next official report, is utterly +unfit to have anything to do with the administration, since he has +never taken, or shown any disposition to take any heed of what is +done or suffered in the country. My letters have made no impression +whatever upon him. He spends all his time with the singers and the +females they provide to amuse him, and is for seven and eight hours +together living in the house of the chief singer, Rajee-od Dowla--a +fellow who was only lately beating a drum to a party of dancing- +girls, on some four rupees a-month. These singers are all Domes, the +lowest of the low castes of India, and they and the eunuchs are now +the virtual sovereigns of the country, and must be so as long as the +King retains any power. The minister depends entirely upon them, and +between them and a few others about Court everything that the King +has to dispose of is sold. + +3. To secure any reform in the administration, it will be necessary +to require the King to delegate all the powers of sovereignty to the +Board. This he can do, retaining the name of Sovereign and control of +his household; or abdicating in favour of his son the heir apparent, +to whom the Board would be a regency till he comes of age. If the +alternative be given him, and he choose the former, it should be on +the condition, that if his favourites continue to embarrass the +Government, he will be required to submit to the latter. Oude is now, +in fact, without a Government: the minister sees the King for a few +minutes once a week or fortnight, and generally at the house of the +singer above named. The King sees nobody else save the singers and +eunuchs, and does not even pretend to know anything or care anything +about public affairs. His sons have been put under their care, and +will be brought up in the same manner. He has become utterly despised +and detested by his people for his apathy amidst so much suffering, +and will not have the sympathy of any one, save such as have been +growing rich by abusing his power. + +4. The members of such a Board as I propose, invested with full +powers, and secured in office under our guarantee during good +conduct, would go fearlessly to work; they would divide the labour; +one would have the settlement of the land-revenue, with the charge of +the police; the second would have the judicial Courts; and if the +Board be a regency during the minority, the control of the household; +the third would have the army. Each would have the nomination of the +officers of his department, subject to the confirmation of the whole +Board, and the dismissal would depend upon the sanction of the whole +or two-thirds, as might be found expedient. If the sanction of all +three be required. Court influence may secure one vote, and impunity +to great offenders. Neither of the three would be liable to be +deprived of his office, except with the consent, or on the +requisition of the Governor-General; and this privilege they would +value too highly to risk it by neglect or misconduct. The King's +brother--a most worthy and respectable, though not able man--might be +a member, if agreeable to the King. + +5. The abuses they would have to remedy are all perfectly well +understood, and the measures required to remedy them are all simple +and obvious: a settlement would be made with the landholders, based +upon past avowed collections; they would be delighted to bind +themselves to pay such an assessment, as they would escape from the +more than one-third more, which they have now to pay, in one form or +another, to contractors and Court favourites; the large landholders, +who are for the most part now in open resistance to the Government, +would rejoice at the prospect of securing their estates to their +posterity, without the necessity of continually fighting for them. + +6. The army would soon become efficient: at present every man +purchases his place in it from the minister and the singers and +eunuchs, and he loses it as soon as he becomes disabled from wounds +or sickness. The only exceptions are the four regiments under Captain +Burlow, Captain Bunbury, Captain Magness, and Soba Sing, lately +Captain Buckley's; in these, all that are disabled from wounds or +sickness are kept on the strength of the corps, and each corps has +with it a large invalid establishment of this kind unrecognized by +the Government. They could not get their men to fight, without it. +These regiments are put up at auction every season, and often several +times during one season; the contractor who bids highest gets the +services of the best for the season or the occasion; the purchase- +money is divided between the minister and the Court favourites, +singers, &c. These are really efficient corps, and the others might +soon be made the same. The men are as fine-looking and brave as those +of our, regular infantry, for Oude teems with such men, who have from +their boyhood been fighting against contractors under the heads of +their clan or families. + +7. The rest are for the most part commanded by boys, or Court +favourites, who seldom see them, keep about two-thirds of what are +borne on the rolls and paid for, and take about one-third of the pay +of what remain for themselves. The singer, Rajee-od Dowla, the prime +favourite above named, has two regiments thus treated, and of course +altogether inefficient, ragged, hungry, and discontented. It will be +easy to remedy all this, get excellent men, and inspire them with +excellent spirit by instituting a modified pension establishment for +men disabled in the discharge of their duties, and providing for +their regular pay and efficient command. + +8. This would prevent the necessity of employing British troops, +except on rare and great occasions; the settlement of the land- +revenue, and knowledge that they would be employed if required, would +keep the great landholders in obedience. It would be well to have +back the corps of infantry and two guns that were taken away from +Pertanghurh, in Oude, in 1835. This is all the addition that would be +required to secure an efficient Government; and the scale to which +our troops in Oude had been reduced up to that time (1835) was +generally considered the lowest compatible with our engagements. A +regiment of cavalry had been borrowed from Pertanghurh for the Nepaul +and Mahratta wars in 1814 and 1817; it was finally withdrawn in 1823. + +9. The judicial Courts would be well conducted while the presiding +officers felt secure in their tenure of office, which they would do +when their dismissal depended upon proof of guilt or incompetency +sufficient to satisfy a Board guaranteed by our Government. + +10. The police would soon become efficient under the supervision and +control of respectable revenue-officers, having the same feeling of +security in their tenure of office. All the revenue-officers would, +of course, be servants of Government instead of contractors. There +would be grades answering to our commissioners of divisions, say +four; 2nd, to our collectors of revenue, say twenty-eight; 3rd, +deputy-collectors, say twenty-eight; all under the Board, and guided +by the member intrusted with that branch of the administration: all +would be responsible for the police over their respective +jurisdictions. + +11. Oude ought to be, and would soon be, under such a system, a +garden; the soil is the finest in India, so are the men; and there is +no want of an educated class for civil office: on the contrary, they +abound almost as much as the class of soldiers. From the numerous +rivers which flow through the country the water is everywhere near +the surface, and the peasantry would manure and irrigate every field, +if they could do so in peace and security, with a fair prospect of +being permitted to reap the fruits. The terrible corruption of the +Court is the great impediment to all this good: the savings would +more than pay all the increased outlay required for rendering +establishments efficient in all branches, while the treasury would +receive at least one-third more than the expenditure; that is, +1,50,00,000 Rs., or one crore and a half. + +12. From the time the treaty of 1801 was made, up to within the last +few years, the term "internal enemies" was interpreted to mean the +great landholders who might be in resistance to the Government, and +this interpretation was always acted upon; the only difficulty was in +ascertaining whether the resistance was or was not, under the +circumstances, justifiable. While employed in Oude with my regiment, +and on the staff in 1818 and 1819, I saw much of the correspondence +between the Resident and Commandant; many letters from the Resident, +Colonel Baillie, mentioning how bitterly Saadulullee, with whom that +treaty was made, had complained, that after the sacrifice of half his +kingdom for the aid of British troops in keeping down these powerful +and refractory landholders, he could not obtain their assistance +without being subject to such humiliating remonstrances as he got +from officers commanding stations whenever he asked for it. Aid was +often given, and forts innumerable were reduced from time to time, +but the privilege of building them up again was purchased from the +same or another contractor next season. + +13. At this time I have calls for at least two battalions and a train +of artillery, from about six quarters, to enforce orders on these +landholders. Captain Hearsey has had men of his Frontier Police +killed and wounded by them on the western border, and declares that +nothing can be done to secure offenders, refugees from our districts, +with a less force. Captain Orr has had several men wounded, and +prisoners taken from him, by the same class on the eastern border, +and declares to the same effect. Sixteen sepoys of our army, 59th N. +I., on their way home on furlough were attacked and two of them +killed, three weeks ago, by a third Zumeendar, at Peernugger, his own +estate, within ten miles of the Setapore Cantonments, where we have a +regiment. Captain Barlow's regiment and artillery, and another, with +all Captain Hearsey's Frontier Police, are in pursuit of him. Four +others have committed similar outrages on our officers and sepoys and +their families, and the Government declares its utter inability to +enforce obedience or grant any redress, without a larger force than +they have to send. Great numbers of the same class are plundering and +burning villages, and robbing and murdering on the highway, and +laughing at the impotency of the sovereign. It was certainly for aid +in coercing these "internal enemies" that the Sovereign of Oude ceded +his territories to us, and for no other, and that aid may be afforded +at little cost, and to the great benefit of all under the system I +have submitted for your Lordship's consideration. It will be very +rarely required, and when called for, a mere demonstration will, in +three cases out of four, be sufficient to effect the object. + +14, After a time, or when the heir-apparent comes of age, the duties +of the guaranteed members of the Board may safely be united to a +supervision over the settlement made with the principal landholders, +whose obedience our Government may consider itself bound to aid in +enforcing; all the rest may be left to a competent sovereign; and +there will be nothing in the system opposed to native usages, +feelings, and institutions, to prevent its being adhered to. I should +mention, that many of these landholders have each armed and +disciplined bodies of two thousand foot and five hundred horse; and, +what is worse, the command of as many as they like of "Passies," +armed with bows and arrows. These Passies are reckless thieves and +robbers of the lowest class, whose only professions are thieving and +acting as Chowkedars, or village police. They are at the service of +every refractory Zumeendar, for what they can get in booty in his +depredations. The disorders in Oude have greatly increased this +class, and they are now roughly estimated at a hundred thousand +families; these are the men from whom travellers on the road suffer +most. + +15. A second Assistant would be required for a time to enable the +Resident to shift off the daily detail of the treasury, which has +become the largest in India,--I believe, beyond those at the three +Presidencies. + +A good English copyist, capable of mapping, will be required in the +Resident's office at 150, and two Persian writers 100; total 250. +These are the only additions which appear to me to be required. + +16. I annex a list of the regiments now in the King's service, +Telungas, or regulars, and Nujeebs, or irregulars; and with my next +official report I will submit a list of all the establishments, civil +and military. + +17. The King's habits will not alter; he was allowed by his father to +associate, as at present, with these singers from his boyhood, and he +cannot endure the society of other persons. His determination to live +exclusively in their society, and to hear and see nothing of what his +officers do or his people suffer, he no longer makes any attempt to +conceal. It would be idle to hope for anything from him but a +resignation of power into more competent hands; whatever he retains +he will assuredly give to his singers and eunuchs, or allow them to +take. No man can take charge of any office without anticipating the +income by large gratuities to them, and the average gratuity which a +contractor for a year, of a district yielding three lacs of rupees a- +year, is made to pay, before he leaves the capital to enter upon his +charge, is estimated to be fifty thousand rupees: this he exacts from +the landholders as the first payment, for which they receive no +credit in the public account. All other offices are paid for in the +same way. + +18. The King would change his minister to-morrow if the singers were +to propose it; and they would propose it if they could get better +terms or perquisites under any other. No minister could hold office a +week without their acquiescence. Under such circumstances a change of +ministers would be of little advantage to the country. + +19. The King will yield to the measure proposed only under the +assurance, that if he did not, the Governor-General would be reduced +to the necessity of having recourse to that which Lord Hardinge +threatened in the 10th, 11th, and 12th paragraphs of his letter of +October, 1847, and the Court of Directors, on the representation of +Lord William Bentinck, sanctioned in 1831. The Court was at that time +so strongly impressed with the conviction that the threat would be +carried into execution, that they prevailed upon the President to +undertake a mission to the Home Government, with a view to enlarge +the President's powers of interference, in order to save them from +the alternative. This led to Mr. Maddock's removal from the +Presidency; all subsequent correspondence has tended to keep up the +apprehension that the threatened measure would be had recourse to, +and to stimulate sovereigns and ministers to exertion till the +present reign. The present King has, from the time he ascended the +throne, manifested a determination to take no share whatever in the +conduct of affairs; to spend the whole of his time among singers and +eunuchs, and the women whom they provide for his amusement; and +carefully to exclude from access, all who suffer from the +maladministration of his servants, or who could and would tell him +what was done by the one and suffered by the other. + +20. But it is not his minister and favourites alone who take +advantage of this state of things to enrich themselves; corruption +runs through all the public offices, and Maharaja Balkishen, the +Dewan, or _Chancellor of the Exchequer_, is notoriously among the +most corrupt of all, taking a large portion of the heavy balances due +by contractors to get the rest remitted or misrepresented. There is +no Court in the capital, criminal, civil, or fiscal, in which the +cases are not tampered with by Court favourites, and divided +according to their wishes, unless the President has occasion to +interfere in behalf of guaranteed pensioners, or officers and sepoys +of our army. On his appearance they commonly skulk away, like jackals +from a dead carcase when the tiger appears; but the cases in which he +can interfere are comparatively very few, and it is with the greatest +delay and difficulty that he can get such cases decided at all. A +more lamentable state of affairs it is difficult to conceive. + + With great respect, I remain, + Your Lordship's obedient humble servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., + &c. &c. &c. + +P.S.--I find that the King's brother is altogether incompetent for +anything like business or responsibility. The minister has not one +single quality that a minister ought to have; and the King cannot be +considered to be in a sound state of mind. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + _Annexures_. + + 1. Extracts, pars. 9 to 14 of Lord Hardinge's Memorial. + 2. Statement of British troops in Oude in Jan. 1835 and 1849. + 3. Table of the King of Oude's troops of all kinds. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 6th September, 1849. + +My Lord, + +I take the liberty to enclose, for your Lordship's perusal, a more +full and correct Table of the troops and police in Oude than that +which I submitted with my last letter, as also a Table of all the +other branches of expenditure--save those of buildings, charities, +presents, &c., which are ever varying. + +It may be estimated that two-thirds of the numbers in the corps of +Telungas and Nujeebs paid for are kept up; and that one-half of what +are kept up are efficient, all having to purchase their places, and +those most unfit being disposed to pay highest. + +Further: one-half of what are kept up are supposed to be always +absent; and when they are so, they receive one-half of their pay, and +the other half is divided between the commandant and the paymaster. +These two are supposed to take, on one pretence or other, one third +of the pay of those who are actually present. The corps of Telungas +commanded by Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and Magness are exceptions; +but the pay department is not under their control, and they are +obliged to acquiesce in abuses that impair the efficiency their +corps. + +After reducing one-third-of these corps, and rendering the remaining +two-thirds efficient, the force would be sufficient for all purposes, +and we may well dispense with the corps of regular infantry which in +my last letter I proposed to restore to Oude. It will, however, be +desirable to have a good and experienced infantry officer as +inspector, to see that the measures adopted for reform are +effectually carried out. An artillery officer as inspector will also +be desirable, as it will be necessary to have that branch of the +force in the best possible order, when Oude has to depend chiefly on +its own resources. A few European officers, too, for commandants of +corps and seconds in command will be desirable--such as have been +employed with native corps as sergeant-majors or quartermaster- +sergeants, and have obtained distinctions for good conduct. + +I should propose six primary stations as seats for the principal +Revenue and Judicial Courts, and the headquarters of the best corps +with cavalry and artillery; thirty second and third rate stations for +the subordinate Courts and detachments of troops and police. All to +be chosen, with reference to position in districts under +jurisdiction, and to salubrity of climate. At all these Stations +suitable buildings would be provided; and as all would be commenced +upon simultaneously, all would soon be ready. + +Your Lordship will observe the small item put down for the judicial +establishments all over Oude. Such as are really kept up are +worthless, and are altogether without the confidence of the people. +The savings in the other branches of the expenditure will more than +cover all the outlay required for good ones. + +The King continues to show the same aversion to hear anything about +public affairs, or to converse with any but the singers, eunuchs, and +females. At the great festival of the Eed, on the first appearance of +the present moon, he went out in procession, but deputed his heir- +apparent to receive the compliments in Durbar. He does not suffer +bodily pain, but is said to have long fits of moping and melancholy, +and he is manifestly hypochondriac. He squanders the state jewels +among the singers and eunuchs, who send them out of the country as +fast as they can. The members of his family who have its interests +most at heart, are becoming anxious for some change; and by the time +the two years expire, it will not, perhaps, be difficult to induce +him to put his affairs into other hands. He would change his minister +on the slightest hint from me; but it would be of no use: the +successor, pretending to carry on the Government under the King's +orders, would be little better than the present minister is, and +things would continue to be just as bad as they now are: they +certainly could not be worse. + +The Board, composed of the first members of the Lucknow aristocracy, +would be, I think, both popular and efficient; and with the aid of a +few of the ablest of the native judicial and revenue officers of our +own districts, invited to Oude by the prospect of higher pay and +security in the tenure of office, would soon have at work a machinery +capable of securing to all their rights, and enforcing from all their +duties in every part of this, at present, distracted country. We +should soon have good roads throughout the kingdom; and both they and +the rivers would soon be as secure as in our own provinces. I think, +too, that I might venture to promise that all would be effected +without violence or disturbance; all would see that everything was +done for the benefit of an oppressed people, and in good faith +towards the reigning family. + +With great respect, I remain your Lordship's obedient, humble +servant. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., + &c. &c. &c. + +P.S.--I may mention that the King is now engaged in turning into +verse a long prose history called Hydree. About ten days ago all the +poets in Lucknow were assembled at the palace to hear his Majesty +read his poem. They sat with him, listening to his poem and reading +their own from nine at night till three in the morning. One of the +poets, the eldest son of a late minister, Mohamid-od Dowla, Aga Meer, +told me that the versification was exceedingly good for a King. These +are, I think, the only men, save the minister, the eunuchs, and the +singers who have had the honour of conversing with his Majesty since +I came here in January last. + W. H. S. + + +______________________________ + + + Lucknow, 23rd September, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +I conclude that no further Tables will be required from me on Oude +statistics for the present. Should they be so, pray let me know, and +they shall be sent. I thought at first that it would be thought bad +taste in me to refer to the domestic troubles of the King, but it is +necessary to show the state to which his Majesty is reduced in his +palace. The facts mentioned are known and talked of all over Lucknow +and Oude generally, and tend more than greater things to bring his +conduct and character into contempt. + +The time was certainly never so favourable to propose an arrangement +that shall secure a lasting and substantial reform, and render Oude +what it ought to be--a garden. The King is in constant dread of +poison, and would do anything to get relieved from that dread, and +all further importunity on the state of the country. His chief wife +would poison him to bring on the throne her son, and restore to her +her paramour, who is now at Cawnpoor, waiting for such a change. Her +uncle, the minister, would, the King thinks, be glad to see him +poisoned, in the hope of having to conduct affairs during the +minority. He is afraid to admonish his other wife for her +infidelities with the chief favourite and singer, lest she should +poison him to go off with her paramour to Rampoor, whither he has +sent the immense wealth that the King has lavished upon him. + +The whole family are most anxious that the King should resign the +reins into abler hands, and would, I feel assured, hail the +arrangement I have proposed as a blessing to them and the country. +All seems ripe for the change, and I hope the Governor-General will +consent to its being proposed soon. Any change in the ministry would +now be an obstacle to the arrangement, and such a change might happen +any morning. At the head of the Board, or Regency, I should put +Mohsin-od Dowla, grandson of Ghazee-od Deen, the first King, and son- +in-law of Moohummed Alee Shah, the third King. His only son has been +lately united in marriage to the King's daughter. He is looked up to +as the first man in Oude for character, and the most able member of +the royal family. He is forty-five years of age. I should probably +put two of the King's uncles in as the other members, Azeemoshan and +Mirza Khorum Buksh, whose names you will find in the short appended +list of those who have received no stipends since the present King +ascended the throne. These princes cannot visit, the Resident except +when they accompany the King himself, so that I have never seen the +two last that I recollect, and only once conversed with the first. +But their characters stand very high. They are never admitted to the +King, nor have they seen him for more than a year, I believe. + +The King will probably object to members of his family forming the +Board, but I dare say I shall be able to persuade him of the +advantage of it. Such a Board, so constituted, would be a pledge to +all India of the honesty of our intentions, and secure to us the +cordial good-will of all who are interested in the welfare of the +family and the good government of the country. + +I should persuade the members to draw from the _elite_ of their own +creed in our service to aid in forming and carrying out the new +system in their several departments. We can give them excellent men +in the revenue and judicial branches, who will be glad to come when +assured that they will not be removed so long as they do their duty +ably and honestly, and will get pensions if their services are +dispensed with after a time. This is all I shall say at present. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B., + &c. &c. + + + ___________________________________ + + + + Lucknow. + +My Lord, + +My Official Report went off on the 25th instant, and will have been +submitted, for your Lordship's consideration. It contains, I believe, +a faithful description of the abuses that exist and require remedy, +and of the obstacles which will be opposed to their removal. But it +does not tell all that might be told of the King himself, who has +become an object of odium and contempt to all but those few +despicable persons with whom he associates exclusively. He eats, +drinks, sleeps, and converses with the singers and eunuchs and +females alone, and the only female who has any influence over him is +the sister of the chief singer, Rusee-od Dowlah, whom he calls his +own sister. No member of the royal family or aristocracy of Oude is +ever admitted to speak to or see his Majesty, and these contemptible +singers are admitted to more equality and familiarity than his own +brothers or sons ever were; they go out, too, with greater pomp than +they or any of the royal family can; and are ordered to be received +with more honours as they pass through the different palaces. The +profligacy that exists within the palace passes all belief, and these +things excite more disgust among the aristocracy of the capital than +all the misrule and malversation that arise from the King's apathy +and incapacity. + +Should your Lordship resolve upon interposing effectually to remedy +these disorders, I think it will be necessary to have at Lucknow, for +at least the first few months, a corps of irregular cavalry. We have +no cavalry in Oude, and none of the King's can be depended upon. The +first thing necessary will be the disbanding of the African, or +Hubshee corps, of three hundred men. They are commanded by one of the +eunuchs, and a fellow fit for any dark purpose. They were formed into +a corps, I believe, because no man's life was safe in Lucknow while +they were loose upon society. + +I think the King will consent without much difficulty or reluctance +to delegate his powers to a Regency, but I am somewhat afraid that he +will object to its being composed of members of his own family. The +Sovereign has always been opposed to employing any of his own +relatives in office. I shall, I dare say, be able to get over this +difficulty, and it will be desirable to employ the best members of +the family in order to show the people of Oude, and of India +generally, that the object of our Government is an honest and +benevolent one. + +A corps of irregular cavalry might be sent to Lucknow from +Goruckpoor, and its place there supplied for a season by a wing from +the corps at Legolee. There is little occasion for the services of +cavalry at either of these places at present. Without any cavalry of +our own here, and with this corps of African assassins at Lucknow at +the beck of the singers, eunuchs, and their creature, the minister, +neither the Resident nor any of the Regency would be safe. The +treasury and crown jewels would be open to any one who would make +away with them. If, therefore, your Lordship should determine upon +offering the king the alternative proposed, no time should be lost in +ordering the irregular corps from Goruckpoor to Lucknow, to be held +at the Resident's disposal. Its presence will be required only for a +few months. + +I have mentioned, in my private letter to Sir H. M. Elliot, three +persons of high character for the Regency. Two of them are brothers +of the King's father. The third, and best, may be considered as in +all respects the first man in Oude. Mohsin-od Dowlah is the grandson +of the King, Ghasee-od Deen; his wife, and the mother of his only +son, is the sister of the King's father, and his only son has been +lately united in marriage to the present King's daughter. He and his +wife have large hereditary incomes, under the guarantee of our +Government, and his character for good sense, prudence, and integrity +stands higher, I believe, than that of any other man in Oude. + +All three belong to the number of the royal family who never visit +the Resident except in company with the King, and I have, in +consequence, never spoken to Mohsin-od Dowlah but once, and never +seen either of the other two whom I have named, Azeemoshan and Khorum +Bukeh, the King's uncles. The characters of all three are very high, +and in general esteem. + +Things are coming to a very critical state. There is no money to pay +any one in the treasury, and the greater part of what comes in is +taken for private purposes, by those who are in power. All see that +there must soon be a great change, and are anxious "to make hay while +the sun shines." The troops are everywhere in a state bordering on +mutiny, but more particularly in and about the capital, because they +cannot indemnify themselves by the plunder of the people as those in +the distant districts do. + +Fortunately the rains have this season been very favourable for +tillage, and the crops may be good if we can preserve them by, some +timely arrangement. + + With great respect I remain, + Your Lordship's obedient, humble servant, + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +the Marquis of Dalhousie. + +P.S.--I find that the irregular corps of cavalry has been moved from +Goruckpoor to Sultanpoor Benares, and that Lagolee and Goruckpoor +have now only one corps between them. + +The Sultanpoor Benares corps might well spare a wing for Lucknow, and +so might the corps at Bareilly spare one. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + + ______________________________ + + + + Lucknow, 11th October, 1849. + +My Dear Elliot, + +Here is a little item of palace news, communicated by one of the +poets who has to assist his Majesty in selecting his verses, and who +knows a good deal about what is going on among the favourites. +Perhaps you may recollect him, Ameen-od Doulah, the eldest son of the +late Aga Meer. + +There is not a greater knave than Walee Alee in India, I believe. +That his Majesty will consent to what the Governor-General may +authorise us to propose I have no doubt, for he and his family are by +this time satisfied that we shall propose nothing but what is good +for them and the people of Oude. + +But the King is no longer in a sound state of mind, and will say and +do whatever the most plausible of the bad speakers may recommend. +When I see him, I must have his signature before respectable +witnesses to all his answers to distinct propositions, and act upon +them at once, as far as I may be authorised by the Governor-General, +or nothing will be done. It would not do for me to commune with him +about affairs till I get instructions from you, as he would be sure +to tell the singers, eunuchs, and minister all that has been said the +moment I left him. + +He has never been a cruel or badly-disposed man, but his mind, +naturally weak, has entirely given way, and is now as helpless as +that of an infant. Every hour's delay will add to our difficulties, +and I wait most anxiously for orders. I am prepared with the new +arrangements, and feel sure that the system will work well, and have +the Governor-General's approval. I can explain it in a few words, and +show the details in a small Table all ready for transmission when +called for. + +We shall have the royal family, the court, and people with us, with +the exception of the minister and the favourites, who are in league +with him, and those who share in the fruits of their corruption. +Fifteen lacs are spoken of as the means ready to get either me out of +the way or put a stop to all attempts of improvement for the present. +I have in my public letter mentioned seven lacs as the average annual +perquisites of the minister--they are at present at least twelve. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B., + &c. &c. + + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Map of the Kingdom of Oude - Drawn under the +superintendence of the Late Major General Sir Wm. Sleeman. +Approximate area covered 79 deg. to 84 deg. E by 25 deg. to 28.5 deg. N.; scale +approximately 38 miles to the inch. Map shows the route taken by the +author on his journey, as noted in his diary.] + + + +DIARY +of +A JOURNEY THROUGH OUDE + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Departure from Lucknow--Gholam Hazrut--Attack on the late Prime +Minister, Ameen-od-Dowla--A similar attack on the sons of a former +Prime Minister, Agar Meer--Gunga Sing and Kulunder Buksh--Gorbuksh +Sing, of Bhitolee--Gonda Bahraetch district--Rughbur Sing--Prethee +Put, of Paska--King of Oude and King of the Fairies--Surafraz mahal. + + +_December_ 1, 1849.--I left Lucknow to proceed on a tour through +Oude, to see the state of the country and the condition of the +people. My wish to do so I communicated to Government, on the 29th of +March last, and its sanction was conveyed to me, in a letter from the +Secretary, dated the 7th of April. On the 16th of November I reported +to Government my intention to proceed, under this sanction, on the +1st of December, and on the 19th I sent the same intimation to the +King. On the 28th, as soon as the ceremonies of the Mohurrum +terminated, His Majesty expressed a wish to see me on the following +day; and on the 29th I went at 9 A.M., accompanied by Captain Bird, +the first Assistant, and Lieutenant Weston, the Superintendant of the +Frontier Police, and took leave of the King, with mutual expression +of good-will. The minister, Alee Nakee Khan, was present. On the 30th +I made over charge of the Treasury to Captain Bird, who has the +charge of the department of the Sipahees' Petitions and the Fyzabad +Guaranteed Pensions; and, taking with me all the office +establishments not required in these three departments, proceeded, +under the usual salute, to Chenahut, eight miles.* + +[* My escort consisted, of two companies of sipahees, from the 10th +Regiment Native Infantry, and my party of Captain Hardwick, +lieutenant Weston, and Lieutenant and Mrs. Willows and my wife and +children, with occasional visitors from Lucknow and elsewhere.] + +The Minister, Dewan and Deputy Minister, Ghoolam Ruza, came out the +first stage with me, and our friend Moonuwur-od Dowla, drove out to +see us in the evening. + +_December_ 2, 1849.--We proceeded to Nawabgunge, the minister riding +out with me, for some miles, to take leave, as I sat in my tonjohn. +At sunrise I ventured, for the first time since I broke my left +thigh-bone on the 4th April, to mount an elephant, the better to see +the country. The land, on both sides of the road, well cultivated, +and studded with groves of mango and other trees, and very fertile. + +The two purgunnas of Nawabgunge and Sidhore are under the charge of +Aga Ahmud, the Amil, who has under him two naibs or deputies, Ghoolam +Abbas and Mahummud Ameer. All three are obliged to connive at the +iniquities of a Landholder, Ghoolam Huzrut, who resides on his small +estate of Jhareeapoora, which he is augmenting, in a manner too +common in Oude, by seizing on the estates of his weaker neighbours. +He wanted to increase the number of his followers, and on the 10th of +November 1849, he sent some men to aid the prisoners in the great +jail at Lucknow to break out. Five of them were killed in the +attempt, seven were wounded, and twenty-five were retaken, but forty- +five escaped, and among them Fuzl Allee, one of the four assassins, +who, in April 1847, cut down the late minister, Ameen-od Dowla, in +the midst of his followers, in one of the principal streets of +Lucknow, through which the road, leading from the city to Cawnpore, +now passes. One of the four, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, was killed in +attempting to escape on the 8th August 1849, and one, Alee Mahomed, +was killed in this last attempt. The third, Fuzl Allee, with some of +the most atrocious and desperate of his companions, is now with this +Ghoolam Huzrut, disturbing the peace of the country. The leader in +this attempt was Ghoolam Hyder Khan, who is still in jail at Lucknow. + +On my remarking to the King's wakeel that these ruffians had all +high-sounding names, he said, "They are really all men of high +lineage; and men of that class, who become ruffians, are always sure +to be of the worst description." "As horses of the best blood, when +they do become vicious, are the most incorrigible, I suppose?" +"Nothing can be more true, sir," rejoined the wakeel. An account of +the attack made by the above-named ruffians on the minister, may be +here given as both interesting and instructive, or at least as +illustrative of the state of society and government in Oude. + +At five in the morning of the 8th of April 1847, the minister, Ameen- +od Dowlah, left his house in a buggy to visit the King. Of his armed +attendants he had only three or four with him. He had not gone far +when four armed assassins placed themselves in front of his buggy and +ordered him to stop. One of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, seized the horse; +by the bridle, and told the minister, that he must give him the +arrears of pay due before he could go on. The other three, Fuzl +Allee, Allee Mahomed, and Hyder Khan, came up and stood on the right +side of the buggy. One of the minister's servants, named Hollas, +tried to prevent their coming near, but was fired upon by Allee +Mahomed. He missed him, but Fuzl Allee discharged his blunderbuss at +him, and he fell; but in falling, he wounded Hyder Khan slightly with +his sword. Hyder Khan then threw away his fire-arms and sprang into +the buggy with his naked dagger in his right hand and the minister in +his left. The minister seized him round the waist, forced him back +out of the buggy on the left, and fell upon him. Tuffuzzul Hoseyn +then quitted his hold of the horse and rushed to his comrade's +assistance, but the minister still holding Hyder Khan in his right +hand, seized Tuffuzzul Hoseyn with his left. Syud Aman Allee, another +personal servant of the minister, was cut down by Fuzl Allee, in +attempting to aid his master, and a third personal servant, Shah +Meer, was severely wounded by Allee Mahomed, and stood at a distance +of twenty paces, calling for help. Fuzl Allee now made two cuts with +his sword on the right shoulder and arm of the minister, below the +elbow, and he quitted his hold on the two assassins and fell. The +four assassins now grasped their victim, and told him that they would +do him no farther harm if no rescue were attempted. As they saw the +rest of the minister's armed attendants and a crowd approach, Fuzl +Allee and Hyder Khan, with their blunderbusses loaded and cocked, +stood one at each end of an open space of about sixty yards, and +threatened to shoot the first man who should venture to approach +nearer. The crowd and attendants of the minister were kept back, and +no one ventured to enter this space, in the centre of which the +minister lay, grasped by Tuffuzzul Hoseyn and Allee Mahomed, who held +their naked daggers at his breast. The minister called out to his +attendants and the crowd to keep back. He was then allowed to rise +and walk to a small raised terrace on the side of the street, where +he lay down on his back, being unable any longer to sit or stand from +the loss of blood. Tuffuzzul Hoseyn and Allee Mahomed knelt over him, +holding the points of their daggers at his breast, and swearing that +they would plunge them to his heart if he attempted to move, or any +one presumed to enter the open space to rescue him. Hollas and Syud +Aman Allee lay bleeding at the spot where they fell. Hollas died that +day, and Syud Aman Allee a few days after, of lock-jaw. + +As soon as the attack on the minister was made, information of it was +sent off to the Resident, Colonel Richmond, who wrote to request the +Brigadier Commanding the Troops in Oude, to send him, as soon as +possible, a regiment of infantry with two guns, from the Cantonments, +which are three miles and a-half distant from the Residency, on the +opposite side from the scene of the attack, to prevent any tumult +that the loose characters of the city might attempt to raise on the +occasion, and repaired himself to the spot attended by the Assistant, +Captain Bird, and a small guard of sipahees. They reached the open +spot, in the centre of which the minister lay, about a quarter of an +hour after he fell. He found the street, in which the attack took +place, crowded with people up to the place where the two sentries, +Fuzl Allee and Hyder Khan, stood at each end of the open space, in +the centre of which the minister lay, with the daggers of the two +other assassins pressing upon his breast. On reaching one end of the +open space, the Resident directed Captain Bird to advance to the spot +where the minister lay. The assassin who guarded that end at first +threatened to shoot him, but no sooner recognized him than he let him +pass on unattended. He asked the two men, who knelt over the +minister, what they meant by this assault. They told him, that good +men were no longer employed in the King's service, and that they +were, in consequence, without the means of subsistence; and had been +compelled to resort to this mode of obtaining them; that they +required fifty thousand rupees from the minister, with a written +assurance from the British Resident, that they should be escorted in +safety across the Ganges into the British territory with this sum. + +The Resident peremptorily refused to enter into any written agreement +with them, and told them, through the Assistant, that if they +presumed to put the minister to death, or to offer him any further +violence, they should be all four immediately shot down and cut to +pieces; but, if they did him no further harm, their lives should, be +spared; and, to prevent their being killed as soon as they quitted +their hold, that he would take them all with him to the Residency, +and neither imprison them himself, nor have them made over as +prisoners to the Oude Government; but that he declined being a party +to any arrangement that the minister might wish to make of paying +money for his life. + +They continued resolutely to threaten instant death to the minister +should any one but the Resident or his Assistant presume to enter the +open space in which he lay. Many thousands of reckless and desperate +characters filled the street, ready to commence a tumult, for the +plunder of the city, the moment that the minister or the assassins +should be killed, while the relations and dependents of the minister, +with loud cries, offered lacs of rupees to the assassins if they +spared his life, so as to encourage them to hold out. They at last +collected and brought to the spot, on three or four elephants, the +fifty thousand rupees demanded by the assassins, and offered them to +his assailants apparently with his concurrence; and the four +ruffians, having assented to the terms offered by the Resident, +permitted Doctor Login, the Residency Surgeon, to approach the +prostrate minister and dress his wounds. One of the assassins, +however, continued to kneel by his side with his naked dagger resting +on his breast till he saw the other three seated upon the elephants, +on which the money was placed, with the understanding, that the guard +of sipahees, which the Resident had brought with him, should escort +them to the Residency, and that Captain Bird, the Assistant, should +accompany them. The fourth man then quitted his hold on the minister, +who had become very faint, and climbed upon Captain Bird's elephant +and took seat behind him. Captain Bird, however, made him get off, +and mount another elephant with his companions. The crowd shouted +_shah bash, shah bash!_--well done, well done! and they attempted to +scatter some of the money from the elephants among them, but were +prevented by Captain Bird, who dreaded the consequences in such a +tumult. They were all four taken to the Residency under the guard of +sipahees, and accommodated in one of the lower rooms of the office; +and a guard was placed over the money with orders to keep back the +crowd of spectators, which was very great. Three of the four ruffians +had been wounded by the minister's attendants before they could +secure his person, and their wounds were now dressed by Doctor Login. + +It was now ten o'clock, and at twelve the Resident had an interview +with the King, who had become much alarmed, not only for the safety +of the minister, but for that of the city, threatened by the +thousands of bad characters, anxious for an occasion of pillage; and +he expressed an anxious wish that the assassins should be made over +to him for trial. But the Resident pleaded the solemn promise which +he had made, and his Majesty admitted the necessity of the promise +under the circumstances, and that of keeping it; but said that he +would have the whole affair carefully investigated. As soon as the +Resident left him, he sent a company of sipahees with fetters to the +Residency to receive charge of the prisoners, but the Resident would +not give them up. The King then wrote a letter to the Resident with +his own hand, requesting that the prisoners might be surrendered to +him. The Resident, in his reply to His Majesty's, letter, told him, +that he could not so far violate the promise he had given, but that +he would send them to answer any other charges that might be brought +against them, in any open and impartial Court that might be appointed +to try them; and if they should be found guilty of other crimes, His +Majesty might order any sentence passed upon them, short of death, to +be carried into execution. + +Charges of many successful attempts of the same kind, and many +atrocious murders perpetrated by the ruffians, in distant districts +of Oude, were preferred against them; and they were prevailed upon to +give up their arms, and to submit to a fair and open trial, on the +other charges preferred against them, on condition that they should +neither be put to death nor in any way maimed, or put in fetters, or +subjected to ill-treatment before trial and conviction. The Resident +offered them the alternative of doing this or leaving the Residency, +after he had read to them the King's letter, and told them, that his +promise extended only to saving their lives and escorting them to the +Residency; and, that he would not be answerable for their lives +beyond the court-yard of the Residency, if they refused the +conditions now offered. They knew that their lives would not be safe +for a moment after they got beyond the court-yard, and submitted. +Their arms and the fifty thousand rupees were sent to the King. At +four in the afternoon, the four prisoners were made over to the +King's wakeel, on a solemn promise given under the express sanction +of his Majesty, of safe conduct through the streets, of freedom from +fetters, or any kind of ill-treatment before conviction, and of fair +and open trial. + +But they had not gone two paces from the Residency court-yard, when +they were set upon by the very people sent by the King to take care +of them on the way; the King's wakeel having got into his palkee and +gone on before them towards the palace. They were beaten with whips, +sticks, and the hilts of swords, till one of the four fell down +insensible, and the other three were reduced to a pitiable condition. +The Resident took measures to protect them from further violence, +recalled the wakeel; and, after admonishing him for his dishonourable +conduct, had the prisoners taken unfettered to a convenient house +near the prison. The wounded minister wrote to the King, earnestly +praying that the prisoners might not suffer any kind of ill-treatment +before conviction, after a fair and impartial trial. The Resident +reported to Government all that had occurred, and stated, that he +should see that the promises made to the prisoners were fulfilled, +that, should they be convicted before the Court appointed to conduct +the trial, of other crimes perpetrated before this assault on the +minister, they would be subject to such punishment as the Mahommedan +law prescribed for such crimes. Three of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, +Hyder Khan, and Fuzl Allee, were convicted, on their own confessions, +and the testimony of their own relations, of many cold blooded +murders, and successful attempts to extort money from respectable and +wealthy persons in different parts of Oude, similar to this on the +minister, and all four were sentenced to imprisonment for life. The +Government of India had insisted on their not being executed or +mutilated. Fuzl Allee, as above stated, broke jail, and is still at +large at his old trade, and Hyder Khan is still in prison at Lucknow. + +These ruffians appear to have been encouraged, in this assault upon +the minister, for the purpose of extorting money, by a similar but +more successful attempt made in the year 1824, by a party headed by a +person named Syud Mahomed Eesa Meean, _alias_ Eesa Meean. + +This person came to Lucknow with a letter of recommendation from +Captain Gough. He delivered it in person to the Resident, but was +never after seen or heard of by him till this affair occurred. He +became a kind of saint, or _apostle_, at Lucknow; and Fakeer Mahomed +Khan Rusaldar, who commanded a corps of Cavalry, and had much +influence over the minister, Aga Meer, became one of his _disciples_, +and prevailed upon the minister to entertain him as a mosahib, or +aide-de-camp. He soon became a favourite with Aga Meer, and formed a +liaison with a dancing-girl, named Beeba Jan. His conduct towards her +soon became too violent and overbearing, and she sought shelter with +the Khasmahal, or chief consort, of the minister, who promised her +protection, and detained her in her apartments. Eesa Meean appealed +to the minister, and demanded her surrender. The minister told him +that she was mistress of her own actions, as she had never gone +through the ceremonies of permanent marriage, or _nikkah_, nor even +those of a temporary one, _motah_; and most be considered as +altogether free to choose her own lovers or mode of life. + +He then appealed to Moulavee Karamut Allee, the tutor of Aga Meer's +children, but was told, that he could not interfere, as the female +was a mere acquaintance of his, and bound to him by no legal ties +whatever; and must, therefore, be considered as free to reside where +and with whom she chose. Eesa Meean then took his resolution, and +prevailed upon some fifteen of the loose and desperate characters who +always swarm at Lucknow, to aid him in carrying it out. On the 2nd of +June 1824, Karamut Allee, the tutor, was bathing, and Aga Meer's two +eldest sons, Aga Allee, aged eleven, and Nizam-od Dowlah, aged six +years were reading their lessons in the school-room, under the +deputy-tutor, Moulavee Ameen Allee. It was early in the morning, but +the minister had gone out to wait upon the King. Eesa Meean entered +the school-room, and approached the children with the usual courtesy +and compliments, followed by six armed men, and one table attendant, +or khidmutgar. + +The two boys were sitting beside each other, the eldest, Aga Allee, +on the left, and the youngest, Nizam-od Dowla, on the right. Eesa +Meean sat down on the left side of the eldest, and congratulated both +on the rapid progress they were making in their studies. Three of his +followers, while he was doing this, placed themselves on the left of +the eldest, and the other three on the right of the youngest. On a +concerted signal all drew forth and cocked their pistols, and placed +themselves at the only three doors that opened from the school-room, +two at each, while at a signal made by the khidmutgar, eight more men +came in armed in the same manner. Two of them with naked daggers in +their right hands seized the two boys with their left, and threatened +them with instant death if they attempted to more or call for help. +The other six threatened to kill any one who should attempt to force +his way into the apartment. The khidmutgar, in the mean time, seized +and brought into the room two large gharahs or pitchers of drinking +water, that stood outside, as the weather was very hot, and the party +would require it They were afraid that poison might be put into the +water if left outside after they had commenced the assault. Eesa +Meean then declared, that he had been driven to this violent act by +the detention of his girl by the Khasmahal, and must have her +instantly surrendered, or they would put the boys to death. Hearing +the noise from his bathing-room, their tutor, Karamut Allee, rushed +into the room with nothing on his person but his waist-band, and +began to admonish the ruffians. Seeing him unarmed, and respecting +his peaceful character, they let him pass in and vociferate, but paid +no regard to what he said. + +The alarm had spread through the house and town, and many of the +chief officers of the Court were permitted to enter the room unarmed. +Roshun-od Dowlah, Sobhan Allee Khan, Fakeer Mahomed Khan, Nuzee Allee +Khan, (the Khasmahul's son-in-law,) and others of equal rank, all in +loud terms admonished the assailants, and demanded the surrender of +the children, but all were alike unheeded. The chief merchant of +Lucknow, Sa Gobind Lal, came in; and thinking that all affairs could +and ought to be settled in a business-like way, told the chief +officers to fix the sum to be given, and he would at once pledge +himself to the payment. All agreed to this, and Sobhan Allee Khan, +the Chief Secretary of the minister, set to work and drew up a long +and eloquent paper of conditions. On his beginning to read it, one of +the ruffians, who had one eye, rushed in, snatched it from his hand, +tore it to pieces, and threw the fragments into his chief's, Eesa +Meean's, face, saying, "that this fellow would write them all out of +their lives, as he was writing the people of Oude every day out of +their properties; that if they must die, it should not be by pen and +paper, but by swords and daggers in a fair fight; that all their +lives had been staked, and all should die or live together." He was +overpowered by the others, and other papers were drawn up by the +ready writer and consummate knave Sobhan Allee, but the one-eyed man +contrived to get hold of all, one after the other, and tear them up. + +The minister was with the King when he first heard of the affair, and +he went off forthwith to the Resident, Mr. Ricketts, to say, that his +Majesty had in vain endeavoured to rescue the boys through his +principal civil officers, and had sent all his available troops, but +in vain; and now earnestly entreated the British Resident to +interpose and save their lives. The Resident consented to do so, on +condition that any arrangement he might find it necessary to make +should be binding on his Majesty and the minister. Aga Meer returned +to the King with this message, and his Majesty agreed to this +condition. The Resident then sent his head moonshie, Gholam Hossein, +to promise Eesa Meean, that the woman should be restored to him, and +any grievance he might have to complain of should be redressed, and +his party all saved, if he gave up the children. But he and his +followers now demanded a large sum of money, and declared, that they +would murder the boys unless it was given and secured to them, with a +pledge for personal security to the whole party. + +The minister, on hearing this, came to the Resident, and implored him +to adopt some measures to save the lives of the children. The +Resident had been for three weeks confined to his couch from illness, +but he sent his Assistant, Captain Lockett, with full powers to make +any arrangement, and pledge himself to any engagements, which might +appear to him to be necessary, to save the lives of the boys. He +went, and being unarmed, was permitted to enter the room. He asked +for Eesa Meean, whom he had never before seen, when one of the party +that knelt over the boys rose, and saluting him, said, "I am Eesa +Meean." Captain Lockett told him that he wanted to speak to him in +private, when Eesa Meean pointed to a door leading into a side room, +into which they retired. Eesa Meean offered Captain Lockett a chair, +and at his request sat down by his side. He then entered into a long +story of grievances, which Captain Lockett considered to be +frivolous, and said, "that the minister had injured his prospects in +many ways, and at last disgraced him in the eyes of all people at +Lucknow, by conniving at the elopement of the dancing-girl that he +was a soldier and regardless of life under such disgrace, and +prepared to abide by the result of his present attempt to secure +redress, whatever it might be; that his terms were the payment down +of five lacs of rupees, the restoration of his dancing-girl, and the +security of his own person and property, with permission to go where +he pleased, unmolested." Captain Lockett reminded him quietly of what +he had just said: "that he was a soldier, and anxious only for the +recovery of his lost honour; that now, to demand, money, was to show +to the world that wounded honour was urged as a mere pretext, and the +seizure of the boys a means adopted for the sole purpose of extorting +money; that he could not condescend to hold further converse with him +if he persisted in such preposterous demands; that he might murder +the children as they seemed to be in his power, but if he did so, he +and his party would be all instantly put to death, as the house was +surrounded by thousands of the King's soldiers, ready to fall upon +them at the slightest signal." He then recommended him to release the +boys forthwith before the excitement without became more strong, and +accompany him to the Residency, where his real Wrongs would be +inquired into and redressed. + +Eesa Meean then rose and said: "Money is not my object. I despise it. +I regard nothing but the preservation of my honour, and agree to what +you propose; but I have several companions here who require to be +consulted: let me speak to them." He then went into the large room. +His companions all made objections of one kind or another, and what +they all agreed to one moment was rejected the next. They vociferated +loudly, and disputed violently with each other, and with all around +them, and at times appeared desperate and determined to sacrifice the +boys, and sell their own lives as dearly as possible. Eesa Meean +himself seemed to be the most violent and boisterous of all, and had +his hand frequently on the hilt of his sword when he disputed with +the King's officers, whom he abused in the grossest possible terms. +They did more harm than good by their want of temper and patience, +but above all by their utter want of character, since no one could +place the slightest reliance on the word of any one of them in such a +trying moment. They seemed to have no control over their feelings, +and to think that they could do all that was required by harsh +language and loud bawling. + +Captain Lockett at last persuaded them to leave the whole affair in +his hands; and had they done so at first, he would have settled the +matter, he thought, in half the time. They had been discussing +matters in this angry manner for four hours and a half, without +making the slightest impression on the ruffians; but when all became +silent, Captain Lockett prevailed on them to release the boys on the +conditions agreed to between him and Eesa Meean, and recorded on +paper. In this paper it was declared--"That Syud Mahomed Eesa Khan, +together with the woman, Beeba Jan, shall be allowed to go where he +liked, with security to his life and honour, and with all the +property and effects he might have, whether he got it from the King +of Oude or from his minister; and that no one, either in the +Honourable Company's or in the King of Oude's dominions, shall offer +him any molestation; that no obstruction shall be thrown in his way +by the officers of the British Government in the countries of any of +the Rajahs at whose courts there may be a British Resident; and +further, that no molestation shall be offered to him in the British +territories in consequence of the disturbance which took place at +Bareilly in 1816. + +"(Signed) A. LOCKETT, _Assistant Resident_." + +After this paper had been signed by Captain Lockett, the two boys +were set at liberty, and sent off in palanqeens to their mother under +a guard. The minister had, in the morning, promised to give the +assailants twenty thousand rupees, and they arrived before the +discussions closed, and were placed on the floor of the school-room. +The girl, Beeba Jan, was now brought into the room, and made over to +Eesa Meean. When first brought before him, she thought she was to be +sacrificed to save the lives of the boys, and was in a state of great +agitation. She implored Captain Lockett to save her life; but, to the +great surprise of all present, Eesa Meean took up one of the bags of +money, containing one thousand rupees, and, with a smile, put it into +her arms, and told her that she was now at liberty to return to her +home or go where she pleased. The joy expressed by the girl and by +all who witnessed this scene was very great; for they had all +considered him to be a mere ruffian, incapable of anything like a +generous action. + +It had been arranged that Eesa Meean, with all his party, should go +with Captain Lockett to the Residency; but when the time came, and +the excitement had passed away in the apartment, he began to be +alarmed, and told Captain Lockett that he felt sure he should be +murdered on the road. He wanted to go with Captain Lockett on the +same elephant, but to this Captain Lockett would not consent, as it +would compromise his dignity, to sit on the same elephant with so +atrocious a character. There was no palanqeen available for him, and +he would not allow Captain Lockett to enter his, declaring that if he +did so, he, Eesa Meean, would be instantly cut down by the King's +people. Captain Lockett was, therefore, obliged to walk with him from +the minister's house at Dowlut Poora to the Residency, a distance of +a mile, in the heat of the day, and the hottest month in the year, +followed by the King's troops, and an immense multitude from the +city. About four o'clock Captain Lockett reached the Residency, and +made over Eesa Meean and his sixteen followers to the Resident, who +ratified the written engagement, and sent the party to the +cantonments, three miles distant from the city, to Brigadier-General +Price, who commanded the troops in Oude, to be taken care of for a +few days till arrangements could be made for their safe conduct to +Cawnpore, within the British territory. Their arms were taken from +them, to be sent to the magistrate at Cawnpore, for delivery to them +when they might be released. On the morning of the 3rd the King came +to the Resident to thank him for what he had done, and express the +sense he entertained of the judicious conduct of his Assistant during +the whole of this trying scene; and to request that he might be +permitted to go to the palace to receive some mark of distinction +which his Majesty wished to confer upon him. Captain Lockett went +with the minister, and was received with marked distinction; and +thirteen trays of shawls and other articles were presented to him. +Captain Lockett selected one pair, which he accepted, and placed, as +usual, in the Resident's Toshuk-khana. + +When he signed the paper he remarked the omission of all mention of +Eesa Meean's associates in that document, but did not consider it to +be his duty to point out the oversight, lest it might increase the +excitement, and prolong the angry discussions. In his report of the +circumstances to the Resident, however, he mentioned it to him, and +told him that the omission clearly arose from an oversight, and +unless his associates received the same indulgence as the principal, +Eesa Meean himself, their exclusion from the benefits of the +engagement might be attributed to decoit or artifice on his part. The +Resident concurred in this opinion, and in his report of the +following day to Government, he recommended that they should all be +considered as included in the engagement. + +Government, in its reply of the 25th of June 1824, consents to this +construction of the written engagement, but notices a no less +important oversight on the part of the Resident and his Assistant, in +the free pardon given to Eesa Meean, for the share he had taken in +the Bareilly insurrection, which had caused the loss of so many lives +in April 1816. Government infers, that they could, neither of them +have been aware, that this ruffian was the original instigator and +most active leader in that formidable insurrection; that it was +chiefly, if not entirely, owing to his endeavours to inflame the +popular phrenzy, and to collect partizans from the neighbouring +towns, that the efforts of the local authorities, to quell or avert +the rising storm, failed wholly of success; that he stood charged as +a principal in the murder of Mr. Leycester's son, and that, on these +grounds, he was expressly excluded from the general amnesty, declared +after the successful suppression of the rebellion, and a reward of +two thousand rupees offered for his arrest; that this written pledge +had involved Government in the dilemma of either cancelling a public +act of the British Resident, or pardoning and setting at large, +within its territory, a proclaimed outlaw, and notorious rebel and +most dangerous incendiary; and that it felt bound in duty to guard +the public peace from the hazard of further interruption, through the +violence or intrigue of so desperate and atrocious an offender; and +to annul that part of the engagement which absolves Eesa Meean from +his guilt in the Bareilly insurrection, since the Resident and his +Assistant went beyond their powers in pledging their Government to +such a condition. Government directed, that he and his associates +should be safely escorted over the border into the British territory, +and that he should not be brought to trial before a Judicial Court, +with a view to his being capitally punished for his crimes at +Bareilly, but be confined, as a state prisoner, in the fortress of +Allahabad. The Government, in strong but dignified terms, expresses +its surprise and displeasure at his having been placed in so +confidential a position, and permitted to bask in the sunshine of +ministerial favour, when active search was being made for him all +over India; for the King and his minister must have been both aware +of the part he had taken in the Bareilly insurrection, since the King +himself alludes to it in a letter submitted by the Resident to +Government on the 8th of June 1824. + +The Resident and his Assistant, in letters dated 15th of July, +declare that they were altogether unacquainted with the part which +Eesa Meean had taken in the Bareilly rebellion in 1816, the Resident +being at that time at the Cape of Good Hope, and his Assistant in +England. Eesa Meean was confined, as directed, in the fort of +Allahabad; but soon afterwards released on the occasion of the +Governor-General's visit to that place. He returned again to Lucknow +in the year 1828, soon after Aga Meer had been removed from his +office of minister. As soon as it was discovered that he was in the +city, he was seized and sent across the Ganges; and is said to have +been killed in Malwa or Goozerat, in a similar attempt upon some +native chief or his minister. + +The two boys are still living, the eldest, Aga Allee, or Ameen-od +Dowla, at Lucknow, and Nizam-od Dowla, the youngest, at Cawnpore; +both drawing large hereditary pensions, under the guarantee of the +British Government. This is not the Ameen-od Dowla who was attacked +in the streets, as above described, in the year 1847. + +About two years ago this Ghoolam Huzrut took by violence possession +of the small estate of Golha, now in the Sibhore purgunnah; and +turned out the proprietor, Bhowannee Sing, a Rathore Rajpoot, whose +ancestors had held it for several centuries. The poor man was re- +established in it by the succeeding contractor, Girdhara Sing; but on +his losing his contract, Ghoolam Huzret, on the 23rd of September +last, again attacked Bhowanne Sing at midnight, at the head of a gang +of ruffians; and after killing five of his relatives and servants, +and burning down his houses, turned him and his family out, and +secured possession of the village, which he still holds. The King's +officers were too weak to protect the poor man, and have hitherto +acquiesced in the usurpation of the village. Ghoolam Huzrut has +removed all the autumn crops to his own village; and cut down and +taken away sixty mango-trees planted by Bhowannee Sing's ancestors. +Miherban Sing, the son of the sufferer, is a sipahee in the 63rd +Regiment Native Infantry, and he presented a petition through the +Resident in behalf of his father. Other petitions have been since +presented, and the Court has been strongly urged to afford redress. +Ghoolam Huzrut has two forts, to which he retires when pursued, one +at _Para_, and one at _Sarai_, and a good many powerful landholders +always ready to support him against the government, on condition of +being supported by him when necessary. + +On crossing the river Ghagra, I directed Captain Bunbury, (who +commands a regiment in the King of Oude's service with six guns, and +was to have accompanied me, and left the main body of his regiment +with his guns under his second in command, Captain Hearsey, at +Nawabgunge,) to surprise and capture Ghoolam Huzrut, if possible, by +a sudden march. He had left his fort of Para, on my passing within a +few miles of it, knowing that the minister had been with me, and +thinking that he might have requested my aid for the purpose. Captain +Bunbury joined his main body unperceived, made a forced march during +the night, and reached the fort of Para at daybreak in the morning, +without giving alarm to any one on the road. In this surprise he was +aided by Khoda Buksh, of Dadra, a very respectable and excellent +landholder, who had suffered from Ghoolam Huzrut's depredations. + +He had returned to his fort with all his family on my passing, and it +contained but few soldiers, with a vast number of women and children. +He saw that it would be of no use to resist, and surrendered his fort +and person to Captain Bunbury, who sent him a prisoner to Lucknow, +under charge of two Companies, commanded by Captain Hearsey. He is +under trial, but he has so many influential friends about the Court, +with whom he has shared his plunder, that his ultimate punishment is +doubtful. Captain Bunbury was praised for his skill and gallantry, +and was honoured with a title by the king. + +_December_ 3, 1849.--Kinalee, ten miles over a plain, highly +cultivated and well studded with groves, but we could see neither +town, village, nor hamlet on the road. A poor Brahmin, Gunga Sing, +came along the road with me, to seek redress for injuries sustained. +His grandfather was in the service of our Government, and killed +under Lord Lake, at the first siege of Bhurtpore in 1804. With the +little he left, the family had set up as agricultural capitalists in +the village of Poorwa Pundit, on the estate of Kulunder Buksh, of +Bhitwal. Here they prospered. The estate was, as a matter of favour +to Kulunder Buksh, transferred from the jurisdiction of the +contractor to that of the Hozoor Tehseel.* Kulunder Buksh either +could not, or would not, pay the Government demand; and he employed +two of his relatives, Godree and Hoseyn Buksh, to plunder in the +estate and the neighbourhood, to reduce Government to his own terms. +These two persons, with two hundred armed men, attacked the village +in the night; and, after plundering the house of this Brahmin, Gunga +Sing, they seized his wife, who was then pregnant, and made her point +out a hidden treasure of one hundred and seven gold mohurs, and two +hundred and seventy-seven rupees. She had been wounded in several +places before she did this, and when she could point out no more, one +of the two brothers cut her down with his sword, and killed her. In +all the Brahmin lost two thousand seven hundred and fifty-five +rupees' worth of property; and, on the ground of his grandfather +having been killed in the Honourable Company's service, has been ever +since urging the Resident to interpose with the Oude government in +his behalf. + +[* The term "Hozoor Tehseel" signifies the collections of the revenue +made by the governor himself whether of a district or a kingdom. The +estates of all landholders who pay their land-revenues direct to the +governor, or to the deputy employed under him to receive such +revenues and manage such estates, are said to be in the "Hozoor +Tehseel." The local authorities of the districts on which such +estates are situated have nothing whatever to do with them.] + +The estate of Bhitwal has been retransferred to the jurisdiction of +the Amil of Byswara, who has restored it to Kulunder Buksh; and his +two relatives, Godree and Hoseyn Buksh, are thriving on the booty +acquired, and are in high favour with the local authorities. I have +requested that measures may be adopted to punish them for the robbery +and the cruel murder of the poor woman; but have little hope that +they will be so. _No government in India is now more weak for +purposes of good than that of Oude_. + +This village of Kinalee is now in the estate of Ramnuggur Dhumeereea, +held by Gorbuksh, a large landholder, who has a strong fort, +Bhitolee, at the point of the Delta, formed by the Chouka and Ghagra +rivers, which here unite. He has taken refuge with some four thousand +armed followers in this fort, under the apprehension of being made to +pay the full amount of the Government demand, and called to account +for the rescue of some atrocious offenders from Captain Hearsey, of +the Frontier Police, by whom they had been secured. Gorbuksh used to +pay two hundred thousand rupees a-year for many years for this +estate, without murmur or difficulty; but for the last three years he +has not paid the rate, to which he has got it reduced, of one hundred +and fifty thousand. Out of his rents and the revenues due to +Government he keeps up a large body of armed followers, to intimidate +the Government, and seize upon the estates of his weaker neighbours, +many of which he has lately appropriated by fraud, violence, and +collusion. An attempt was this year made to put the estate under the +management of Government officers; but he was too strong for the +Government, which was obliged to temporise, and at last to yield. He +is said to exact from the landholders the sum of two hundred and +fifty thousand rupees a-year. He holds also the estate of Bhitolee, +at the apex of the delta of the Ghagra and Chouka rivers, in which +the fort of Bhitolee is situated. The Government demand on this +estate is fifty thousand (50,000) rupees a-year. His son, Surubjeet +Sing, is engaged in plunder, and, it is said, with his father's +connivance and encouragement, though he pretends to be acting in +disobedience of his orders. The object is, to augment their estate, +and intimidate the Government and its officers by gangs of ruffians, +whom they can maintain only by plunder and malversation. The greater +part of the lands, comprised in this estate of Ramnuggur Dhumeereea, +of which Rajah Gorbuksh is now the local governor, are hereditary +possessions which have been held by his family for many generations. +A part has been recently seized from weaker neighbours, and added to +them. The rest are merely under him as the governor or public +officer, intrusted with the collection of the revenue and the +management of the police. + +_December_ 4, 1849.--Gunesh Gunge, _alias_ Byram-ghat, on the right +bank of the river Ghagra, distance about twelve miles. The country +well cultivated, and studded with good groves of mango and other +trees. We passed through and close to several villages, whose houses +are nothing but mud walls, without a thatched or tiled roof to one in +twenty. The people say there is no security in them from the King's +troops and the passies, a large class of men in Oude, who are village +watchmen but inveterate thieves and robbers, when not employed as +such. All refractory landholders hire a body of passies to fight for +them, as they pay themselves out of the plunder, and cost little to +their employers. They are all armed with bows and arrows, and are +very formidable at night. They and their refractory employers keep +the country in a perpetual state of disorder; and, though they do not +prevent the cultivation of the land, they prevent the village and +hamlets from being occupied by anybody who has anything to lose, and +no strong local ties to restrain him. + +The town of Ramnuggur, in which Gorbuksh resides occasionally, is on +the road some five miles from the river. It has a good many houses, +but all are of the same wretched description; mud walls, with +invisible coverings or no coverings at all; no signs of domestic +peace or happiness; but nothing can exceed the richness and variety +of the crops in and around Ramnuggur. It is a fine garden, and would +soon be beautiful, were life and property better secured, and some +signs of domestic comfort created. The ruined state of the houses in +this town and in the villages along the road, is, in part, owing to +the system which requires all the King's troops to forage for +themselves on the march, and the contractors, and other collectors of +revenue, to be continually on the move, and to take all their troops +with them. The troops required in the provinces should be cantoned in +five or six places most convenient, with regard, to the districts to +be controlled, and most healthy for the people; and provided with +what they require, as ours are, and sent out to assist the revenue +collectors and magistrates only when their services are indispensably +necessary. Some Chundele Rajpoot landholders came to me yesterday to +say, that Ghoolam Huzrut, with his bands of armed ruffians, seemed +determined to seize upon all the estates of his weaker Hindoo +neighbours, and they would soon lose theirs, unless the British +Government interposed to protect them. Gorbuksh has not ventured to +come, as he was ordered, to pay his respects to the Resident; but has +shut himself up in his fort at Bhitolee, about six miles up the river +from our camp. The Chouka is a small river which there flows into the +Ghagra. He is said to have four or five thousand men with him; and +several guns mounted in his fort. The ferry over the Ghagra is close +to our tents, and called Byram-ghat. + +_December_ 5, 1849.--Crossed the river Ghagra, in boats, and encamped +at Nawabgunge, on the left bank, where we were met by one of the +collectors of the Gonda Bahraetch district. He complained of the +difficulties experienced in realizing the just demands of the +exchequer, from the number and power of the tallookdars of the +district, who had forts and bands of armed followers, too strong for +the King's officers. There were, he said, in the small purgunnah of +Gouras-- + +1.--Pretheeput Sing, of Paska, who has a strong fort called Dhunolee, +on the right bank of the Ghagra, opposite to Paska and Bumhoree, two +strongholds, which he has on the left bank of that river, and he is +always ready to resist the Government. + +2.--Murtonjee Buksh, of Shahpoor, who is always ready to do the same; +and a great ruffian. + +3.--Shere Bahader Sing, of Kuneear.* + +4.--Maheput Sing, of Dhunawa.* + +5.--Surnam Sing, of Arta.* + +6.--Maheput Sing, of Paruspoor.* + +[* All four are at present on good terms with the Government and its +local authorities.] + +They have each a fort, or stronghold, mounting five or six guns, and +trained bands of armed and brave men of five or six hundred, which +they augment, as occasion requires, by Gohars, or auxiliary bands +from their friends. + +Hurdut Sing, of Bondee, _alias_ Bumnootee, held an estate for which +he paid one hundred and eighty-two thousand (1,82,000) rupees a year +to Government; but he was driven, out of it in 1846-47, by Rughbur +Sing, the contractor, who, by rapacity and outrage, drove off the +greater part of the cultivators, and so desolated the estate that it +could not now be made to yield thirty thousand (30,000) rupees a- +year. The Raja has ever since resided with a few followers in an +island in the Ghagra. He has never openly resisted or defied the +Government, but is said to be sullen, and a bad paymaster. He still +holds the estate in its desolate condition. + +The people of Nawabgunge drink the water of wells, close to the bank +of the river, and often the water of the river itself, and say that +they never suffer from it; but that a good many people in several +villages, along the same bank, have the goitre to a very distressing +degree. + +_December_ 6, 1849.--Halted at Byram-ghat, in order to enable all our +people and things to come up. One of our elephants nearly lost his +life yesterday in the quick-sands of the river. Capt. Weston rode out +yesterday close to Bhitolee, the little fort of Rajah Gorbuksh Sing, +who came out in a litter and told him, that he would come to me to- +day at noon, and clear himself of the charges brought against him of +rescuing and harbouring robbers, and refusing to pay the Government +demand. He had been suffering severely from fever for fifteen days. + +Karamut Allee complains that his father, Busharut Allee, had been +driven out from the purgunnahs of Nawabgunge and Sidhore, by Ghoolum +Huzrut and his associates, who had several times attacked and +plundered the town of Nawabgunge, our second stage, and a great many +other villages around, from which they had driven off all the +cultivators and stock, in order to appropriate them to themselves, +and augment their landed estates; that they had cut down all the +groves of mango-trees planted by the rightful proprietors and their +ancestors, in order to remove all local ties; and murdered or maimed +all cultivators who presumed to till any of the lands without their +permission, that Busharut Allee had held the contract for the land +revenue of the purgunnah for twenty years, and paid punctually one +hundred and thirty-five thousand (1,35,000) rupees a-year to the +treasury, till about four years ago, when Ghoolam Huzrut commenced +this system of spoliation and seizure, since which time the purgunnah +had been declining, and could not now yield seventy thousand (70,000) +rupees to the treasury; that his family had held many villages in +hereditary right for many generations, within the purgunnah, but that +all had, been or were being seized by this lawless freebooter and his +associates. + +Seeta Ram, a Brahmin zumeendar of Kowaree, in purgunnah Satrick, +complains, that he has been driven out of his hereditary estate by +Ghoolam Imam, the zumeendar of Jaggour, and his associate, Ghoolam +Huzrut; that his house had been levelled with the ground, and all the +trees, planted by his family, have been cut down and burned; that he +has been plundered of all he had by them, and is utterly ruined. Many +other landholders complain in the same manner of having been robbed +by this gang, and deprived of their estates; and still more come in +to pray for protection, as the same fate threatens all the smaller +proprietors, under a government so weak, and so indifferent to the +sufferings of its subjects. + +The Nazim of Khyrabad, who is now here engaged in the siege of +Bhitolee, has nominally three thousand four hundred fighting men with +him; but he cannot muster seventeen hundred. He has with him only the +seconds in command of corps, who are men of no authority or +influence, the commandants being at Court, and the mere creatures of +the singers and eunuchs, and other favourites about the palace. They +always reside at and about Court, and keep up only half the number of +men and officers, for whom they draw pay. All his applications to the +minister to have more soldiers sent out to complete the corps, or +permission to raise men in their places, remain unanswered and +disregarded. The Nazim of Bharaetch has nominally four thousand +fighting men; but he cannot muster two thousand, and the greater part +of them are good for nothing. The great landholders despise them, but +respect the Komutee corps, under Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and +Magness, which is complete, and composed of strong and brave men. The +despicable state to which the Court favourites have reduced the +King's troops, with the exception of these three corps, is +lamentable. They are under no discipline, and are formidable only to +the peasantry and smaller landholders and proprietors, whose houses +they everywhere deprive of their coverings, as they deprive their +cattle of their fodder. + +_December_ 7, 1849.--Hissampoor, 12 miles north-east, over a plain of +fine soil, more scantily tilled than any we saw on the other side of +the Ghagra, but well studded with groves and fine single trees, and +with excellent crops on the lands actually under tillage. One cause +assigned for so much fine land lying waste is, that the Rajpoot +tallookdars, above named, of the Chehdewara, have been long engaged +in plundering the Syud proprietors of the soil, and seizing upon +their lands, in the same manner as the Mahomedan ruffians, on the +other side of the river, have been engaged in plundering the small +Rajpoot proprietors, and seizing upon their lands. Four of them are +now quiet; but two, Prethee Put and Mirtonjee, are always in +rebellion. Lately, while the Chuckladar was absent, employed against +Jote Sing, of Churda, in the Turae, these two men took a large train +of followers, with some guns, attacked the two villages of Aelee and +Pursolee, in the estate of Deeksa, in Gonda, killed six persons, +plundered all the houses of the inhabitants, and destroyed all their +crops, merely because the landholders of these two villages would not +settle a boundary dispute in the way 'they proposed'. The lands of +the Hissampoor purgunnah were held in property by the members of a +family of Syuds, and had been so for many generations; but +neighbouring Rajpoot tallookdars have plundered them of all they had, +and seized upon their lands by violence, fraud, or collusion, with +public officers. Some they have seized and imprisoned, with torture +of one kind or another, till they signed deeds of sale, _Bynamahs_; +others they have murdered with all their families, to get secure +possession of their lands; others they have despoiled by offering the +local authorities a higher rate of revenue for their lands than they +could possibly pay. + +The Nazim has eighteen guns, and ten auxiliary ones sent out on +emergency--not one-quarter are in a state for service; and for these +he has not half the draft-bullocks required, and they are too weak +for use; and of ammunition or _stores_ he has hardly any at all. + +Rajah Gorbuksh Sing came yesterday, at sunset, to pay his respects, +and promised to pay to the Oude Government all that is justly +demandable from him. Written engagements to this effect were drawn +up, and signed by both the "high contracting parties." Having come in +on a pledge of personal security, he was, of course, permitted to +return from my camp to his own stronghold in safety. In that place he +has collected all the loose characters and unemployed soldiers he +could gather together, and all that his friends and associates could +lend him, to resist the Amil; and to maintain such a host, he will +have to pay much more than was required punctually to fulfil his +engagements to the State. He calculates, however, that, by yielding +to the Government, he would entail upon himself a perpetual burthen +at an enhanced rate, while, by the temporary expenditure of a few +thousands in this way, he may still further reduce the rate he has +hitherto paid. + +The contract for Gonda and Bahraetch was held by Rughbur Sing, one of +the sons of Dursun Sing, for the years 1846 and 1847 A.D., and the +district of Sultanpoor was held by his brother, Maun Sing, for 1845- +46 and 1847 A.D. Rughbur Sing in 1846-47 is supposed to have seized +and sold or destroyed no less than 25,000 plough-bullocks in +Bhumnootee, the estate of Rajah Hurdut Sing, alone. The estate of +Hurhurpoor had, up to that time, long paid Government sixty thousand +(60,000) rupees a-year, but last year it would not yield five +thousand (5,000) rupees, from the ravages of this man, Rughbur Sing. +The estate of Rehwa, held by Jeswunt Sing, tallookdar, had paid +regularly fifty-five thousand (55,000) rupees a-year; but it was so +desolated by Rughbur Sing, that it cannot now yield eleven thousand +(11,000) rupees. This estate adjoins Bhumnootee, Rajah Hurdut Sing's, +which, as above stated, regularly paid one hundred and eighty-two +thousand (182,000) rupees; it cannot now pay thirty thousand (30,000) +rupees. Such are the effects of the oppression of this bad man for so +brief a period. + +Some tallookdars live within the borders of our district of +Goruckpoor, while their lands lie in Oude. By this means they evade +the payment of their land revenues, and with impunity commit +atrocious acts of murder and plunder in Oude. These men maim or +murder all who presume to cultivate on the lands which they have +deserted, without their permission, or to pay rents to any but +themselves; and the King of Oude's officers dare not follow them, and +are altogether helpless. Only two months ago, Mohibollah, a zumeendar +of Kuttera, was invited by Hoseyn Buksh Khan, one of these +tallookdars, to his house, in the Goruckpoor district, to negotiate +for the ransom of one of his cultivators, a weaver by caste, whom he +had seized and taken away. As he was returning in the evening, he was +waylaid by Hoseyn Buksh Khan, as soon as he had recrossed the Oude +borders, and murdered with one of his attendants, who had been sent +with him by the Oude Amil. Such atrocities are committed by these +refractory tallookdars every day, while they are protected within our +bordering districts. Their lands must lie waste or be tilled by men +who pay all the rent to them, while they pay nothing to the Oude +Government. The Oude Government has no hope of prosecuting these men +to conviction in our Judicial Courts for specific crimes, which they +are known every day to commit, and glory in committing. In no part of +India is there such glaring abuse of the privileges of sanctuary as +in some of our districts bordering on Oude; while the Oude Frontier +Police, maintained by the King, at the cost of about one hundred +thousand (100,000) rupees a-year, and placed under our control, +prevents any similar abuse on the part of the Oude people and local +authorities. Some remedy for this intolerable evil should be devised. +At present the magistrates of all our conterminous districts require, +or expect, that their charges against any offender in Oude, who has +committed a crime in their districts, shall be held to be sufficient +for their arrest; but some of them, on the other band, require that +nothing less than some unattainable judicial proof, on the part of +the officers of the Oude Government, shall be held to be sufficient +to justify the arrest of any Oude offender who takes refuge in our +districts. They hold, that the sole object of the Oude authorities is +to get revenue defaulters into their power, and that the charges +against them for heinous crimes are invented solely for that purpose. +No doubt this is often the object, and that other charges are +sometimes invented, for the sole purpose of securing the arrest and +surrender of revenue defaulters; but the Oude revenue defaulters who +take refuge in our districts are for the most part, the tallookdars, +or great landholders, who, either before or after they do so, +invariably fight with the Oude authorities, and murder and plunder +indiscriminately, in order to reduce them to their own terms. + +The Honourable the Court of Directors justly require that requisition +for the surrender of offenders by and from British officers and +Native States, shall be limited to persons charged with having +committed heinous crimes within their respective territories; and +that the obligation to surrender such offenders shall be strictly +reciprocal, unless, in any special case, there be very strong reason +for a departure from the rule.* But some magistrates of districts +disregard altogether applications made to them by the sovereign of +Oude, through the British Resident, for the arrest of subjects of +Oude who have committed the most atrocious robberies and murders in +the Oude territory in open day, and in the sight of hundreds; and +allow refugees from Oude to collect and keep up gangs of robbers +within their own districts, and rob and murder within the Oude +territory. Happily such Magistrates are rare. Government, in a letter +dated the 25th February, 1848, state--"that it is the duty of the +magistrates of our districts bordering on Oude to adopt vigorous +measures for preventing the assembling or entertaining of followers +by any party, for the purpose of committing acts of violence on the +Oude side of the frontier." + +[* See their letter to the Government of India, 27th May 1835.] + +_December_ 8, 1849.--Pukharpoor, a distance of fourteen miles, over a +fine plain of good soil, scantily tilled. For some miles the road lay +through Rajah Hurdut Sing's estate of Bumnootee, which was, with the +rest of the district of Bahraetch and Gonda, plundered by Rughbur +Sing, during the two years that he held the contract. We passed +through no village or hamlet, but saw some at a distance from the +road, with their dwellings of naked mud walls, the abodes of fear and +wretchedness; but the plain is well studded with groves and fine +single trees, and the crops are good where there are any on the +ground. Under good management, the country would be exceedingly +beautiful, and was so until within the last four years. + +In the evening I had a long talk with the people of the village, who +had assembled round our tents. Many of them had the goitre; but they +told me, that in this and all the villages within twenty miles the +disease had, of late years, diminished; that hardly one-quarter of +the number that used to suffer from it had now the disease; that the +quality of the water must have improved, though they knew not why, as +they still drank from the same wells. These wells must penetrate into +some bed of mineral or other substance, which produces this disease +of the glands, and may in time exhaust it. But it is probable, that +the number who suffer from this disease has diminished merely with +the rest of the population, and that the proportion which the +goitered bear to the ungoitered may be still the same. They told me +that they had been plundered of all their stock and moveable property +by the terrible scourge, Rughber Sing, during his reign of two years, +and could not hope to recover from their present state of poverty for +many more; that their lands were scantily tilled, and the crops had +so failed for many years, since this miscreant's rule, that the +district which used to supply Lucknow with grain was obliged to draw +grain from it, and even from Cawnpore. This is true, and grain has in +consequence been increasing in price ever since we left Lucknow. It +is now here almost double the price that it is at Lucknow, while it +is usually twice as cheap here. + +_December_ 9, 1849.--Bahraetch, ten miles north-east. We encamped on +a fine sward, on the left bank of the Surjoo river, a beautiful clear +stream. The cultivation very scanty, but the soil good, with water +everywhere, within a few feet of the surface. Groves and single trees +less numerous; and of villages and hamlets we saw none. Under good +government, the whole country might, in a few years, be made a +beautiful garden. The river Surjoo is like a winding stream in a +park; and its banks might, everywhere, be cultivated to the water's +edge. No ravines, jungle, or steep embankments. It is lamentable to +see so fine a country in so wretched a state. + +The Turae forest begins a few miles to the north of Bahraetch, and +some of the great baronial landholders have their residence and +strongholds within it. The Rajah of Toolseepoor is one of them. He is +a kind-hearted old man, and a good landlord and subject; but he has +lately been driven out by his young and reprobate son, at the +instigation and encouragement of a Court favourite. The Rajah had +discharged an agent, employed by him at Court for advocating the +cause of his son while in rebellion against his father. The agent +then made common cause with the son, and secured the interest of two +powerful men at Court, Balkrishen Dewan and Gholam Ruza, the deputy +minister, who has charge of the estates in the Hozoor Tehsel. The +jurisdiction over the estate had been transferred from the local +authorities to the Hozoor Tehsel; and, by orders from Court, the +father's friends, the Bulrampoor and other Rajahs of the clan, were +prevented from continuing the aid they had afforded to support the +father's authority. The father unwilling to have the estate +devastated by a contest with the band of ruffians whom his son had +collected, retired, and allowed him to take possession. The son +seized upon all the property the father had left, and now employs it +in maintaining this band and rewarding the services of Court +favourites. The Nazim of the district is not permitted to interfere, +to restore rights or preserve order in the estate, nor would he, +perhaps, do either, if so permitted, for he has been brought up in a +bad school, and is not a good man. The pretext at Court is, that the +father is deranged; but, though not wise, he is learned, and no man +can be more sober than he is, or better disposed towards his +sovereign and tenants. That he is capable of managing his estate, is +shown by the excellent condition in which he left it. + +Prethee Put, of Paska, is not worse than many of the tallookdars of +Oude, who now disturb the peace of the country; and I give a brief +sketch of his history, as a specimen of the sufferings inflicted on +the people by the wild licence which such landholders enjoy under the +weak, profligate, and apathetic government of Oude. + +Keerut Sing, the tallookdar of Paska, on the left bank of the Ghagra, +between Fyzabad and Byram-ghaut, was one of the Chehdwara +landholders, and had five sons, the eldest Dirgpaul Sing, and the +second Prethee Put, the hero of this brief history. Before his death, +Keerut Sing made over the management of his estate to his eldest son +and heir; but gave to his second son a portion of land out of it, for +his own subsistence and that of his family. The father and eldest son +continued to reside together in the fort of Dhunolee, situated on the +right bank of the Ghagra, opposite Paska. Prethee Put took up his +residence in his portion of the estate at Bumhoree, collected a gang +of the greatest ruffians in the country, and commenced his trade, and +that of so many of his class, as an indiscriminate plunderer. Keerut +Sing and his eldest son, Dirgpaul, continued to pay the Government +demand punctually, to obey the local authorities, and manage the +estate with prudence. + +Prethee Put, in 1836, attacked and took a despatch of treasure, +consisting of twenty-six thousand rupees, on its way to Lucknow, from +the Nazim of Bahraetch. In 1840 he attacked and took another of +eighty-five thousand rupees, on its way to Lucknow from the same +place. With these sums, and the booty which he acquired from the +plunder of villages and travellers, he augmented his gang, built a +fort at Bumhoree, and extended his depredations. In January 1842, his +father, who had been long ill, died. The local authorities demanded +five thousand rupees from the eldest son, Dirgpaul Sing, on his +accession. He promised to pay, and sent his eldest son, Dan Bahader +Sing, a lad of eighteen, as a hostage for the payment to the Nazim. +Soon after, Prethee Pat attacked the fort of Dhunolee, in which his +elder brother resided with his family, killed fifty-six persons, and +made Dirgpaul, his wife, and three other sons prisoners. Dirgpaul's +sister tried to conceal her brother under some clothes; but, under a +solemn oath from Prethee Put, that no personal violence should be +offered to him, he was permitted to take him. His wife and three sons +were sent off to be confined under the charge of Byjonauth Bhilwar, +zumeendar of Kholee, in the estate of Sarafraz Ahmud, one of his +associates in crime, on the left bank of the Goomtee river. + +Three days after, finding that no kind of torture or intimidation +could make his elder brother sign a formal resignation of his right +to the estate in his favour, he took him into the middle of the river +Ghagra, cut off his head with his own hands, and threw the body into +the stream. Deeming this violation of his pledge a dishonourable act +his friend, Byjonauth, from whom he had demanded the widow and her +three sons, released them all, to seek protection elsewhere, as he +was not strong enough to resist Prethee Put himself. They found +shelter with some friends of the family in another district, and +Wajid Allee Khan, the Nazim of Bahraetch, in the beginning of +November 1843, went with the best force he could muster, drove +Prethee Pat out of Dhunolee and Paska, and put Dan Bahader Sing, the +eldest son of Dirgpaul, and rightful heir, into possession. In the +latter end of the same month, however, he was attacked by his uncle, +Prethee Put, and driven out with the loss of ten men. He again +applied for aid to the Nazim; but, thinking it more profitable to +support the stronger party, he took a bribe of ten thousand rupees +from Prethee Put, and recognized him as the rightful heir of his +murdered brother. Dan Bahader collected a small party of fifteen men, +and took possession of a small stronghold in the jungle of the +Shapoor estate, belonging to Murtonjee, another of the Chehdwara +tallookdars, where he was again attacked by his uncle in March 1844, +and driven out with the loss of four out of his fifteen men. Soon +after Prethee Put attacked and took another despatch of treasure, on +its way to Lucknow from Bahraetch, consisting of eighteen thousand +rupees. Soon after, in June, the Nazim, Ehsan Allee, sent a force +with Dan Bahader, and re-established him in possession of the estate +of Paska; but Ehsan Allee was soon after superseded in the contract +by Rughbur Sing, who adopted the cause of the strongest, and restored +Prethee Put, who continued to hold the estate for 1845. + +In April 1847, Mahommed Hossein, one of the Tusseeldars under Rughbur +Sing, seized and confined Prethee Put, once more put Dan Bahader in +possession of the estate, and sent his uncle to Rughbur Sing. In +November 1847, Incha Sing superseded his nephew, Rughbur Sing; and, +thinking Prethee Put's the more profitable cause to adopt, he turned +out Dan Bahader, and restored Prethee Put to the possession of the +Paska estate, which he has held ever since. He has continued to +pursue his system of indiscriminate plunder and defiance of the +Government authorities, and has seized upon the estates of several of +his weaker neighbours. + +In 1848, he attacked and plundered the village of Sahooreea, +belonging to Sarafraz Allee, Chowdheree of Radowlee, and this year he +has done the same to the village of Semree, belonging to Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing. He carried off fifty-two persons from this village of +Semree, and confined them for two months, flogging and burning them +with red-hot ramrods, till they paid the ransom of five thousand +rupees required. He has this year plundered another village, +belonging to the same person, called Nowtee, and its dependent hamlet +of Hurhurpoora. He has also this year attacked, plundered, and burnt +to the ground the villages of Tirkolee, in the Radowlee purgunnah, +and Aelee Pursolee, in Bahraetch. The attack on Tirkolee took place +in September last, and five of the inhabitants were killed; and in +the attack on Aelee Pursolee, six of the zumeendars were killed in +defending themselves. In this attack he was joined by the gang under +Murtonjee. He also plundered and confined a merchant of Gowaris till +he paid a ransom of seven hundred rupees; and about twenty-five days +ago he attacked and plundered two persons from Esanugur, on their way +to Ojodheea, on pilgrimage, and kept them confined and tortured till +they paid a ransom of five hundred rupees. + +Prethee Put has, as before stated, in collusion with local +authorities, and by violence, seized upon a great portion of the +lands of Hissampoor, and ruined and turned out the Syud proprietors, +by whose families they had been held for many generations. He is +bound to pay twenty thousand rupees a year; but has not, for many +years, paid more than seven thousand. + +Mahommed Hossein, the present Nazim of the Gonda Bahraetch districts, +describes the capture of Prethee Put by himself, as follows:-"In +1846, the purgunnahs of Gowaris and Hissampoor were reduced to a +state of great disorder by the depredations of Prethee Put, and the +roads leading through them were shut up. He had seized Syud Allee +Asgar, the tallookdar of Aleenughur, in the Hissampoor purgunnah, +taken possession of his estate, and driven out, or utterly ruined, +all the landholders and cultivators. He tried, by all kinds of +torture, to make Allee Asgar sign, in his favour, a deed of sale; but +his family found means to complain to the Durbar, and Rughbur Sing, +the Nazim, was ordered to seize him and rescue his prisoner. I was +sent to manage the two purgunnahs, seize the offender, and rescue +Allee Asgar. When I approached the fort of Bumhoree, where he kept +his prisoner confined, Prethee Put put him in strong irons, left him +in that fort, and, with his followers, passed over the Ghagra, in +boats, to his stronger fort of Dhunolee, on the right bank. I took +possession of Bumhoree without much resistance, rescued the prisoner, +and restored him to the possession of his estate, and put all the +rest of the lands held by Prethee Put under the management of +Government officers. Two months after, seeing my force much reduced +by these arrangements, he came at the head of a band of seventeen +hundred men to attack me in the village of Dhooree Gunge. The place +was not defended by any wall, but we made the best of it, drove him +back, and killed or wounded about fifty of his men, with the loss on +our side, in killed or wounded, of about twenty-three. + +"I kept Prethee Put confined for two months, when Rughbur Sing sent +for him, on pretence that he wished to send him to Lucknow. He kept +him till the end of the year, when he was superseded in the contract +by his uncle, Incha Sing, who released Prethee Put at the +intercession of Maun Sing, the brother of Rughbur Sing, who expected +to make a good deal out of him." Prethee Put, of Paska, was attacked +on the morning of the 26th of March, 1850, in his fort of Dhunolee, +by a force under the command of Captains Weston, Thompson, Magness, +and Orr; and, on their approach, he vacated the fort, separated +himself from his gang, and took shelter in the house of a Brahmin. He +was then traced by a party from Captain Magness's corps; and, as he +refused to surrender, he was cut down and killed. His clan, the +Kulhunsies, refused to take the body for interment. The head had been +cut off to be sent to Lucknow as a trophy, but Captain Weston opposed +this, and it was replaced on the body, which was sewn up in a +winding-sheet and taken into the river Ghagra by some sipahees, as +the best kind of interment for a Hindoo chief of his rank. The +persons employed in the ceremony were Hindoos, who knew nothing of +Prethee Put's history; but it was afterwards found that the place +where the body was committed to the stream was that on which he had +killed his eldest brother, and thrown his body into the river from +his boat. This was a remarkable coincidence, and tended to impress +upon the minds of the people around a notion that his death was +effected by divine interposition. All, except his followers, were +rejoiced at the death of so atrocious a character. Dan Bahader, the +eldest son of the brother he had murdered, being poor and unable to +pay the usual fees and gratuities to the minister and court +favourites, was not, however, permitted to take possession of his +patrimonial estate, and he died in December, 1850, in poverty and +despair. Dhunolee and Bhumoree have been levelled with the ground. + +_December_ 9, 1849.--In the news-writer's report of the 3rd December, +1849, it is stated--"that Ashfakos Sultan, Omrow Begum, one of the +King's wives, reported to his Majesty, that a man named Sadik Allee +had come to Lucknow while the King was suffering from palpitations of +the heart, and, in the disguise of a Durveish, hired a house in +Muftee Gunge, and taken up his residence in it. He there gave himself +out as one of the Kings of the Fairies (_Amil-i-Jinnut_); and the +fakeer, to whom his Majesty's confidential servants, the singers, had +taken him to be cured of his disease, was no other than this Sadik +Allee. The King, on hearing this, sent for Sadik Allee, who was +seized and brought before him on the 2nd December. He confessed the +imposture, but pleaded that he had practised it merely to obtain some +money, and that the singers were associated with him in all that he +did. The King soothed his apprehensions, and conferred upon him a +dress of honour, consisting of a doshala and roomul, and then made +him over to the custody of Ashfak-os Sultan. At night the King sent +for the minister, and, summoning Sadik Allee, bid him dress himself +exactly as he was dressed on the night he visited him, and prepare a +room in the palace exactly in the same manner as he had prepared his +own to receive his Majesty on that night. He chose a small room in +the palace, and under the ceiling he suspended a second ceiling, so +that no one could perceive how it was fixed on, and placed himself +between the two. When all was ready the King went to the apartment +with the minister, accompanied by Ruzee-od Dowlah, the head singer. +When the door of the apartment was closed, they first heard a +frightful voice, without being able to perceive whence it came. +Neither the minister nor the King could perceive the slightest +opening or fissure in the ceiling. They then came out and closed the +door, but immediately heard from within the peaceful salutation of +'salaam aleekom,' and the man appeared within as King of the Fairies, +and presented his Majesty with some jewels and other offerings. All +was here enacted precisely as it had been acted on the occasion of +the King's visit to Muftee Gunge. Turning an angry look upon Ruzee-od +Dowlah, the King said, 'All the evil that I have so often heard of +you, men of Rampoor, I have now with my own eyes seen realized;' and, +turning to the minister, he said, 'How often have these men spoken +evil of you before me!' Ruzee-od Dowlah then said, 'If your Majesty +thinks me guilty, I pray you to punish me as may seem to you proper; +but I entreat you not to make me over to the minister.' The King, +without deigning any reply, summoned Hajee Shureef, and told him to +place mounted sentries of his own corps of cavalry over the door of +Saadut Allee Khan's mausoleum, in which these singers resided, and +infantry sentries in the apartments with them, with strict orders +that no one should be permitted to go out without, being first +strictly searched. The sister of Ruzee-od Dowla could nowhere be +found, and was supposed to have made her escape." + +The King had several interviews of this kind with his Majesty, the +King of the Fairies, who described the symptoms from which he +suffered, and prescribed the remedies, which consisted chiefly of +rich offerings to the Fairies, who were to relieve him. He frequently +received letters from the Fairy King to the same effect, written in +an imperious style, suited to the occasion. The farce was carried on +for several months, and the King at different times is supposed to +have given the Fairy King some two lacs of rupees, which he shared +liberally with the singers. + +I had heard of the affair of the Durveish from the minister, through +his wakeel, and from Captain Bird, the first Assistant, in a letter. +I requested that he would ask for an audience, and congratulate his +Majesty on the discovery of the imposture, and offer any assistance +that he might require in the banishment of the impostors. He was +received by the King in the afternoon of the 6th. He expressed his +regret that the King should have been put to so much trouble by the +bad conduct of those who had received from him all that a king could +give-wealth, titles, and intimate companionship; hinted at the +advantage taken of this by Ruzee-od Dowlah, in his criminal +intercourse with one of his Sultanas, Surafraz Muhal; and earnestly +prayed him to put an end to the misery and disgrace which these men +had brought and were still bringing on himself, his house, and his +country. The King promised to have Ruzee-od Dowlah, his sister, and +Kotub-od Dowlah, banished across the Ganges; but stated, that he +could do nothing against Sadik Allee, however richly he deserved +punishment, since he had pledged his royal word to him, on his +disclosing all he knew about the imposition. The King asked captain +Bird, whether he thought that he had felt no sorrow at parting with +Surafraz Muhal, with whom he had lived so intimately for nine years; +that he had, he said, cast her off as a duty, and did Captain Bird +think that he would spare the men who had so grossly deceived him, +caused so much confusion in his kingdom, and ill-feeling towards him, +on the part of the British Government and its representative? His +Majesty added, "I cherished low-bred men, and they have given me the +low-bred man's reward, had I made friends of men of birth and +character it would have been otherwise;" and concluded by saying, +that he could not touch the money he had given to these fellows, +because people would say that he had got rid of them merely to +recover what he had bestowed upon them.* + +[* When he afterwards confined and banished them in June and July +1850, he took back from them all that they had retained; but they had +sent to their families and friends, property to the value of many +lacs of rupees.] + +The King, in the latter end of November, divorced Surafraz Muhal, and +sent her across the Ganges, to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. She had +long been cohabiting with the chief singer, Gholam Ruza, and was +known to be a very profligate woman. She is said to have given his +Majesty to understand that she would not consent to remain in the +palace with him without the privilege of choosing her own lovers, a +privilege which she had freely enjoyed before she came into it, and +could not possibly forego. + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Bahraetch--Shrine of Syud Salar--King of the Fairies and the +Fiddlers--Management of Bahraetch district for forty-three years-- +Murder of Amur Sing, by Hakeem Mehndee--Nefarious transfer of +_khalsa_ lands to Tallookdars, by local officers--Rajah Dursun Sing-- +His aggression on the Nepaul Territory--Consequences--Intelligence +Department--How formed, managed, and abused--Rughbur Sing's +management of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846-47--Its fiscal effects--A +gang-robber caught and hung by Brahmin villagers--Murder of +Syampooree Gosaen--Ramdut Pandee--Fairies and Fiddlers--Ramdut +Pandee, the Banker--the Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor--Murder +of Mr. Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, at Bhinga, in 1823. + + +Bahraetch is celebrated for the shrine of Syud Salar, a _martyr_, who +is supposed to have been killed here in the beginning of the eleventh +century, when fighting against the Hindoos, under the auspices of +Mahmood Shah, of Ghuznee, his mother's brother. Strange to say, +Hindoos as well as Mahommedans make offerings to this shrine, and +implore the favours of this military ruffian, whose only recorded +merit consists of having destroyed a great many Hindoos in a wanton +and unprovoked invasion of their territory. They say, that he did +what he did against Hindoos in the conscientious discharge of his +duties, and could not have done it without God's permission--that God +must then have been angry with them for their transgressions, and +used this man, and all the other Mahommedan invaders of their +country, as instruments of his vengeance, and means to bring about +his purposes: that is, the thinking portion of the Hindoos say this. +The mass think that the old man must still have a good deal of +interest in heaven, which he may be induced to exercise in their +favour, by suitable offerings and personal applications to his +shrine. + +The minister reports to the Resident on the 9th, that the King had +relented, and wished to retain the singer, Ruzee-od Dowlah, and his +sister, and Kotub Allee, at Lucknow, with orders never to approach +the presence. Captain Bird, in a letter, confirms this report. + +_December_ 11, 1849.--Left Bahraetch and came south-east to Imaleea, +on the road to Gonda, over a plain in the Pyagpoor estate, almost +entirely waste. Few groves or single trees to be seen; scarcely a +field tilled or house occupied; all the work of the same atrocious +governor, Rughbur Sing. No oppressor ever wrote a more legible hand. + +The brief history of the management of this district for the last +forty-three years, is as follows. The district consisted in 1807, of + + + + Khalsa Lands Present Khalsa Lands + Bahraetch . . . 2,50,000 4,000 + Hissampoor . . . 2,00,000 40,000 + Hurhurpoor . . . 1,25,000 10,000 + Buhareegunge . . . 1,50,000 15,000 + ________ ______ + 7,25,000 69,000 + ________ ______ + + +The contract was held by Balkidass Kanoongoe, for five years, from +1807 to 1811, when he died, and was succeeded in the contract by his +son, Amur Sing, who held it till 1816. In the end of that year, or +early in 1817, Amur Sing was seized, put into confinement, and +murdered by Hakeem Mehndee, who held the contract for 1817 and 1818. +In the year 1816, Hakeem Mehndee, who held the contract for the +Mahomdee district, at four lacs of rupees a-year, and that for +Khyrabad at five, heard of the great wealth of Amur Sing, and the +fine state to which he and his father had brought the district by +good management; and offered the Oude government one lac of rupees a- +year more than he paid for the contract for the ensuing year. Hakeem +Mehndee resided chiefly at the capital of Lucknow, on the pretence of +indisposition, while his brother, Hadee Allee Khan, managed the two +districts for him. He had acquired a great reputation by his +judicious management of these two districts, and become a favourite +with the King, by the still more skilful management of a few male and +female favourites about his Majesty's person. The minister, Aga Meer, +was jealous of his growing fame and favour, and persuaded the King to +accept the offer, in the hope that he would go himself to his new +charge, in order to make the most of it. As soon as he heard of his +appointment to the charge of Bahraetch, Hakeem Mehndee set out with +the best body of troops he could collect, and sent on orders for Amur +Sing to come out and meet him. He declined to do so until he got the +pledge of Hadee Allee Khan, the Hakeem's brother, for his personal +security. This mortified the Hakeem, and tended to confirm him in the +resolution to make away with Amur Sing, and appropriate his wealth. +Both Hakeem Mehndee and his brother are said to have sworn on their +Koran that no violence whatever should be offered to or restraint put +upon him; and, relying on these oaths and pledges, Amur Sing met them +on their approach to Bahraetch. + +After discussing affairs and adjusting accounts for some months at +Bahraetch, the Hakeem, by his courteous manners and praises of his +excellent management, put Amur Sing off his guard. When sitting with +him one evening in his tents, around which he had placed a select +body of guards, he left him on the pretext of a sudden call, and Amur +Sing was seized, bound, and confined. Meer Hyder and Baboo Beg, Mogul +troopers, were placed in command of the guards over him, with orders +to get him assassinated as soon as possible. Sentries were, at the +same time, placed over his family and wealth. At midnight he was soon +after strangled by these two men and their attendants. Baboo Beg was +a very stout, powerful man; and he attempted to strangle him with his +own hands, while his companions held him down; but Amur Sing managed +to scream out for help, and, in attempting to close his mouth with +his left hand, one of his fingers got between Amur Sing's teeth, and +he bit off the first joint, and kept it in his mouth. His companions +finished the work; and Baboo Beg went off to get his fingers dressed +without telling any one what had happened. In the morning Hakeem +Mehndee gave out, that Amur Sing had poisoned himself, made the body +over to his family, and sent off a report of his death to the +minister, expressing his regret at Amur Sing's having put an end to +his existence by poisoning, to avoid giving an account of his +stewardship. The property which Hakeem Mehndee seized and +appropriated, is said to have amounted, in all, to between fifteen +and twenty lacs of rupees! + +Amur Sing's family, in performing the funeral ceremonies, had to open +his mouth, to put in the usual small bit of gold, Ganges water, and +leaf of the toolsee-tree; and, to their horror, they there found the +first joint of a man's finger. This confirmed all their suspicions, +that he had been murdered during the night, and they sent off the +joint of the finger to the minister, demanding vengeance on the +murderer. Aga Meer was delighted at this proof of his rival's guilt, +and would have had him seized and tried for the murder forthwith, but +Hakeem Mehndee gave two lacs of rupees, out of the wealth he had +acquired from the murder, to Rae Doulut Rae, Meer Neeaz Hoseyn, +Munshee Musaod, Sobhan Allee Khan, and others, in the minister's +confidence; and they persuaded him, that he had better wait for a +season, till he could charge him with the more serious offence of +defalcations in the revenue, when he might crush him with the weight +of manifold transgressions. + +They communicated what they had done to Hakeem Mehnde, who, by +degrees, sent off all his disposable wealth to Shabjehanpoor and +Futtehghur, in British territory. In April 1818, the Governor-General +the Marquess of Hastings passed through the Khyrabad and Bahraetch +districts, attended by Hakeem Mehndee, on a sporting excursion, after +the Mahratta war; and the satisfaction which he expressed to the King +with the Hakeem's conduct during that excursion, added greatly to the +minister's hatred and alarm. He persuaded his Majesty to demand from +Hakeem Mehndee an increase of five lacs of rupees upon nine lacs a- +year, which he already paid for Mahomdee and Khyrabad; and resolved +to have him tried for the murder of Amur Sing, as soon as he could +get him into his power. Hakeem Mehndee knew all this from the friends +he had made at Court, refused to keep the contract at the increased +rate, and, on pretence of settling his accounts, went first to +Seetapoor from Bahraetch, and thence over the border to +Shahjehanpoor, with all his family, and such of the property as he +had not till then been able to send off. The family never recovered +any of the property he had taken from Amur Sing, nor was any one of +the murderers ever punished, or called to account for the crime. + +On the departure of Hakeem Mehndee, Hadee Allee Khan (not the brother +of Hakeem Mehndee, but a member of the old official aristocracy of +Oude) got the contract of the district of Bahraetch with that of +Gonda, which had been held in Jageer by and for the widow of Shoja-od +Dowlah, the mother of Asuf-od Dowlah, commonly known by the name of +the Buhoo Begum, of Fyzabad, where she resided. Hadee Allee Khan held +the contract of these two districts for nine years, up to 1827. He +was succeeded by Walaeut Allee Khan, who held the contract for only +half of the year 1828, when he was superseded by Mehndoo Khan, who +held it for two years and a half, to the end of 1830, when Hadee +Allee Khan again got the contract, and he held it till he died in +1833. He was succeeded by his nephew, Imdad Allee Khan, who held the +contract till 1835. + +Rajah Dursun Sing superseded him in 1836, and was the next year +superseded by the widow of Hadee Allee, named "Wajee-on-Nissa Begum," +who held the contract for one year and a half to 1838. For the +remainder of 1838, the contract was held by Fida Allee Khan and Ram +Row Pandee jointly; and for 1839, by Sunker Sahae Partuk. For 1840, +it was held by Sooraj-od Dowlah, and for 1841 and up to September +1843, Rajah Dursun Sing held it again. For 1844 and 1845, Ehsan Allee +and Wajid Allee held it. For 1846 and 1847, Rughbur Sing, one of the +three sons of Rajah Dursun Sing, held it. For 1848, it was held by +Incha Sing, brother of Dursun Sing; and for 1849, it has been held by +Mahummud Hasun. The Gonda district consisted of the purgunnahs of +Gonda and Nawabgunge, and a number of tallooks, or baronial estates. + +Under the paternal government of Balukram and his son, Amur Sing, +hereditary canoongoes of the district, life and property were secure, +the assessment moderate, and the country and people prosperous. It +was a rule, strictly adhered to, under the reign of Saadut Allee +Khan, from 1797 to 1814, never under any circumstances to permit the +transfer of _khalsa_ or allodial lands (that is, lands held +immediately under the Crown) to tallookdars or baronial proprietors, +who paid a quit-rent to Government, and managed their estates with +their own fiscal officers, and military and police establishments. +Those who resided in or saw the district at that time, describe it as +a magnificent garden; and some few signs of that flourishing state +are still to be seen amidst its present general desolation. + +The adjoining district of Gonda became no less flourishing under the +fostering care of the Buhoo Begum, of Fyzabad, who held it in Jageer +till her death, which took place 18th December, 1815. Relying upon +the pledge of the British Government, under the treaty of 1801, to +protect him against all foreign and domestic enemies, and to put down +for him all attempts at insurrection and rebellion by means of its +own troops, without any call for further pecuniary aid, Saadut Allee +disbanded more than half his army, and reduced the cost, while he +improved the efficiency of the other half, to bring his expenditure +within his income, now so much diminished by the cession of the best +half of his dominions to the British Government. He assessed, or +altogether resumed, all the rent-free lands in his reserved half of +the territory; and made all the officers of his two lavish and +thoughtless predecessors,* disgorge a portion of the wealth which +they had accumulated by the abuse of their confidence; and, at the +same time, laboured assiduously to keep within bounds the powers and +possessions of his landed aristocracy. + +[* Asuf-od Dowlah and Wuzeer Allee.] + + +Hakeem Mehndee exacted from the landholders of Bahraetch two annas in +the rupee, or one-eighth, more than the rate they had hitherto paid; +and his successor, Hadee Allee, exacted an increase of two annas in +the rupee, upon the Hakeem's rate. It was difficult to make the +landholders and cultivators pay this rate, and a good deal of their +stock was sold off for arrears; and much land fell out of cultivation +in consequence. To facilitate the collection of this exorbitant rate, +and at the same time to reduce the cost of collection, he disregarded +systematically the salutary rule of Saadut Allee Khan, who had died +in 1814, and been succeeded by his do-nothing and see-nothing son, +Ghazee-od Deen Hyder; and transferred the khalsa estates of all +defaulters to the neighbouring tallookdars, who pledged themselves to +liquidate the balances due, and pay the Government demand punctually +in future. This arrangement enabled him to reduce his fiscal, +military, and police establishments a good deal for the time, and his +tenure of office was too insecure to admit of his bestowing much +thought on the future. + +As soon as these tallookdars got possession of khalsa villages, they +plundered them of all they could find of stock and other property; +and, with all possible diligence, reduced to beggary all the holders +and cultivators who had any claim to a right of property in the +lands, in order to prevent their ever being again in a condition to +urge such claims in the only way in which they can be successfully +urged in Oude--cut down all the trees planted by them or their +ancestors, and destroyed all the good houses they had built, that +they might have no local ties to link their affections to the soil. +As the local officers of the Oude government became weak, by the +gradual withdrawal of British troops, from aiding in the collection +of revenue and the suppression of rebellion and disorder, and by the +deterioration in the character of the Oude troops raised to supply +their places, the tallookdars became stronger and stronger. They +withheld more and more of the revenue due to Government, and expended +the money in building forts and strongholds, casting or purchasing +cannon, and maintaining large armed bands of followers. All that they +withheld from the public treasury was laid out in providing the means +for resisting the officers of Government; and, in time, it became a +point of honour to pay nothing to the sovereign without first +fighting with his officers. + +Hadee Allee Khan's successors continued the system of transferring +khalsa lands to tallookdars, as the cheapest and most effectual mode +of collecting the revenue for their brief period of authority. The +tallookdars, whose estates were augmented by such transfers, in the +Gonda Bahraetch district, are Ekona, Pyagpoor, Churda, Nanpoora, +Gungwal, Bhinga, Bondee, Ruhooa, and the six divisions of the Gooras, +or Chehdwara estate. The hereditary possessions of the tallookdars, +and, indeed, all the lands in the permanent possession of which they +feel secure, are commonly very well cultivated; but those which they +acquire by fraud, violence, or collusion, are not so, till, by long +suffering and "hope deferred," the old proprietors have been +effectually crushed or driven out of the country. The old proprietors +of the lands so transferred to the tallookdars of the Gonda Baraetch +districts from time to time had, under a series of weak governors, +been so crushed or driven out before 1842, and their lands had, for +the most part, been brought under good tillage. + +The King of Oude, in a letter, dated the 31st of August 1823, tells +the Resident, "that the villages and estates of the large refractory +tallookdars are as flourishing and populous as they can possibly be; +and there are many estates among them which yield more than two and +three times the amount at which they have been assessed; and even if +troops should be stationed there, to prevent the cultivation of the +land till the balances are liquidated, the tallookdars immediately +come forward to give battle; and, in spite of everything, cultivate +the lands of their estates, so that their profits from the land are +even greater than those of the Government." This picture is a very +fair one, and as applicable to the state of Oude now as in 1823. + +But if a weak man, by favour, fraud, or collusion, gets possession of +a small estate, as he often does, the consequences are more serious +than where the strong man gets it. The ousted proprietors fight "to +the death" to recover possession; and the new man forms a gang of the +most atrocious ruffians he can collect, to defend his possession. He +cannot afford to pay them, and permits them to subsist on plunder. In +the contest the estate itself and many around it become waste, and +the fellow who has usurped it, often--nolens-volens--becomes a +systematic leader of banditti; and converts the deserted villages +into strongholds and dens of robbers. I shall have occasion to +describe many instances of this kind as I proceed in my Diary. + +Dursung Sing was strong both in troops and Court favour, and he +systematically plundered and kept down the great landholders +throughout the districts under his charge, but protected the +cultivators, and even the smaller land proprietors, whose estates +could not be conveniently added to his own. When the Court found the +barons in any district grow refractory, under weak governors, they +gave the contract of it to Dursun Sing, as the only officer who could +plunder and reduce them to order. During the short time that he held +the districts of Gonda and Bahraetch in 1836, he did little mischief. +He merely ascertained the character and substance of the great +landholders, exacted from the weaker all that they could pay, and +"bided his time." When he resumed the charge in 1842, the greater +landholders had become strong and substantial; and he was commanded +by the Durbar to coerce and make them pay all the arrears of revenue +due, or pretended to be due, by them. + +Nothing loth, he proceeded to seize and plunder them all, one after +the other, and put their estates under the management of his own +officers. The young Rajah of Bulrampoor had gone into the Goruckpoor +district, to visit his friend, the Rajah of Basee, Mahpaul Sing, when +Dursun Sing marched suddenly to his capital at the head of a large +force. The garrison of the small stronghold was taken by surprise; +and, in the absence of their chief, soon induced to surrender, on a +promise of leave to depart with all their property. They passed over +into a small island in the river, which flows close by; and as soon +as Dursun Sing saw them collected together in that small space, he +opened his guns and musketry upon them, and killed between one and +two hundred. The rest fled, and he took possession of all their +property, amounting to about two hundred thousand rupees. The Rajah +was reduced to great distress; but his personal friend, Matabur Sing, +the minister of Nepaul, aided him with loans of money; and gave him a +garden to reside in, about five hundred yards from the village of +Maharaj Gunge, in the Nepaul territory, fifty-four miles from +Bulrampoor, where Dursun Sing remained encamped with his large force. + +The Rajah had filled this garden with small huts for the +accommodation of his family and followers during the season of the +rains, and surrounded it with a deep ditch, knowing the unscrupulous +and enterprising character of his enemy. In September 1843, Dursun +Sing, having had the position and all the road leading to it well +reconnoitred, marched one evening, at the head of a compact body of +his own followers, and reached the Rajah's position at daybreak the +next morning. The garden was taken by a rush; but the Rajah made his +escape with the loss of thirty men killed and wounded. Dursun Sing's +party took all the property the Rajah and his followers left behind +them in their flight, and plundered the small village of Maharaj +Gunge; but in their retreat they were sorely pressed by a sturdy +landholder of the neighbourhood, who had become attached to his young +sporting companion, the Rajah, and whose feeling of patriotism had +been grievously outraged by this impudent invasion of his sovereign's +territory; and they had five sipahees and one trooper killed. The +Bulrampoor Rajah had been plundered in the same treacherous manner in +1839, by the Nazim, Sunkersahae and Ghalib Jung, his deputy or +_collector_. He had invited them to a feast, and they brought an +armed force and surrounded and plundered his house and capital. He +escaped with his mother into British territory; and tells me, that he +was a lad at the time, and had great difficulty in making his mother +fly with him, and leave all her wardrobe behind her. + +The Court of Nepaul complained of this aggression on their territory, +and demanded reparation. The Governor-General Lord Ellenborough +called upon the Oude government, in dignified terms, to make prompt +and ample atonement to that of Nepaul. "Promptness," said his +Lordship, "in repairing an injury, however unintentionally committed +is as conducive to the honour of a sovereign, as promptness in +demanding reparation where an injury has been sustained." The Nepaul +Court required, that Dursun Sing should be seized and sent to Nepaul, +to make an apology in person to the sovereign of that state; should +be deprived of all his offices, with an assurance, on the part of +Oude, that he should never be again employed in any office under that +government; and, that the amount of injury sustained by the subjects +of Nepaul should be settled by arbitrators sent to the place on the +part of both States, and paid by the Oude government. The Governor- +General did not insist upon Oude's complying with the first of these +requirements; but Dursun Sing was dismissed from all employments, +arbitrators were sent to the place, and the Oude government paid the +nine hundred and fourteen rupees, which they decided to be due to the +subjects of Nepaul. + +Dursun Sing at first fled in alarm into the British territory, as the +Nepaul government assembled a large force on the border, and appeared +to threaten Oude with invasion; while the Governor-General held in +readiness a large British force to oppose them; and he knew not what +the Oude government, in its alarm, might do to the servant who had +wantonly involved it in so serious a scrape. His brother, Bukhtawar +Sing, the old courtier, knew that they had enemies, or interested +persons at Court, who would take advantage of the occasion to +exasperate the King, and persuade him to plunder them of all they +had, and confiscate their estates, unless Dursun Sing appeared and +pacified the King by his submission, and aided him in a judicious +distribution of the ready money at their command; and he prevailed +upon him to hasten to Court, and throw himself at his Majesty's feet. + +He came, acknowledged that he had been precipitate in his over-zeal +for his Majesty's service; but pleaded, in excuse, that the young +Rajah of Bulrampore had been guilty of great contumacy, and owed a +large balance to the Exchequer, which he had been peremptorily +commanded to recover; and declared himself ready to suffer any +punishment, and make any reparation or atonement that his master, the +King, might deem proper. The British and Nepaul governments had +expressed themselves satisfied; but other parties had become deeply +interested in the dispute. The King, with many good qualities, was a +very parsimonious man, who prided himself upon adding something every +month to his reserved treasury; and he thought, that advantage should +be taken of the occasion, to get a large sum out of so wealthy a +family. Three of his wives, Hoseynee Khanum, Mosahil Khanum, and +Sakeena Khanum, had at the time great influence over his Majesty, and +they wished to take advantage of the occasion, not only to screw out +of the family a large sum for the King and themselves, but to +confiscate the estates, and distribute them among their male +relations. The minister, Menowur-od Dowlah, the nephew and heir of +Hakeem Mehndee, who has been and will be often mentioned in this +Diary, thought that, after paying a large sum to gratify his +Majesty's ruling passion, and enable him to make handsome presents to +the three favourites, Dursun Sing ought to be released and restored +to office, for he was the only man then in Oude capable of +controlling the refractory and turbulent territorial barons; and if +he were crushed altogether for subduing one of them, the rest would +all become unmanageable, and pay no revenue whatever to the +Exchequer. He, therefore, recommended the King to take from the two +brothers the sum of twenty-five lacs of rupees, leave them the +estates, and restore Dursun Sing to all his charges, as soon as it +could be done without any risk of giving umbrage to the British +Government. + +The King thought the minister's advice judicious, and consented; but +the ladies called him a fool, and told him, that the brothers had +more than that sum in stores of seed-grain alone, and ought to be +made to pay at least fifty lacs, while the brothers pleaded poverty, +and declared that they could only pay nineteen. The minister urged +the King, to take even this sum, give two lacs to the three females, +and send seventeen to the reserved treasury; and called upon the +Chancellor of the Exchequer to give in his accounts of the actual +balance due by the two brothers, on their several contracts, for the +last twenty-five years. He, being on good terms with the minister, +and anxious to meet his wishes, found a balance of only one lac and +thirty-two thousand due by Dursun Sing, and one of only fifteen lacs +due by his brother, Bukhtawar Sing, in whose name the contracts had +always been taken up to 1842. The King, sorely pressed by the +females, resolved to banish Dursun Sing, and confiscate all his large +estates; but the British Resident interposed, and urged, that Dursun +Sing should be leniently dealt with, since he had made all the +reparation and atonement required. The King told him, that Dursun +Sing was a notorious and terrible tyrant, and had fearfully oppressed +his poor subjects, and robbed them by fraud, violence, and collusion, +of lands yielding a rent-roll of many lacs of rupees a-year; and, +that unless he were punished severely for all these numerous +atrocities, his other servants would follow his example, and his poor +subjects be everywhere ruined! + +The Resident admitted the truth of all these charges; but urged, in +reply, that the Oude government had, in spite of all these +atrocities, without any admonition, continued to employ him with +unlimited power in the charge of many of its finest districts, for +twenty-five or thirty years; and, that it would now be hard to banish +him, and confiscate all his fine estates, when his Majesty had so +lately offered, not only to leave them all untouched, but to restore +him to all his charges, on the payment of a fine of twenty-five lacs. +The King was perplexed in his desire to please the Resident, meet the +wishes of his three ladies, and add a good round sum to his reserved +treasury; and at last closed all discussions by making Dursun Sing +pay the one lac and thirty-two thousand rupees, found to be due by +him, and sending him into banishment; holding Bukhtawar Sing +responsible for the fifteen lacs due by him, and seizing upon his +estates, and putting them under the management of Hoseyn Allee, the +father of Hoseynee Khanum, the most influential of the three +favourites, till the whole should be paid. She satisfied herself that +she should be able to make the banishment of the man and the +confiscation of the estate perpetual; and, before he set out, she +secured the transfer of the strong fort of Shahgunge, with all its +artillery and military stores, from Dursun Sing's to the King's +troops. Dursun Sing went into banishment on the 17th of March 1844; +but before he set out he addressed a remonstrance to the British +Resident, stating--"that he had paid all that had been found to be +due by him to the Exchequer, and made every atonement required for +the offence charged against him; but had, nevertheless, been ordered +into banishment--had all his charges taken from him, and his lands, +houses, gardens, &c., worth fifty lacs, taken from him, and made over +to strangers and Court favourites." + +Hoseyn Allee had promised to pay to the Exchequer one lac of rupees +a-year for these estates more than Dursun Sing had paid. He had paid +annually for the Mehdona estates two lacs and eight thousand two +hundred and seventy-six; and for the Asrewa estates, in the same +district of Sultanpoor, one lac thirty-one thousand and eighty-nine- +total, three lacs and thirty-nine thousand three hundred and sixty- +five; and they probably yielded to him an annual rent of nearly +double that sum, or at least five lacs of rupees. Hoseyn Allee, +however, found it impossible to fulfil his pledges. The landholders +and cultivators would not be persuaded that the sovereign of Oude +could long dispense with the services of such a man as Dursun Sing, +or bring him back without restoring to him his landed possessions; or +that he would, when he returned, give them credit for any payments +which they might presume to make to any other master during his +absence. They, therefore, refused to pay any rent for the past +season, and threatened to abandon their lands before the tillage for +the next season should commence, if any attempt were made to coerce +them. All the great revenue contractors and other governors of +districts declared their inability to coerce the territorial barons +into paying anything, since they had lost the advantage of the +prestige of his great name; and the minister found that he must +either resign his office or prevail upon his sovereign to recall him. +The King, finding that he must either draw upon his reserved treasury +or leave all his establishments unpaid under such a falling off in +the revenue, yielded to his minister's earnest recommendation, and in +May 1844, consented to recall Dursun Sing from our district of +Goruckpoor, in which he had resided during his banishment. + +On the 10th of that month he was taken by the minister to pay his +respects to his Majesty, who, on the 30th, conferred upon him +additional honours and titles, and appointed him Inspector-general of +all his dominions, with orders "to make a settlement of the land +revenue at an increased rate; to cut down all the jungles, and bring +all the waste lands into tillage; to seize all refractory barons, +destroy all their forts, and seize and send into store all the cannon +mounted upon them; to put down all disturbances, protect all high +roads, punish all refractory and evil-minded persons; to enforce the +payment of all just demands of his sovereign upon landholders of all +degrees and denominations; to invite back all who had been driven off +by oppression, and re-establish them on their estates, or punish them +if they refused to return; to ascertain the value of all estates +transferred from the jurisdiction of the local authorities to the +'Hozoor Tehsel,' without due inquiry; and report, for the +consideration of his Majesty and his minister, any _nankar_ or rent- +free lands, assigned, of late years, by Amils and other governors of +districts; to enforce the payment of all recoverable balances, due on +account of past years; to muster the troops, and report, through the +commander-in-chief, all officers and soldiers borne on the muster- +rolls, and paid from the treasury, but in reality dead, absent +without leave, or unfit for further service;" in short, to reform all +abuses, and make the government of the country what the King and his +minister thought it ought to be. Dursun Sing assured them that he +would do his best to effect all the objects they had in view; and, +after recovering possession of his estates, and conciliating, by +suitable gratuities, all the reigning favourites at Court, he went to +work heartily at his Herculean task after his wonted way. But he, +soon after, became ill, and retired to his residence at Fyzabad, +where he died on the 20th of August, 1844, leaving his elder brother, +Bukhtawar Sing--my Quartermaster-general--at Court; and his three +sons, Ramadeen, Rughbur Sing, and Mann Sing, to fight among +themselves for his landed possessions and immense accumulated wealth. + +The minister was a man of good intentions; and, having inherited an +immense fortune from his uncle, Hakeem Mehndee, he cared little about +money; but he was an indolent man, and indulged much in opiates, and +his object was to reform the administration at the least possible +cost of time and trouble to himself. He had, he thought, found the +man who could efficiently supervise and control the administration in +all its branches; and he invested him with plenary powers to do so. +Of the duty, on his part and that of his master; efficiently to +supervise and control the exercise of these plenary powers on the +part of the man of their choice, in order to prevent their being +abused to the injury of the state and the people; or of the necessity +of taking from Court favourites the nomination of officers to the +charge of all districts and all fiscal and judicial Courts, and to +the command of all corps and establishments, in order to render them +efficient and honest, and prevent justice from being perverted, and +the revenues of the state from being absorbed on their way to the +treasury, they took no heed. Court favourites retained their powers, +and the King and his minister relied entirely, as heretofore, upon +the reports of the news-writers, who attend officially upon all +officers in charge of districts, fiscal and judicial Courts, corps +and establishments of all kinds, for the facts of all cases on which +they might have to pass orders; and remained as ignorant as their +predecessors of the real state of the administration and the real +sufferings of the people, if not of the real losses to the Exchequer. + +The news department is under a Superintendent-general, who has +sometimes contracted for it, as for the revenues of a district, but +more commonly holds it in _amanee_, as a manager. When he contracts +for it he pays a certain sum to the public treasury, over and above +what he pays to the influential officers and Court favourites in +gratuities. When he holds it in _amanee_, he pays only gratuities, +and the public treasury gets nothing. His payments amount to about +the same in either case. He nominates his-subordinates, and appoints +them to their several offices, taking from each a present gratuity +and a pledge for such monthly payments as he thinks the post will +enable him to make. They receive from four to fifteen rupees a-month +each, and have each to pay to their President, for distribution among +his patrons or patronesses at Court from one hundred to five hundred +rupees a-month in ordinary times. Those to whom they are accredited +have to pay them, under ordinary circumstances, certain sums monthly, +to prevent their inventing or exaggerating cases of abuse of power or +neglect of duty on their part; but when they happen to be really +guilty of great acts of atrocity, or great neglect of duty, they are +required to pay extraordinary sums, not only to the news-writers, who +are especially accredited to them, but to all others who happen to be +in the neighbourhood at the time. There are six hundred and sixty +news-writers of this kind employed by the King, and paid monthly +three thousand one hundred and ninety-four rupees, or, on an average, +between four and five rupees a-month each; and the sums paid by them +to their President for distribution among influential officers and +Court favourites averages above one hundred and fifty thousand rupees +a-year. Many, whose avowed salary is from four to ten rupees a-month, +receive each, from the persons to whom they are accredited, more than +five hundred, three-fourths of which they must send for distribution +among Court favourites, or they could not retain their places a week, +nor could their President retain his. Such are the reporters of the +circumstances in all the cases on which the sovereign and his +ministers have to pass orders every day in Oude. Some of those who +derive part of their incomes from this source are "persons behind the +throne, who are greater than the throne itself." The mother of the +heir-apparent gets twelve thousand rupees a-year from it. + +But their exactions are not confined to government officers of all +grades and denominations; they are extended to contractors of all +kinds and denominations, to him who contracts for the supply of the +public cattle with grain, as well as to him who contracts for the +revenue and undivided government of whole provinces; and, indeed, to +every person who has anything to do under, or anything to apprehend +from, government and its officers and favourites; and, in such a +country, who has not? The European magistrate of one of our +neighbouring districts one day, before the Oude Frontier Police was +raised, entered the Oude territory at the head of his police in +pursuit of some robbers, who had found an asylum in one of the King's +villages. In the attempt to secure them some lives were lost; and, +apprehensive of the consequences, he sent for the official news- +writer, and _gratified_ him in the usual way. No report of the +circumstances was made to the Oude Durbar; and neither the King, the +Resident, nor the British Government ever heard anything about it. Of +the practical working of the system, many illustrations will be found +in this Diary. + +The Akbar, or Intelligence Department, had been farmed out for some +years, at the rate of between one and two lacs of rupees a-year, +when, at the recommendation of the Resident, the King expressed his +willingness to abolish the farm, and intrust the superintendence to +_men of character and ability_, to be paid by Government. This +resolution was communicated to Government by the Resident on the 24th +of April, 1839; and on the 6th of May the Resident was instructed to +communicate to his Majesty the satisfaction which the Governor- +General derived on hearing that he had consented to abolish this +farm, which had produced _so large a revenue to the state_. This was +considered by the Resident to be a great boon obtained for the people +of Oude, as the farmers of the department consented to pay a large +revenue, only on condition that they should be considered as the only +legitimate reporters of events--the only recognised _masters in the +Oude Chancery_; and, as the Resident observed, "they choked up all +the channels the people had of access to their sovereign;" but they +have choked them up just as much since the abolition of the farm, and +have had to pay just as much as before. + +A brief sketch of the proceedings of Rughbur Sing, the son of Dursun +Sing, in his government of these districts of Gonda and Baraetch, for +the years 1846 and 1847, may here be given as further illustration of +the Oude government and its administration, in this part of the +country at least. It had not suffered very much under his uncle's +brief reign in 1842 and 1843, and the governors who followed him, up +to 1846, were too weak to coerce the Tallookdars, or do much injury +to their estates. Rughbur Sing had a large body of the King's troops +to aid him in enforcing from them the payment of the current revenue +and balances, real or pretended, for past years; and a large body of +armed retainers of his own to assist him in his contest with his +brothers for the possessions of the Mehdona and Asrewa estates, which +had been going on ever since the death of their father. + +I have stated that Rughbur Sing held in contract the districts of +Gonda and Bahraetch for the years 1846 and 1847, and shown to what a +state of wretchedness he managed to reduce them in that brief period. +In 1849, some months after I took charge of my office, I deputed a +European gentleman of high character, Captain Orr, of the Oude +Frontier Police, to pass through these districts, and inquire into +and report upon the charges of oppression brought against him by the +people, as his agents were diligently employed at Lucknow in +distributing money among the most influential persons about the +Court, and a disposition to restore him to power had become manifest. +He had purchased large estates in our districts of Benares and +Goruckpoor, where he now resided for greater security, while he had +five thousand armed men, employed under other agents, in fighting +with his brother, Maun Sing, for the possession of the _bynamah_ +estates, above described, in the Sultanpoor district. In this contest +a great many lives were lost, and the peace of the country was long +and much disturbed, but, after driving all his brother's forces and +agents out of the district. Maun Sing retained quiet possession of +the estates. This contest would, however, have been again renewed, +and the same desolating disorders would have again prevailed, could +Rughbur Sing's agents at the capital, by a judicious distribution of +the money at their disposal, have induced the Court to restore him to +the government of these or any other districts in Oude. + +On the 23rd of July 1849, Captain Orr sent in his report, giving a +brief outline of such of the atrocities committed by Rughbur Sing and +his agents in these districts as he was able, during his tour, to +establish upon unquestionable evidence; but they made but a small +portion of the whole, as the people in general still apprehended that +he would be restored to power by Court favour, and wreak his +vengeance upon all who presumed to give evidence against him; while +many of the most respectable families in the districts were ashamed +to place on record the suffering and dishonour inflicted on their +female members; and still more had been reduced by them to utter +destitution, and driven in despair into other districts. To use his +own words--"The once flourishing districts of Gonda and Bahraetch, so +noted for fertility and beauty, are now, for the greater part, +uncultivated; villages completely deserted in the midst of lands +devoid of all tillage everywhere meet the eye; and from Fyzabad to +Bahraetch I passed through these districts, a distance of eighty +miles, over plains which had been fertile and well cultivated, till +Rughbur Sing got charge, but now lay entirely waste, a scene for two +years of great misery ending in desolation." + +Rajah Hurdut Sahae, the proprietor of the Bondee estate, was the head +of one of the oldest Rajpoot families in Oude. Having placed the most +notorious knaves in the country as revenue collectors over all the +subdivisions of his two districts, Rajah Rughbur Sing, in 1846, +demanded from Hurdut Sahae an increase of five thousand rupees upon +the assessment of the preceding year. The Rajah pleaded the badness +of preceding seasons, and consequent poverty of his tenants and +cultivators; but at last he consented to pay the increase, and on +solemn pledges of personal security he collected all his tenants, to +take upon themselves the responsibility of making good this demand. +To this they all agreed; but they had no sooner done so, than Rughbur +Sing's agent, Prag Pursaud, demanded a gratuity of seven thousand +rupees for himself, over and above the increase of five thousand upon +the demand of the preceding year. The Rajah would not agree to pay +the seven thousand, but went off to request some capitalists to +furnish securities for the punctual payment of the rent. + +The agent sent off secretly to Rughbur Sing to say, that unless he +came at the head of his forces he saw no chance of getting the +revenues from the Rajah or his tenants, who were all assembled and +might be secured if he could contrive to surprise them. Rughbur Sing +came with a large force at night, surrounded his agent's camp, where +the tenants and the Rajah's officers were all assembled, and seized +them. He then sent out parties of soldiers of from one hundred to two +hundred each, to plunder all the towns and villages on the estate, +and seize all the respectable residents they could find. They +plundered the town of Bondee, and pulled down all the houses of the +Rajah, and those of his relatives and dependents; and, after +plundering all the other towns and villages in the neighbourhood, +they brought in one thousand captives of both sexes and all ages, who +were subjected to all manner of torture till they paid the ransom +demanded, or gave written pledges to pay. Five thousand head of +cattle were, at the same time, brought in and distributed as booty. + +The Rajah made his escape, but his agents were put to the same +tortures as his tenants. Rughbur Sing, among other things, commanded +them to sign a declaration, to the effect that his predecessor and +enemy, Wajid Allee Khan, had received from them the sum of thirty +thousand rupees more than he had credited to his government, but this +they all refused to do. Rughbur Sing remained at Bondee for six +weeks, superintending personally all these atrocities; and then went +off, leaving, as his agent, Kurum Hoseyn. He continued the tortures +upon the tenants and officers of the Rajah, and the captives +collected in his camp. He rubbed the beards of the men with moist +gunpowder; and, as soon as it became dry in the sun, he set fire to +it. Other tortures, too cruel and indecent to be named, were +inflicted upon four servants of the Rajah, Kunjun Sing, Bustee Ram, +Admadnt Pandee, and Bhugwant Rae, and upon others, who were likely to +be able to borrow or beg anything for their ransom. + +Finding that the tenants did not return, and that the estate was +likely to be altogether deserted, unless the Rajah returned, Kurum +Hoseyn was instructed by Rughbur Sing to invite him back on any +terms. The poor Rajah, having nothing in the jungles to which he had +fled to subsist upon, ventured back on the solemn pledge of personal +security given by Pudum Sing, a respectable capitalist, whom the +collector had induced, by solemn oaths on the holy Koran, to become a +mediator; and, as a token of reconciliation and future friendship, +the Rajah and collector changed turbans. They remained together for +five months on the best possible terms, and the Rajah's tenants +returned to their homes and fields. All having been thus lulled into +security, Rughbur Sing suddenly sent another agent, Maharaj Sing, to +supersede Kurum Hoseyn, and seize the Rajah and his confidential +manager, Benee Ram Sookul. They, however, went off to Balalpoor, +forty miles distant from Bondee, and kept aloof from the new +collector, till he prevailed upon all the officers, commanding corps +and detachments under him, to enter into solemn written pledges of +personal security. The Rajah had been long suffering from ague and +fever, and had become very feeble in mind and body. He remained at +Balalpoor; but, under the assurance of these pledges from military +officers of rank and influence, Benee Ram and other confidential +officers of the Rajah came to his camp, and entered upon the +adjustment of their accounts. + +When he found them sufficiently off their guard, Maharaj Sing, while +sitting one evening with Benee Ram, who was a stout, powerful man, +asked him to show him the handsome dagger which he always wore in his +waistband. He did so, and as soon as he got it in his hand, the +collector gave the concerted signal to Roshun Allee, one of the +officers present, and his armed attendants, to seize him. As he rose +to leave the tent he was cut down from behind by Mattadeen, +khasburdar; and the rest fell upon him and cut him to pieces in +presence of the greater part of the officers who had given the solemn +pledges for his personal security. Not one of them interposed to save +him. Doulut Rae, another confidential servant of the Rajah, however, +effected his escape, and ran to the Rajah, who prepared to defend +himself at Balalpoor, where Maharaj Sing tried, in vain, to persuade +his troops' to attack him. For two months the towns and villages were +deserted, but the crops were on the ground, and guarded by the Passee +bowmen, who are usually hired for the purpose. + +Beharee Lal, the principal agent of Rughbur Sing in these districts, +now wrote a letter of condolence to the Rajah, on the death of his +faithful servant, Benee Ram--told him that he had dismissed from all +employ the villain Maharaj Sing, and appointed to his place Kurum +Hoseyn, who would make all reparation and redress all wrongs. This +letter he sent by a very plausible man, Omed Rae, the collector of +the Rahooa estate. Kurum Hoseyn resumed charge of his office, and +went unattended to the Rajah, with whom he remained some days +feasting, and swearing on the Koran, that all had been without his +connivance or knowledge, and that he had come back with a full +determination to see justice done to his friend, the Rajah, and his +landholders and cultivators in everything. Having thus soothed the +poor old Rajahs apprehensions, he prevailed on him to go back with +him to Bondee, where he behaved for some time with so much seeming +frankness and cordiality, and swore so solemnly on the Koran to +respect the persons of all men who should come to him on business, +that the Rajah's tenants and agents lost all their fears, and again +came freely to his camp. The Rajah now invited all his tenants as +before, to enter into engagements to pay their rents to officers +appointed by the collector as jumogdars; and the people had hopes of +being permitted to gather their harvests in peace. Kurum Hoseyn now +suggested to Beharee Lal, to come suddenly with the largest force he +could collect, and seize the many respectable men who had assembled- +at his invitation. + +He made a forced march daring the night, appeared suddenly at Bondee +with a large force, and seized all who were there assembled, save the +Rajah and his family, who escaped to the jungles. Detachments of from +one hundred to two hundred were sent out as before, to plunder the +country, and seize all from whom anything could be extorted. All the +towns and villages on the estate were plundered of everything that +could be found, and fifteen hundred men, and about five hundred women +and children, were brought in prisoners, with no less than eighty +thousand animals of all kinds. There were twenty-five thousand head +of cattle; and horses, mares, sheep, goats, ponies, &c., made up the +rest. All with the men, women, and children were driven off, pell- +mell, a distance of twenty miles to Busuntpoor, in the Hurhurpoor +district, where Beharee Lal's headquarter had been fixed. For three +days heavy rain continued to fall. Pregnant women were beaten on by +the troops with bludgeons and the butt-ends of muskets and +matchlocks. Many of them gave premature birth to children and died on +the road; and many children were trodden to death by the animals on +the road, which was crowded for more than ten miles. + +Rughbur Sing and his agents, Beharee Lal, Kurum Hoseyn, Maharaj Sing, +Prag Sing, and others, selected several thousand of the finest +cattle, and sent them to their homes; and the rest were left to the +officers and soldiers of the force to be disposed of; and, for all +this enormous number of animals, worth at least one hundred thousand +rupees, the small sum of one hundred and thirty rupees was credited +in the Nazim's accounts to the Rajah's estate. At Busuntpoor the +force was divided into two parties, for the purpose of torturing the +surviving prisoners till they consented to sign bonds, for the +payment of such sums as might be demanded from them. Beharee Lal +presided over the first party, in which they were tortured from day- +break till noon. They were tied up and flogged, had red-hot ramrods +thrust into their flesh, their tongues were pulled out with hot +pincers and pierced through; and, when all would not do, they were +taken to Kurum Hoseyn, who presided at the other party, to be +tortured again till the evening. He sat with a savage delight, to +witness this brutal scene and invent new kinds of torture. No less +than seventy men, besides women and children, perished at Busuntpoor +from torture and starvation; and their bodies were left to rot in the +mud, and their friends were afraid to approach them. Bustee's body +was stolen at night by his son, and Guyadut's was sold to his family +by the soldiers. + +Among the persons of respectability who died under the tortures, +several are named below.* Buldee Sing, the husband of the Rajah's +sister, took poison and died; and Ramdeen, a Brahmin of great +respectability, stabbed himself to death, to avoid further torture +and dishonour. For two months did these atrocities continue at +Busuntpoor; and during that time the prisoners got no food from the +servants of Government. All that they got was sent to them by their +friends, or by the charitable peasantry of the country around; and +when sweetmeats were sent to them as food, which the most scrupulous +could eat from any hand, the soldiers often snatched them from them +and ate them themselves, or took them to their officers. The women +and children were all stripped of their clothes, and many died from +cold and want of sustenance. It was during the months of September +and October that these atrocities were perpetrated. The heavy rain +had inundated the country, and the poor prisoners were obliged to lie +naked and unsheltered on the damp ground. + +[* 1. Byjonauth, the Rajah's accountant. + 2. Gijraj Sing, Rajpoot. + 3. Sheopersaud. + 4. Rampersaud. + 5. Jhow Lal. + 6. Guyadut. + 7. Duyram. + 8. Budaree Chobee. + 9. Mungul Sing, Rajpoot. + 10. Seodeen Sing, ditto. + 11. Akber Sing. + 12. Bustee, a farmer.] + + +Apreel Sing, a respectable Jagheerdar of Bondee, was tortured till he +consented to sell his two daughters, and pay the money; and a great +many respectable females, who were taken from Bondee to Busuntpoor, +have never been heard of since. Whether they perished or were sold +their friends have never been able to discover. The sipahees and +other persons, employed to torture, got money from their victims or +their friends, who ventured to approach, or from the pitying +peasantry around; and all laughed and joked at the screams of the +sufferers. Several times, during the two months, Rughbur Sing paid +off heavy arrears, due to his personal servants, by drafts on his +agents for prisoners, to be placed at the disposal of the payee, ten +and twenty at a time. It is worthy of remark, that an old Subadar of +one of our regiments of Native Infantry, who was then at home in +furlough, happened to pass Busuntpoor with his family, on his way to +Guya, on a pilgrimage. He and his family had saved what was to them a +large sum, to be spent in offerings, for the safe passage of his +deceased relatives through purgatory. On witnessing the sufferings of +the poor prisoners at Busuntpoor, he and his family offered all they +had for a certain number of women and children, who were made over to +them. He took them to their homes, and returned to his own, saying, +that he hoped God would forgive them for the sake of the relief which +they had afforded to sufferers. + +In the latter end of October, Beharee Lal took off all the force that +could be spared, to attack the Rajah of Bhinga, and plunder his +estate in the same manner; and Kurum Hoseyn took another to plunder +Koelee, Murdunpoor, Budrolee, and some other villages of the Bondee +estate, which had suffered least in the last attack. He collected two +thousand plough-bullocks, and sold them for little to Nuzur Allee and +Sufder Allee, who commanded detachments under him. He soon after made +an attack upon Sookha and other villages, in the vicinity of +Busuntpoor, and collected between twenty and thirty thousand head of +cattle; but, on his way back, he was attacked by a party of twenty +brave men (under a landholder named Nabee Buksh, whom he wished to +seize), and driven back to his camp at Busuntpoor, with the loss of +all his booty. He attempted no more enterprises after this check. The +tortures ceased, and ten days after he ran off, on hearing that +Rughbur Sing had been deprived of his charge by orders from Lucknow. +At this time one hundred and fifty prisoners remained at Busuntpoor, +and they were released by Incha Sing, the successor and uncle of +Rughbur Sing. + +The Akhbar Naveeses, so far from admonishing the perpetrators of +these atrocities, were some of them among the most active promoters +of them. Jorakhun, the news-writer at Bondee, got one anna for every +prisoner brought in; and from two to three rupees for every prisoner +released. He got every day subsistence for ten men from Kurum Hoseyn. +All the news-writers in the neighbourhood got a share of the booty in +bullocks, cows, and other animals. Two chuprassies are said to have +come from Government, and remained at Busuntpoor for nearly the whole +two months, while these tortures were being inflicted, without making +any report of them. When the order for dismissing Rughbur Sing came +from the Durbar, Maharaj Sing went off, saying, that he would soon +smother all complaints, in the usual way, at Lucknow. + +In September 1847, Rughbur Sing's agents, with a considerable force, +encamped at Parbatee-tolah, in the Gonda district, and made a sudden +attack upon the fine town of Khurgoopoor. After plundering the town, +the troops seized forty of the most respectable merchants and +shopkeepers of the place, and made them over to Rughbur Sing's +agents, at the rate agreed upon, of so much a head, as the +perquisites of the soldiers; and these agents confined and tortured +them till they each paid the ransom demanded, and rated according to +their supposed means. The troops did the same by Bisumberpoor, +Bellehree Pundit, Pyaree, Peepree, and many other towns and villages +in the same district of Gonda. A trooper and his son, who tried to +save the honour of their family, by defending the entrance to their +house, were cut down and killed at Khurgapoor; and in Bisumberpoor +one of the soldiers, with his sword, cut off the arm of a respectable +old woman, in order the more easily to get her gold bracelets. The +poor woman died a few hours afterwards. The only relative of the poor +old woman who could have assisted her was seized, with forty other +respectable persons, and taken off to the camp at Parbatee-tola, +where they were all tortured till they paid the ransom demanded, and +a gratuity, in addition, to the soldiers who had seized them. One of +the persons died under the tortures inflicted upon him. + +In the Gungwal district similar atrocities were committed by Rughbur +Sing's agents and their soldiers. These agents were Gouree Shunkur +and Seorutun Sing. The district formed the estate of Rajah Sreeput +Sing, who resided with his family in the fort of Gungwal. The former +Nazim, Suraj-od Dowlah, had attacked this fort on some frivolous +pretence; and, having taken it by surprise, sacked the place and +plundered the Rajah and his family of all they had. The Rajah died +soon after of mortification, at the dishonour he and his family had +suffered, and was succeeded by his son, Seetul Persaud Sing, the +present Rajah, who was now plundered again, and driven an exile into +the Nepaul hills. The estate was now taken possession of by the +agents, Goureeshunker and Seorutun Sing. Seorutun Sing seized a +Brahmin who was travelling with his wife and brother, and, on the +pretence that he must be a relation of the fugitive Rajah, had him +murdered, and his head struck off on the spot. The wife took the head +of her murdered husband in her arms, wrapped it up in cloth, and, +attended by his brother, walked with it a distance of fifty miles to +Ajoodheea, where Rughbur Sing was then engaged in religious +ceremonies. The poor woman placed the head before him, and demanded +justice on her husband's murderers. He coolly ordered the head to be +thrown into the river, and the woman and her brother-in-law to be +driven from his presence. Many other respectable persons were seized +and tortured on similar pretext of being related to, or having served +or assisted, the fugitive Rajah. Moistened gunpowder was smeared +thickly over the beards of the men, and when dry set fire to; and any +friend or relatives who presumed to show signs of pity was seized and +tortured, till he or she paid a ransom. All the people in the country +around, who had moveable property of any kind, were plundered by +these two atrocious agents, and tortured till they paid all that they +could beg and borrow. Many respectable families were dishonoured in +the persons of wives, sisters, or daughters, and almost all the towns +and villages around became deserted. + +In Rajah Nirput Sing's estate of Pyagpoor, the same atrocities were +committed. Rajah Rughbur Sing seized upon this estate as soon as he +entered upon his charge in 1846, and put it under the management of +his own agents; and, after extorting from the tenants more than was +justly due, according to engagement, he attacked the Rajah's house by +surprise, and plundered it of property to the value of fifteen +thousand rupees. The Rajah, however, contrived to make his escape +with his family. He had nothing with him to subsist upon, and in 1847 +he was invited back on solemn pledges of personal security; and, from +great distress, was induced again to undertake the management of his +own estate, at an exorbitant rate of assessment. + +In spite of this engagement, Goureeshunker, when the tenants had +become lulled into security by the hope of remaining under their own +chief, suddenly, with his troops, seized upon all he could catch, +plundered their houses, and tortured them till they paid all that +they could prevail upon their relatives and friends to lend them. +Eighteen hundred of their plough-bullocks were seized and sold by +him, together with many of their wives and daughters. While under +torture, Seetaram, a respectable Brahmin, of Kandookoeea, put an end +to his existence, to avoid further sufferings and dishonour. Sucheet, +another respectable Brahmin, of Pagaree, did the same by opening a +vein in his thigh. A cloth steeped in oil was bound round the hands +of those who appeared able, but unwilling, to pay ransoms, and set +fire to, so as to burn like a torch. In these tortures, Lala Beharee +Lal, Rughbur Sing's deputy, was the chief agent. "I found," says +Captain Orr, "the estate of Pyagpoor in a desolate condition; village +after village presenting nothing but bare walls--the finest arable +lands lying waste, and no sign of cultivation was anywhere to be +seen. Even the present Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, after conciliating and +inviting in the Rajah on further solemn assurances of personal +security, seized him and all his family, and kept them confined in +prison for several months, till they paid him an exorbitant ransom. +The poorer classes told me, that it was impossible for them to plough +their fields, since all their plough-bullocks had been seized and +sold by the Nazim's agents. Great numbers in this and the adjoining +estates have subsisted entirely upon wild fruits, and some species of +aquatic plants, since they were ruined by these atrocities." + +This picture is not at all overdrawn. In passing through the estate, +and communing with the few wretched people who remain, I find all +that Captain Orr stated in his report to be strictly correct. + +In the Hurhurpoor district similar atrocities were committed by +Rughbur Sing and his agents. He confided the management to his agent, +Goureeshunker. In 1846 he made his settlement of the land revenue, at +an exorbitant rate, with the tallookdar, Chinghy Sing; and, in the +following year, he extorted from him an increase to this rate of +twenty-five thousand rupees. He was, in consequence, obliged to fly; +but he was soon invited back on the usual solemn assurances for his +personal security, and induced to take on himself the management of +the estate. But he was no sooner settled in his house than he was +again attacked at night and plundered. One of his attendants was +killed, and another wounded; and all the respectable tenants and +servants who had ventured to assemble around him on his return were +seized and tortured till they paid ransoms. No less than two thousand +and five hundred bullocks from this estate were seized and sold, or +starved to death. A great many women were seized and tortured till +they paid ransoms like the men; and many of them have never since +been seen or heard of. Some perished in confinement of hunger and +cold, having been stripped of their clothes, and exposed at night to +the open air on the damp ground, while others threw themselves into +wells and destroyed themselves after their release, rather than +return to their families after the exposure and dishonour they had +suffered. + +In the Bahraetch district, the same atrocities were practised by +Rughbur Sing and his agents. Here also Goureeshunker was the chief +agent employed, but the few people who remained were so terrified, +that Captain Orr could get but little detailed information of +particular cases. The present Nazim had been one of Rughbur Sing's +agents in all these atrocities, and the people apprehended that he +was in office merely as his "locum tenens;" and that Rughbur Sing +would soon purchase his restoration to power, as he boasted that he +should. The estate of the Rajah of Bumunee Paer was plundered in the +same manner; and Rughbur Sing's agents seized, drove off, and sold +two thousand bullocks, and cut down and sold or destroyed five +hundred and five mhowa-trees, which had, for generations, formed the +strongest local ties of the cultivators, and their best dependence in +seasons of drought. + +In the Churda estate, in the Tarae forest, the same sufferings were +inflicted on the people by the same agents, Goureeshunker and Beharee +Lal. They seized Mudar Buksh, the manager, and made him over to +Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn, who had him beaten to death. The estate of the +Rajah of Bhinga was treated in the same way. Beharee Lal attacked the +town with a large force, plundered all the houses in it, and all the +people of their clothes and ornaments. They seized all the plough- +bullocks and other cattle, and had them driven off and sold. The +women were all seized and driven off in crowds to the camp of Rughbur +Sing at Parbatee-tolah. Many of them who were far gone in pregnancy +perished on the road, from fatigue and harsh treatment The estate of +the Rajah of Ruhooa was treated in the same manner; and the Rajah, to +avoid torture and disgrace, fled with his family to the jungles. In +July 1846, being in great distress, he was induced to come back on +the most solemn assurances from Rughbur Sing of personal security for +himself, family, and attendants. He left the Rajah his _nankar_ lands +for his subsistence, pledging himself to exact no rents or revenues +from them; but put the estate under the management of his own agents, +Lala Omed Rae and others. He at the same time pledged himself not to +exact from any of the poor Rajah's tenants higher rates than those +stipulated for in the engagements then made. But he immediately after +saddled the Rajah with the payment of five hundred armed men, on the +pretence that they were necessary to protect him, and aid him in the +management of these _nankar_ lands. In May 1847, when the harvests +had been gathered, and he had exacted from the tenants and +cultivators the rates stipulated, Goureeshunker was put into the +management. He seized all the tenants and cultivators by a sudden and +simultaneous attack upon their several villages, and extorted from +them a payment of fifty thousand rupees more. Not satisfied with +this, Goureeshunker seized the Rajah's chief manager, Mungul Pershad, +tied him up to a tree, and had him beaten to death. Many of the +Rajah's tenants and servants were beaten to death in the same manner; +and no less than forty villages were attacked and plundered. A good +many respectable females were seized and compelled to make up the +ransoms of their husbands and fathers who were under torture. Many of +the females who had been seized perished from the cruel treatment and +from want of food. Two thousand head of cattle, chiefly plough- +bullocks, were seized and sold from this estate. + +I have passed through all the districts here named, save two, Churda +and Bhinga, and I can say, that everything I saw and heard tended to +confirm the truth of what has here been told. Rughbur Sing and the +agents employed by him were, by all I saw, considered more as +terrible demons who delighted in blood and murder than as men endowed +with any feelings of sympathy for their fellow-creatures; and the +government, which employed such men in the management of districts +with uncontrolled power, seemed to be utterly detested and abhorred. + +It will naturally be asked, whether the circumstances described were +ever reported to the Oude Government or to the British Resident; and +whether they did anything to punish the guilty and afford redress and +relief to the sufferers. The following are the reports which were +made to the Oude Durbar by the news-writers, employed in the several +districts, and communicated to the Resident and his Assistant, by the +Residency news-writer, in his daily reports, which are read out to +them every morning. + +_July_ 10, 1847.--Report from Bondee states, that Rajaram, Rughbur +Sing's collector of Mirzapoor and other villages in that estate, had +attacked and plundered Mirzapoor, and carried off sixty head of +cattle. + +_August_ 12, 1847.--Report from Bondee states, that the estates of +Bondee and Tiperha, which yielded one hundred and fifty thousand +rupees a-year, had become so desolated by the oppression of Beharee +Lal and Kurum Hoseyn, the agents of Rughbur Sing, that they could not +possibly yield anything for the ensuing year; that Kurum Hoseyn had +seized all the cattle and other property of the peasantry, sold them +and appropriated the money to his own use, and had so beaten the +landholders and cultivators, that many of them had died. Order by the +Durbar, that these two agents be deterred from such acts of +oppression, fined five thousand rupees, and made to release the +remaining prisoners, and restore the property taken. Nothing whatever +was done! + +_August_ 14, 1847.--Report from Bondee states, that although the +landholders and cultivators of this estate had paid all that was due, +according to engagements, Beharee Lal and Kurum Hoseyn were having +them flogged and tortured every day to extort more; selling off all +their stock and other property, and selecting all the good bullocks +and cows and sending them to their own houses. Order by the Durbar, +that the minister punish the oppressors, and cause their property to +be given back to the oppressed. The minister ordered his deputy, +Ramchurn, to see this done. He did nothing whatever! + +_September_ 6, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that all the lands +from Bondee and Pyagpoor had been left waste from the oppression of +Rughbur Sing. Order by the Durbar, that the minister hasten to get +the lands tilled, as the season was passing away. Nothing whatever +was done! + +_September_ 24, 1847.--Report from the same place states, that +Rughbur Sing had seized no less than eighteen thousand bullocks, from +the villages of the Bondee estate, collected them at Neemapoor, and +ordered his agents to get them all sold off as fast as possible; and +that the cultivators could till none of the lands in consequence. +Order by the Durbar, that the minister put a stop to all this +oppression. Nothing whatever was done! + +_September_ 24, 1847.--Report from the same place states, that Kurum +Hoseyn had seized Ahlad Sing, the malgoozar of Hurkapoor in Bondee, +and had red-hot ramrods thrust into his flesh, on account of a +balance due, and then had him put upon an ass and paraded through the +streets. Order by the Durbar, that the minister see to this. Nothing +whatever was done! + +_August_ 2, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that the troops under +Beharee Lal were robbing all the females of the country of their +ornaments; and that Beharee Lal neither did nor said anything to +prevent them. Order by the Durbar, that Rughbur Sing be directed to +restrain his soldiers and restore the ornaments. Nothing whatever was +done! + +_September_ 6, 1847--Report from the same place states, that Luchman +Naraen, malgoozar of Bhurduree in Gonda, had paid all the rents due, +according to his engagements; that Beharee Lal had, nevertheless, +sent a force of three hundred men, who attacked his house, plundered +it of all that it contained, and took off five thousand seven hundred +and thirty-one maunds of stored grain. Order by the Durbar, that the +minister punish and restrain the oppressors, and cause all the +property to be restored. Nothing whatever was done in the matter! + +_October_ 2, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Jafir Allee and +Hemraj Sing, Rughbur Sing's agents, had, with a body of sixteen +hundred troops, attacked the town of Khurgapoor in Gonda, plundered +it, and attacked and plundered five villages in the vicinity, and +seized Sudasook and thirty other merchants and shopkeepers of +Khurgapoor, Chungul Sing, the farmer of that place, Kaleechurn, a +writer, and Benee, the agent of the Gonda Rajah, and no less than one +hundred landholders and cultivators. Order by the Durbar: Let the +minister seize all the offenders, and release and satisfy all the +sufferers. Nothing whatever was done in the matter. + +_October_ 5, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Rughbur Sing's +troops had seized and brought off from Gonda to Nawabgunge, two +hundred men and women, and shut up the road where they were confined, +that no one might pass near them--that three or four of the women were +pregnant, and near their confinement, and suffered much from harsh +treatment and want of food. Order by the Durbar: Let the minister +grant redress, and send a suzawal to see that the sufferers are +released. A suzawal was sent, it appears, but he remained a quiet +spectator of the atrocities, having received something for doing so. + +_September_ 1, 1847.--Report from Hissampoor states, that Byjonauth +Sing, agent of Rughbur Sing, in Hissampoor, had seized all the +plough-bullocks and cows he could find, sent the best to his own +home, and made the rest over to Wazeer Allee, Canongoe, to be sold. +Order by the Durbar, that Rughbur Sing be directed to restore all +that has been taken, and collect the revenue with more moderation. +Nothing whatever was done. + +_September_ 11, 1847.--Report from Bahraetch states, that the estate +of Aleenugger in Hissampoor, which yielded eighteen thousand rupees +a-year, had become so deserted from the oppressions of Rughbur Sing, +that it could no longer yield anything. Order by the Durbar, that +Rughbar Sing be directed to restore the tillage, or hold himself +responsible for the King's revenue! + +_July_ 28, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Goureeshunker, the +collector of Gungwal and Pyagpoor, had, by order of Beharee Lal, +attacked the village of Ruhooa, and seized and carried off sixty-four +cultivators, and confined them in his camp. No order whatever was +passed by the Durbar. + +_September_ 7, 1847.--From Nawabgunge in Gonda reports, that Beharee +Lal's soldiers were then engaged in sacking that town, and carrying +off the property. Order by the Durbar. Let the minister see that the +property be restored and wrongs redressed. Nothing whatever was done. + +_September_ 18, 1847.--Report from Bahraetch states, that Cheyn Sing, +the tallookdar of Bahmanee Paer, had fled into the British territory, +but returned to his fort; that Beharee Lal heard of his return and +sent two thousand men to seize him; that the tallookdar had only +sixty men, but held out for three hours, killed ten of the King's +soldiers, and then evacuated the fort and fled; that Beharee Lal's +soldiers had collected two thousand bullocks from the estate, and +brought them all off to his camp. Order by the Durbar, that the +minister give stringent orders in this case. Nothing whatever was +done. + +_October_ 2, 1847.--Report from Seerora states, that Mahommed Hussan +(the present Nazim), one of Rughbur Sing's collectors, with one +thousand horse and foot and one gun, had come to the hamlet of Sondun +Lal, and the village of Seerora, attacked and plundered these places, +and seized and taken off one hundred men and women, and two hundred +bullocks, killed two hundred Rajpoots in a fight, and then gone back +to his camp at Bahoreegunge. Order by the Durbar, that the minister +seize and send the oppressors to Lucknow, and restore the property to +its proper owners. The minister did nothing of the kind; and soon +after made this oppressor the governor of these districts. + +_September_ 20, 1847.--Report from Radowlee states, that armed men +belonging to Kurum Hoseyn, escorting one thousand selected bullocks, +sent by Rughbar Sing, had come to Radowlee, on their way to his fort +of Shahgunge. Order by the Durbar: Let the minister see to this +affair. Nothing was done. + +On the 28th September 1847 an order was addressed by the Durbar to +Rughbur Sing, that his agent, Kurum Hoseyn, appeared to have attacked +the house of Seodeen, though he had paid all that was due by him to +the State, according to his engagements, and plundered it of property +to the value of eighteen thousand rupees, and seized and confined all +his relations--that he must cause all the property to be restored, +and obtain acquittances from the sufferers. Rughbur Sing took no +notice whatever of this order. + +On the 2nd of October 1847, the Resident, Colonel Richmond, wrote to +the King, acquainting him, that he had heard, that Rughbur Sing had +seized and sold all the ploughs and bullocks in the Bahraetch +district, and, seized and sold also five hundred men, women, and +children of the landholders and cultivators; that he regrets all this +and prays that his Majesty will cause inquiries to be made; and, +should the charges prove true, cause the articles taken, or their +value, to be restored, and the men, women, and children to be +released. On the 25th of October 1847, the Resident again addressed +the King, stating, that he had heard, that, on the 2nd of October, +Jafir Allee and Maharaj Sing, agents of Rughbur Sing, with eleven +hundred soldiers, had attacked and plundered the town of Khurgapoor +and five villages in its neighbourhood, and seized and taken off +Ramdeen Sudasook, and thirty merchants, shopkeepers and other +respectable persons, also Junglee, the farmer of that town, +Kaleechurn Mutsudee, Dabey Pershad, the Rajah's manager, and one +hundred landholders and cultivators; and praying that orders be given +for inquiry and redress. Nothing whatever was done; but on the 30th +of October, the King replied to these letters, and to one written to +him by the Resident on the 31st of August 1847, transmitting a list +of unanswered letters. His Majesty stated, that he had sent orders to +Rughbur Sing and to his brother Maun Sing, in all the cases referred +to by the Resident; but that they were contumacious servants, as he +had before described them to the Resident to be; and had taken no +notice whatever of his orders! + +_August_ 20, 1846.--Report from Bahraetch states, that Goureeshunkur, +the agent of Rughbur Sing, in Bahraetch, had taken four persons from +among the many whom he had in confinement on account of balances, had +them suspended to trees, and cruelly flogged, and then had their +hands wrapped up in thick cloth, steeped in oil, and set fire to till +they burned like torches; and that he sat listening to their screams +and cries for mercy with indifference. Order by the King: Let the +minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, be furnished with a copy of this report, +and let him send out three troopers, as suzawuls, to bring in +Goureeshunkur and the four men whose hands had been burnt, and let +him employ Mekhlis Hoseyn, to inquire into the affair, and report the +result. Nothing was done. + +On the 29th of August, the Resident, Mr. Davidson, addressed a letter +to the King stating, that he had before represented the cruelties +which Rughbur Sing was inflicting upon the people of his district, +but had heard of no redress having been afforded in any case; that he +had received another report on the same subject, and now forwards it +to show what atrocities his agent, Goureeshunkur, was committing in +Bahraetch; that in no other country could the servants of the +sovereign commit such cruel outrages upon his subjects; that he had +been wrapping up the bodies of the King's subjects in oilcloths, and +setting, fire to them as to torches; that he could not do all this +without the knowledge and sanction of his master, Rughbur Sing; and +the Resident prays, that he may be punished, and that his punishment +may be intimated to him, the Resident. Nothing was ever done, nor was +any answer given to this letter, till it was, on the 30th of August +1847, acknowledged with the many others contained in the list sent to +the King, in his letter of the 31st August 1847, by the then +Resident, Colonel Richmond. + +No report appears to have reached either the Durbar or the Resident, +of the atrocious proceedings of Rughbur Sing's agents at Busuntpoor, +where so many persons perished from torture, starvation, and +exposure; nor was any notice taken of them till I took charge of my +office in January 1849. Incha Sing had offered for the contract of +the two districts four lacs less than Rughbur Sing had pledged +himself to pay, and obtained it, and quietly superseded his nephew, +with whom he was on cordial good terms. Rughbur Sing went into the +British territory, to evade all demands for balances, and reside for +an interval, with the full assurance that he would be able to +purchase a restoration to favour and power in Oude, unless the +Resident should think it worth while to oppose him, which my +predecessor did not.* I had his agents arrested, and charges sent in +against them, with all the proofs accumulated, by Captain Orr; but +they all soon purchased their way out, and no one was punished. At my +suggestion the King proclaimed Rughbur Sing as an outlaw, and offered +three thousand rupees for his arrest, if he did not appear within +three months. He never appeared, but continued to carry on his +negociations for restoration to power at Lucknow, through the very +agents whom he had employed in the scenes above described, Beharee +Lal, Goureeshunker, Kurum Hoseyn, Maharaj Sing, &c. + +[* Incha Sing absconded before the end of the season, and has never +returned to Oude. Mahommed Hussan got the contract on a reduction of +two hundred and thirty-one thousand rupees, below the rates which +Incha Sing bound himself to pay. But in 1850, he consented to an +increase of three hundred and ninety-nine thousand, with, I believe, +the deliberate intention to raise the funds for the payment by the +murder of Ramdut Pandee, and the confiscation of his estate.] + +Amjud Allee Shah, who was something of a man of business, died 13th +February 1847, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the present King, +who knows nothing of, and cares nothing whatever about, business. His +minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, who had some character of his own, was +removed some three or four months after, and succeeded by the present +minister, Allee Nakee Khan, who has none. + +The following table of the actual payments into the treasury, from +these two districts of Gonda-Bahraetch, for four years from 1845, +will serve to show the fiscal effects of such atrocities as were +permitted to be perpetrated in them for a brief period of +two years:-- + + For 1845, under Wajid Allee . 11,65,132 5 3 + For 1846, under Rughbur Sing . 14,01,623 7 6 + For 1847, under ditto . 10,27,898 4 6 + For 1848, under Incha Sing . . 6,05,492 0 3 + +But what table can show the sufferings of the people, and the +feelings of hatred and abhorrence of the Government and its officers, +to which they gave rise! Not one of the agents, employed in the +atrocities above described, was ever punished. The people see that +all the members of the Government are accessaries, either before or +after the fact, in all these dreadful cruelties and outrages, and, +that the more of them a public officer commits, the more secure is he +of protection and favour at Court. Their hatred and abhorrence of the +individual, in consequence, extend to and embrace the whole of the +Government, and would extend also to the British Government, by whom +that of Oude is supported, did they not see how earnestly the British +Resident strives to alleviate their sufferings, and make the Oude +sovereign and minister do their duty towards them; and how much all +British officers sympathise with their sufferings as they pass +through the country.* + +[* Beharee Lal is now (June 1851) employed in a confidential +situation, in the office of the deputy minister. Goureeshunker is a +Tusseeldar, or native collector, in the same district of Bahraetch, +under the new contractor, Mann Sing. Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn holds a +similar office in some other district. Maharaj Sing, and the rest, +all hold, I believe, situations of equal emolument and +respectability.] + +Almost all the khalsa lands of the Hissampoor purgunnah belonged to +the different branches of a very ancient and respectable family of +Syuds. Their lands have, as already stated, been almost all +transferred to powerful tallookdars, and absorbed by them in their +estates, by the usual process. It is said, and I believe truly, that +Hadee Allee Khan tried to induce the head of the Syud family to take +his daughter in marriage for his eldest son, as he was also a Syud, +(lineal descendant of the prophet.) The old Syud was too proud to +consent to this; and he and all his relations and connection were +ruined in consequence. The son, to whom Hadee Allee wished to unite +his daughter, still lives on his lands, but in poverty and fear. The +people say that family pride is more inveterate among the aristocracy +of the country than that of the city; and had the old man lived at +Lucknow, he would probably have given his son, and saved his family +and estate. + +Captain Hardwick, while out shooting on the 10th, saw a dead man +hanging by the heels in a mango-tree, close to the road. He was one +of a gang of notorious robbers who had attacked a neighbouring +village belonging to some Brahmins. They killed two, and caught a +third member of the gang, and hung him up by the heels to die. He was +the brother-in-law of the leader of the gang, Nunda Pandee. There he +still hangs, and the greater part of my camp took a look at him in +passing. + + ____________________ + + +Tallookdars of Bahraetch-Government Land Revenue according + to the Estimate of this Year. + +___________________________________________________________________ +Names of Villages Government Present Condition + Demand +___________________________________________________________________ + +Bandee . . . . . 65,000 Almost waste +Ruhooa . . . . . 20,000 Ditto +Nanpara . . . . . 1,50,000 Falling off +Gungwal . . . . . 26,000 Much out of tillage +Pyagpoor . . . . . 59,000 Ditto +Ekona . . . . . . 1,80,000 Ditto +Bulrampoor . . . . 1,50,000 Well tilled +Toolseepoor . . . . 1,05,000 Ditto +Atrola . . . . . 80,000 Much out of tillage +Munkapoor . . . . 35,000 Ditto +Bahmanee Paer . . . 12,000 Ditto +___________________________________________________________________ + +Gowras alias Chehdwara +Paruspoor. . . . . 14,000 Well tilled +Aruta . . . . . . 18,000 Ditto +Shahpoor . . . . . 30,000 Ditto +Dhunawa . . . . . 42,000 Ditto +Paska . . . . . . 20,000 Ditto +Kumeear . . . . . 48,000 Ditto +___________________________________________________________________ + +Churda . . . . . 62,000 Falling off +___________________________________________________________________ +___________________________________________________________________ + + Gonda Pergunnah. +___________________________________________________________________ + +Desumberpoor. . . . 95,000 Rajah Davey Buksh, in + Good order. +Bhinga. . . . . . 64,000 Recovering. +Akkerpoor. . . . . 46,015 In good order under + Ramdut Pandee. +Sagha Chunda. . . . 1,20,729 Ramdut Pandee, in good + order. +Birwa . . . . . . 24,000 A little out of tillage. +___________________________________________________________________ + + + +_December_ 12, 1849.--Gungwal, thirteen miles. The road lay through +the estate of Pyagpoor to within a mile of Gungwal. Little +cultivation was to be seen the whole way, and what we could see was +bad. Little variety of crops, and the tillage slovenly, and without +manure or irrigation. The tallookdar was ruined by Rughbur Sing, and +is not on terms with the present Nazim, and he did not appear. The +estate of Gungwal is not better cultivated than that of Pyagpoor; nor +better peopled--both may be considered as mere wastes, and their +assessments as merely nominal. The tallookdar did not appear. Both +were ruined by the rapacious Nazim and his atrocious agents, +Goureeshunker, Beharee Lal, Kurum Hoseyn, and others. + +The Rajah of Toolseepoor, Dirgraj Sing, has an only son, Sahibjee, +now 17 years of age. The Rajah's old servants, thinking they could +make more out of the boy than out of the prudent father, first +incited him to go off, with all the property he could collect, to +Goruckpoor, where he spent it in ten months of revelry. The father +invited him back two mouths ago, on condition that he should come +alone. When he got within six miles of Toolseepoor, however, the +father found, that three thousand armed followers had there been +assembled by his agents, to aid him in seizing upon him and the +estate. Fearing that his estate might be desolated, and he himself +confined, and perhaps put to death, the Rajah ran off to his friend, +the Rajah of Bulrampore, for protection. + +_December_ 13, 1849.--Purenda, eleven miles. The first half of the +way, through the lands of Gungwal, showed few signs of tillage or +population; the latter half through, those of Purenda and other +villages of Gonda, held by Ramdut Pandee, showed more of both. Some +nice villages on each side, at a small distance, and some fine groves +of mango-trees. On the road this morning, Omrow Pooree, a non- +commissioned officer of the Gwalior Contingent, whose family resided +in a neighbouring village, came up to me as I passed along, and +prayed me to have the murderer of his father seized and punished. He +described the circumstances of the case, and on reaching camp, I +requested Captain Weston to take the depositions of the witnesses, +and adopt measures for the arrest of the offenders. Syampooree was +the name of the father of the complainant. He resided in a small +hamlet, near the road, called after himself, as the founder, +"Syampooree ka Poorwa," or Syampooree's Hamlet. He had four sons, all +fine, stout men. The eldest, Omrow Pooree, a corporal in the Gwalior +Contingent, Bhurut Pooree, a private in Captain Barlow's regiment, +Ramchurun and Ramadeen, the two youngest, still at home, assisting +their father in the management of their little estate, which the +family had held for many generations. One day in the beginning of +December 1848, a short, thick-set man passed through the hamlet, +accosted Syampooree and his two sons, as they sat at the door, and +asked for some tobacco, and entered into conversation with them. He +pretended that his cart had been seized by the Nazim's soldiers; and, +after chatting with them for a short time, departed. + +The second morning after this, before daylight, Ramadeen, the +youngest son, was warming himself at a fire on a small terrace in +front of the door, when he saw a party of armed men approaching. He +called out, and asked who they were and what they wanted. They told +him that they were Government servants, had traced a thief to the +village, and come to seize him. Four of the party, who carried +torches, now approached the fire and lighted them. Syampooree and his +other son, Ramchurun, hearing the noise, came out, and placed +themselves by the side of Ramadeen. By the light of the torches they +now recognised the short, thick-set man with whom they had been +talking two days before, at the head of a gang of fifteen men, +carrying fire-arms with matches lighted, and five more armed with +swords and shields. The short, thick-set man was Nunda Pandee, the +most notorious robber in the district. He ordered his gang to search +the house: on the father and sons remonstrating, he drew his sword +and cut down Ramchurun. The father and Ramadeen having left their +swords in the house, rushed back to secure them; but Nunda Pandee, +calling out to one of his followers, Bhowaneedeen, to despatch the +son, overtook the father, and at one cut severed his right arm from +his body. He inflicted several other cuts upon him before the old man +could secure his sword with his left arm. Having got it, he placed +the scabbard under his foot, drew forth the blade, and cut Nunda +Pandee across his sword-arm which placed him _hors-de-combat_; and +rushing out among the assailants, he cut down two more, when he was +shot dead by a third and noted robber, Goberae. Bhowaneedeen and +others of the gang had cut down Ramadeen, and inflicted several +wounds upon him as he lay on the ground. The gang then plundered the +house, and made off with property to the value of one thousand and +fifty rupees, leaving the father and both sons on the ground. The +brave old father died soon after daybreak; but before he expired he +named his assailants. + +The two youngest sons were too severely wounded to admit of their +pursuing the murderers of their father, but their brother, Bhurut +Pooree, obtaining leave of absence, returned home, and traced the +leader of the gang, Nunda Pandee, to the house of one of his +relatives in the village of Kurroura, in Pyagpoor, where he had had +his wound sewn up and dressed, and lay concealed. The family then +tried, in vain, to get redress from all the local authorities, none +of whom considered it to be their duty to look after murderers and +robbers of this kind. Captain Weston succeeded in arresting this +atrocious gang-leader, Nunda Pandee, who described to him minutely +many of the numerous enterprises of this kind in which he had been +engaged, and seemed to glory in his profession. He mentioned that the +man whom he had seen suspended in the tree was his brother-in-law; +that he had had two other members of his gang killed by the villagers +on that occasion, but had succeeded in carrying off their bodies; +that Goberae, Bhowaneedeen, and the rest of his followers were still +at large and prosecuting their trade. Nunda Pandee was by the +Resident made over for trial and punishment to the Durbar; and +Goberae and Bhowaneedeen have since been arrested and made over also. +They both acknowledged that they murdered the Gosaen in the manner +above described, May 1851. The Mahommedan law-officer before whom the +case was tried declared, that he could not, according to law, admit +as valid the evidence of the wife and two sons of the murdered +Gosaen, because they were relatives and prosecutors; and, as the +robbers denied before him that they were the murderers, he could not, +or pretended he could not, legally sentence them to punishment The +King was, in consequence, obliged to take them from his Court, and +get them sentenced to perpetual imprisonment by another Court, not +trammelled by the same law of evidence. This difficulty arises from +_blood_ having its _price_ in money in the country where the law was +made, or the _Deeut_; any person who had a right to share in this +_Deeut_, or price of blood, was therefore held to be an invalid or +incompetent witness to the fact. + +On the road from Bahraetch to Gungwal we saw very few groves or fine +single trees on either side. The water is close to the surface, and +the soil good, but for the most part flooded during the rains, and +fit only for rice-cultivation. To fit it for the culture of other +autumn crops would require a great outlay in drainage; and this no +one will incur without better security for the returns than the +present government can afford. Ramdut Pandee is the greatest +agricultural capitalist in these parts. + +On the 8th of December it had become known all over the city of +Lucknow, that the King had promised Captain Bird that he would banish +Gholam Ruza and his sister, and Kotub Allee, across the Ganges; and +it was entered in the news-writer's report, though Captain Bird had +spoken of it to no one. He was asked by the minister whether he would +excuse the King for not keeping his word so far, and said he could +not. He demanded an audience of the King, who tried to avoid a +meeting by pleading indisposition; but the first Assistant, being +very urgent, he was admitted. He found the King in a small inner room +lying on a cot covered with a ruzae or quilt. + +There were closed doors on the side of the room where the cot stood, +and Captain Bird perceived that persons were behind listening to the +conversation. On the minister advancing to meet him at the door. +Captain Bird declined taking his proffered hand, and in a loud voice +declared--"that he believed that he was mixed up with the fiddlers, +and was afraid of their being removed, or he would have carried his +Majesty's order for their dismissal into effect." He then advanced to +the King, shook him by the hand, apologized for intruding upon him +after his excuse of illness, and stated--"that his own character was +at stake, and he had been obliged to take this step to save it, and +requested that the minister might be told to retire during the +conversation, as he had already shown his partiality for the +characters whom his Majesty had stigmatized as low, intriguing, and +untrustworthy--as ruiners of his good name and his kingdom, and the +cause of ill-feeling between the British Government and himself. The +King expressed a wish that the minister might remain, that he might +have an opportunity to listen to what Captain Bird had to state, as +it appeared to be against him. Captain Bird replied, that he had no +complaint to make against the minister; that his object in coming +was, to claim the fulfilment of the promise which his Majesty had so +solemnly made to him, to dismiss Gholam Ruza and his sister, and +Kotub Allee, and send them across the Ganges; that he was induced to +demand this audience by the minister's visit of the preceding +evening, to ask him to excuse his Majesty's fulfilling the promise +which he had made; and by the written report given to him that +morning by the news-writer, stating, that his Majesty had changed his +mind, and pardoned the parties." + +The King declared that he had never given Captain Bird any such +promise. Captain Bird then repeated to his Majesty the conversation +which had taken place on that occasion. The King seemed to be +staggered; but the minister came to his aid, and said--"that his +Majesty had ascertained from Sadik Allee himself, that Gholam Ruza +was not an accomplice in that affair." Captain Bird replied--"that +the King had told him, that the deception had been so fully proved, +that they were speechless; and that his Majesty had spit in their +faces." The King said "not in Gholam Ruza's. His sister and Kotub +Allee are alone guilty." Captain Bird urged, that all were alike +guilty, and he besought the King to fulfil his promise, saying,--"that +his, Captain Bird's, name was at stake; that if the parties were not +removed, the whole city would say, that the King had bribed him, and +bought off his promise." The King replied, "This is all nonsense; do +you wish me to swear that Gholam Ruza is innocent, and that I never +gave the promise you mention?" and, calling the minister, he placed +his right hand on his head, and said,--"I swear, as if this was my +son's head, and by God, that I believe Gholam Ruza to be entirely +innocent; and that I never promised to turn him out, or to send him +across the Ganges." Captain Bird then heard a movement of feet in the +next room behind the closed doors. He was horrified; but returning to +the charge, said, "Your Majesty has, at any rate, acknowledged the +guilt of Gholam Ruza's sister, and that of Khotub Allee; pray fulfil +your promise on the guilty." The King said--"When absent from my +sight, they are as far off as across one hundred rivers. I know they +are intriguers, and shall keep my eyes upon them." Captain Bird said +--"I have reported the circumstances of the case thus far to the +Resident. Your Majesty has made me a participator in the breaking of +your word. I have told Colonel Sleeman you would turn these men out." +The King said--"This case has reference only to my house--it has no +connection with the Government; but if you wish to use force, take me +also by the beard, and pull me from my throne!" Captain Bird said--"I +pray your Majesty to recollect how often, when force might have been +used, under your own sign-manual and seal, on these fiddlers +interfering in State affairs, the Resident has hesitated to put your +written permission for their removal into force; and now who can be +your friend, or save you from any danger, which may hereafter +threaten your life or your well-being? I must, of course, report all +to the Resident." The minister now said--"Yes, report to the Resident +that the King has changed his mind, broken his word, and will not +fulfil his promise; and ask for permission to employ direct force for +the removal of these men: see if he will give permission." Captain +Bird replied, "that any orders he received from the Resident would +certainly be carried, into effect; but if his Majesty's own +acknowledgment of the deceitfulness of these men, and their +intriguing rascality were not sufficient to induce him to remove +them--if the King set so little value on his promise--a promise now +known to the whole city, and which he must in self-defence now speak +openly of, he foresaw the speedy downfall of the kingdom. Who, he +asked, will subject themselves to be deceived in an endeavour to prop +it up by the removal of those who were living on its heart's blood, +or be made liars by reporting promises never to be fulfilled?" Thus +ended this interview. + +The next day Sadik Allee had a dress of honour conferred upon him, +and an increase of one hundred rupees a-month made to his salary; and +Gholam Ruza, and his relative the fiddler, Anees-od Dowla, were +seated behind his Majesty in his carriage-and-four, and paraded +through the city, as in full possession of his favour. After the King +had alighted from the carriage at the palace, the coachman drove the +two singers to their apartments in the Mukbura, seated as before in +the khuwas, or hind seat. [On the 25th of May 1850, the King caused +the chief singer, Gholam Ruza, his father, Nathoo, his sister, and +her husband, Dummun Khan, Gholam Hyder Khan, Kotub Allee, his +brother, Sahib Allee, and the females of his family, in all fourteen +persons, to be seized and confined in prison. On the 2nd of June, all +but Gholam Ruza and Dummun Khan were transported across the Ganges +into British territory; and, on the 23rd of July, these two men were +transported in the same manner. The immediate cause of the King's +anger was the discovery that his divorced and banished wife, +Surafrazmahal, had actually come back, and remained concealed for +seven days and seven nights in the palace, in the apartments of the +chief singer, Gholam Ruza. They were all made to disgorge the +Company's notes and jewels found upon them, but the King visited +Gholam Ruza the day before his departure, and treated him with great +kindness, and seemed very sorry to part with him.] + +On the 10th, I had written to Captain Bird to mention the distinction +which he appeared to have overlooked in his zeal to get the fiddlers +removed. The offence with which these persons stood charged in this +case was a personal affront to the King, or an affront to his +understanding, and not any interference with the administration of +the Government; and the first Assistant was requested by the Resident +to wait upon his Majesty, merely with a view to encourage him in his +laudable resolution to banish them, and to offer his aid in doing so +should his Majesty manifest any wish to have it; and not to demand +their punishment on the part of the British Government. In the one +case, if the King promised to punish the offenders and relented and +forgave them, we could only regret his weakness; but in the other, if +he promised to punish them and failed to do so, we should consider it +due to the character of our Government to insist upon the fulfilment +of his promise. On the evening of the 11th I got the above report of +his interview with the King from Captain Bird; and, on the 12th, I +wrote to tell him, that I considered him to have acted very +indiscreetly; that he had brought this vexation and mortification +upon himself by his overweening confidence in his personal influence +over the King; that he ought to have waited for instructions from me, +or at least for a reply from me to his letter, regarding the former +interview at Court; that I could not now give him the support he +required, as I could neither demand that his requisitions should be +complied with, nor tell the King that I approved of them that he had +been authorized by me to act on his own discretion in any case of +great emergency, but this could not be considered of such a +character, for no evil or inconvenience was to be apprehended from a +day or two's delay, since the question really was, whether his +Majesty should have a dozen fiddlers or only ten. + +In the beginning of September 1850, the King became enamoured of one +of his mother's waiting-maids, and demanded her in marriage. See was +his mother's favourite bedfellow, and she would not part with her. +The King became angry, and to soothe him his mother told him that it +was purely out of regard for him and his children that she refused to +part with this young woman; that she had a "_sampun_," or the coiled +figure of a snake in the hair on the back of her neck. No man, will +purchase a horse with such a mark, or believe that any family can be +safe in which a horse or mare with such a mark is kept. His mother +told him, that if he cohabited with a woman having such a mark, he +and all his children must perish. The King said that he might +probably have, among his many wives, some with marks of this kind; +and that this might account for his frequent attacks of palpitation +of the heart. "No doubt," said the old Queen Dowager; "we have long +thought so; but your Majesty gets into such a towering passion when +we venture to speak of your wives, that we have been afraid to give +expression to our thoughts and fears." "Perhaps," said the King, "I +may owe to this the death, lately, of my poor son, the heir- +apparent." "We have long thought so," replied his mother. The chief +eunuch, Busheer, was forthwith ordered to inspect the back of the +necks of all save that of the chief consort, the mother of the late +and present heir-apparent. He reported that he had found the _fatal +mark_ upon the necks of no less than eight of the King's wives, +Nishat-mahal, Koorshed-mahal, Sooleeman-mahal, Huzrut-mahal, Dara +Begum, Buree Begum, Chotee Begum, and Huzrut Begum. The chief priest +was summoned, and the divorce, from the whole eight, pronounced +forthwith; and the ladies were ordered to depart with all that they +had saved while in the palace. Some of their friends suggested to his +Majesty, that Mahommedans were but unskilful judges in such matters, +and that a Court of Brahmins should be assembled, as they had whole +volumes devoted exclusively to this science. The most learned were +accordingly collected, and they declared that though there were marks +resembling in some degree the _sampun_, it was of no importance; and +the evil it threatened might be averted by singeing the head of the +snake with a hot iron. The ladies were very indignant, and six of +them insisted upon leaving the palace, in virtue of the divorce. Two +only consented to remain, the Buree Begum and Chota Begum. + +_December_ 14, 1849.--Came on twelve miles to Gonda. The country well +studded with groves and fine single trees; the soil naturally +fertile, and water near the surface. Cultivation good about Gonda, +and about some of the villages along the road it is not bad; but +there is nowhere any sugar-cane to be seen beyond a small garden +patch. The country is so wretchedly stocked with cattle that little +manure is available for tillage. + +The Bulrampore Rajah, a lively, sensible, and active young man, +joined me this morning, and rode along by the side of my elephant, +with the capitalist, Ramdut Pandee, the Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, and +old Bukhtawar Sing, the brother of the late Dursun Sing, whom I have +often mentioned in this Diary. Rajah Bukhtawar Sing is the King's +Mohtamin, or Quartermaster-General of the Resident's' camp. The Rajah +of Toolseepore also, who has been ousted by his son from his estate, +joined me last night; but he was not well enough to ride with me. +Dogs, hawks, and panthers attend for sport, but they afford little or +no amusement. Hawking is a very dull and very cruel sport. A person +must become insensible to the sufferings of the most beautiful and +most inoffensive of the brute creation before he can feel any +enjoyment in it. The cruelty lies chiefly in the mode of feeding the +hawks. I have ordered all these hunting animals to return to Lucknow. + +Although the personal character of the Toolseepoor Rajah is not +respected, that of his son is much worse; and the Bulrampoor Rajah +and other large landholders in the neighbourhood would unite and +restore him to the possession of his estate, but the Nazim is held +responsible for their not moving in the matter, in order that the +influential persons about the Court may have the plucking of it at +their leisure. The better to insure this, two companies of one of the +King's regiments have been lately sent out with two guns, to see that +the son is not molested in the possession. The father was restored to +his estate in 1850, and the son fled again to the Goruckpoor +district. He became reconciled to his father some months after, +through the mediation of the magistrate, Mr. Chester, and returned to +Toolseepoor. The father and son, however, distrusted each other too +much to live long together on amicable terms, and the son has gone +off again to Goruckpoor. + +The Toolseepoor estate extends along from east to west for about one +hundred miles, in a belt of from nine to twelve miles wide, upon the +southern border of that part of the Oude Tarae forest which we took +from Nepaul in 1815, and made over to the Oude Government by the +treaty of the 11th May 1816, in lieu of the one crore of rupees which +our Government borrowed from Oude for the conduct of that war. The +rent-roll of Toolseepoor is now from two to three lacs of rupees a- +year; but it pays to the Oude Government a revenue of only one lac +and five thousand, over and above gratuities to influential officers. +The estate comprises that of Bankee, which was held by a Rajah Kunsa. +Dan Bahader, the father of the present Rajah of Toolseepoor, attacked +him one night in 1832, put him and some two hundred and fifty of his +followers and family to death, and absorbed the estate. Mahngoo, the +brother of Kunsa, escaped and sought redress from the Oude Durbar; +but he had no money and could get no redress; and, in despair, he +went off to seek employment in Nepaul, and died soon after. Dan +Bahader, enriched by the pillage of Bankee, came to Lucknow, and +purchased permission to incorporate Bankee with his old estate of +Toolseepoor. + +Khyreeghur and Kunchunpoor, on the western border of that forest, +were made over by us to Oude at the same time, as part of the +cession. They had been ceded to our Government by the treaty of 1801, +at an estimated value of two hundred and ten thousand, but, up to +1816, they had never yielded to us fifty thousand rupees a-year. They +had, however, formerly yielded from two to three lacs of rupees a- +year to the Oude Government, and under good management may do so +again; but, at present, Oude draws from them a revenue of only +sixteen thousand, and that with difficulty. The rent-roll, however, +exceeds two hundred thousand, and may, in a few years, amount to +double that sum, as population and tillage are rapidly extending. + +The holders of Khyreegur and Kunchunpoor are always in a state of +resistance against the Oude Government, and cannot be coerced into +the payment of more than their sixteen thousand rupees a-year; and +hundreds of lives have been sacrificed in the collection of this sum. +The climate is so bad that no people from the open country can +venture into it for more than four months in the year--from the +beginning of December to the end of March. The Oude Government +occasionally sends in a body of troops to enforce the payment of an +increased demand during these four months. The landholders and +cultivators retire before them, and they are sure to be driven out by +the pestilence, with great loss of life, in a few months; and the +landholders refuse to pay anything for some years after, on the +ground that all their harvests were destroyed by the troops. The rest +of the Tarae lands ceded had little of tillage or population at that +time, and no government could be less calculated than that of Oude to +make the most of its capabilities. It had, therefore, in a fiscal +point of view, but a poor equivalent for its crore of rupees; but it +gained a great political advantage in confining the Nepaulese to the +hills on its border. Before this arrangement took place there used to +be frequent disputes, and occasionally serious collisions between the +local authorities about boundaries, which were apt to excite the +angry feelings of the sovereigns of both States, and to render the +interposition of the paramount power indispensable. + +It was at Bhinga, on the left bank of the Rabtee River, in the Gonda +district, and eight miles north-east from Bulrampoor, that Mr. George +Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, was murdered on the night +of the 6th May, 1823. He had been the collector of the land revenue +of the Cawnpore district for many years; but, having taken from the +treasury a very large sum of money, and spent it in lavish +hospitality and unsuccessful speculations, he absconded with his wife +and child, and found an asylum with the Rajah of Bhinga, on the +border of the Oude Tarae, where he intended to establish himself as +an indigo planter. Strict search was being made for him throughout +India by the British Government, and his residence at Bhinga was +concealed from the Oude Government by the local authorities. The +Rajah made over to him a portion of land for tillage, and a suitable +place in a mango grove, about a mile from his fort, to build a house +upon. He built one after the Hindoostanee fashion, with bamboos and +grass from the adjoining jungle. It consisted of a sitting-room, bed- +room, and bathing-room, all in a line, and forming one side of a +quadrangle, and facing inside, with only one small door on the +outside, opening into the bathing-room. The other three sides of the +quadrangle consisted of stables, servants' houses, and out-offices, +all facing inside, and without any entrances on the outside, save on +the front side, facing the dwelling-house, where there was a large +entrance. + + + PLAN OF MR. RAVENSCROFT'S HOUSE. + + _____________________________________ ___ + | | | | + | | Bathing| + | Sitting Room. | Bed Room. Room. | + |_______ ________|____ ______|_______| + | | | | + | | | | + | ___ | + | | | | + | | | | | | + |_____| |___| |_______| + | | Cot | | + | | | | + | O S | + | u t | + | t | | a | + | | | b | + |__O__| |___l___| + | f | | e | + | f | | s | + | i | | | + | c | + | e | + | s | | | + | | | | + |_____| |_______| + | | | | + | | + | | Entrance | | + | |___ _____ ____ ____| | + | | | | + | | | | + |________________| |__________________| + + + + +The Rajah, Seo Sing, was a worthy old man. He had four sons, +Surubjeet Sing, the eldest, Omrow Sing, Kaleepurkas Sing, and +Jypurkas Sing. The eldest was then married, and about the age of +twenty-five; the other three were still boys. The old man left the +management of the estate to the eldest son, a morose person, who led +a secluded life, and was never seen out of the female apartments, +save twice a-year, on the festival of the hooley and the anniversary +of his marriage. Mr. Ravenscroft had never seen or held any communion +with him, save through his father, brothers, or servants; but he was +in the habit of daily seeing and conversing with the father and his +other sons on the most friendly terms. The eldest son became alarmed +when he saw Mr. Ravenscroft begin to plant indigo, and prepare to +construct vats for the manufacture; and apprehended that he would go +on encroaching till he took the whole estate from him, unless he was +made away with. He therefore hired a gang of Bhuduk dacoits from the +neighbouring forest of the Oude Tarae to put him to death, after he +had been four months at Bhinga. During this time Mrs. Ravenscroft had +gone on one occasion to Cawnpoor, and on another to Secrora, on +business. + +Bhinga lies fifty miles north-east from Secrora, where the 20th +Regiment of Native Infantry, under the command of Colonel Patton, was +then cantoned. On the 6th of May 1823, Ensign Platt, of that corps, +had come out to see him. In the evening, the old Rajah and his second +and third sons came to visit Mr. Ravenscroft as usual, and they sat +conversing with the family on the most friendly terms till nine +o'clock, when they took leave, and Mrs. Ravenscroft, with her child +and two female attendants, retired to the sleeping-room in the house. +Ensign Platt went to his small sleeping-tent outside the quadrangle, +under a mango-tree. This tent was just large enough to admit his +small cot, and a few block-tin travelling-boxes, which he piled away +inside, to the right and left of his bed. Mr. Ravenscroft slept on a +cot in the open air, in the quadrangle, a few paces from the door +leading to Mrs. Ravenscroft's sleeping-apartment. He that night left +his arms in the sitting-room, and Ensign Platt had none with him. Mr. +Ravenscroft was the handsomest and most athletic European gentleman +then in India, and one of the most expert in the use of the sword and +shield. + +His servants had been accustomed to stand sentry, by turns, at the +entrance of the quadrangle, and it was his groom Munsa's turn to take +the first watch that night. He was to have been relieved by the +chowkeedar, Bhowaneedeen; but, in the middle of his watch, he roused +the chowkeedar, and told him that he had been taken suddenly ill, and +must go to his house for relief. The chowkeedar told him that he +might go at once, and he would get up and take his place immediately; +but he lay down and soon fell asleep again. + +About eleven o'clock the whole quadrangle was filled by a gang of +about sixty dacoits, who set their torches in a blaze, and began to +attack Mr. Ravenscroft with their spears. He sprang up, and called +loudly for his sword and shield, but there was no one to bring them. +He received several spears through his body as he made for the door +of Mrs. Ravenscroft's apartment, calling out to her in English to fly +and save herself and child, and defending himself as well as he could +with his naked arms. Mosahib, a servant who slept by his cot, got to +Mrs. Ravenscroft's room and assisted her to escape, with her child +and two female attendants, through the bathing-room to the outside. A +party had been placed to stab Ensign Platt with their long spears +through the sides of his small tent; but they passed through and +through the block-tin boxes, and roused without hurting him. He +rushed out and attempted to defend himself by seizing the spears of +his assailants; but he received several of them through his arms. He +made for the entrance to the quadrangle, and there, by the blaze of +the torches, saw Mr. Ravenscroft still endeavouring to defend +himself, but covered with blood, which was streaming from his wounds +and mouth. + +On seeing Ensign Platt at the entrance, he staggered towards him, but +the dacoits made a rush at Ensign Platt with their spears at the same +time. He saved himself by springing over a thick and thorny hedge on +one side of the quadrangle, and ran round behind to the small door +leading into the bathing-room, which he reached in time to assist +Mrs. Ravenscroft to escape, as the dacoits were forcing their way +through the screen into her bed-room from the sitting-room. As soon +as he saw her under the shade of the trees, beyond the blaze of the +torches, he left her and her child, and the two female attendants, to +the care of Mosahib, and went round to the entrance in search of her +husband. He had got to a tree, outside the entrance, into which +Deena, Ensign Platt's servant, had climbed to save himself as soon as +he saw his master attacked, and was leaning against it; but, on +seeing Ensign Platt, he again staggered towards him, saying faintly +_bus, bus_--enough, enough. These were the last words he was heard to +utter, and must have referred to the escape of his wife and child, of +which he had become conscious. By this time the gang had made off +with the little booty they found. On attacking Mr. Ravenscroft at +first, some of them were heard to say, "You have run from Cawnpoor to +come and seize upon the estate of Bhinga, but we will settle you." +Mrs. Ravenscroft, her infant, and female attendants, remained +concealed under the shade of the trees, and her husband was now taken +to her with eighteen spear wounds through his body. The Rajah and his +two young sons soon after made their appearance, and in the evening +the survivors were all taken by the old man to a spacious building, +close outside the fort, where they received every possible attention; +but the eldest son never made his appearance. Out of the twenty-nine +men who composed the party when the attack commenced, seven had been +killed and eighteen wounded. Mr. Ravenscroft died during the night of +the 7th, after great suffering. He retained his consciousness till +near the last; but the blood continued to flow from his mouth, and he +could articulate nothing. On the morning of the 8th, he was buried in +the grove, and Ensign Platt read the funeral service over his grave. +Mrs. Ravenscroft and her child were taken to Colonel Patton, at +Secrora, and soon after sent by him to Lucknow. + +On the 10th, he reported the circumstances of this murder to the +Resident, Mr. Ricketts; and sent him the narratives of Mosahib and +Deena; and his report, with translations of these narratives, was +submitted by the Resident to Government on the 12th of that month. +But in these narratives no mention whatever was made of a British +officer having been present at the murder and the burial of Mr. +Ravenscroft. This suppression arose, no doubt, from the apprehension +that Government might be displeased to find that the military +authorities at Secrora had become aware of Mr. Ravenscroft's +residence at Bhinga without reporting the circumstance to Government; +and still more so to find, that he had been there visited by a +British officer, when search was being made for him throughout India. + +In acknowledging the receipt of the Resident's letter on the 23rd of +May, the Secretary, Mr. George Swinton, observes, that the Governor- +General in Council concludes, that he shall receive a more full and +satisfactory report on the subject from Colonel Patton than that to +which his letter had given cover, since he considered that report to +be very imperfect; that one of the narrators, Mosahib, states, that +he himself conducted Mrs. Ravenscroft and her child to a neighbouring +village, and yet he brought no message whatever from that lady to +Colonel Patton at Secrora; that none of the wounded people or +servants of the deceased, except Deena, appear to have found their +way to Sacrora, though four days had elapsed from the date of the +murder to that of the despatch of the report; that the body seemed to +have been hastily interred by the people of the village, without any +notice having been sent to the officer commanding the troops at +Secrora; that such an atrocious outrage as that described in these +narratives, on the person of a subject and servant of the British +Government, demanded the exertion of every effort to ascertain the +real facts of the case by local inquiry; yet it did not appear that +any person had been despatched to the spot to verify the evidence of +the two men examined by Colonel Patton, or to clear up the doubts to +which all these circumstances must naturally have given rise; nor did +it appear that the defects in Colonel Patton's report had occurred to +the Resident, or that he had directed any further inquiry to be made. + +The Resident was, therefore, directed to instruct Colonel Patton, to +depute one or more officers to the place where the murder was said to +be perpetrated, with orders to hold an inquiry on the spot in +communication with the King of Oude's officers, to take the evidence +of the wounded men, and that of any other persons who might have been +witnesses to any part of the transaction, and to the burial of Mr. +Ravenscroft; and to examine the grave in which the body of the +deceased was said to have been deposited; and further, to call upon +Colonel Patton to state whether any information had previously +reached Secrora of Mr. Ravenscroft's actually residing at Bhinga, or +at any other place within the dominions of the King of Oude. "His +Lordship in Council was," Mr. Swinton says, "satisfied, from the +known humanity of Colonel Patton's character, that every possible aid +and comfort had been extended to Mrs. Ravenscroft and her child; and +the information which that lady and her attendants must have it in +their power to give, could not fail to place the whole affair in its +proper light." Extracts from this letter were sent by the Resident to +Colonel Patton, on the 2nd of June, with a request that he would +adopt immediate measures to carry the orders of Government into +effect; and reply to the question whether any information of Mr. +Ravenscroft's residing at Bhinga had previously reached him. + +A committee of British officers was assembled at Bhinga on the 11th +June, and their proceedings were transmitted to the Resident on the +18th of that month; but the committee, for some reasons stated in the +report, did not examine "the grave in which the body of the deceased +was said to have been deposited." Though in this committee Ensign +Platt stated that he was present when the murder was perpetrated; +that he attended the deceased till he died the next night, and +performed the funeral ceremonies over the body on the morning of the +8th; still he seemed to narrate the circumstances of the event with +some reserve, while there was a good deal of discrepancy in the +evidence of the other eye-witnesses, as recorded in the report, +seemingly from the dread of compromising Ensign Platt. + +The Resident did not, therefore, think that Government would be +satisfied with the result of this inquiry; and, on the 20th of June +he directed Colonel Patton to reassemble the committee at Bhinga, and +require it to hold an inquest on the body, and take the depositions +of all the witnesses on oath. On the same day the Resident reported +to Government what he had done. The second committee proceeded to +Bhinga, and, on the 13th of July, Colonel Patton transmitted its +report to the Resident, who submitted it to Government on the 17th of +that month. The committee had taken the evidence of the witnesses on +oath, and held an inquest on the body; but, in doing so, it had been +necessary to dig through the tomb which Mrs. Ravenscroft had, in the +interval, caused to be erected over the remains of her husband; and, +at the suggestion of Colonel Patton, this tomb was rebuilt and +improved at the cost of Government, who were perfectly satisfied with +the result. + +But in its reply, dated the 31st July, Government very justly +remarks, that all the unnecessary trouble which had attended this +investigation, as well as the very painful step of having the body +disinterred, which the Resident found himself compelled to adopt in +obedience to its orders, arose from a want of those obvious +precautions in the first instance which ought to have suggested +themselves to Colonel Patton. Had he made the requisite inquiries at +Secrora, he must have learnt that an English officer belonging to his +own regiment, who had been present at the interment, had been wounded +when Mr. Ravenscroft was murdered, and, for a time, rendered unfit +for duty. The facts since deposed to on oath by Ensign Platt might +have been elicited, and his testimony, if necessary, might have been +confirmed by the evidence of the widow of the deceased; and had such +conclusive evidence been submitted to Government in the first +instance, the doubts excited by the extraordinary circumstances of +the whole affair would never have existed. When ordered on the +inquiry to Bhinga, had Ensign Platt at once declared at Secrora that +he could there afford all the information required as to the fact of +the murder and interment of the body, the necessity of further +inquiry on the spot would have been obviated. He had apparently been +deterred from doing this by the apprehension of compromising both +himself and his commanding officer. Colonel Patton had no knowledge +of Mr. Ravenscroft being at Bhinga, though he had heard a rumour of +his being somewhere in the Oude territory; and, in his application +for a few days' leave, Ensign Platt made no mention of him or of his +intention to visit him. This is stated in a subsequent letter from +Colonel Patton to the Resident, dated 27th of August 1823. + +The opinion that the Rajah had nothing whatever to do with the +murder, and that the gang was secretly hired for the purpose by his +eldest son, Surubjeet, has been confirmed by time, and is now +universal among the people of these parts. He died soon after of +dropsy, and the people believe that the disease was caused by the +crime. He left an only son, Krishun Dutt Sing. The Rajah, Seo Sing, +survived his eldest son some years; and, on his death, he was +succeeded by Krishun Dutt Sing, who now leads precisely the same +secluded life that his father led, and leaves the management of the +Bhinga estate entirely to his only surviving uncle, Kaleepurkas Sing, +the youngest of the two boys who visited Mr. Ravenscroft on the +evening of the murder. The other three sons of the old Rajah are +dead. The actual perpetrators of the murder were never punished or +discovered. Mrs. Ravenscroft afterwards became united in marriage to +the Resident at the time, Mr. Mordaunt Ricketts, and still lives. Her +child, a boy, was drowned at the Lucknow Residency some time after +his mother's marriage with the Resident. He had been shut up by his +mother in a bathing-room for some fault; and, looking into a bathing- +tub at his image in the water, he lost his balance, fell in, and was +drowned. When the servants went to let him out they found him quite +dead. + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Legendary tale of breach of Faith--Kulhuns tribe of Rajpoots--Murder +of the Banker, Ramdut Pandee, by the Nazim of Bahraetch--Recrossing +the Ghagra river--Sultanpoor district, State of Commandants of +troops become sureties for the payment of land revenue--Estate of +Muneearpoor and the Lady Sogura--Murder of Hurpaul Sing, Gurgbunsee, +of Kupragow--Family of Rajahs Bukhtawar and Dursun Sing--Their +_bynama_ Lands--Law of Primogeniture--Its object and effect--Rajah +Ghalib Jung--Good effects of protection to Tenantry--Disputes about +Boundaries--Our army a safety-valve for Oude--Rapid decay of Landed +Aristocracy in our Territories--Local ties in groves, wells, &c. + +_December_ 15, 1849.-Wuzeergunge. On the way this morning, we passed +Koorassa, which is said once to have been the capital of a formidable +Rajah, the head of the Kulhuns tribe of Rajpoots. The villages which +we see along the road seem better, and better peopled and provided +with cattle. The soil not naturally very fertile, but yields fine +returns under good culture, manure, and irrigation. Water everywhere +very near the surface. The place is called after the then _Nawab +Wuzeer_, Asuf-od Dowlah, who built a country-seat here with all +appurtenances of mosque, courts, dwelling-houses, &c., on the verge +of a fine lake, formed in the old bed of the Ghagra river, with +tillage and verdure extending down to the water's edge. The garden- +wall, which surrounds a large space of ground, well provided with +fruit and ornamental trees, is built of burnt bricks, and still +entire. The late minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, persuaded his master, +Amjad Allee Shah, to give this garden and the lands around, with +which it had been endowed, to his moonshee, Baker Allee Khan, who now +resides at Fyzabad, and subsists upon the rents which he derives from +them, and which are said to be about twelve hundred rupees a-year. + +The Bulrampoor Rajah, Ramdut Pandee, the banker, and Rajah Bukhtawar +Sing, rode with me this morning. The Rajah of Bulrampoor is an +intelligent and pleasing young man. He was a child when Mr. +Ravenscroft was killed, but said he had heard, that the Bhinga chief +had suffered for the share which he had had in the murder; his body +swelled, and he died within a month or two. "If men's bodies swelled +for murder, my friend," I said, "we should have no end of swelled +bodies in Oude, and among the rest, that of Prethee Put's, of Paska." +"Their bodies all swell, sooner, or later," said old Bukhtawar Sing, +"when they commit such atrocious crimes, and Prethee Puts will begin +to swell when he finds that you are inquiring into his." "I am +afraid, my friends, that the propensity to commit them has become +inveterate. One man hears that another has obtained lands or wealth +by the murder of his father or brother, and does not rest till he has +attempted to get the same by the murder of his, for he sees no man +punished for such crimes." "It is not all nor many of our clan" +(Rajpoots), said the Rajah of Bulrampoor, "that can or will do this: +we never unite our sons or daughters in marriage with the family of +one who is so stained with crimes. Prethee Put and all who do as he +has done, must seek an union with families of inferior caste." I +asked him whether the people, in the Tarae forest, were still afraid +to point out tigers to sportsmen. "I was lately out with a party +after a tiger," he said, "which had killed a cowherd, but his +companions refused to point out any trace of him, saying, that their +relatives' spirit must be now riding upon his head, to guide him from +all danger, and we should have no chance of shooting him. We did +shoot him, however," said the Rajah, exultingly, "and they were all, +afterwards, very glad of it. The tigers in the Tarae do not often +kill men, sir, for they find plenty of deer and cattle to eat."--"Can +you tell me, Rajah Sahib," said I, "why it is that among the Arabs, +the lion is called 'the father of cultivation,' '_abol hurs_, or _abo +haris_.'" "No," replied the Rajah; "it is an odd name for a beast +that feeds on nothing but the flesh of deer, cattle, and men." "It +is, I suppose, Rajah Sahib," I remarked, "because he feeds upon the +deer, which are the greatest enemies of their young crops." + +The Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor, and all the merchants and +respectable landholders in these parts assure me, that all the large +colonies of Bhuduks, or gang robbers by hereditary profession, who +had, for so many generations, up to A.D. 1840, been located in the +Oude Terae forest, have entirely disappeared under the operation of +the "Special Police," of the Thuggee and Dacoitee Department, aided +and supported by the Oude Government; and that not one family of them +can now be found anywhere in Oude. They have not been driven out as +formerly, to return as soon as the temporary pressure ceased, but +hunted down and punished, or made to blend with the rest of society +in service or at honest labour. + +_December_ 16, 1849.--Nawabgunge, eight miles, over a plain of the +same good soil, but not much better cultivated. The people tell me, +that garden tillage is now almost unknown in these districts; first, +because kachies or gardeners (here called moraes) having been robbed, +ruined, and driven into exile by Rughbur Sing, cannot be induced to +return to and reside in places, where they would have so little +chance of reaping the fruits of their labour; and, secondly, because +there are no people left who can afford to purchase their garden +produce. They tell me also, that the best classes of ordinary +cultivators, the Koormies and Lodhees, have been almost all driven +out of the district from the same cause. The facts are manifest-- +there are no gardeners, and but few Koormies and Lodhees left; and +there is, in consequence, little good tillage of any kind, and still +less of garden cultivation. + +The Rajah of Bulrampoor and Ramdut Pandee, the banker, rode with me, +and related the popular tradition regarding the head of the Kulhuns +family of Rajpoots, Achul Sing, who, about a century and a quarter +ago, reigned over the district intervening between Gonda and Wuzeer +Gunge, and resided at his capital of Koorassa. The Rajah had a +dispute with one of his landholders, whom he could not get into his +power. He requested Rutun Pandee, the banker, to mediate a +reconciliation, and invite the landholder to an amicable adjustment +of accounts, on a pledge of personal security. The banker consented, +but made the Rajah swear by the _River Sarjoo_, which flowed near the +town, that he should be received with courtesy, and escorted back +safely. The landholder relied on the banker's pledge and came; but +the Rajah no sooner got him into his power, than he caused him to be +put to death. The banker could not consent to live under the +dishonour of a violated pledge; and, abstaining from food, died in +twenty-one days, invoking the vengeance of the _River Sarjoo_, on the +head of the perfidious Prince. In his last hours the banker was +visited by one of the Rajah's wives, who was then pregnant, and +implored him to desist from his purpose in mercy to the child in her +womb; but she was told by the dying man, that he could not consent to +survive the dishonour brought upon him by her perjured husband; and +that she had better quit the place and save herself and child, since +the incensed river Sarjoo would certainly not spare any one who +remained with the Rajah. She did so. The banker died, and his death +was followed by a sudden rise of the river and tempest. The town was +submerged, and the Rajah with all who remained with him perished. The +ruins of the old town are said to be occasionally still visible, +though at a great depth under the water in the old bed of the Sarjoo, +which forms a fine lake, near the present village of Koorassa, midway +between Gonda and Wuzeer Gunge. + +The pregnant wife fled, and gave birth to a son, whose descendant is +now the head of the Kulhuns Rajpoots, and the Rajah of Bahmanee Paer, +a district on the eastern border of Oude towards Goruckpoor. But, it +is a remarkable fact, that the male descendants have been all blind +from their birth, or, at least, the reigning portion of them, and the +present Rajah is said to have two blind sons. This is popularly +considered to be one of the effects of the Rajah's violated pledge to +the banker. A handmaid of the Rajah, Achul Sing, is said to have fled +at the same time, and given birth to a son, from whom are descended +the Kulhuns tallookdars of the Chehdwara, or Gowaris district, +already noticed. The descendants of Rutun Pandee are said still to +hold rent-free lands, under Achul Sing's descendant, in Bahmanee +Paer; and the Pandee is worshipped throughout the districts as a +saint or martyr. He has a shrine in every village, at which offerings +are made on all occasions of marriage, and blessings invoked for the +bride and bridegroom, from the spirit of one who set so much value on +his plighted faith while on earth. The two branches of the Kulhuns +family above mentioned, propitiate the spirit of the deceased Pandee +by offerings; but there is a branch of the same family at Mohlee, in +the Goruckpoor district, who do not. Though Hindoos, they adopt some +Mussulman customs, and make offerings to the old Mussulman saint, at +Bahraetch, in order to counteract the influence of the Pandee's +spirit. + +Such popular traditions, arising from singular coincidences of +circumstances, have often a salutary effect on society, and seem to +be created by its wants and wishes; but rivers have, of late years, +become so much less prompt in the vindication of their honour, that +little reliance is placed, upon the oaths taken in their names by the +Prince, his officers or his landowners in Oude. + +Nawabgunge, Munkapoor, and Bahmanee transferred to the British +Government, with the other lands, under the treaty of 1801; and +retransferred to Oude, by the treaty of the 11th of May 1816, in +exchange for Handeea, alias Kewae, a slip of land extending along the +left bank of the Ganges, between Allahabad and Benares. + + + Rent Roll. Kankur. Govt. demand + +Nawabgunge, Wuzeergunge,.} l,08,000 32,000 76,000 + Mahadewa . . . . .} + +Munkapoor . . . . . 40,000 12,000 28,000 +Bahmanee Paer . . . . 12,000 3,000 9,000 + + + + + +The landholders and cultivators complain sadly of the change of +sovereigns; and the tillage and population have greatly diminished +under the Oude Government since 1816, but more especially, since the +monster, Rughbur Sing got the government. Here Ramdut Pandee, the +Rajah of Bulrampoor, and the Nazim of the district, have taken leave +of me, this being my last stage in their district. Ramdut Pandee +holds two estates in this district, for which he pays an annual +revenue to Government of 1,66,744 13 3.* He holds, at the same time, +a small estate in our district of Goruckpoor, where he resides and +keeps his family, till he obtains solemn written pledges, confirmed +on oath, for their security, not only from the local authority of the +day, but from all the commandants of corps and establishments, +comprising the military force employed under him. These pledges +include all his clients, who may have occasion to visit or travel +with him, as the Rajah of Bulrampoor is now doing. These pledges +require to be renewed on every change in the local authorities and in +the military officers employed under them. He is one of the most +substantial and respectable of the agricultural capitalists of Oude, +and the highest of his rank and class in this district. He every year +stands security for the punctual payment of the revenues due, +according to existing engagements, by the principal landholders of +the district, to the extent of from six to eight lacs of rupees; and +for this he gets a certain per centage, varying with the character +and capability of the landholders. Some are of doubtful ability, +others of doubtful character, and he rates his risks and per centage +accordingly. He does much good, and is more generally esteemed than +any other man in the district; but he has, no doubt, enlarged his own +landed possessions occasionally, by taking advantage of the +necessities of his clients, and his influence over the local +authorities of government The lands he does get, however, he improves +by protecting and aiding his tenants, and inviting and fostering a +better class of cultivators, He is looked up to with respect and +confidence by almost all the large landholders of the district, for +his pledge for the punctual payment of the revenues saves their +estates from the terrible effects of a visit from the Nazim and his +disorderly and licentious troops; and this pledge they can always +obtain, when necessary, by a fair assurance of adherence to their +engagements. + +[* The estate of Ramdut Pandee, for this year, 1849, comprises-- + Sirgha, Chunda, &c. . . . 1,20,729 11 0 + Akberpoor, &c. . . . . . 46,015 2 3 + Total . . 1,66,744 13 3 ] + +On the 8th of November 1850, Ramdut Pandee lent the Nazim eighty +thousand rupees on his bond, after paying all that was due to the +State for the season, by him and all his clients, and on the 16th of +that month he went to Gonda, where the Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, was +encamped with his force, to take leave preparatory to his going to +bathe at Ajoodheea, on the last day of the month of Kartick, as was +his invariable custom. He was accompanied by the Rajah of Bulrampoor, +and they encamped separately in two mango-groves near to each other, +and about a mile and a half from the Nazim's camp. About nine at +night the Nazim sent two messengers, with silver sticks, to invite +and escort them to his tent. They set out immediately, leaving all +their armed followers in their camps, and taking only a few personal +attendants and palankeen bearers. No person is permitted to take arms +into the Nazim's tent; nor does any landholder or merchant of Oude +enter his tent without the pledges for personal security above +mentioned. Ramdut Pandee and the Rajah entered with only a few +personal servants, leaving all their other attendants outside the +outer curtain. This curtain surrounded the tent at a distance of only +a few yards from it, and the tent was pitched in the centre. They +were received with all due ceremony, and in the same friendly manner +as usual. The Rajah had no business to talk about, while the Nazim +and banker had; and, after a short conversation, he took leave to +return to his tents and break his fast, which he had kept that day +for some religious purpose. He left in the tent the Nazim, his +deputy, Jafir Allee, and his nephew and son-in-law, Allee Hoseyn, +sitting together on the carpet, on the right, all armed, and Ramdut +sitting unarmed, on the left, with a Brahmin lad, Jowahir, standing +at the door, with the banker's paundan and a handkerchief. Kurunjoo, +a second person, with the banker's shoes, and a third attendant of +his standing outside the tent door. + +The Nazim and Ramdut talked for some time together, seemingly on the +most friendly and cordial terms; but the Nazim, at last, asked him +for a further loan of money, and further securities for landholders +of doubtful character, before he went to bathe. The banker told him, +that he could lend him no more money till he came back from bathing, +as he had lent him eighty thousand rupees only eight days before; +and, that he could not increase his pledges of security without +further consultation with the landholders, as he had not yet +recovered more than four out of the seven lacs of rupees which he had +been obliged to advance to the Treasury, on the securities given for +them during the last year. He then took leave and rose to depart. The +Nazim turned and made some sign to his deputy, Jafir Allee, who rose, +presented his gun and shot Ramdut through the right side close under +the arm-pit. Exclaiming "Ram! Ram!"--God! God!--the banker fell; and +the Nazim, seizing and drawing the sword which lay on the carpet +before him, cut the falling banker across the forehead. His nephew +and deputy drew theirs; and together they inflicted no less than +twenty-two cuts upon the body of Ramdut. + +The banker's three attendants, seeing their master thus shot down and +hacked to pieces, called out for help; but one of the three ruffians +cut Jowahir, the Brahmin lad, across the shoulder, with his sword, +and all ran off and sought shelter across the border in the British +territory. The Nazim and his attendants then buried the body hastily +near the tent, and ordered the troops and artillery to advance +towards and fire into the two camps. They did so, and the Bulrampoor +Rajah had only just reached his tents when the shot came pouring in +upon them from the Nazim's guns. He galloped off as fast as he could +towards the British border, about twenty miles distant, attended only +by a few mounted followers, some of whom he sent off to Bulrampoor, +to bring his family as fast as possible across the border to him. The +rest he ordered to follow him. His followers and those of the +murdered banker fled before the Nazim's forces, which had been +concentrated for this atrocious purpose, and both their camps were +plundered. Before the Rajah fled, however, the murdered banker's son- +in-law, who had been left in the camp, ran to him with a small +casket, containing Ramdut's seals, the bond for the eighty thousand +rupees, and the written pledges given by the Nazim and commanding +officers of corps, for the banker's and the Rajah's personal +security. He mounted him upon one of his horses, and took both him +and the casket off to the British territory. + +It was now about midnight, and the Nazim took his forces to the towns +and villages upon the banker's estate, in which his family and +relatives resided, and in which he kept the greater part of his +moveable property. He sacked and plundered them all without regard to +the connection or relationship of the inhabitants with the murdered +banker. The property taken from the inhabitants of these towns and +villages is estimated at from ten to twelve lacs of rupees. As many +as could escape fled for shelter across the border, into the British +territory. The banker's brother, Kishen Dutt, who resided in the +British territory, came over, collected all he could of his brother's +followers, attacked the Amil's forces, killed and wounded some forty +or fifty of his men, and captured two of his guns. The body of the +banker was discovered two days after, and disinterred by his family +and friends, who counted the twenty-two wounds that had been +inflicted upon it by the three assassins, and had it burned with due +ceremonies. + +The Nazim's agent at Court, on the 18th of November, submitted to the +minister his master's report of this affair, in which it was stated, +that the banker was a defaulter on account of his own estate, and +those of the other landholders for whom he had given security--that +he, the Nazim, had earnestly urged him to some adjustment of his +accounts, but all in vain--that the banker had disregarded all his +demands and remonstrances, and had with him five hundred armed +followers, one of whom had fired his pistol at him, the Nazim, and +killed one of his men--that they had all then joined in an attack +upon the Nazim and his men, and that, in defending themselves, they +had killed the banker. On the 19th, another report, dated the 16th, +reached the minister from the Nazim's camp, stating, that the banker +had come to his tent at ten at night, with his armed followers, and +had an interview [with] him--that as the banker rose to depart, the +Nazim told him that he must not go without some settlement of his +accounts; and a dispute followed, in which the banker was killed, and +two of the Nazim's followers were severely wounded-that so great was +the confusion that the Durbar news-reporters could not approach to +get information. + +On the 20th, a third report reached the minister, stating, that the +Rajah of Bulrampoor had come with the banker to visit the Nazim, but +had taken leave and departed before the collision took place--that +the Nazim urged the necessity of an immediate settlement of accounts, +but the banker refused to make any, grossly abused the Nazim, and, at +last, presented his pistol and fired at him; and thereby wounded two +of his people--that he was, in consequence, killed by the Nazim's +people, who joined the banker's own people in the plunder of his +camp. + +On receiving this last report, the minister, by order of his Majesty, +presented to the agent of the Nazim a dress of honour of fourteen +pieces, such as is given to the highest officers for the most +important services; and ordered him to send it to his master, to mark +the sense his sovereign entertained of his gallant conduct and +valuable services, in crushing so great _a rebel and oppressor_, and +to assure him of a long-continued tenure of office. + +By the interposition of the British Resident and the aid of the +magistrate of Goruckpoor, Mr. Chester, the real truth was elicited, +the Nazim was dismissed from office, and committed for trial, before +the highest judicial Court at Lucknow. He at first ran off to +Goruckpoor, taking with him, besides his own, two elephants belonging +to the Rajah of Gonda, with property on them to the value of fifty +thousand rupees, which he overtook in his flight. The Rajah had sent +off these elephants with his valuables, on hearing of the +assassination of the banker, thinking that the Nazim would secure +impunity for this murder, as Hakeem Mehndee had for that of Amur +Sing, and be tempted to extend his operations. Finding the district +of Goruckpoor unsafe, the Nazim came back and surrendered himself at +Lucknow. Jafir Allee was afterwards seized in Lucknow. There is, +however, no chance of either being punished, since many influential +persons about the Court have shared in the booty, and become +accessaries interested in their escape. Moreover, the Nazim is a +Mahommedan, a Syud, and a Sheeah. No Sheeah could be sentenced to +death, for the murder, even of a Soonnee, at Lucknow, much less for +that of a Hindoo. If a Hindoo murders a Hindoo, and consents to +become a Mussulman, he cannot be so sentenced; and if he consents to +become so after sentence has been passed, it cannot be carried into +execution. Such is the law, and such the every-day practice. + +The elephants were recovered and restored through the interposition +of the Resident, but none of the property of the Rajah or the banker +has been recovered. May 18, 1851.--The family of the banker has +obtained a renewal of the lease of their, two estates, on agreeing to +pay an increase of forty thousand rupees a-year. + +Sirgha Chunda . . . . 1,20,729 11 0 + Increase . . . . 30,000 0 0 + _______________ 1,50,729 11 0 + +Akberpoor . . . . . 46,015 2 3 + Increase. . . . . 10,000 0 0 + _______________ 56,015 2 3 + _______________ +Total annual demand . . . . . . . 2,06,744 13 3 + _______________ + +They bold the Nazim's bond for the eighty thousand rupees, borrowed +only eight days before his murder. + +_December_ 17, 1849.--Five miles to the left bank of the Ghagra, +whence crossed over to Fyzabad, on platformed boats, prepared for the +purpose by the Oude authorities. Our tents are in one of the large +mango-groves, which are numerous on the right bank of the river, but +scanty on the opposite bank. From the time we crossed this river at +Byram-ghaut on the 5th, till we recrossed it this morning, we were +moving in the jurisdiction of the Nazim of the Gonda and Bahraetch +district. After recrossing the Ghagra we came within that of the +Nazim of Sultanpoor, Aga Allee, who was appointed to it this year, +not as a contractor, but manager, under the Durbar. The districts +under contractors are called _ijara_, or farmed districts; those +under the management of non-contracting servants of Government are +called _amanee_, or districts under the _amanut_, or trust of +Government officers. The morning was fine, the sky clear, and the +ground covered with hoar frost. It was, pleasing to see so large a +camp, passing without noise, inconvenience, or disorder of any kind +in so large a river. + +The platformed boats were numerous, and so were the pier-heads +prepared on both sides, for the convenience of embarking and landing. +Carriages, horses, palankeens, camels and troops, all passed without +the slightest difficulty. The elephants were preparing to cross, some +in boats and some by swimming, as might seem to them best. Some +refuse to swim, and others to enter boats, and some refuse to do +either; but the fault is generally with their drivers. On the present +occasion, two or three remained behind, one plunged into the stream +from his boat, in the middle of the river, with his driver on his +back, and both disappeared for a time, but neither was hurt. Those +that remained on the left bank, got tired of their solitude, and were +at last coaxed over, either in boats or in the water. + +The Sarjoo rejoins the Ghagra a little above Fyzabad, and the united +stream takes the old name of the Sarjoo. This is the name the river +bears, till it emerges from the Tarae forest, when the large body +takes that of the Ghagra, and the small stream, which it throws off, +or which perhaps flows in the old bed, retains that of the Sarjoo. +The large branch absorbs the Kooreeala, Chouka, and other small +streams, on its way to rejoin the smaller. Some distance below +Fyzabad, the river takes the name of _Dewa_; and uniting, afterwards, +with the Gunduck, flows into the Ganges. Fyzabad is three miles above +Ajoodheea, on the same bank of the river. It was founded by the first +rulers of the reigning family, and called for some time _Bungalow_, +from a bungalow which they built on the verge of the stream. Asuf-od +Dowlah disliked living near his mother, after he came to the throne, +and he settled at Lucknow, then a small village on the right bank of +the Goomtee river. This village, in the course of eighty years, grown +into a city, containing nearly a million of souls. Fyzabad has +declined almost in the same proportion. + +The Nazim has six regiments, and part of a seventh, on duty under +him, making, nominally, six thousand fighting men, but that he +cannot, he tells me, muster two thousand; and out of the two +thousand, not five hundred would, he says be ready to fight on +emergency. All the commandants of corps reside at Court, knowing +nothing whatever of their duties, and never seeing their regiments. +They are mere children, or Court favourites, worse than children. He +has, nominally, forty-two guns, of various calibre; but he, with +great difficulty, collected bullocks enough to draw the three small +guns he brought with him from Sultanpoor, to salute the Resident, on +his entering his district. I looked at them in the evening. They were +seventy-four in number, but none of them were in a serviceable +condition, and the greater part were small, merely skin and bone. He +was obliged to purchase powder in the bazaar for the salutes; and +said, that when he entered his charge two months ago, the usual +salute of seven guns, for himself, could not be fired for want of +powder, and he was obliged to send to the bazaar to purchase what was +required. The bazaar-powder used by the Oude troops is about one- +third of the strength of the powder used by our troops. His authority +is despised by all the tallookdars of the district, many of whom +refuse to pay any rent, defy the Government, and plunder the country, +as all their rents are insufficient to pay the armed bands which they +keep up. All his numerous applications to Court, for more and better +troops and establishments, are disregarded, and he is helpless. He +cannot collect the revenue, or coerce the refractory landholders and +robbers, who prey upon the country.* + +[* The Nazim for 1850-51, got both Captain Magness's and Captain +Banbury's regiments.] + +He says that the two companies and two guns, which were sent out at +the Resident's urgent recommendation, to take possession of +Shahgunge, and prevent the two brothers, Maun Sing and Rughbur Sing, +from disturbing the peace of the country, in their contests with each +other, joined Maun Sing, as partisan; to oppose his brother; and that +Maun Sing has taken for himself all the _bynamah_ lands, from which +his brother, Rughbur Sing, has been ousted, under the favour of the +minister. He tells me also, that Beebee Sogura, the lady who holds +the estate of Muneearpoor, and pays fifty thousand rupees a-year to +the Government, was seized by Wajid Allee, his predecessor, before he +made over charge of the district to him, and made over to a body of +troops, on condition, that she should enter into engagement to pay to +them the ten months' arrears of pay due to them, out of the rents of +the ensuing year; and that they should give him receipts for the full +amount of these arrears of pay at once, to be forwarded to the +Durbar, that he might get credit for the amount in his accounts for +last year--that she has paid them fifteen thousand rupees, but can +collect no more from her tenants, as the crops are all being cut or +destroyed by the troops, and she is in close confinement, and treated +with cruel indignity. The rent-roll of her estate is, it is said, +equal to one hundred thousand rupees a year. + +This was a common practice among governors of districts at the close +of last year; and thus they got credit, on account, for large sums, +pretended to have been paid out of the revenues of last year; but, in +reality, to be paid out of the revenues of the ensuing year. But the +collections are left to be made by the troops, for whose arrears of +pay the revenue has been assigned, and they generally destroy or +extort double what they are entitled to from their unhappy debtors. +This practice of assigning revenues due, or to be due, by +landholders, for the arrears of pay due to the troops, is the source +of much evil; and is had recourse to only when contractors and other +collectors of revenue are unable to enforce payment in any other way; +or require to make it appear that they have collected more than they +really have; and to saddle the revenue of the ensuing year with the +burthens properly incident upon those of the past. The commandant of +the troops commonly takes possession of the lands, upon the rents, or +revenues, of which the payments have been assigned, and appropriates +the whole produce to himself and his soldiers, without regard to the +rights of landholders, farmers, cultivators, capitalists, or any +other class of persons, who may have invested their capital and +labour in the lands, or depend upon the crops for their subsistence. +The troops, too, are rendered unfit for service by such arrangements, +since all their time is taken up in the more congenial duty of +looking after the estate, till they have desolated it. The officers +and soldiers are converted into manorial under-stewards of the worst +possible description. They are available for no other duty till they +have paid themselves all that may have been due or may become due to +them during the time of their stay, and credit to Government but a +small portion of what they exact from the landholders and +cultivators, or consume or destroy as food, fodder, and fuel. + +This system, injurious alike to the sovereign, the troops, and the +people, is becoming every season more and more common in Oude; and +must, in a few years, embrace nearly the whole of the land-revenue of +the country. It is denominated _kubz_, or contract, and is of two +kinds, the "_lakulame kubz_," or pledge to collect and pay a certain +sum, for which the estate is held to be liable; and "_wuslee kubz_," +or pledge to pay to the collector or troops the precise sum which the +commandant may be able to collect from the estate put under him. In +the first, the commandant who takes the _kubz_ must pay to the +Government collector or the troops the full sum for which the estate +is held to be liable, whether he be able to collect it or not, and +his _kubz_ is valid at the Treasury, as so much money paid to the +troops. In the second, it is valid only as a pledge, to collect as +much as he can, and to pay what he collects to the Government +collector, or the troops he commands. The collector, however, +commonly understands that he has shifted off the burthen of payment +to the troops--to the extent of the sum named--from his own shoulders +to those of the commandant of the troops; and the troops understand, +that unless they collect this sum they will never get it, or be +obliged to screw it out of their commandant; and they go to the work +_con amore_. If they can't collect it from the sale of all the crops +of the season, they seize and sell all the stock and property of all +kinds to be found on the estate; and if this will not suffice, they +will not scruple to seize and sell the women and children. The +collector, whose tenure of office seldom extends beyond the season, +cares little as to the mode as long as he gets the money, and feels +quite sure that the sovereign and his Court will care just as little, +and ask no questions, should the troops sell every living thing to be +found on the estate. + +The history, for the last few years, of the estate of Muneearpoor, +involves that of the estate of Kupragow and Seheepoor, held by the +family of the late Hurpaul Sing, and may be interesting as +illustrative of the state of society in Oude. Hurpaul Sing's family +is shown in the accompanying note.* + +[* Purotee Sing had two sons, Gunga Persaud and Nihal Sing. Gunga +Persaud had one son, Seosewak, who had three sons, Seoumber Sing, +Hobdar Sing, and Hurpaul Sing. Seoumber Sing had one son, Ramsurroop +Sing, the present head of the family, who holds the fort and estate +of Kupradehee. Hobdar Sing had one son, who died young. Hurpaul Sing +died young, Nihal Sing had no son, but left a widow, who holds his +share of one-half of the estate, and resides at Seheepoor.] + +In the year A.D. 1821, after the death of Purotee Sing, his second +son, Nihal Sing, held one-half of the estate, and resided in +Seheepoor, and the family of his eldest son, Gunga Persaud, held the +other half, and resided in Kupragow. The whole paid a revenue to +Government of between six and seven hundred rupees a-year, and +yielded a rent-roll of something more than double that sum. The +neighbouring estate of Muneearpoor, yielding a rent-roll of about +three hundred and fifty thousand rupees a-year, was held by Roshun +Zuman Khan, in whose family it had been for many generations. He had +an only brother, Busawan Khan, who died, leaving a widow, Bussoo, and +a daughter, the Beebee, or Lady, Sogura. Roshun Zuman Khan also died, +leaving a widow Rahamanee, who succeeded to the estate, but soon +died, and left it to the Lady Sogura and her mother. They made Nihal +Sing, Gurgbunsee, of Seheepoor, manager of their affairs. From the +time that he entered upon the management, Nihil Sing began to +increase the number of his followers from his own clan, the +Gurgbunsies; and, having now become powerful enough, he turned out +his mistress, and took possession of her estate, in collusion with +the local authorities. + +Rajah Dursun Sing, who then, 1836, held the contract for the +district, wished to take advantage of the occasion, to seize upon the +estate for himself, and a quarrel, in consequence, took place between +him and Nihal Sing. Unable, as a public servant of the State, to lead +his own troops against him, Dursun Sing instigated Baboo Bureear +Sing, of Bhetee, a powerful tallookdar, to attack Nihal Sing at +night, with all the armed followers he could muster, and, in the +fight, Nihal Sing was killed. Hurpaul Sing, his nephew, applied for +aid to the Durbar, and Seodeen Sing was sent, with a considerable +force, to aid him against Bureear Sing. When they were ready for the +attack, Dursun Sing sent a reinforcement of troops, secretly, to +Bureear Sing, which so frightened Seodeen Sing, that he retired from +the conflict. + +The Gurgbunsee family had, however, by this time added a great part +of the Muneearpoor estate to their own, and many other estates +belonging to their weaker neighbours; and, by the plunder of +villages, and robbery on the highways, become very powerful. Dursun +Sing was superseded in the contract, in 1837, by the widow of Hadee +Allee Khan; and Hurpaul recovered possession of the Muneearpoor +estate, which he still held in the name of the _Lady Sogura_. In +1843, she managed to get the estate transferred from the jurisdiction +of the contractor for Sultanpoor, to that of the Hozoor Tehseel, and +held it till 1845, when Maun Sing, who had succeeded to the contract +for the district, on the death of his father, Dursun Sing, in 1844, +managed through his uncle, Bukhtawar Sing, to get the estate restored +to his jurisdiction. Knowing that his object was to absorb her +estate, as he and his father had done so many others, she went off to +Lucknow to seek protection; but Maun Sing seized upon all her nankar +and seer lands, and put the estate under the management of his own +officers. The Lady Sogura, unable to get any one to plead her cause +at Court, in opposition to the powerful influence, of Bukhtawur Sing, +returned to Muneearpoor. Maun Sing, after he had collected the +greater part of the revenue for 1846, made over the estate to Hurpaul +and Seoumber Sing, who put the lady into confinement, and plundered +her of all she had left. + +Feeling now secure in the possession of the Muneearpoor estate, +Hurpaul and Seoumber Sing left a small guard to secure the lady, and +went off, with the rest of their forces, to seize upon the estate of +Birsingpoor, in the purgunnah of Dehra, belonging to the widow of +Mahdoo Sing, the tallookdar. She summoned to her aid Roostum Sa and +other Rajkomar landholders, friends of her late husband. A fight +ensued, in which Seoumber Sing and his brother, Hobdar Sing were +killed. Hurpaul Sing fled and returned to his fort of Kupragow. The +Lady Sogura escaped, and presented herself again to the Court of +Lucknow, under better auspices; and orders were sent to Maun Sing, +and all the military authorities, to restore her to the possession of +her estate, and seize or destroy Hurpaul Sing. In alarm Hurpaul Sing +then released the mother of the Lady Sogura, and prepared to fly. + +Maun Sing sent confidential persons to him to say, that he had been +ordered by the Court of Lucknow to confer upon him a dress of honour +or condolence, on the death of his two lamented brothers, and should +do so in person the next day. Hurpaul Sing was considered one of the +bravest men in Oude, but he was then sick on his bed, and unable to +move. He received the message without suspicion, being anxious for +some small interval of repose; and willing to believe that common +interests and pursuits had united him and Maun Sing in something like +bonds of friendship. + +Maun Sing came in the afternoon, and rested under a banyan-tree, +which stood opposite the gateway of the fort. He apologized for not +entering the fort, on the ground, that it might lead to some +collision between their followers, or that his friend might not wish +any of the King's servants, who attended with the dress of honour, to +enter his fortress. Hurpaul Sing left all his followers inside the +gate, and was brought out to Maun Sing in a litter, unable to sit up +without support. The two friends embraced and conversed together with +seeming cordiality till long after sunset, when Maun Sing, after +investing his friend with the dress of honour, took leave and mounted +his horse. This was the concerted signal for his followers to +despatch his sick friend, Hurpaul. As he cantered off, at the sound +of his kettle-drum and the other instruments of music, used by the +Nazims of districts, his armed followers, who had by degrees gathered +round the tree, without awakening any suspicion, seized the sick man, +dragged him on the ground, a distance of about thirty paces, and then +put him to death. He was first shot through the chest, and then +stabbed with spears, cut to pieces with swords, and left on the +ground. They were fired upon from the fort, while engaged in this +foul murder, but all escaped unhurt. Maun Sing had sworn by the holy +Ganges, and still more holy head of Mahadeo, that his friend should +suffer no personal hurt in this interview; and the credulous and no +less cruel and rapacious Gurgbunsies were lulled into security. The +three persons who murdered Hurpaul, were Nujeeb Khan, who has left +Mann Sing's service, Benee Sing, who still serves him, and Jeskurun +Sing, who has since died. Sadik Hoseyn and many others aided them in +dragging their victim to the place where he was murdered, but the +wounds which killed him were inflicted by the above-named persons. + +The family fled, the fort was seized and plundered of all that could +be found, and the estate seized and put under the management of +Government officers. Maun Sing had collected half the revenues of +1847, when he was superseded in the contract by Wajid Allee Khan, who +re-established the Lady Sogura in the possession of all that remained +of her estate. He, at the same time, reinstated the family of Hurpaul +Sing, in the possession of their now large estate--that is, the widow +of Nihal Sing, to Seheepoor, comprising one-half; and Ramsurroop +Sing, the son of Seoumber Sing, to Kupragow, comprising the other +half.* The rent-roll of the whole is now estimated at 1,29,000 a- +year; and the _nankar_, or recognized allowance for the holders, is +73,000, leaving the Government demand at 56,000, of which they hardly +ever pay one-half, or one-quarter, being inveterate robbers and +rebels. Wajid Allee Khan had been commissioned, by the Durbar, to +restore the Lady Sogura to her patrimonial estate, and he brought her +with him from Lucknow for the purpose; but he soon after made over a +part of the estate to his friend, Bakir Allee, of Esoulee, and +another part to Ramsurroop, the son of Seoumber Sing, for a suitable +consideration, and left only one-half to the Lady Sogura. This she at +first refused to take, but he promised to restore the whole the next +year, when he saw she was resolved to return again to her friends at +Lucknow, and she consented to take the offered half on condition of a +large remission of the Government demand upon it. When the season of +collections came, however, he would make no remission for the half he +had permitted her to retain, or give her any share in the perquisites +of the half he had made over to others; nor would he give her credit +for any portion of the collections, which had been anticipated by +Maun Sing. He made her pledge the whole rents of her estate to Hoseyn +Allee Khan, the commandant of a squadron of cavalry, on detached +duty, under him. Unable to conduct the management under all these +outrages and exactions, she begged to have the estate put under +Government officers. Her friends at Court got an order issued for her +being restored to the possession of the whole estate, having credit +for the whole amount collected by Maun Sing, and a remission in the +revenue equal to all that Government allowed to the proprietors of +such estates. + +[* In May 1851, the Nazim besieged Ramsurroop, in Kupragow, with a +very large force, including Bunbury's and Magness's Regiments and +Artillery. After the loss of many lives from fighting, and more from +cholera, on both sides, Ramsurroop marched out with all his garrison +and guns at night, and passed, unmolested, through that part of the +line where the non-fighting corps were posted.] + +Wajid Allee Khan disregarded the order, and made over or sold +Naraenpoor and other villages belonging to the estate, to Rughbur +Sing, the atrocious brother of Maun Sing, who sent his myrmidons to +take possession. They killed the Lady Sogura's two agents in the +management, plundered her of all she had of property, and all the +rents which she had up to that time collected, for payment to +Government; and took possession of Naraenpoor and the other villages, +sold to their master by Wajid Allee. Wajid Allee soon after came with +a large force, seized the lady and carried her off to his camp, put +all her officers and attendants into confinement, and refused all +access to her. When she became ill, and appeared likely to sink under +the treatment she received, he made her enter into written +engagements to pay to the troops, in liquidation of their arrears of +pay, all that he pretended that she owed to the State. He prevailed +upon Ghuffoor Beg, who commanded the artillery, to take these her +pledges, and give him, Wajid Allee, corresponding receipts for the +amount, for transmission to the Treasury; and then made her over a +prisoner to him. Ghuffoor Beg took possession of the lady and the +estate, kept her in close confinement, and employed his artillery-men +in making the collections in their own way, by appropriating all the +harvests to themselves. + +Wajid Allee was superseded in October 1849, by Aga Allee, who, on +entering on his charge, directed that martial-law should cease in +Muneearpoor; but Ghuffoor Beg and his artillery-men were too strong +for the governor, and refused to give up the possession of so nice an +estate. When I approached the estate in my tour, Ghuffoor Beg took +the lady off to Chundoly, where she was treated with all manner of +indignity and cruelty by the artillery. The estate was going to utter +ruin under their ignorant and reckless management, and the Nazim, Aga +Allee, prayed me to interpose and save it, and protect the poor Lady +Sogura. I represented the hardship of the case to the Durbar, but +with little hope of any success, under the present government, who +say, that if the troops are not allowed to pay themselves in this +way, they shall have to pay them all the arrears for which the estate +is pledged, not one rupee of which is reduced by the collections they +make. If they were to hold the estate for twenty years, they would +not allow it to appear that any portion of the arrears had been paid +off. The estate is a noble one, and, in spite of all the usurpations +and disorders from which it has lately suffered, was capable last +year of yielding to Government a revenue of fifty thousand rupees a- +year, after providing liberally for all the requirements of the poor +Lady Sogura and her family, or a rent-roll of one hundred thousand +rupees a-year. + +_December_ 19, 1849.--Shahgunge, distance twelve miles. This town is +surrounded by a mud wall, forty feet thick, and a ditch three miles +round, built thirty years ago, and now much out of repair. It belongs +to the family of Rajah Bukhtawar Sing. The wall, thirty feet high, +was built of the mud taken from the ditch, in which there is now some +six or seven feet of water. The wall has twenty-four bastions for +guns, but there is no platform, or road for guns, round it on the +inside. A number of respectable merchants and tradesmen reside in +this town, where they are better protected than in any other town in +Oude. It contains a population of between twenty and thirty thousand +persons. They put thatch over the mud walls during the rains to +preserve them. The fortifications and dwelling-houses together are +said to have cost the family above ten lacs of rupees. There are some +fourteen old guns in the fort. Though it would be difficult to shell +a garrison out of a fort of this extent, it would not be difficult to +take it. No garrison, sufficient to defend all parts of so extended a +wall, could be maintained by the holder; and it would be easy to fill +the ditch and scale the walls. Besides, the family is so very +unpopular among the military classes around, whose lands they have +seized upon, that thousands would come to the aid of any government +force brought to crush them, and overwhelm the garrison. They keep +their position only by the purchase of Court favour, and have the +respect and attachment of only the better sort of cultivators, who +are not of the military classes, and could be of little use to them +in a collision with their sovereign. The family by which it is held +has long been very influential at Court, where it has been +represented by Bukhtawar Sing, whose brother, Dursun Sing, was the +most powerful subject that Oude has had since the time of Almas Allee +Khan. They live, however, in the midst of hundreds of sturdy +Rajpoots, whom they have deprived of their lands, and who would, as I +have said, rise against them were they to be at any time opposed to +the Government The country over which we have passed this morning is +well studded with groves, and well cultivated; and the peasantry +seemed contented and prosperous. The greater part of the road lay +through the lands acquired, as already described, by this family. +Though they have acquired the property in the land by abuse of +authority, collusion and violence, from its rightful owners, they +keep their faith with the cultivators, effectually protect them from +thieves, robbers, the violence of their neighbours, and, above all, +from the ravages of the King's troops; and they encourage the +settlement of the better or more skilful and industrious classes of +cultivators in their villages, such as Kachies, Koormies, and +Lodhies. They came out from numerous villages, and in considerable +bodies, to salute me, and expressed themselves well satisfied with +their condition, and the security they enjoyed under their present +landholders. We came through the village of Puleea, and Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing seemed to have great pleasure in showing me the house +in which he was born, seventy-five years ago, under a fine tamarind- +tree that is still in vigour. The history of this family is that of +many others in the Oude territory. + +The father of Bukhtawar Sing, Porunder, was the son of Mungul, a +Brahmin, who resided in Bhojpoor, on the right bank of the Ganges, a +little below Buxar. The son, Porunder, was united in marriage to the +daughter of Sudhae Misser, a respectable Brahmin, who resided in +Puleea, and held a share of the lands. He persuaded his son-in-law to +take up his residence in the same village. Prouder had five sons born +to him in this village:-- 1. Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, my Quartermaster- +General. 2. Pursun Sing, died without issue. 3. Rajah Dursun Sing, +died 1844, leaving three sons. 4. Incha Sing lives, and has two sons. +5. Davey Sing died, leaving two sons. + +The eldest son was a trooper in the Honourable Company's 8th Regiment +of Light Cavalry; and while still a very young man, and home on +furlough, he attracted the attention of Saadnt Allee Khan, the +sovereign of Oude, whom he attended on a sporting excursion. He was +very tall, and exceedingly handsome; and, on one occasion, saved his +sovereign's life from the sword of an assassin. He became one of +Saadut Alee's favourite orderlies, and rose to the command of a +squadron. In a fine picture of Saadut Allee and his Court on the +occasion of a Durbar, at which the Resident, Colonel Scott, and his +suite were present, Bukhtawar Sing is represented in the dress he +wore as an orderly cavalry officer. This picture is still preserved +at Lucknow. His brothers, Dursun, Incha, and Davey Sing became, one +after the other, orderlies in the same manner, under the influence of +Bukhtawar Sing, during the reign of Saadnt Allee, and his son, +Ghazee-od Deen. Dursan Sing got the command of a regiment of Nujeebs +in 1814, and Incha Sing and Davey Sing rose in favour and rank, both +civil and military. + +Bhudursa and five other villages were held in proprietary right by +the members of a family of Syuds. They enjoyed Bhudursa rent free, +and still hold it; but the other five villages (Kyl, Mahdono, +Tindooa, Teroo, and Pursun) were bestowed, in jagheer, upon another +Syud, a Court favourite, Khoda Buksh, in 1814. He fell into disfavour +in 1816, and all these and other villages were let, in 1817, to +Dursun Sing, in farm, at 60,000 rupees a-year. The bestowal of an +estate in jagheer, or farm, ought not to interfere with the rights of +the proprietors of the lands comprised in it, as the sovereign +transfers merely his own territorial rights, not theirs; but Dursun +Sing, before the year 1820, had, by rack-renting, lending on +mortgage, and other fraudulent or violent means, deprived all the +Syud proprietors of their lands in the other five villages. They +were, however, still left in possession of Bhudursa. He pursued the +same system, as far as possible, in the other districts, which were, +from time to time, placed under him, as contractor for the revenue. +He held the contract for Sultanpoor and other districts, altogether +yielding fifty-nine lacs of rupees a-year, in 1827; and it was then +that he first bethought himself of securing his family permanently in +the possession of the lands he had seized, or might seize upon, by +_bynamahs_, or deeds of sale, from the old proprietors. + +He imposed upon the lands he coveted, rates which he knew they could +never pay; took all the property of the proprietors for rent, or for +the wages of the mounted and foot soldiers, whom he placed over them, +or quartered upon their villages, to enforce his demands; seized any +neighbouring banker or capitalist whom he could lay hold of, and by +confinement and harsh treatment, made him stand security for the +suffering proprietors, for sums they never owed; and when these +proprietors were made to appear to be irretrievably involved in debt +to the State and to individuals, and had no hope of release from +prison by any other means, they consented to sign the _bynamahs_, or +sale deeds for lands, which their families had possessed for +centuries. Those of the capitalists who had no friends at Court were +made to pay the money, for which they had been forced to pledge +themselves; and those who had such friends, got the sums which they +had engaged to pay, represented as irrecoverable balances due by +proprietors, and struck off. The proprietors themselves, plundered of +all they had in the world, and without any hope of redress, left the +country, or took service under our Government, or that of Oude, or +descended to the rank of day-labourers or cultivators in other +estates.* + +[* Estates held by the family under _bynamahs_ or sale deeds: + + 1. Puchumrath . . . . . . . . . 1,13,000 + 2. Howelee . . . . . . . . . . 45,000 + 3. Mogulsee, including Hindoo Sing's + estate of Shapoor, obtained by + fraud and violence . . . . . . 28,000 + 4. Bhurteepoor and Laltapoor . . . . 30,000 + 5. Rudowlee . . . . . . . . . 12,000 + Turolee in Huldeemow. . . . . . 17,000 + 6. Bahraetch in Sagonputtee . . . . 4,000 + 7. Gosaengunge . . . . . . . . 3,000 + ________ + + Total Company's Rupees . . . 2,52,000 + ________ + + +Dursun Sing's contracts, for the land revenue, of districts, amounted +from 1827 to 1830, to 59,00,000 rupees a year. From 1830 to 1836, to +58,00,000. In 1836 to 46,100,000. In 1837 to 47,00,000. He continued +to hold the whole or greater part of these districts up to September +1843.] + +There were four brothers, the sons of a Canoongo, of Fyzabad; first, +Birj Lal; second, Lala; third, Humeer Sing, a corporal in one of our +Regiments of Native Infantry; fourth, Hunooman Persaud; fifth, Gunga +Persaud. The family held-eight villages, in hereditary right, with a +rent-roll of 6,000, of which they paid 3,000 to Government, and took +3,000 for themselves. While Dursun Sing was dying, in 1844, his +eldest son, Ramadeen, tried to get possession of this estate. He +seized and confined, in the usual way, Gunga Persaud, the Canoongo, +and kept him with harsh treatment, for 1844; and when his brother the +corporal complained, in the usual way, through the Resident, Gunga +Persaud was released, and he attended the Residents Court, as his +brother's attorney, till 1847, when the family recovered possession +of the estate. But in 1846, when Dursun Sing's son saw that the case +was going against him, he made their local agent, Davey Persaud, +plunder all the eight villages of all the stock in cattle, grain, +&c., that they contained, and all the people, of whatever property +they possessed. + +Dursun Sing's family now pay to the Oude Government, a revenue of +1,88,000 rupees a-year, for their _bynamah_ estates, which were +acquired by them in the manner described. The rent-roll, recognized +in the Exchequer, is 2,56,000; and the _nankar_ 68,000; but the real +rent-roll is much greater-perhaps double. The village of Tendooa, in +Mehdona, belonged, in hereditary right, to Soorujbulee Sing and +Rugonauth Sing, Rajpoots, whom the family of Dursun Sing wished to +coerce, in the usual mode, into signing a _bynamah_, or deed of sale. +They refused, and some of the family are said to have been in +confinement in consequence, since the year A.D. 1844. When Gunga +Persaud, the Canoongo, was confined by Dursun Sing's family, on +account of his own estate, they extorted from him, on the pretence of +his being security for the punctual payment of what might be demanded +from these two men, Soorujbulee' and Rugonauth, the sum of 4,000 +rupees. One of the eight villages, held by the Canoongoes, named Aboo +Surae, Ghalib Jung, alias Dursun Sing, another Court favourite, is +now trying to take by violence, for himself, following the practice +of his namesake. He has possessed himself of many by the same means, +keeping the troops he commands upon them at exercise and target- +practice, till he drives both cultivators and proprietors out, or +shoots them. + +This Rajah, Ghalib Jung, is now a great favourite with the minister, +and no man manifests a stronger disposition to make his influence +subservient to his own interest and that of his family. By fraud and +violence, and collusion with the officers who have charge of +districts and require his aid at Court, he seizes upon the best lands +of his weaker neighbours, in the same manner as his namesake, Rajah +Dursun Sing, used to do; and of the money which he receives for +contracts of various kinds, he appropriates by far the greater part +to himself. He is often sent out, with a considerable force, to +adjust disputes between landholders and local authorities, and he +decides in favour of the party most able and willing to pay, under +the assurance that, if called to account, he will be able to clear +himself, by giving a share of what he gets to those who send and +support him. He commands a large body of mounted and foot police, and +he is often ordered to go and send detachments in pursuit of daring +offenders, particularly those who have given offence to the British +authorities. In such cases he generally succeeds in arresting and +bringing in some of the offenders; but he as often seizes the +landholders and others who may have given them shelter, intentionally +or otherwise; and, after extorting from them as much as they can be +made to pay, lets them go. He is not, of course, very particular as +to the quantity or quality of the evidence forthcoming to prove that +a person able to pay has intentionally screened the offenders from +justice. + +Rajah Ghalib Jung was the superintendent of the City Police, and +commandant of a Brigade of Infantry, and a prime favourite of the +King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, for two years, up to November 1835. He +had many other employments, was always in attendance upon the King, +and was much liked by him, because he saw his orders carried into +immediate effect, without any regard to the rank or sufferings of the +persons whom they were to affect. For these two years he was one of +the most intimate companions of his sovereign, in his festivities and +most private debaucheries. He became cordially detested throughout +the city for his reckless severity, and still more throughout the +Court, for the fearless manner in which he spoke to the King of the +malversation and peculations of the minister and all the Court +favourites who were not in his interest. He thwarted the imbecile old +minister, Roshun-od Dowlah, in everything; and never lost an +opportunity of turning him into ridicule, and showing his contempt +for him. + +The King had become very fond of a smart young lad, by name Duljeet, +who had been brought up from his infancy by the minister, but now +served the King as his most confidential personal attendant. He was +paid handsomely by the minister for all the services he rendered him, +and deeply interested in keeping him in power and unfettered, and he +watched eagerly for an opportunity to remove the man who thwarted +him. _Mucka_, the King's head tailor, was equally anxious, for his +own interests, to get rid of the favourite, and so was _Gunga +Khowas_, a boatman, another personal servant and favourite of the +King. These three men soon interested in their cause some of the most +influential ladies of the palace, and all sought with avidity the +opportunity to effect their object. Ghalib Jung was the person, or +one of the persons, through whom the King invited females, noted for +either their beauty or their accomplishments, and he was told to +bring a celebrated dancing-girl, named Mogaree. She did not appear, +and the King became impatient, and at last asked Dhuneea Mehree the +reason. She had often been employed in a similar office, and was +jealous of Ghalib Jung's rivalry. She told his Majesty, that he had +obstructed his pleasures on this as on many other occasions, and +taken the lady into his own keeping. All the other favourites told +him the same thing, and it is generally believed that the charge was +true; indeed the girl herself afterwards confessed it. The King, +however, "bided his time," in the hope of finding some other ground +of revenging himself upon the favourite, without the necessity of +making him appear in public as his rival. + +On the 7th of October, 1835, the King was conversing with Ghalib +Jung, in one of his private apartments, on affairs of state. Several +crowns stood on the table for the King's inspection. They had been +prepared under Mucka, the tailor's, inspection, from materials +purchased by him. He always charged the King ten times the price of +the articles which he was ordered to provide, and Ghalib Jung thought +the occasion favourable to expose his misconduct to his master. He +took up one of the crowns, put his left hand into it, and, turning it +round on his finger, pointed out the flimsy nature of the materials +with which it had been made. His left finger slipped through the silk +on the crown, whether accidentally, or designedly, to prove the +flimsy nature of the silk and exasperate the King, is not known; but +on seeing the finger pass through the crown, his Majesty left the +room without saying a word. Soon after several attendants came in, +surrounded Ghalib Jung, and commanded him to remain till further +orders. In this state they remained for about two hours, when other +attendants came in, struck off his turban on the floor, and had it +kicked out of the room by sweepers. + +They then dragged out Ghalib Jung, and thrust him into prison. The +next day heavy iron fetters were put upon his legs, and upon those of +three of his principal followers, who were imprisoned along with him; +and his mother, father, wife, and daughters were made prisoners in +their own houses; and all the property of the family that could be +found was confiscated. On the third day, while still in irons, Ghalib +Jung and his three followers were tied up and flogged severely, to +make them point out any hidden treasure that they might have. That +night the King got drunk, and, before many persons, ordered the +minister to have Ghalib Jung's right hand and nose cut off forthwith. +The minister, who prayed forgiveness and forbearance, was abused and +again commanded, but again entreated his Majesty to pause, and prayed +for a private audience. It was granted, and the minister told his +Majesty that the British Government would probably interpose if the +order were carried into effect. + +The King then retired to rest, but the next morning had Ghalib Jung +and his three followers again tied up and flogged. Six or seven days +after, all Ghalib Jung's attendants were taken from him, and no +person was permitted to enter the room where he lay in irons, and he +could in consequence get neither food nor drink of any kind. On the +19th of October, the King ordered all the females of Ghalib Jung's +family to be brought on foot from their houses to the palace by +force, and publicly declared that they should all on the next day +have their hair shaved off, be stripped naked, and in that state +turned out into the street. After giving these orders, the King went +to bed, and the females were all brought, as ordered, to the palace; +but the sympathies of the King's own servants were excited by the +sufferings of these unoffending females, and they disobeyed the order +for their being made to walk on foot through the streets, and brought +them in covered litters. + +The Resident, apprehending that these poor females might be further +disgraced, and Ghalib Jung starved to death, determined to interpose, +and demanded an interview, while the King was still in bed. The King +was sorely vexed, and sent the minister to the Resident to request +that he would not give himself the trouble to come, if his object was +to relieve Ghalib Jung's family, as he would forthwith order the +females to be taken to their homes. The minister had not been to the +Resident for ten or twelve days, or from the first or second day +after the fall of the favourite. He prayed that the Resident would +not speak harshly to the King on the subject of the treatment Ghalib +Jung and his family had received, lest he, the minister, should +himself suffer. The Resident insisted upon an audience. He found the +King sullen and doggedly silent. The minister was present, and spoke +for his master. He denied, what was known to be true, that the +prisoner had been kept for two days and two nights' without food or +drink; but admitted that he had been tied up and flogged severely, +and that the females of his family were still there, but he promised +to send them back. He said that it was necessary to confiscate the +property of the prisoner, since he owed large sums to the State. The +females were all sent back to their homes, and Ghalib Jung was +permitted, to have four of his own servants in attendance upon him. + +The Resident reported all these things to Government, who entirely +approved of his proceedings; and desired that he would tell his +Majesty that such savage and atrocious proceedings would ruin his +reputation, and, if persisted in, bring on consequences most +injurious to himself. When the Resident, at the audience above +described, remonstrated with the King for not calling upon his +officers periodically to render their accounts, instead of letting +them run on for indefinite periods, and then confining them and +confiscating their property, he replied--"What you state is most +true, and you may be assured that I will in future make every one +account to me every three months for the money he has received, and +never again show favour to any one." + +Rajah Dursun Sing, the great revenue contractor, and at that time the +most powerful of the King's subjects beyond the precincts of the +Court, had, like the minister himself, been often thwarted by Ghalib +Jung when in power; and, after the interposition of the Resident, he +applied to have him put into his power. The King and minister were +pleased at the thought of making their victim suffer beyond the +immediate supervision of a vigilant Resident, and the minister made +him over to the Rajah for a _consideration_, it is said, of three +lacs of rupees; and at the same time assured the Resident that this +was the only safe way to rescue him from the further vengeance of an +exasperated King; that Rajah Dursun Sing was a friend of his, and +would provide him and his family and attendants with ample +accommodation and comfort. The Rajah had him put into an iron cage, +and sent to his fort at Shahgunge, where, report says, he had snakes +and scorpions put into the cage to torment and destroy him, but that +Ghalib Jung had "a charmed life," and escaped their poison. The +object is said to have been to torment and destroy him without +leaving upon his body any marks of violence. + +On the death of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, Ghalib Jung was released from +confinement, on the payment, it is said, of four lacs of rupees, in +Government securities, and a promise of three lacs more if restored +to office. He went to reside at Cawnpore, in British territory; but, +on the dismissal of the minister, Roshun-od Dowlah, three months +after, and the appointment of Hakeem Mehndee to his place, Ghalib +Jung was restored to his place. The promise of the three lacs was +communicated to the new King, Mahommed Allee Shah, by Roshun-od +Dowlah himself, while in confinement; and it is said that Ghalib Jung +paid one-half, or one hundred and fifty thousand. + +Ghalib Jung had, in many other ways, abused the privileges of +intimate companionship which he enjoyed with his master, as better +servants under better and more guarded masters will do; and the King, +having discovered this, had for some time resolved to take advantage +of the first fair occasion to discharge him. The people of Lucknow +liked their King, with all his faults--and they were many--and hated +the favourite as much for the injury which he did to his master's +reputation, as for the insults and injuries inflicted by him on +themselves. But when the unoffending females of the favourite were +dragged from their privacy to the palace, to be disgraced, the +feelings of the whole city were shocked, and expressed in tones which +alarmed the minister as much as the Resident's interposition alarmed +the King. They had no sympathy for the fallen favourite, but a very +deep one for the ladies and children of his family, who could have no +share in his guilt, whatever it might be. + +Ghalib Jung was raised, from a very humble grade, by Ghazee-od Deen +Hyder, and about the year 1825 he had become as great a favourite +with him as he afterwards became with his son, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, +and he abused his master's favour in the same manner. The minister, +Aga Meer, finding his interference and vulgar insolence intolerable, +took advantage one day of the King's anger against him, had him +degraded, seized, and sent off forthwith to one of his creatures, +Taj-od Deen Hoseyn, then in charge of the Sultanpoor district, where +he was soon reduced almost to death's door by harsh treatment and +want of food, and made to disgorge all the wealth he had accumulated. +Four years after the death of Ghazee-od Deen and the accession of his +son, Nuseer-od Deen, Ghalib Jung was, in the year 1831, again +appointed to a place of trust at Court by the minister, Hakeem +Mehndee, who managed to keep him in order during the two years that +he held the reins of government.* + +[* Ghalib Jung died on the 1st of May 1851, at Lucknow, aged about 80 +years.] + +_December_ 20, 1849.--Saleepoor, ten miles. The country, on both +sides of the road, well studded with trees, hamlets, and villages, +and well cultivated and peopled. The landholders and peasantry seem +all happy and secure under their present masters, the brother and son +of the late Dursun Sing. They are protected by them from thieves and +robbers, the attacks of refractory barons, and, above all, from the +ravages of the King's troops; and the whole face of the country, at +this season, is like that of a rich garden. The whole is under +cultivation, and covered with the greatest possible variety of crops. +The people showed us, as we passed, six kinds of sugar-cane, and told +us that they had many more, one soil agreeing best with one kind, +another with another. The main fault in the cultivation of sugar-cane +is here, as in every other part of India that I have seen, the want +of room and the disregard of cleanliness. They crowd the cane too +much, and never remove the decayed leaves, and sufficient air is +never admitted. + +Bukhtawar Sing has always been considered as the head of the family +to whom Shahgunge belongs, but he has always remained at Court, and +left the local management of the estate and the government of the +districts, placed under their charge in contract or in trust, to his +brothers and nephews. Bukhtawar Sing has no child of his own, but he +has adopted Maun Sing, the youngest son of his brother, Dursun Sing, +and he leaves all local duties and responsibilities to him. He is a +small, slight man, but shrewd, active, and energetic, and as +unscrupulous as a man can be. Indeed old Bukhtawar Sing himself is +the only member of the family that was ever troubled with scruples of +any kind whatever; for he is the only one whose boyhood was not +passed in the society of men in the every-day habit of committing +with impunity all kinds of cruelties, atrocities, and outrages. There +is, perhaps, no school in the world better adapted for training +thoroughbred ruffians (men without any scruple of conscience, sense +of honour, or feeling of humanity) than the camp of a revenue- +contractor in Oude. It has been the same for the last thirty years +that I have known it, and must continue to be the same as long as _we +maintain, in absolute sway over the people, a sovereign who never +bestows a thought upon them, has no feeling in common with them, and +can never be persuaded that his high office imposes upon him the +obligation to labour to promote their good, or even to protect them +against the outrage and oppression of his own soldiers and civil +officers_. All Rajah Bukhtawar Sing's brothers and nephews were bred +up in such camps, and are thorough-bred ruffians. + +They have got the lands which they hold by much fraud and violence no +doubt, but they have done much good to them. They have invited and +established in comfort great numbers of the best classes of +cultivators from other districts, in which they had ceased to feel +secure, and they have protected and encouraged those whom they found +on the land. To establish a new cultivator of the better class, they +require to give him about twenty-five rupees for a pair of bullocks; +for subsistence for himself and family till his crops ripen, thirty- +six more, for a house, wells, &c., thirty more, or about ninety +rupees, which he pays back with or without interest by degrees. Every +village and hamlet is now surrounded by fine garden cultivation, +conducted by the cultivators of the gardener caste, whom the family +has thus established. + +The greatest benefit conferred upon the lands which they hold has +been in the suppression of the fearful contests which used to be +perpetual between the small proprietors of the military classes, +among whom the lands had become minutely subdivided by the law of +inheritance, about boundaries and rights to water for irrigation. +Many persons used to be killed every year in these contests, and +their widows and orphans had to be maintained by the survivors. Now +no such dispute leads to any serious conflict. They are all settled +at once by arbitrators, who are guided in their decisions by the +accounts of the Putwaries of villages and Canoongoes of districts. +These men have the detailed accounts of every tenement for the last +hundred years; and, with their assistance, village traditions, and +the advice of their elders, all such boundary disputes and +misunderstandings about rights to water are quickly and amicably +adjusted; and the landlords are strong, and able to enforce whatever +decision is pronounced. They are wealthy, and pay the Government +demand punctually, and have influence at Court to prevent any attempt +at oppression on the part of Government officers on themselves or +their tenants. Not a thief or a robber can live or depredate among +their tenants. The hamlets are, in consequence, numerous and peopled +by peasantry, who seem to live without fear. They adhere strictly to +the terms of their engagements with their tenants of all grades; and +their tenants all pay their rents punctually, unless calamities of +season deprive them of the means, when due consideration is made by +landlords, who live among them, and know what they suffer and +require. + +The climate must be good, for the people are strong and well-made, +and without any appearance of disease. Hardly a beggar of any kind is +to be seen along the road. The residence of religious mendicants +seems to be especially discouraged, and we see no others. It is very +pleasing to pass over such lands after going through such districts +as Bahraetch and Gonda, where the signs of the effects of bad air and +water upon men, women, and children are so sad and numerous; and +those of the abuse of power and the neglect of duty on the part of +the Government and its officers are still more so. + +Last evening I sent for the two men above named, who had been +confined for six or seven years, and were said to have been so +because they would not sign the _bynamahs_ required from them by Mann +Sing: their names are Soorujbulee Sing and Rugonath Sing. They came +with the King's wakeel, accompanied by their cousin, Hunooman Sing, +on whose charge they were declared to have been confined. I found +that the village of Tendooa had been held by their family, in +proprietary right, for many generations, and that they were Chouhan +Rajpoots by caste. When Dursun Sing was securing to himself the lands +of the district, those of Tendooa were held in three equal shares by +Soorujbulee and his brothers, Narind and Rugonath; Hunooman Sing, +their cousin; and Seoruttun, their cousin. + +Maun Sing took advantage of a desperate quarrel between them, and +secured Soorujbulee and Rugonath. Narind escaped and joined a +refractory tallookdar, and Seoruttun and Hunooman did the same. +Hunooman Sing was, however, invited back, and intrusted, by Maun +Sing, with the management of the whole estate, on favourable terms. +In revenge for his giving in to the terms of Maun Sing, and serving +him, the absconded co-sharers attacked his house several times, +killed three of his brothers, and many other persons of his family, +and robbed him of almost all he had. This was four years ago. He +complained, and the two brothers were kept more strictly confined +than ever, to save him and the village. Hunooman Sing looked upon the +two prisoners as the murderers of his brothers, though they were in +confinement when they were killed, and had been so for more than two +years, and was very violent against them in my presence. They were no +less violent against him, as the cause of their continued confinement +They protested to me, that they had no communication whatever with +Seoruttun or Narind Sing, but thought it very likely, that they +really did lead the gangs in the attacks upon the village, to recover +their rights. They offered to give security for their future good +behaviour if released; but declared, that they would rather die than +consent to sign a _bynamah_, or deed of sale, or any relinquishment +whatever of their hereditary rights as landholders. + +Bukhtawar and Maun Sing said,--"That the people of the village would +not be safe, for a moment, if these two brothers were released, which +they would be, on the first occasion of thanksgiving, if sent to +Lucknow; that people who ventured to seize a thief or robber in Oude +must keep him, if they wished to save themselves from his future +depredations, as the Government authorities would have nothing to do +with them." + +I ordered the King's wakeel to take these two brothers to the +Chuckladar, and request him to see them released on their furnishing +sufficient security for their future good behaviour, which they +promised to produce.* They were all fine-looking men, with limbs that +would do honour to any climate in the world. These are the families +from which our native regiments are recruited; and hardly a young +recruit offers himself for enlistment, on whose body marks will not +be found of wounds received in these contests, between landlords +themselves, and between them and the officers and troops of the +sovereign. I have never seen enmity more strong and deadly than that +exhibited by contending co-sharers and landholders of all kinds in +Oude. The Rajah of Bulrampoor mentioned a curious instance of this +spirit in a village, now called the _Kolowar_ village, in the Gonda +district, held in copartnership by a family of the Buchulgotee tribe +of Rajpoots. One of them said he should plant sugar-cane in one of +his fields. All consented to this. But when he pointed out the place +where he should have his mill, the community became divided. A +contest ensued, in which all the able-bodied men were killed, though +not single cane had been planted. The widows and children survived, +and still hold the village, but have been so subdued by poverty that +they are the quietest village community in the district. The village +from that time has gone by the name of _Kolowar_ village, from Koloo, +the sugar-mill, though no sugar-mill was ever worked in the village, +he believed. He says, the villagers cherish the recollection of this +_fight_; and get very angry when their neighbours _twit_ them with +the folly of it. + +[* They were released, and have been ever since at large on security. +One of them visited me in April 1851, and said, that as a point of +honour, they should abstain from joining in the fight for their +rights, but felt it very hard to be bound to do so.] + +In our own districts in Upper India, they often kill each other in +such contests; but more frequently ruin each other in litigation in +our Civil Courts, to the benefit of the native attorneys and law- +officers, who fatten on the misery they create or produce. In Oude +they always decide such questions by recourse to arms, and the loss +of life is no doubt fearful. Still the people generally, or a great +part of them, would prefer to reside in Oude, under all the risks to +which these contests expose them, than in our own districts, under +the evils the people are exposed to from the uncertainties of our +law, the multiplicity and formality of our Courts, the pride and +negligence of those who preside over them, and the corruption and +insolence of those who must be employed to prosecute or defend a +cause in them, and enforce the fulfilment of a decree when passed. + +The members of the landed aristocracy of Oude always speak with +respect of the administration in our territories, but generally end +with remarking on the cost and uncertainty of the law in civil cases, +and the gradual decay, under its operation, of all the ancient +families. A less and less proportion of the annual produce of their +lands is left to them in our periodical settlements of the land +revenue, while family pride makes them expend the same sums in the +marriage of their children, in religious and other festivals, +personal servants, and hereditary retainers. They fall into balance, +incur heavy debts, and estate after estate is put up to auction, and +the proprietors are reduced to poverty. They say, that four times +more of these families have gone to decay in the half of the +territory made over to us in 1801, than in the half reserved by the +Oude sovereign; and this is, I fear, true. They named the families--I +cannot remember them. + +In Oude, the law of primogeniture prevails among all the tallookdars, +or principal landholders; and, to a certain extent, among the middle +class of landholders, of the Rajpoot or any other military class. If +one co-sharer of this class has several sons, his eldest often +inherits all the share he leaves, with all the obligations incident +upon it, of maintaining the rest of the family. + +The brothers of Soorujbulee, above named, do not pretend to have any +right of inheritance in the share of the lands he holds; but they +have a prescriptive right to support from him, for themselves and +families, when they require it. This rule of primogeniture is, +however, often broken through during the lifetime of the father, who, +having more of natural affection than family pride, divides the lands +between his sons. After his death they submit to this division, and +take their respective shares, to descend to their children, by the +law of primogeniture, or be again subdivided as may seem to them +best; or they fight it out among themselves, till the strongest gets +all. Among landholders of the smallest class, whether Hindoos or +Mahommedans, the lands are subdivided according to the ordinary law +of inheritance. + +Our army and other public establishments form a great "safety-valve" +for Oude, and save it from a vast deal of fighting for shares in +land, and the disorders that always attend it. Younger brothers +enlist in our regiments, or find employment in our civil +establishments, and leave their wives and children under the +protection of the elder brother, who manages the family estate for +the common good. They send the greater part of their pay to him for +their subsistence, and feel assured that he will see that they are +provided for, should they lose their lives in our service. From the +single district of Byswara in Oude, sixteen thousand men were, it is +said, found to be so serving in our army and other establishments; +and from Bunoda, which adjoins it to the east, fifteen thousand, on +an inquiry ordered to be made by Ghazee-od Deen Hyder some twenty- +five years ago. + +The family of Dursun Sing, like good landholders in all parts of +Oude, assigned small patches of land to substantial cultivators, +merchants, shopkeepers, and others, whom it is useful to retain in +their estates, for the purpose of planting small groves of mango and +other trees, as local ties. They prepare the well and plant the +trees, and then make over the land to a gardener or other good +cultivator, to be tilled for his own profit, on condition that he +water the trees, and take care to preserve them from frost during the +cold season, and from rats, white ants, and other enemies; and form +terraces round them, where the water lies much on the surface during +the rains, so that it may not reach and injure the bark. The land +yields crops till the trees grow large and cover it with their shade, +by which time they are independent of irrigation, and begin to bear +fruit. The crops do not thrive under the shade of the trees, and the +lands they cover cease to be of any value for tillage. The stems and +foliage of the trees, no doubt, deprive the crops of the moisture, +carbonic gas and ammonia, they require from the atmosphere. They are, +generally, watered from six to ten years. These groves form a +valuable local tie for the cultivators and other useful tenants. No +man dare to molest them or their descendants, in the possession of +their well and grove, without incurring, at least, the odium of +society; and, according to their notion, the anger of their gods. + +The cultivators always point out to them, in asserting their rights +to the lands they hold; and reside and cultivate in the village, +under circumstances that would drive them away, had they no such ties +to retain them. They feel a-great pride in them; and all good +landlords feel the same in having their villages filled with tenants +who have such ties. + +_December_ 21, 1849.--Bhurteepoor, ten miles, almost all the way +through the estate of Maun Sing. No lands could be better cultivated +than they are all the way, or better studded with groves and +beautiful single trees. The villages and hamlets along the road are +numerous, and filled with cultivators of the gardener and other good +classes, who seem happy and contented. The season has been +favourable, and the crops are all fine, and of great variety. Sugar- +cane abounds, but no mills are, as yet, at work. We passed through, +and by three or four villages, that have been lately taken from Maun +Sing, and made over to farmers by the local authorities, under +instructions from Court; but they are not so well cultivated, as +those which he retains. The cultivators and inhabitants generally do +not appear to enjoy the same protection or security in the +engagements they make. The soil is everywhere good, the water near +the surface, and the climate excellent. The soil is here called +doomuteea, and adapted to all kinds of tillage. + +I should mention, with regard to the subdivision of landed property, +that the Rajahs and tallookdars, among whom the law of primogeniture +prevails, consider their estates as principalities, or _reeasuts_. +When any Rajah, or tallookdar, during his lifetime, assigns portions +of the land to his sons, brothers, or other members of the family, +they are separated from the _reeasut_, or principality, and are +subdivided as they descend from generation to generation, by the +ordinary Hindoo or Mahommedan law of inheritance. This is the case +with portions of the estate of the Rajah of Korwar, in the Sultanpoor +district, one of the oldest Hindoo principalities in Oude, which are +now held by his cousins, nephews, &c., near this place, Bhurteepoor.* + +[* Sunkur Sing, of Korwar, had four sons: first, Dooneeaput died +without issue; second, Sookraj Sing, whose grandson, Madhoo Persaud, +is now the Rajah; third, Bureear Sing, who got from his brother lands +yielding forty thousand rupees a-year out of the principality. They +are now held by his son, Jydut; fourth, Znbar Sing, who got from his +brother lands yielding nineteen thousand rupees a-year, which are now +held by his son, Moheser Persaud. Sunkir Sing was the second brother, +but his elder brother died without issue.] + +Dooneeaput succeeded to the _reeasut_ on the death of his uncle, the +Rajah, who died without issue; and he bestowed portions of the estate +on his brothers, Burear and Zubur Sing, which their descendants +enjoy, but which do not go to the eldest son, by the law of +primogeniture. He was succeeded by his brother, Sookraj, whose +grandson, Madhoo Persaud, now reigns as Rajah, and has the undivided +possession of the lands belonging to this branch. All the descendants +of his grandfather, Sookraj, and their widows and orphans, have a +right to protection and support from him, and to nothing more. Jydut, +who now holds the lands, yielding forty thousand rupees a-year, +called upon me, this morning, and gave me this history of his family. +The Rajah himself is in camp, and came to visit me this afternoon. + +It is interesting and pleasing to see a large, well-controlled camp, +moving in a long line through a narrow road or pathway, over plains, +covered with so rich a variety of crops, and studded with such +magnificent evergreen trees. The solitary mango-tree, in a field of +corn, seems to exult in its position-to grow taller and spread wider +its branches and rich foliage, in situations where they can be seen +to so much advantage. The peepul and bargut trees, which, when +entire, are still more ornamental, are everywhere torn to pieces and +disfigured by the camels and elephants, buffaloes and bullocks, that +feed upon their foliage and tender branches. There are a great many +mhowa, tamarind, and other fine trees, upon which they do not feed, +to assist the mango in giving beauty to the landscape. + +The Korwar Rajah, Madhoo Persaud, a young man of about twenty-two +years of age, came in the evening, and confirmed what his relative, +Jydut, had told me of the rule which required that his lands should +remain undivided with his eldest son, while those which are held by +Jydut, and his other relatives, should be subdivided among all the +sons of the holder. This rule is more necessary in Oude than +elsewhere, to preserve a family and its estate from the grasp of its +neighbours and Government officers. When there happens to be no heir +left to the portion of the estate which has been cut off, it is re- +annexed to the estate; and the head of the family frequently +anticipates the event, by murdering or imprisoning the heir or +incumbent, and seizing upon the lands. Another Rajah, of the same +name, Mahdoo Persaud, of Amethee, in Salone, has lately seized upon +the estate of Shahgur, worth twenty thousand rupees a-year, which had +been cut off from the Amethee estate, and enjoyed by a collateral +branch of the family for several generations. He holds the +proprietor, Bulwunt Sing, in prison, in irons, and would soon make +away with him were the Oude Government to think it worth while to +inquire after him. He has seized upon another portion, Ramgur, held +by another branch of the family, worth six thousand rupees a-year, +and crushed all the proprietors. This is the way in which estates, +once broken up, are reconsolidated in Oude, under energetic and +unscrupulous men. Of course when they think it worth while to do so, +they purchase the collusion of the local authorities of the day, by +promising to pay the revenues, which the old proprietors paid during +their tenure of office. The other barons do not interfere, unless +they happen to be connected by marriage with the ousted proprietors, +or otherwise specially bound, by interest and honour, to defend them +against the grasp of the head of their family. Many struggles of this +kind are taking place every season in Oude. + + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Recross the Goomtee river--Sultanpoor Cantonments--Number of persons +begging redress of wrongs, and difficulty of obtaining it in Oude-- +Apathy of the Sovereign--Incompetence and unfitness of his Officers-- +Sultanpoor, healthy and well suited for Troops--Chandour, twelve +miles distant, no less so--lands of their weaker neighbours absorbed +by the family of Rajah Dursun Sing, by fraud, violence, and +collusion; but greatly improved--Difficulty attending attempt to +restore old Proprietors--Same absorptions have been going on in all +parts of Oude--and the same difficulty to be everywhere encountered-- +Soils in the district, _mutteear_, _doomutteea_, _bhoor_, _oosur-- +Risk at which lands are tilled under Landlords opposed to their +Government--Climate of Oude more invigorating than that of Malwa-- +Captain Magness's Regiment--Repair of artillery guns--Supply of grain +to its bullocks--Civil establishment of the Nazim--Wolves--Dread of +killing them among Hindoos--Children preserved by them in their dens, +and nurtured. + + +_December_ 22, 1849.--Sultanpoor, eight miles. Recrossed the Goomtee +river, close under the Cantonments, over a bridge of boats prepared +for the purpose, and encamped on the parade-ground. The country over +which we came was fertile and well cultivated. For some days we have +seen and heard a good many religions mendicants, both Mahommedans and +Hindoos, but still very few lame, blind, and otherwise helpless +persons, asking charity. The most numerous and distressing class of +beggars that importune me, are those who beg redress for their +wrongs, and a remedy for their grievances,--"their name, indeed, is +_Legion_," and their wrongs and grievances are altogether without +remedy, under the present government and inveterately vicious system +of administration. It is painful to listen to all these complaints, +and to have to refer the sufferers for redress to authorities who +want both the power and the will to afford it; especially when one +knows that a remedy for almost every evil is hoped for from a visit +such as the poor people are now receiving from the Resident. He is +expected "to wipe the tears from off all faces;" and feels that he +can wipe them from hardly any. The reckless disregard shown by the +depredators of all classes and degrees to the sufferings of their +victims, whatever be the cause of discontent or object of pursuit, is +lamentable. I have every day scores of petitions delivered to me +"with quivering lip and tearful eye," by persons who have been +plundered of all they possessed, had their dearest relatives murdered +or tortured to death, and their habitations burnt to the ground, by +gangs of ruffians, under landlords of high birth and pretensions, +whom they had never wronged or offended; some, merely because they +happened to have property, which the ruffians wished to take--others, +because they presumed to live and labour upon lands which they +coveted, or deserted, and wished to have left waste. In these +attacks, neither age, nor sex, nor condition are spared. The greater +part of the leaders of these gangs of ruffians are Rajpoot +landholders, boasting descent from the sun and moon, or from the +demigods, who figure in the Hindoo religious fictions of the Poorans. +There are, however, a great many Mahommedans at the head of similar +gangs. A landholder of whatever degree, who is opposed to his +government from whatever cause, considers himself in a state of +_war_', and he considers a state of war to authorize his doing all +those things which he is forbidden to do in a state of peace. + +Unless the sufferer happens to be a native officer or sipahee of our +army, who enjoys the privilege of urging his claims through the +Resident, it is a cruel mockery to refer him for redress to any +existing local authority. One not only feels that it is so, but sees, +that the sufferer thinks that he must know it to be so. No such +authority considers it to be any part of his duty to arrest evil- +doers, and inquire into and redress wrongs suffered by individuals, +or families, or village communities. Should he arrest such people, he +would have to subsist and accommodate them at his own cost, or to +send them to Lucknow, with the assurance that they would in a few +days or a few weeks purchase their way out again, in spite of the +clearest proofs of the murders, robberies, torturings, dishonourings, +house-burning, &c., which they have committed. No sentence, which any +one local authority could pass on such offenders, would be recognised +by any other authority in the State, as valid or sufficient to +justify him in receiving and holding them in confinement for a single +day. The local authorities, therefore, either leave the wrong-doers +unmolested, with the understanding that they are to abstain from +doing any such wrong within their jurisdictions as may endanger or +impede the _collection of revenues_ during their period of office, or +release them with that understanding after they have squeezed all +they can out of them. The wrong-doers can so abstain, and still be +able to _murder, rob, torture, dishonour, and burn_, upon a pretty +large scale; and where they are so numerous, and so ready to unite +for purposes "offensive and defensive," and the local authorities so +generally connive at or quietly acquiesce all their misdeeds, any +attempt on the part of an honest or overzealous individual to put +them down would be sure to result in his speedy and utter ruin! + +To refer such sufferers to the authorities at Lucknow would be a +still more cruel mockery. The present sovereign never hears a +complaint or reads a petition or report of any kind. He is entirely +taken up in the pursuit of his personal gratifications. He has no +desire to be thought to take any interest whatever in public affairs; +and is altogether regardless of the duties and responsibilities of +his high office. He lives, exclusively, in the society of fiddlers, +eunuchs, and women: he has done so since his childhood, and is likely +to do so to the last. His disrelish for any other society has become +inveterate: he cannot keep awake in any other. In spite of average +natural capacity, and more than average facility in the cultivation +of light literature, or at least "_de faire des petits vers de sa +focon_," his understanding has become so emasculated, that he is +altogether unfit for the conduct of his domestic, much less his +public, affairs. He sees occasionally his prime minister, who takes +care to persuade him that he does all that a King ought to do; and +nothing whatever of any other minister. He holds no communication +whatever with brothers, uncles, cousins, or any of the native +gentlemen at Lucknow, or the landed or official aristocracy of the +country. He sometimes admits a few poets or poetasters to hear and +praise his verses, and commands the unwilling attendance of some of +his relations, to witness and applaud the acting of some of his own +silly comedies, on the penalty of forfeiting their stipends; but any +one who presumes to approach him, even in his rides or drives, with a +petition for justice, is instantly clapped into prison, or otherwise +severely punished. + +His father and grandfather, while on the throne, used to see the +members of the royal family and aristocracy of the city in Durbar +once a-day, or three or four times a-week, and have all petitions and +reports read over in their own presence. They dictated the orders, +and their seal was affixed to them in their own presence, bearing the +inscription _molahiza shud_, "it has been seen." The seal was then +replaced in the casket, which was kept by one confidential servant, +Muzd-od Dowlah, while the key was confided to another. Documents were +thus read and orders passed upon them twice a-day-once in the +morning, and once again in the evening; and, on such occasions, all +heads of departments were present. The present King continued this +system for a short time, but he soon got tired of it, and made over +seal and all to the minister, to do what he liked with them; and +discontinued altogether the short Durbar, or levees, which his +father, grandfather, and all former sovereigns had held--before they +entered on the business of the day--with the heads of departments and +secretaries, and at which all the members of the royal family and +aristocracy of the city attended, to pay their respects to their +sovereign; and soon ceased altogether to see the heads of departments +and secretaries, to hear orders read, and to ask questions about +state affairs. + +The minister has become by degrees almost as inaccessible as his +sovereign, to all but his deputies, heads of departments, +secretaries, and Court favourites, whom it is his interest to +conciliate. Though the minister has his own confidential deputies and +secretaries, the same heads of departments are in office as under the +present King's father and grandfather; and, though no longer +permitted to attend upon or see the King, they are still supposed to +submit to the minister, for orders, all reports from local +authorities, intelligence-writers, &c., and all petitions from +sufferers; but, in reality, he sees and hears read very few, and +passes orders upon still less. Any head of a department, deputy, +secretary, or favourite, may receive petitions, to be submitted to +the minister for orders; but it is the special duty of no one to +receive them, nor is any one held responsible for submitting them for +orders. Those only who are in the special confidence of the minister, +or of those about Court, from whom he has something to hope or +something to fear, venture to receive and submit petitions; and they +drive a profitable trade in doing so. A large portion of those +submitted are thrown aside, without any orders at all; a portion have +orders so written as to show that they are never intended to be +carried into effect; a third portion receive orders that are really +intended to be acted upon. But they are taken to one of the +minister's deputies, with whose views or interests some of them may +not square well; and he may detain them for weeks, months, or years, +till the petitioners are worn out with "hope deferred," or utterly +ruined, in vain efforts to purchase the attention they require. +Nothing is more common than for a peremptory order to be passed for +the immediate payment of the arrears of pension due to a stipendiary +member of the royal family, and for the payment to be deferred for +eight, ten, and twelve months, till he or she consents to give from +ten to twenty per cent., according to his or her necessities, to the +deputy, who has to see the order carried out. A sufferer often, +instead of getting his petition smuggled on to the minister in the +mode above described, bribes a news-writer to insert his case in his +report, to be submitted through the head of the department. + +At present the head of the intelligence department assumes the same +latitude, in submitting reports for orders to the minister, that his +subordinates in distant districts assume in framing and sending them +to him; that is, he submits only such as may suit his views and +interests to submit! Where grave charges are sent to him against +substantial men, or men high in office, he comes to an understanding +with their representatives in Lucknow, and submits the report to the +minister only as a _derniere resort_, when such representatives +cannot be brought to submit to his terms. If found out, at any time, +and threatened, he has his feed _patrons_ or _patronesses_ "behind +the throne, and greater than the throne itself," to protect him. + +The unmeaning orders passed by the minister on reports and petitions +are commonly that _so and so_ is to inquire into the matter +complained of; to see that the offenders are seized and punished; +that the stolen property and usurped lands be restored; that +_razeenamas_, or acquittances, be sent in by the friends of persons +who have been murdered by the King's officers; that the men, women, +and children, confined and tortured by King's officers, or by robbers +and ruffians, be set at liberty and satisfied; the said _so and so_ +being the infant commander-in-chief, the King's chamberlain, footman, +coachman, chief fiddler, eunuch, barber, or person uppermost in his +thoughts at the time. Similar orders are passed in his name by his +deputies, secretaries, and favourites upon all the other numerous +petitions and reports, which he sends to them unperused. Not, +perhaps, upon one in five does the minister himself pass any order; +and of the orders passed by him, not one in five, perhaps, is +intended to be taken notice of. His deputies and favourites carry on +a profitable trade in all such reports and petitions: they extort +money alike from the wrong-doer and the wrong-sufferer; and from all +local authorities, or their representatives, for all neglect of duty +or abuses, of authority charged against them. + +As to any investigation into the real merits of any case described in +these reports from the news-writers and local authorities, no such +thing has been heard of for several reigns. The real merits of all +such cases are, however, well and generally known to the people of +the districts in which they occur, and freely discussed by them with +suitable remarks on the "darkness which prevails under the lamp of +royalty;" and no less suitable execrations against the intolerable +system which deprives the King of all feeling of interest in the +well-being of his subjects, all sense of duty towards them, all +feeling of responsibility to any higher power for the manner in which +he discharges his high trust over the millions committed to his +care. + +As I have said, the King never sees any petition or report: he hardly +ever sees even official notes addressed to him by the British +Resident, and the replies to almost all are written without his +knowledge.* The minister never puts either his seal or signature to +any order that passes, or any document whatsoever, with his own hand: +he merely puts in the date, as the 1st, 5th, or 10th; the month, +year, and the order itself are inserted by the deputies, secretaries, +or favourites, to whom the duty is confided. The reports and +petitions submitted for orders often accumulate so fast in times of +great festivity or ceremony, that the minister has them tied up in +bundles, without any orders whatever having been passed on them, and +sent to his deputies for such as they may think proper to pass, +merely inserting his figure 1, 5, or 10, to indicate the date, on the +outermost document of each bundle. If any orders are inserted by his +deputies on the rest, they have only to insert the same date. There +is nothing but the _figure_ to attest the authenticity of the order; +and it would be often impossible for the minister himself to say +whether the figure was inserted by himself or by any other person. +These deputies are the men who adjust all the nuzuranas, or +unauthorized gratuities, to be paid to the minister. + +[* On the 17th of October, 1850, Hassan Khan, one of the _khowas_, or +pages, whose special duty it is to deliver all papers to the King, +fell under his Majesty's displeasure, and his house was seized and +searched. Several of the Resident's official notes were found +unopened among his papers. They had been sent to the palace as +emergent many months before, but never shown to the King. Such +official notes from the Resident are hardly every shown to the King, +nor is he consulted about the orders to be passed upon them.] + +They share largely in all that he gets; and take a great deal, for +which they render him no account. Knowing all that he takes, and +_ought not to take_, he dares not punish them for their +transgressions; and knowing this, sufferers are afraid to complain +against them. In ordinary times, or under ordinary sovereigns, the +sums paid by revenue authorities in _nazuranas_, or gratuities, +before they were permitted to enter on their charges, amounted to, +perhaps, ten or fifteen per cent.: under the present sovereign they +amount, I believe, to more than twenty-five per cent. upon the +revenue they are to collect. Of these the minister and his deputies +take the largest part. A portion is paid in advance, and good bonds +are taken for the rest, to be paid within the year. Of the money +collected, more than twenty-five per cent., on an average, is +appropriated by those intrusted with the disbursements, and by their +patrons and patronesses. The sovereign gets, perhaps, three-fourths +of what is collected; and of what is collected, perhaps two-thirds, +on an average, reaches its legitimate destination; so that one-half +of the revenues of Oude may be considered as taken by officers and +Court favourites in unauthorized gratuities and perquisites. The pay +of the troops and establishments, on duty with the revenue +collectors, is deducted by them, and the surplus only is sent to the +Treasury at Lucknow. In his accounts he receives credit for all sums +paid to the troops and establishments on duty under him. Though the +artillery-bullocks get none of the grain, for which he pays and +charges Government, a greater portion of the whole of what he pays +and charges in his accounts reaches its legitimate destination, +perhaps, than of the whole of what is paid from the Treasury at the +capital. On an average, however, I do not think that more than two- +thirds of what is paid and charged to Government reaches that +destination. + +I may instance the two regiments, under Thakur Sing, Tirbaydee; which +are always on duty at the palace. It is known that the officers and +sipahees of those regiments do not get more than one-half of the pay +which is issued for them every month from the Treasury; the other +half is absorbed by the commandant and his patrons at Court. On +everything sold in the palace, the vender is obliged to add one-third +to the price, to be paid to the person through whom it is passed in. +Without this, nothing can be sold in the palace by European or +native. Not a single animal in the King's establishments gets one- +third of the food allowed for it, and charged for; not a building is +erected or repaired at less than three times the actual outlay, two- +thirds at least of the money charged going to the superintendent and +his patrons. + +_December_ 23, 1849.--Halted at Sultanpoor, which is one of the +healthiest stations in India, on the right bank of the Goomtee river, +upon a dry soil, among deep ravines, which drain off the water +rapidly. The bungalows are on the verge, looking down into the river, +upon the level patches of land, dividing the ravines. The water in +the wells is some fifty feet below the surface, on a level with the +stream below. There are no groves within a mile of the cantonments; +and no lakes, marshes, or jungles within a great many; and the single +trees in and near the cantonments are few. The gardens are small and +few; and the water is sparingly used in irrigating them, as the +expense of drawing it is very great. + +There is another good site for a cantonment at Chandour, some twelve +miles up the river, on the opposite bank, and looking down upon the +stream, from the verge, in the same manner. Chandour was chosen for +his cantonments by Rajah Dursun Sing when he had the contract for the +district; and it would be the best place for the head-quarters of any +establishments, that any new arrangements might require for the +administration of the Sultanpoor and surrounding districts. Secrora +would be the best position for the head-quarters of those required +for the administration of the Gonda-Bahraetch, and other surrounding +districts. It is central, and has always been considered one of the +healthiest places in Oude. It was long a cantonment for one of our +regiments of infantry and some guns, which were, in 1835, withdrawn, +and sent to increase the force at Lucknow, from two to three +regiments of infantry. The regiment and guns at Sultanpoor were taken +away in 1837. Secrora was, for some years after our regiment and guns +had been withdrawn, occupied by a regiment and guns under Captain +Barlow, one of the King of Oude's officers; but it is now altogether +deserted. Sultanpoor has been, ever since 1837, occupied by one of +the two regiments of Oude local Infantry, without any guns or cavalry +of any kind. There was also a regiment of our regular infantry at +Pertabghur, three marches from Sultanpoor, on the road to Allahabad, +with a regiment of our light cavalry. The latter was withdrawn in +1815 for the Nepaul war, and employed again under us during the +Mahratta war in 1817 and 1818. It was sent back again in 1820; but +soon after, in 1821, withdrawn altogether, and we have since had no +cavalry of any kind in Oude. Seetapoor was also occupied by one of +our regular regiments of infantry and some guns till 1837, when they +were withdrawn, and their place supplied by the second regiment of +Oude Local Infantry. Our Government now pays the two regiments of +Oude Local Infantry stationed at Sultanpoor and Seetapoor; but the +places of those stationed at Secrora and Pertabghur have never been +supplied. One additional regiment of infantry is kept at Lucknow, so +that our force in Oude has only been diminished by one regiment of +infantry, one of cavalry, and eight guns, with a company and half of +artillery. To do our duty _honestly_ by Oude, we ought to restore the +regiment of infantry; and in the place of the corps of light, send +one of irregular cavalry. We ought also to restore the company and +half of artillery and eight guns which have been withdrawn. We draw +annually from the lands ceded to as in 1801, for the protection which +we promised to the King and his people from "all internal and +external enemies," no less than two crores and twelve lacs of rupees, +or two millions sterling a-year; while the Oude Government draws from +the half of its territories which it reserved only one-half that sum, +or one crore of rupees. + +Maun Sing is to leave my camp to-day, and return to Shahgunge. Of the +fraud and violence, abuse of power, and collusion with local +authorities, by which he and his father seized upon the lands of so +many hundreds of old proprietors, there can be no doubt; but to +attempt to make the family restore them now, under such a government, +would create great disorder, drive off all the better classes of +cultivators, and desolate the face of the country, which they have +rendered so beautiful by an efficient system of administration. Many +of the most powerful of the landed aristocracy of Oude have acquired, +or augmented, their estates in the same manner and within the same +time; and the same difficulty would attend the attempt to restore the +old proprietors in all parts. A strong and honest government might +overcome all these difficulties, and restore to every rightful +proprietor the land unjustly taken from him, within a limited period; +but it should not attempt to enforce any adjustment of the accounts +of receipts and disbursements for the intervening period. The old +proprietor would receive back his land in an improved condition, and +the usurper might fairly be considered to have reimbursed himself for +all his outlay. The old proprietor should be required to pledge +himself to respect the rights of all new tenants. + +_December_ 24, 1849.--Meranpoor, twelve miles. Soil between this and +Sultanpoor neither so fertile nor so well cultivated, as we found it +on the other side of the Goomtee river, though it is of the same +denomination--generally doomut, but here and there mutear. The term +mutear embraces all good argillaceous earth, from the light brown to +the black, humic or ulmic deposit, found in the beds of tanks and +lakes in Oude. The natives of Oude call the black soil of Malwa and +southern India, and Bundlekund, _muteear_. This black soil has in its +exhausted state abundance of silicates, sulphates, phosphates, and +carbonates of alumina, potassa, lime, &c., and of organic acids, +combined with the same unorganic substances, to attract and fix +ammonia, and collect and store up moisture, and is exceedingly +fertile and strong. + +Both saltpetre and common salt are made by lixiviation from some of +the poor oosur soils; but, from the most barren in Oude, carbonates +of soda, used in making _glass_ and _soap_, are taken. The earth is +collected from the surface of the most barren spots and formed into +small, shallow, round tanks, a yard in diameter. Water is then poured +in, and the tank filled to the surface, with an additional supply of +the earth, and smoothed over. This tank is then left exposed to the +sun for two days, during the hottest and driest months of the year. +March, April, and May, and part of June, when the crust, formed on +the surface, is taken off. The process is repeated once; but in the +second operation the tank is formed around and below by the debris of +the first tank, which is filled to the surface, after the water has +been poured in, with the first _crust_ obtained. The second crust is +called the _reha_, which is carbonate or bicarbonate of soda. This is +formed into small cakes, which are baked to redness in an oven, or +crucible, to expel the moisture and carbonic acid which it contains. +They are then powdered to fine dust, which is placed in another +crucible, and fused to liquid glass, the _reha_ containing in itself +sufficient silica to form the coarse glass used in making bracelets, +&c. + +A superabundance of nitrates seem also to impair or destroy fertility +in the soil, and they may arise from the decomposition of animal or +vegetable matter, in a soil containing a superabundance of porous +lime. The atmospheric air and water, contained in the moist and +porous soil, are decomposed. The hydrogen of the water combines with +the nitrogen of the air, and that given off by the decomposing +organic bodies, and forms ammonia. The nitrogen of the ammonia then +takes up the oxygen of the air and water, and becoming nitric acid, +forms nitrates with the lime, potash, soda, &c., contained in the +soil. Without any superabundance of lime in the soil, however, the +same effects may be produced, when there is a deficiency of decaying +vegetable and animal matter, as the oxygen of the decomposed air and +water, having no organic substances to unite with, may combine with +the nitrogen of the ammonia, and form nitric acid; which, uniting +with the lime, potash, soda, &c., may form the superabounding +nitrates destructive of fertility. + +This superabundance of reha, or carbonate of soda, which renders so +much of the surface barren, must, I conclude, arise from deposits of +common salt, or chloride of sodium. The water, as it percolates +through these deposits towards the surface, becomes saturated with +their alkaline salts; and, as it reaches the surface and becomes +evaporated in the pure state, it leaves them behind at or near the +surface. On its way to the surface, or at the surface, the chloride +of sodium becomes decomposed by contact with _carbonates of ammonia +and potassa--sulphuric and nitric acids_. In a soil well supplied +with decaying animal or vegetable matter, these carbonates or +sulphates of soda, as they rise to the surface, might be formed into +nutriment for plants, and taken up by their roots; or in one well +flooded occasionally with fresh water, any superabundance of the +salts or their bases might be taken up in solution and carried off. +The people say, that the soil in which these carbonates of soda +(reha) abound, are more unmanageable than those in which nitrates +abound: they tell me that, with flooding, irrigating, manuring, and +well ploughing, they can manage to get crops from all but the soils +in which this _reha_ abounds. + +The process above described, by which the bracelet makers extract the +carbonates of soda and potash from the earth of the small, shallow +tanks, is precisely the same as that by which they are brought from +the deep bed of earth below and deposited on or near the surface. In +both processes, the water which brings them near the surface goes off +into the atmosphere in a pure state, and leaves the salts behind. To +make soap from the reha, they must first remove the silex which it +contains. + +There are no rocks in Oude, and the only form in which lime is found +for building purposes and road-pavements is that of kunkur, which is +a carbonate of lime containing silica, and oxide of iron. In +proportion as it contains the last, the kunkur is more or less red. +That which contains none is of a dirty-white. It is found in many +parts of India in thin layers, or amorphous masses, formed by +compression, upon a stiff clay substratum; but in Oude I have seen it +only in nodules, usually formed on nuclei of flint or other hard +substances. The kingdom of Oude must have once been the bed, or part +of the bed, of a large lake, formed by the diluvial detritus of the +hills of the Himmalaya chain, and, as limestone abounds in that +chain, the bed contains abundance of lime, which is taken up by the +water that percolates through it from the rivers and from the rains +and floods above. The lime thus taken up and held in solution with +carbonic add gas, is deposited around the small fragments of flint or +other hard substances which the waters find in their way. Where the +floods which cover the surface during the rains come in rivers, +flowing from the Himmalaya or other hills abounding in limestone +rocks, they of course contain lime and carbonic-acid gas, which add +to the kunkur nodules formed in the bed below; but in Oude the rivers +seldom overflow to any extent, and the kunkur is, I believe, formed +chiefly from the lime already existing in the bed. + +Doctor O'Shaughnessy, the most eminent chemist now in India, tells me +that there are two marked varieties of kunkur in India--the red and +the white; that the red differs from the white solely in containing a +larger proportion of peroxide of iron; that the white consists of +carbonate of lime, silica, alumina, and sometimes magnesia and +protoxide of iron. He states that he considers the kunkur to be +deposited by calcareous waters, abounding in infusorial animalculae; +that the waters of the annual inundation are rich in lime, and that +all the facts that have come under his observation appear to him to +indicate that this is the source of the kunkur deposit, which is seen +in a different form in the Italian travertine, and the crescent +nodules of the Isle of Sheppey and of Bologne. + +Doctor O'Shaughnessy further states, that the _reha_ earth, which I +sent to him from Oude, is identical with the _sujjee muttee_ of +Bengal, and contains carbonate of soda and sulphate of soda as its +essential characteristic ingredients, with silicious clay and oxide +of iron. But in Oude, the term "_sujjee_" is given to the carbonate +and sulphate of soda which remains after the silex has been removed +from the reha. The reha is fused into glass after the carbonic acid +and moisture have been expelled by heat, and the sujjee is formed +into soap, by the addition of lime, fat, and linseed oil, in the +following proportions, I am told:--6 sujjee, 4 lime, 21/2 fat, and +11/2 ulsee oil. + +The sujjee is formed from the reha by filtration. A tank is formed on +a terrace of cement. In a hole at one corner is a small tube. Rows of +bricks are put down from one end to the other, with intervals between +for the liquor to flow through to the tube. On these rows a layer of +stout reeds is first placed, and over them another layer composed of +the leaves of these reeds. On this bed the coarse reha earth is +placed without being refined by the process described in the text +above. Some coarse common salt (kharee nimuck) is mixed up with the +reha. The tank is then filled with water, which filters slowly +through the earth and passes out through the tube into pans, whence +it is taken to another tank upon a wider terrace of cement, where it +evaporates and leaves the sujjee deposited. The second tank is +commonly made close under the first, and the liquor flows into it +through the tube, rendering pans unnecessary. It is only in the hot +months of March, April, May, and part of June, till the rains begin +to fall, that the reha and sujjee are formed. During the other nine +months, the _Looneas_, who provide them, turn their hands to +something else. The _reha_, deprived of its carbonic acid and +moisture by heat, is fused into glass. Deprived of silex by this +process of filtration, it is formed into sujjee, from which the soap +is made. + +On this process of filtration. Doctor O'Shaughnessy observes:-"I do +not clearly understand the use of the common salt, used in the +extraction of soda, in the process you described. But many of the +empirical practices of the natives prove, on investigation, to square +with the most scientific precepts. For example, their proportions in +the manufacture of corrosive sublimate are precisely identical with +those which the _atomic theory_ leads the European chemist to follow. +The filtering apparatus which you describe is really admirable, and I +doubt much whether the best practical chemist could devise any +simpler or cheaper way of arriving at the object in view." + +The country is well provided with mango and other fine trees, single, +and in clusters and groves; but the tillage is slovenly and scanty, +strongly indicative of want of security to life, property, and +industry. No symptom of the residence of gardeners and other +cultivators of the better classes, or irrigation, or the use of +manure in tillage. + +_December_ 25, 1849.--Nawabgunge, eleven miles. The soil good, as +indicated by the growth of fine trees on each side of the road as far +as we could see over the level plain, and by the few fields of corn +in sight; but the cultivation is deficient and slovenly. A great part +of the road lay through the estate of Mundone, held by Davey Persaud, +the tallookdar; and the few peasants who stood by the side of the +road to watch their fields as we passed, and see the cavalcade, told +me that the deficient tillage and population arose from his being in +opposition to Government and diligently employed in plundering the +country generally, and his own estates in particular, to reduce the +local authorities to his own terms. The Government demand upon him is +twenty thousand rupees. He paid little last year, and has paid still +less during the present year, on the ground that his estate yields +nothing. This is a common and generally successful practice among +tallookdars, who take to fighting against the Government whether +their cause be just or unjust. These peasants and cultivators told us +that they had taken to the jungles for shelter, after the last +harvest, till the season for sowing again commenced; remained in the +fields, still houseless, during the night, worked in their fields in +fear of their lives during the day; and apprehended that they should +have to take to the jungles again as soon as their crops were +gathered, if they were even permitted to gather them. They attributed +as much blame to their landlord as to the Nazim, Wajid Allee Khan. +He, however, bears a very bad character, and is said to have +designedly thrown a good deal of the districts under his charge out +of tillage in the hope that no other person would venture to take the +contract for it in that condition, and that he should, in +consequence, be invited to retain it on more favourable terms. He was +twelve lacs of rupees in balance when superseded at the end of the +year, in September last, by the present governor, Aga Allee, who +manages the same districts on a salary of two thousand rupees a- +month, without any contract for the revenues, but with the +understanding that he is to collect, or at least to pay, a certain +sum. + +The late contractor will no doubt relieve himself from the burthen of +this balance in the usual way. He will be imprisoned for a time till +he pays, or enters into engagements to pay, to the minister and the +influential men at Court, as much as they think he can be made to +pay, in bribes, and some half of that sum into the Treasury, and have +all the rest struck out of the accounts as irrecoverable--perhaps two +lacs in bribes, and one to the Treasury may secure him an +acquittance, and a fair chance of employment hereafter. His real name +is Wajid Allee; but as that is the name of the King, he is commonly +called Ahmud Allee, that the royal ears may not take offence. + +_December_ 26, 1849.--Pertabghur, distance eight miles. In the course +of fourteen years, almost all signs of one of the most healthful and +most agreeable cantonments of the Bengal army have been effaced. Fine +crops of corn now cover what were the parades for cavalry, infantry, +and artillery, and the gardens and compounds of officers' bungalows. +The grounds, which were once occupied by the old cantonments, are now +let out to cultivators, immediately under Government, and they are +well cultivated; but the tillage of the rest of the country we have +this morning passed over is scanty and slovenly. The Rajah of +Pertabghur has, for some time, been on bad terms with the +contractors, greatly in arrears, and commonly in opposition to the +Government, having his band of armed followers in the jungles, and +doing nothing but mischief. This is the case with most of the +tallookdars of the country over which I have passed. Not one in five, +or I may say one in ten, attends the viceroys, because it would not +be safe to do so; or pays the demands of Government punctually, +because there is no certainty in them. + +I passed down the line of Captain Magness's corps, which is at +present stationed at Pertabghur. It is as well-dressed, and as fine a +looking corps as any infantry regiment in our own native army, and +has always shown itself as good on service. It has eight guns +attached to it, well provided and served. The artillery-men, drivers, +&c., are as well dressed and as fit for their duties as our own. +Stores and ammunition are abundant, but the powder is execrable. +Captain Magness is a good officer. The guns are six 6-pounders, drawn +by bullocks; and two gallopers of very small calibre, drawn by +horses. They are not adapted for the duties they have to perform, +which is chiefly against mud-forts and strongholds; and four 9- +pounders, two howitzers, and two mortars would be better. They are, +however, well manned and provided with bullocks, ammunition and +stores. The finest young men in Oude are glad to take service under +Captain Magness; and the standard height of his men is at present +five feet ten inches. He has some few men, good for nothing, called +_sufarishies_, whom he is obliged to keep in on account of the +persons by whom they are recommended, eunuchs, fiddlers, and Court +favourites, of all kinds. In no country are there a body of finer +looking recruits than Captain Magness now has at drill. All of the +first families in the country, and of unquestionable courage and +fidelity to their salt. He has four hundred Cavalry, of what is +called the _body guard_, men well dressed, and of fine appearance. +These Cavalry are, however, likely soon to be taken from him, and +made over to some good-for-nothing Court favourite.* He has about +seven hundred men present with his Infantry corps. His adjutant, +Yosuf Khan, speaks English well, and has travelled a good deal in +England, Europe generally, and Palestine. He is a sensible, +unprejudiced man, and good soldier. Captain Magness attends the Nazim +of the district; but, unfortunately, like all the commandants of +corps and public servants of the State, he is obliged to forage for +fodder and fuel. A foraging party is sent out every day, be where +they will, to take these things gratis, wherever they can find them +most conveniently. Bhoosa, grass and wood are the things which they +are authorized to take, without payment, wherever they can find them; +but they, of course, take a good many other things. The Government +allows nothing to any of its troops or establishments, for these +things, except when they are in Lucknow. The consequence is, that +there is hardly a good cover to any man's house, or sufficient fodder +for the cattle of any village, during the hot season and rains. + +[* They were soon after taken from Captain Magness and given to Mr. +Johannes; and soon after taken from him, and made over to an eunuch, +who turned out all the good men, to sell their places to men good for +nothing. They mutinied; but the King and minister supported the +eunuch, and the greater part of the men were discharged and their +officers ruined.] + +_December_ 27, 1849--Halted at Pertabghur. I had a visit from many of +the persons who were in my service, when I was here with my regiment +thirty years ago, as watchmen, gardeners, &c. They continue to hold +and till the lands, which they or their fathers then tilled; and the +change in them is not so great as that which has taken place within +the same time among my old native friends, who survive in the Saugor +and Nerbudda districts, where the air is less dry, and the climate +less congenial to the human frame. The natives say that the air and +water of Malwa may produce as good trees and crops as those of Oude, +but can never produce such good soldiers. This, I believe, is quite +true. The Sultanpoor district is included in the Banoda division of +Oude; and the people speak of the _water_ of this division for +_tempering_ soldiers, as we talk of the water of Damascus, for +tempering sword blades. They certainly never seem so happy as when +they are fighting in earnest with swords, spears, and matchlocks. The +_water_ of the Byswara division is considered to be very little +inferior to that of Banoda, and we get our sipahees from these two +divisions almost exclusively. + +Captain Magness's corps is, at present, attached to the Nazim of this +district, with its guns, and squadron of horse, as an auxiliary +force. Over and above this force, he has nine regiments of Nujeebs, +detachments of other Corps, Artillery, Pioneers, &c., amounting, in +all, according to the musters and pay-drafts, to seven thousand seven +hundred and seventy-eight men, for whom thirty-seven thousand seven +hundred and ninety-three rupees a-month are drawn. Of these, fifteen +hundred are dead or have deserted, or are absent on leave without +pay. Their pay is all appropriated by the commandants of corps or +Court favourites. Fifteen hundred more are in attendance on the +commandants of corps, who reside at the capital, and their friends or +other influential persons about the Court, or engaged in their own +trades or affairs, having been put into the corps by influential +persons at Court, to draw pay, but do no duty. Of the remaining four +thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, one-third, or one thousand +five hundred and ninety-two, are what is called _sufarishies_, or men +who are unfit for duty, and have been put in by influential persons +at Court, to appear at muster and draw pay. Of the remaining three +thousand one hundred and eighty-six present, there would be no chance +of getting more than two-thirds, or two thousand one hundred and +twenty-four men to fight on emergency--indeed, the Nazim would think +himself exceedingly lucky if he could get one-third to do so. + +Of the forty-two guns, thirteen are utterly useless on the ground; +and out of the remaining twenty-nine, there are draft bullocks for +only five. But there are no stores or ammunition for any of them; and +the Nazim is obliged to purchase what powder and ball he may require +in the bazaars. None of the gun-carriages have been repaired for the +last twenty years, and the strongest of them would go to pieces after +a few rounds. Very few of them would stand one round with good +powder. Five hundred rupees are allowed for fitting up the carriage +and tumbril of each gun, after certain intervals of from five to ten +years; and this sum has, no doubt, been drawn over and over for these +guns, during the twenty years, within which they have had no repairs +whatever. If the local governor is permitted to draw this sum, he is +sure never to expend one farthing of it on the gun. If the person in +charge of the ordnance at Lucknow draws it, the guns and tumbrils are +sent in to him, and returned with, at least, a coating of paint and +putty, but seldom with anything else. The two persons in charge of +the two large parks at Lucknow, from which the guns are furnished, +Anjum-od Dowlah, and Ances-od Dowlah, a fiddler, draw the money for +the corn allowed for the draft bullocks, at the rate of three pounds +per diem for each, and distribute, or pretend to distribute it +through the agents of the grain-dealers, with whom they contract for +the supply; and the district officers, under whom these draft +bullocks are employed, are never permitted to interfere. They have +nothing to do but pay for the grain allowed; and the agents, employed +to feed the bullocks, do nothing but appropriate the money for +themselves and their employers. Not a grain of corn do the bullocks +ever get. + +The Nazim has charge of the districts of Sultanpoor, Haldeemow, +Pertabghur, Jugdeespoor, and that part of Fyzabad which is not +included in the estate of Bukhtawar Sing, yielding, altogether, about +ten and a half lacs of rupees to Government. He exercises entire +fiscal, judicial, magisterial and police authority over all these +districts. To aid him in all these duties, he has four deputies--one +in each district--upon salaries of one hundred and fifty rupees each +a-month, with certain fees and perquisites. To inquire into +particular cases, over all these districts, he employs a special +deputy, paid out of his own salary. All the accountants and other +writers, employed under him, are appointed by the deputies and +favourites of the minister; and, considering themselves as their +creatures, they pay little regard to their immediate master, the +Nazim. But over and above these men, from whom he does get some +service, he has to pay a good many, from whom he can get none. He is, +before he enters upon his charge, obliged to insert, in his list of +civil functionaries, to be paid monthly, out of the revenues, a +number of writers and officers, of all descriptions, _recommended_ to +him by these deputies and other influential persons at Court. Of +these men he never sees or knows anything. They are the children, +servants, creatures, or dependents of the persons who recommend them, +and draw their pay. These are called _civil sufarishies_, and cost +the State much more than the military sufarishies_, already +mentioned--perhaps not less than six thousand rupees a-month in this +division alone. + +The Nazim is permitted to levy for incidental expenses, only ten per +cent. over and above the Government demand; and required to send one- +half of this sum to Court, for distribution. He is ostensibly +required to limit himself to this sum, and to abstain from taking the +gratuities, usually exacted by the _revenue contractors_, for +distribution among ministers and other influential persons at Court. +Were he to do so, they would all be so strongly opposed to the +_amanee_, or trust system of management, and have it in their power +so much to thwart him, in all his measures and arrangements, that he +could never possibly get on with his duties; and the disputes between +them generally results in a compromise. He takes, in gratuities, +something less than his contracting predecessors took, and shares, +what he takes, liberally, with those whose assistance he requires at +Court. These gratuities, or nuzuranas, never appeared, in the public +accounts; and were a governor, under the _amanee_ system, to demand +the full rates paid to contractors, the more powerful landholders +would refer him to these public accounts, and refuse to pay till he +could assure them of the same equivalents in _nanker_ and other +things, which they were in the habit of receiving from contractors. +These, as a mere trust manager, he may not be able to give; and he +consents to take something less. The landholders know that where the +object is to exact the means to gratify influential persons about +Court, the Nazim would be likely to get good military support, if +driven to extremity, and consent to pay the greater part of what is +demanded. When the trust manager, by his liberal remittances to Court +patrons, gets all the troops he requires, he exacts the full +gratuities, and still higher and more numerous if strong enough. The +corps under Captains Magness, Bunbury, Barlow, and Subha Sing, are +called _komukee_, or auxiliary regiments; and they are every season, +and sometimes often in the same season, sold to the highest bidder as +a perquisite by the minister. The services of Captain Magness and +Captain Bunbury's corps were purchased in this way for 1850 and 1851, +by Aga Allee, the Nazim of Sultanpoor, and he has made the most of +them. No _contractor_ ever exacted higher _nazuranas_ or _gratuities_ +than he has, by their aid, this season, though he still holds the +district as a trust manager. Ten, twenty, or thirty thousand rupees +are paid for the use of one of these regiments, according to the +exigency of the occasion, or the time for which it may be required. + +The system of government under which Oude suffers during the reign of +the best king is a fearful one; and what must it be under a +sovereign, so indifferent as the present is, to the sufferings of his +people, to his own permanent interests, and to the duties and +responsibilities of his high station? Seeing that our Government +attached much importance to the change, from the _contract_ to the +_trust_ system of management, the present minister is putting a large +portion of the country under that system in the hope of blinding us. +But there is virtually little or no change in the administration of +such districts; the person who has the charge of a district under it +is obliged to pay the same gratuities to public officers and court +favourites, and he exacts the same, or nearly the same from the +landholders; he is under no more check than the contractor, and the +officers and troops under him, abuse their authority in the same +manner, and commit the same outrages upon the suffering people. +Security to life and property is disregarded in the same manner; he +confines himself as exclusively to the duties of collecting revenue, +and is as regardless of security to life and property, and of +fidelity to his engagements, as the landholders in his jurisdiction. +The trust management of a district differs from that of the +contractors, only as the _wusoolee kubaz_ differs from the +_lakulamee_; though he does not enter into a formal contract to pay a +certain sum, he is always expected to pay such a sum, and if he does +not, he is obliged to wipe off the balance in the same way, and is +kept in gaol till he does so, in the same way. Indeed, I believe, the +people would commonly rather be under a contractor, than a trust +manager under the Oude Government; and this was the opinion of +Colonel Low, who, of all my predecessors, certainly knew most about +the real state of Oude. + +The Nazim of Sultanpoor has authority to entertain such Tehseeldars +and _Jumogdars_ as he may require, for the collection of the revenue. +Of these he has, generally, from fifty to sixty employed, on salaries +varying from fifteen to thirty rupees a-month each. The Tehseeldar is +employed here, as elsewhere, in the collection of the land revenue, +in the usual way; but the _Jumogdar_ is an officer unknown in our +territories. Some are appointed direct from Court, and some by the +Nazims and Amils of districts. When a landholder has to pay his +revenue direct to Government (as all do, who are included in what is +called the Hozoor Tehseel), and he neglects to do so punctually, a +Jumogdar is appointed. The landholder assembles his tenants, and they +enter into pledges to pay direct to the Jumogdar the rents due by +them to the landholder, under existing engagements, up to a certain +time. This may be the whole, or less than the whole, amount due to +Government by the landholder. If any of them fail to pay what they +promise to the Jumogdar, the landholder is bound to make good the +deficiency at the end of the year. He also binds himself to pay to +Government whatever may be due over and above what the tenants pledge +themselves to pay to the Jumogdar. This transfer of responsibility, +from the landholder to his tenants, is called "_Jumog Lagana_," or +transfer of the jumma. The assembly of the tenants, for the purpose +of such-adjustment, is called _zunjeer bundee_, or linking together. +The adjustment thus made is called the _bilabundee_. The salary of +the Jumogdar is paid by the landholder, who distributes the burthen +of the payment upon his tenants, at a per centage rate. The Jumogdar +takes written engagements from the tenants; and they are bound not to +pay anything to the landholder till they have paid him (the Jumogdar) +all that they are, by these engagements, bound to pay him. He does +all he can to make them pay punctually; but he is not, properly, held +responsible for any defalcation. Such responsibility rests with the +landlords. Where much difficulty is expected from the refractory +character of the landholder, the officer commanding the whole, or +some part of the troops in the district, is often appointed the +Jumogdar; and the amount which the tenants pledge themselves to pay +to him is debited to him, in the pay of the troops, under his +command. + +The Jumogdars, who are appointed by the Nazims and Amils, act in the +same manner with regard to the landlords and tenants, to whom they +are accredited, and are paid in the same manner. There may be one, or +there may be one hundred, Jumogdars in a district, according to the +necessity for their employment, in the collection of the revenue. +They are generally men of character, influence, and resolution; and +often useful to both, or all three parties; but when they are +officers commanding troops, they are often very burthensome to +landlords and tenants. The Jumogdar has only to receive the sums due, +according to existing engagements between the parties, and to see +that no portion of them is paid to any other person. He has nothing +to do with apportioning the demand, or making the engagements between +tenants and landlords, or landlords and Government officers. + +The Canoongoes and Chowdheries in Oude are commonly called Seghadars, +and their duties are the same here as everywhere else in India. + +_December_ 28, 1849.--Twelve miles to Hundore, over a country more +undulating and better cultivated than any we have seen since we +recrossed the Goomtee river at Sultanpoor. It all belongs to the +Rajah of Pertabghur, Shumshere Babadur, a Somebunsee, who resides at +Dewlee, some six miles from Pertabghur. His family is one of the +oldest and most respectable in Oude; but his capital of Pertabghur, +where he used to reside till lately, is one of the most beggarly. He +seems to have concentrated there all the beggars in the country, and +there is not a house of any respectable to be seen. The soil, all the +way, has been what they call the doomut, or doomuteea, which is well +adapted to all kinds of tillage, but naturally less strong than +muteear or argillaceous earth, and yields scanty crops, where it is +not well watered and manured. + +The Rajah came to my camp in the afternoon, and attended me on his +elephant in the evening when I went round the town, and to his old +mud fort, now in ruins, within which is the old residence of the +family. He does not pay his revenue punctually, nor is he often +prepared to attend the viceroy when required; and it was thought that +he would not come to me. Finding that the Korwar and other Rajahs and +large landholders, who had been long on similar terms with the local +authorities, had come in, paid their respects, and been left free, he +also ventured to my camp. For the last thirty years the mutual +confidence which once subsisted between the Government authorities +and the great landholders of these districts has been declining, and +it ceased altogether under the last viceroy, Wajid Allee Khan, who +appears to have been a man without any feeling of humanity or sense +of honour. No man ever knew what he would be called upon to pay to +Government in the districts under him; and almost all the respectable +landholders prepared to defend what they had by force of arms; +deserted their homes, and took to the jungles with as many followers +as they could collect and subsist, as soon as he entered on his +charge. The atrocities charged against him, and upon the best +possible evidence, are numerous and great. + +The country we have passed through to-day is well studded with fine +trees, among which the mhowa abounds more than usual. The parasite +plant, called the bandha, or Indian mistletoe, ornaments the finest +mhowa and mango trees. It is said to be a disease, which appears as +the tree grows old, and destroys it if not cut away. The people, who +feel much regard for their trees, cut these parasite plants away; and +there is no prejudice against removing them among Hindoos, though +they dare not cut away a peepul-tree which is destroying their wells, +houses, temples, or tombs; nor do they, with some exceptions, dare to +destroy a wolf, though he may have eaten their own children, or +actually have one of them in his mouth. In all parts of India, +Hindoos have a notion that the family of a man who kills a wolf, or +even wounds it, goes soon to utter ruin; and so also the village +within the boundaries of which a wolf has been killed or wounded. +They have no objection to their being killed by other people away +from the villages; on the contrary, are very glad to have them so +destroyed, as long as their blood does not drop on their premises. +Some Rajpoot families in Oude, where so many children are devoured by +wolves, are getting over this prejudice. The bandha is very +ornamental to the fine mhowa and mango trees, to the branches of +which it hangs suspended in graceful festoons, with a great variety +of colours and tints, from deep scarlet and green to light-red and +yellow. + +Wolves are numerous in the neighbourhood of Sultanpoor, and, indeed, +all along the banks of the Goomtee river, among the ravines that +intersect them; and a great many children are carried off by them +from towns, villages, and camps. It is exceedingly difficult to catch +them, and hardly any of the Hindoo population, save those of the very +lowest class who live a vagrant life, and bivouac in the jungles, or +in the suburbs of towns and villages, will attempt to catch or kill +them. All other Hindoos have a superstitious dread of destroying or +even injuring them; and a village community within the boundary of +whose lands a drop of wolf's blood has fallen believes itself doomed +to destruction. The class of little vagrant communities above +mentioned, who have no superstitious dread of destroying any living +thing, eat jackalls and all kinds of reptiles, and catch all kinds of +animals, either to feed upon themselves, or to sell them to those who +wish to keep or hunt them. + +But it is remarkable, that they very seldom catch wolves, though they +know all their dens, and could easily dig them out as they dig out +other animals. This is supposed to arise from the profit which they +make by the gold and silver bracelets, necklaces and other ornaments +worn by the children whom the wolves carry to their dens and devour, +and are left at the entrance of their dens. A party of these men +lately brought to our camp alive a very large hyaena, which was let +loose and hunted down by the European officers and the clerks of my +office. One of the officers asked them whether this was not the +reason why they did not bring wolves to camp, to be hunted down in +the same way, since officers would give more for brutes that ate +children, than for such as fed only on dogs or carrion. They dared +not deny, though they were ashamed or afraid to acknowledge, that it +was. I have myself no doubt that this is the reason, and that they do +make a good deal in this way from the children's ornaments, which +they find at the entrance of wolves' dens. In every part of India, a +great number of children are every day murdered for the sake of their +ornaments, and the fearful examples that come daily to the knowledge +of parents, and the injunctions of the civil authorities are +unavailing against this desire to see their young children decked out +in gold and silver ornaments. + +There is now at Sultanpoor a boy who was found alive in a wolf's den, +near Chandour, about ten miles from Sultanpoor, about two years and a +half ago. A trooper, sent by the native governor of the district to +Chandour, to demand payment of some revenue, was passing along the +bank of the river near Chandour about noon, when he saw a large +female wolf leave her den, followed by three whelps and a little boy. +The boy went on all fours, and seemed to be on the best possible +terms with the old dam and the three whelps, and the mother seemed to +guard all four with equal care. They all went down to the river and +drank without perceiving the trooper, who sat upon his horse watching +them. As soon as they were about to turn back, the trooper pushed on +to cut off and secure the boy; but he ran as fast as the whelps +could, and kept up with the old one. The ground was uneven, and the +trooper's horse could not overtake them. They all entered the den, +and the trooper assembled some people from Chandour with pickaxes, +and dug into the den. When they had dug in about six or eight feet, +the old wolf bolted with her three whelps and the boy. The trooper +mounted and pursued, followed by the fleetest young men of the party; +and as the ground over which they had to fly was more even, he headed +them, and turned the whelps and boy back upon the men on foot, who +secured the boy, and let the old dam and her three cubs go on their +way. + +They took the boy to the village, but had to tie him, for he was very +restive, and struggled hard to rush into every hole or den they came +near. They tried to make him speak, but could get nothing from him +but an angry growl or snarl. He was kept for several days at the +village, and a large crowd assembled every day to see him. When a +grown-up person came near him, he became alarmed, and tried to steal +away; but when a child came near him, he rushed at it, with a fierce +snarl like that of a dog, and tried to bite it. When any cooked meat +was put before him, he rejected it in disgust; but when any raw meat +was offered, he seized it with avidity, put it on the ground under +his paws, like a dog, and ate it with evident pleasure. He would not +let any one come near him while he was eating, but he made no +objection to a dog coming and sharing his food with him. The trooper +remained with him four or five days, and then returned to the +governor, leaving the boy in charge of the Rajah of Hasunpoor. He +related all that he had seen, and the boy was soon after sent to the +European officer commanding the First Regiment of Oude Local Infantry +at Sultanpoor, Captain Nicholetts, by order of the Rajah of +Hasunpoor, who was at Chandour, and saw the boy when the trooper +first brought him to that village. This account is taken from the +Rajah's own report of what had taken place. + +Captain Nicholetts made him over to the charge of his servants, who +take great care of him, but can never get him to speak a word. He is +very inoffensive, except when teased, Captain Nicholetts says, and +will then growl surlily at the person who teases him. He had come to +eat anything that is thrown to him, but always prefers raw flesh, +which he devours most greedily. He will drink a whole pitcher of +butter-milk when put before him, without seeming to draw breath. He +can never be induced to keep on any kind of clothing, even in the +coldest weather. A quilt stuffed with cotton was given to him when it +became very cold this season, but he tore it to pieces, and ate a +portion of it, cotton and all, with his bread every day. He is very +fond of bones, particularly uncooked ones, which he masticates +apparently with as much ease as meat. He has eaten half a lamb at a +time without any apparent effort, and is very fond of taking up earth +and small stones and eating them. His features are coarse, and his +countenance repulsive; and he is very filthy in his habits. He +continues to be fond of dogs and jackals, and all other small four- +footed animals that come near him; and always allows them to feed +with him if he happens to be eating when they approach. + +Captain Nicholetts, in letters dated the 14th and 19th of September, +1850, told me that the boy died in the latter end of August, and that +he was never known to laugh or smile. He understood little of what +was said to him, and seemed to take no notice of what was going on +around him. He formed no attachment for any one, nor did he seem to +care for any one. He never played with any of the children around +him, or seemed anxious to do so. When not hungry he used to sit +petting and stroking a pareear or vagrant dog, which he used to +permit to feed out of the same dish with him. A short time before his +death Captain Nicholetts shot this dog, as he used to eat the greater +part of the food given to the boy, who seemed in consequence to be +getting thin. The boy did not seem to care in the least for the death +of the dog. The parents recognised the boy when he was first found, +Captain Nicholetts believes; but when they found him to be so stupid +and insensible, they left him to subsist upon charity. They have now +left Hasunpoor, and the age of the boy when carried off cannot be +ascertained; but he was to all appearance about nine or ten years of +age when found, and he lived about three years afterwards. He used +signs when he wanted anything, and very few of them except when +hungry, and he then pointed to his mouth. When his food was placed at +some distance from him, he would run to it on all fours like any +four-footed animal; but at other times he would walk upright +occasionally. He shunned human beings of all kinds, and would never +willingly remain near one. To cold, heat, and rain he appeared to be +indifferent; and he seemed to care for nothing but eating. He was +very quiet, and required no kind of restraint after being brought to +Captain Nicholetts. He had lived with Captain Nicholetts' servants +about two years, and was never heard to speak till within a few +minutes of his death, when he put his hands to his head, and said "it +ached," and asked for water: he drank it, and died. + +At Chupra, twenty miles east from Sultanpoor, lived a cultivator with +his wife and son, who was then three years of age. In March, 1843, +the man went to cut his crop of wheat and pulse, and the woman took +her basket and went with him to glean, leading her son by the arm. +The boy had lately recovered from a severe scald on the left knee, +which he got in the cold weather, from tumbling into the fire, at +which he had been warming himself while his parents were at work. As +the father was reaping and the mother gleaning, the boy sat upon the +grass. A wolf rushed upon him suddenly from behind a bush, caught him +up by the loins, and made off with him towards the ravines. The +father was at a distance at the time, but the mother followed, +screaming as loud an she could for assistance. The people of the +village ran to her aid, but they soon lost sight of the wolf and his +prey. + +She heard nothing more of her boy for six years, and had in that +interval lost her husband. At the end of that time, two sipahees +came, in the month of February, 1849, from the town of Singramow, +which is ten miles from Chupra, on the bank of the Khobae rivulet. +While they sat on the border of the jungle, which extended down to +the stream, watching for hogs, which commonly come down to drink at +that time in the morning, they saw there three wolf cubs and a boy +come out from the jungle, and go down together to the stream to +drink. The sipahees watched them till they had drank, and were about +to return, when they rushed towards them. All four ran towards a den +in the ravines. The sipahees followed as fast as they could; but the +three cubs had got in before the sipahees could come up with them, +and the boy was half way in when one of the sipahees caught him by +the hind leg, and drew him back. He seemed very angry and ferocious, +bit at them, and seized in his teeth the barrel of one of their guns, +which they put forward to keep him off, and shook it. They however +secured him, brought him home, and kept him for twenty days. They +could for that time make him eat nothing but raw flesh, and they fed +him upon hares and birds. They found it difficult to provide him with +sufficient food, and took him to the bazaar in the village of +Koeleepoor; and there let him go to be fed by the charitable people +of the place till he might be recognised and claimed by his parents. +One market-day a man from the village of Chupra happened to see him +in the bazaar, and on his return mentioned the circumstance to his +neighbours. The poor cultivator's widow, on hearing this, asked him +to describe the boy more minutely, when she found that the boy had +the mark of a scald on the left knee, and three marks of the teeth of +an animal on each side of his loins. The widow told him that her boy +when taken off had lately recovered from a scald on the left knee, +and was seized by the loins when the wolf took him off, and that the +boy he had seen must be her lost child. + +She went off forthwith to the Koelee bazaar, and, in addition to the +two marks above described, discovered a third mark on his thigh, with +which her child was born. She took him home to her village, where he +was recognised by all her neighbours. She kept him for two months, +and all the sporting landholders in the neighbourhood sent her game +for him to feed upon. He continued to dip his face in the water to +drink, but he sucked in the water, and did not lap it up like a dog +or wolf. His body continued to smell offensively. When the mother +went to her work, the boy always ran into the jungle, and she could +never get him to speak. He followed his mother for what he could get +to eat, but showed no particular affection for her; and she could +never bring herself to feel much for him; and after two months, +finding him of no use to her, and despairing of even making anything +of him, she left him to the common charity of the village. He soon +after learnt to eat bread when it was given him, and ate whatever +else he could get during the day, but always went off to the jungle +at night. He used to mutter something, but could never be got to +articulate any word distinctly. The front of his knees and elbows had +become hardened from going on all fours with the wolves. If any +clothes are put on him, he takes them off, and commonly tears them to +pieces in doing so. He still prefers raw flesh to cooked, and feeds +on carrion whenever he can get it. The boys of the village are in the +habit of amusing themselves by catching frogs and throwing them to +him; and he catches and eats them. When a bullock dies, and the skin +is removed, he goes and eats it like a village dog. The boy is still +in the village, and this is the description given of him by the +mother herself, who still lives at Chupra. She has never experienced +any return of affection for him, nor has he shown any such feeling +for her. Her story is confirmed by all her neighbours, and by the +head landholders, cultivators, and shopkeepers of the village.* + +[* In November, 1850, Captain Nicholetts, on leaving the cantonments +of Sultanpoor, where he commanded, ordered this boy to be sent in to +me with his mother, but he got alarmed on the way and ran to a +jungle. He will no doubt find his way back soon if he lives.] + +The Rajah of Hasunpoor Bundooa mentions, as a fact within his own +knowledge, besides the others, for the truth of which he vouches, +that, in the year 1843, a lad came to the town of Hasunpoor, who had +evidently been brought up by wolves. He seemed to be twelve years of +age when he saw him--was very dark, and ate flesh, whether cooked or +uncooked. He had short hair all over his body when he first came, but +having, for a time, as the Rajah states, eaten salt with his food, +like other human beings, the hair by degrees disappeared. He could +walk, like other men, on his legs, but could never be taught to +speak. He would utter sounds like wild animals, and could be made to +understand signs very well. He used to sit at a bunneea's shop in the +bazaar, but was at last recognised by his parents, and taken off. +What became of him afterwards he knows not. The Rajah's statement +regarding this lad is confirmed by all the people of the town, but +none of them know what afterwards became of him. + +About the year 1843, a shepherd of the village of Ghutkoree, twelve +miles west from the cantonments of Sultanpoor, saw a boy trotting +along upon all fours, by the side of a wolf, one morning, as he was +out with his flock. With great difficulty he caught the boy, who ran +very fast, and brought him home. He fed him for some time, and tried +to make him speak, and associate with men or boys, but he failed. He +continued to be alarmed at the sight of men, but was brought to +Colonel Gray, who commanded the first Oude Local Infantry, at +Sultanpoor. He and Mrs. Gray, and all the officers in cantonments, +saw him often, and kept him for several days. But he soon after ran +off into the jungle, while the shepherd was asleep. The shepherd, +afterwards, went to reside in another village, and I could not +ascertain whether he recovered the boy or not. + +Zoolfukar Khan, a respectable landholder of Bankeepoor, in the estate +of Hasunpoor, ten miles east from the Sultahpoor cantonments, +mentions that about eight or nine years ago a trooper came to the +town, with a lad of about nine or ten years of age, whom he had +rescued from wolves among the ravines on the road; that he knew not +what to do with him, and left him to the common charity of the +village; that he ate everything offered to him, including bread, but +before taking it he carefully smelt at it, and always preferred +undressed meat to everything else; that he walked on his legs like +other people when he saw him, though there were evident signs on his +knees and elbows of his having gone, very long, on all fours; and +when asked to run on all fours he used to do so, and went so fast +that no one could overtake him; how long he had been with the +trooper, or how long it took him to learn to walk on his legs, he +knows not. He could not talk, or utter any very articulate sounds. He +understood signs, and heard exceedingly well, and would assist the +cultivators in turning trespassing cattle out of their fields, when +told by signs to do so. Boodhoo, a Brahmin cultivator of the village, +took care of him, and he remained with him for three months, when he +was claimed and taken off by his father, a shepherd, who said that +the boy was six years old when the wolf took him off at night some +four years before; he did not like to leave Boodhoo, the Brahmin, and +the father was obliged to drag him away. What became of him +afterwards he never heard. The lad had no hair upon his body, nor had +he any dislike to wear clothes, while he saw him. This statement was +confirmed by the people of the village. + +About seven years ago a trooper belonging to the King, and in +attendance on Rajah Hurdut Sing of Bondee, alias Bumnotee, on the +left bank of the Ghagra river, in the Bahraetch district, was passing +near a small stream which flows into that river, when he saw two wolf +cubs and a boy drinking in the stream. He had a man with him on foot, +and they managed to seize the boy, who appeared to be about ten years +of age. He took him up on the pummel of his saddle, but he was so +wild and fierce that he tore the trooper's clothes and bit him +severely in several places, though he had tied his hands together. He +brought him to Bondee, where the Rajah had him tied up in his +artillery gun-shed, and gave him raw-flesh to eat: but he several +times cut his ropes and ran off; and after three months the Rajah got +tired of him, and let him go. He was then taken by a Cashmeeree +mimic, or comedian (_bhand_), who fed and took care of him for six +weeks*; but at the end of that time he also got tired of him (for his +habits were filthy), and let him go to wander about the Bondee +bazaar. He one day ran off with a joint of meat from a butcher's +shop, and soon after upset some things in the shop of a _bunneeah_, +who let fly an arrow at him. The arrow penetrated the boy's thigh. At +this time Sanaollah, a Cashmere merchant of Lucknow, was at Bondee, +selling some shawl goods to the Rajah, on the occasion of his +brother's marriage. He had many servants with him, and among them +Janoo, a khidmutgar lad, and an old sipahee, named Ramzan Khan. Janoo +took compassion upon the poor boy, extracted the arrow from his +thigh, had his wound dressed, and prepared a bed for him under the +mango-tree, where he himself lodged, but kept him tied to a tent-pin. +He would at that time eat nothing but raw flesh. To wean him from +this, Janoo, with the consent of his master, gave him rice and pulse +to eat. He rejected them for several days, and ate nothing; but Janoo +persevered, and by degrees made him eat the balls which he prepared +for him: he was fourteen or fifteen days in bringing him to do this. +The odour from his body was very offensive, and Janoo had him rubbed +with mustard-seed soaked in water, after the oil had been taken from +it (_khullee_), in the hope of removing this smell. He continued this +for some months, and fed him upon rice, pulse, and flour bread, but +the odour did not leave him. He had hardened marks upon his knees and +elbows, from having gone on all fours. In about six weeks after he +had been tied up under the tree, with a good deal of beating, and +rubbing of his joints with oil, he was made to stand and walk upon +his legs like other human beings. He was never heard to utter more +than one articulate sound, and that was "Aboodeea," the name of the +little daughter of the Cashmeer mimic, who had treated him with +kindness, and for whom he had shown some kind of attachment. In about +four months he began to understand and obey signs. He was by them +made to prepare the hookah, put lighted charcoal upon the tobacco, +and bring it to Janoo, or present it to whomsoever he pointed out. + +[* Transcriber's note--'six weeks' was printed as 'six months', but +is corrected by the author, in Volume ii, in a P.S. to his letter, +dated 20th November, 1852, to Sir James Weir Hogg.] + +One night while the boy was lying under the tree, near Janoo, Janoo +saw two wolves come up stealthily, and smell at the boy. They then +touched him, and he got up; and, instead of being frightened, the boy +put his hands upon their heads, and they began to play with him. They +capered around him, and he threw straw and leaves at them. Janoo +tried to drive them off but he could not, and became much alarmed; +and he called out to the sentry over the guns, Meer Akbur Allee, and +told him that the wolves were going to eat the boy. He replied, "Come +away and leave him, or they will eat you also;" but when he saw them +begin to play together, his fears subsided and he kept quiet. Gaining +confidence by degrees, he drove them away; but, after going a little +distance, they returned, and began to play again with the boy. At +last he succeeded in driving them off altogether. The night after +three wolves came, and the boy and they played together. A few nights +after four wolves came, but at no time did more than four come. They +came four or five times, and Janoo had no longer any fear of them; +and he thinks that the first two that came must have been the two +cubs with which the boy was first found, and that they were prevented +from seizing him by recognising the smell. They licked his face with +their tongues as he put his hands on their heads. + +Soon after his master, Sanaollah, returned to Lucknow, and threatened +Janoo to turn him out of his service unless he let go the boy. He +persisted in taking the boy with him, and his master relented. He had +a string tied to his arm, and led him along by it, and put a bundle +of clothes on his head. As they passed a jungle the boy would throw +down the bundle and try to run into the jungle, but on being beaten, +he would put up his hands in supplication, take up the bundle and go +on; but he seemed soon to forget the beating, and did the same thing +at almost every jungle they came through. By degrees he became quite +docile. Janoo was one day, about three months after their return to +Lucknow, sent away by his master for a day or two on some business, +and before his return the boy had ran off, and he could never find +him again. About two months after the boy had gone, a woman, of the +weaver caste, came with a letter from a relation of the Rajah, Hurdut +Sing, to Sanaollah, stating that she resided in the village of +Chureyrakotra, on his estate, and had had her son, then about four +years of age, taken from her, about five or six years before, by a +wolf; and, from the description which she gave of him, he, the +Rajah's relation, thought he must be the boy whom his servant, Janoo, +took away with him. She said that her boy had two marks upon him, one +on the chest of a boil, and one of something else on the forehead; +and as these marks corresponded precisely with those found upon the +boy, neither she nor they had any doubt that he was her lost son. She +remained for four months with the merchant Sanaollah, and Janoo, his +kidmutghur, at Lucknow; but the boy could not be found, and she +returned home, praying that information might be sent to her should +he be discovered. Sanaollah, Janoo, and Ramzan Khan, are still at +Lucknow, and before me have all three declared all the circumstances +here stated to be strictly true. The boy was altogether about five +months with Sanaollah and his servants, from the time they got him; +and he had been taken about four months and a half before. The wolf +must have had several litters of whelps during the six or seven years +that the boy was with her. Janoo further adds, that he, after a month +or two, ventured to try a waist-band upon the boy, but he often tore +it off in distress or anger. After he had become reconciled to this, +in about two months, he ventured to put on upon him a vest and a pair +of trousers. He had great difficulty in making him keep them on, with +threats and occasional beatings. He would disencumber himself of them +whenever left alone, but put them on again in alarm when discovered; +and to the last often injured or destroyed them by rubbing them +against trees or posts, like a beast, when any part of his body +itched. This habit he could never break him of. + +Rajah Hurdut Sewae, who is now in Lucknow on business, tells me (28th +January, 1851) that the sowar brought the boy to Bondee, and there +kept him for a short time, as long as he remained; but as soon as he +went off, the boy came to him, and he kept him for three months; that +he appeared to him to be twelve years of age; that he ate raw meat as +long as he remained with him, with evident pleasure, whenever it was +offered to him, but would not touch the bread and other dressed food +put before him; that he went on all fours, but would stand and go +awkwardly on two legs when threatened or made to do so; that he +seemed to understand signs, but could not understand or utter a word; +that he seldom attempted to bite any one, nor did he tear the clothes +that he put upon him; that Sanaollah, the Cashmeeree merchant, used +at that time to come to him often with shawls for sale, and must have +taken the boy away with him, but he does not recollect having given +the boy to him. He says that he never himself sent any letter to +Sanaollah with the mother of the boy, but his brother or some other +relation of his may have written one for her. + +It is remarkable that I can discover no well-established instance of +a man who had been nurtured in a wolf's den having been found. There +is, at Lucknow, an old man who was found in the Oude Tarae, when a +lad, by the hut of an old hermit who had died. He is supposed to have +been taken from wolves by this old hermit. The trooper who found him +brought him to the King some forty years ago, and he has been ever +since supported by the King comfortably. He is still called the "wild +man of the woods." He was one day sent to me at my request, and I +talked with him. His features indicate him to be of the Tharoo tribe, +who are found only in that forest. He is very inoffensive, but speaks +little, and that little imperfectly; and he is still impatient of +intercourse with his fellow-men, particularly with such as are +disposed to tease him with questions. I asked him whether he had any +recollection of having been with wolves. He said "the wolf died long +before the hermit;" but he seemed to recollect nothing more, and +there is no mark on his knees or elbows to indicate that he ever went +on all fours. That he was found as a wild boy in the forest there can +be no doubt; but I do not feel at all sure that he ever lived with +wolves. From what I have seen and heard I should doubt whether any +boy who had been many years with wolves, up to the age of eight or +ten, could ever attain the average intellect of man. I have never +heard of a man who had been spared and nurtured by wolves having been +found; and, as many boys have been recovered from wolves after they +had been many years with them, we must conclude that after a time +they either die from living exclusively on animal food, before they +attain the age of manhood, or are destroyed by the wolves themselves, +or other beasts of prey, in the jungles, from whom they are unable to +escape, like the wolves themselves, from want of the same speed. The +wolf or wolves, by whom they have been spared and nurtured, must die +or be destroyed in a few years, and other wolves may kill and eat +them. Tigers generally feed for two or three days upon the bullock +they kill, and remain all the time, when not feeding, concealed in +the vicinity. If they found such a boy feeding upon their prey they +would certainly kill him, and most likely eat him. If such a boy +passed such a dead body he would certainly feed upon it. Tigers often +spring upon and kill dogs and wolves thus found feeding upon their +prey. They could more 'easily kill boys, and would certainly be more +disposed to eat them. If the dead body of such a boy were found +anywhere in the jungles, or on the plains, it would excite little +interest, where dead bodies are so often found exposed, and so soon +eaten by dogs, jackals, vultures, &c., and would scarcely ever lead +to any particular inquiry. + + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Salone district--Rajah Lal Hunmunt Sing of Dharoopoor--Soil of Oude-- +Relative fertility of the _mutteear_ and _doomutteea_--Either may +become _oosur_, or barren, from neglect, and is reclaimed, when it +does so, with difficulty--Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge of an +eleemosynary endowment at Salone--Effects of his curses--Invasion of +British Boundary--Military Force with the Nazim--State and character +of this Force--Rae Bareilly in the Byswara district--Bandha, or +Misletoe--Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor--Law of Primogeniture-- +Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo and Rogonath Sing-- +Bridge and avenue at Rae Bareilly--Eligible place for cantonment and +civil establishments--State of the Artillery--Sobha Sing's regiment-- +Foraging System--Peasantry follow the fortunes of their refractory +Landlords--No provision for the king's soldiers, disabled in action, +or for the families of those who are killed--Our sipahees, a +privileged class, very troublesome in the Byswara and Banoda +districts--Goorbukshgunge--Man destroyed by an Elephant--Danger to +which keepers of such animals are exposed--Bys Rajpoots composed of +two great families, Sybunsies and Nyhassas--Their continual contests +for landed possessions--Futteh Bahader--Rogonath Sing--Mahibollah the +robber and estate of Balla--Notion that Tillockchundee Bys Rajpoots +never suffer from the bite of a snake--Infanticide--Paucity of +comfortable dwelling-houses--The cause--Agricultural capitalists-- +Ornaments and apparel of the females of the Bys clan--Late Nazim Hamid +Allee--His father-in-law Fuzl Allee--First loan from Oude to our +Government--Native gentlemen with independent incomes cannot reside +in the country--Crowd the city, and tend to alienate the Court from +the people. + + + +_December_ 29, 1849.--Ten miles to Rampoor. Midway we passed over the +border of the Sultanpoor district into that of Salone, whose Amil, +Hoseyn Buksh, there met us with his _cortege_. Rampoor is the +Residence of Rajah Hunmunt Sing, the tallookdar of the two estates of +Dharoopoor and Kalakunkur, which extend down to and for some miles +along the left bank of the river Ganges. There is a fort in each of +these estates, and he formerly resided in that of Dharoopoor, four +miles from our present encampment. That of Kalakunkur is on the bank +of the Ganges. The lands along, on both sides the road, over which we +are come, are scantily cultivated, but well studded with good trees, +where the soil is good for them. A good deal of it is, however, the +poor oosur soil, the rest muteear, of various degrees of fertility. +The territory of Oude, as I have said above, must once have formed +part of the bed of a lake,* which contained a vast fund of soluble +salts. Through this bed, as the waters flowed off, the rivers from +the northern range of hills, which had before fed the lake, cut their +way to join the larger stream of the Ganges; and the smaller streams, +which have their sources in the dense forest of the Tarae, which now +extends along the southern border of that range, have since cut their +way through this bed in the same manner to the larger rivers. The +waters from these rivers percolate through the bed; and, as they rise +to the surface, by the laws of capillary attraction, they carry with +them these salts in solution. As they reach the surface in dry +weather, they give off by evaporation pure water; and the salts, +which they held in solution, remain behind in the upper surface. The +capillary action goes on; and as the pure water is taken off in the +atmosphere in vapour, other water impregnated with more salts comes +up to supply its place; and the salts near the surface either +accumulate or are supplied to the roots of the plants, shrubs, or +trees, which require them. + +[* Caused, possibly, by the Vendeya range once extending E. N. E. up +to the Himmalaya chain, which runs E. S. E. It now extends up only to +the right bank of the Ganges, at Chunar and Mirzapoor.] + +Rain-water,* which contains no such salts, falls after the dry season +is over, and washes out of the upper surface a portion of the salts, +which have thus been brought up from below and accumulated, and +either takes them off in floods or carries them down again to the +beds below. Some of these salts, or their bases, may become +superabundant, and render the lands oosur or unfit for ordinary +tillage. There may be a superabundance of those which are not +required, or cannot be taken up by the plants, actually on the +surface, or there may be a superabundance of the whole, from the +plants and rain-water being insufficient to take away such as require +to be removed. These salts are here, as elsewhere, of great variety; +nitrates of ammonia, which, combining with the inorganic substances-- +magnesia, lime, soda, potash, alumina, and oxide of iron--form double +salts, and become soluble in water, and fit food for plants. Or there +may be a deficiency of vegetable mould (humus) or manure to supply, +with the aid of carbonic acid, air, water, and ammonia, the organic +acids required to adapt the inorganic substances to the use of +plants. + +[* Rain-water contains small quantities of carbonic acid, ammonia, +atmospheric air, and vegetable or animal matter.] + +All are, in due proportion, more or less conducive to the growth and +perfection of the plants, which men and animals require from the +soil: some plants require more of the one, and some more of another; +and some find a superabundance of what they need, where others find a +deficiency, or none at all. The muteear seems to differ from the +doomuteea soil, in containing a greater portion of those elements +which constitute what are called good clay soils. The inorganic +portions of these elements--silicates, carbonates, sulphates, +phosphates, and chlorides of lime, potash, magnesia, alumina, soda, +oxides of iron and manganese--it derives from the detritus of the +granite, gneiss, mica, and chlorite slate, limestone and sandstone +rocks, in which the Himmalaya chain of mountains so much abounds; and +the organic elements--humates, almates, geates, apoerenates, and +crenates--it derives from the mould, formed from the decay of animal +and vegetable matter. It is more hydroscopic, or capable of absorbing +and retaining moisture, and fixing ammonia than the doomuteea. It is +of a darker colour, and forms more into clods to retain moisture. I +may here mention that the Himmalaya chain does not abound in volcanic +rocks, like the chains of Central and Southern India; and that the +soils, which are formed from its detritus, contain, in consequence, +less phosphoric acid, and is less adapted to the growth of that +numerous class of plants which cannot live without phosphates. The +volcanic rocks form a plateaux upon the sandstone, of almost all the +hills of Central and Southern India; and the soil, which is formed +from their detritus, is exceedingly fertile, when well combined, as +it commonly is, with the salts and double salts formed by the union +of the organic acids with the inorganic bases of alkalies, earths, +and oxides which have become soluble, and been brought to the surface +from below by capillary attraction. I may also mention, that the +basaltic plateaux upon the sandstone rocks of Central and Southern +India are often surmounted with a deposit, more or less deep, of +laterite, or indurated iron clay, the detritus of which tends to +promote fertility in the soil. I have never myself seen any other +deposit than this iron clay or _laterite_ above the basaltic +plateaux. I believe that this laterite is never found, in any part of +the Himmalaya chain. I have never seen it there, nor have I ever +heard of any one having seen it there. In Bundelkund and other parts +of Central and Southern India, the basaltic plateaux are sometimes +found deposing immediately upon beds of granite. + +The doomuteea is of a light-brown colour, soon powders into fine +dust, and requires much more outlay in manure and labour than the +muteear. The oosur soil appears to be formed out of both, by a +superabundance of one or other of the salts or their bases, which are +brought to the surface from the beds below, and not carried off or +taken back into these beds. It is known that salts of ammonia are +injurious to plants, unless combined with organic acids, supplied to +the soil by decayed vegetable or animal matter. This matter is +necessary to combine with, and fix the ammonia in the soil, and give +it out to plants as they require it. + +It is possible that nitrates may superabound in the soil from the +oxydizement of the nitrogen of a superfluity of ammonia. The people +say that all land may become _oosur_ from neglect; and when _oosur_ +can never be made to bear crops, after it has been left long fallow, +till it has been flooded with rain-water for two or three seasons, by +means of artificial embankments, and then well watered, manured, and +ploughed. When well tilled in this way, all but the very worst kinds +of _oosur_ are said to bear tolerable crops. In the midst of a plain +of barren oosur land, which has hardly a tree, shrub, or blade of +grass, we find small _oases_, or patches of low land, in which +accumulated rain-water lies for several months every year, covered +with stout grasses of different kinds, a sure indication of ability +to bear good crops, under good tillage. From very bad _oosur_ lands, +common salt or saltpetre, or both, are taken by digging out and +washing the earth, and then removing the water by evaporation. The +clods in the muteear soil not only retain moisture, and give it out +slowly as required by the crops, but they give shelter and coolness +to the young and tender shoots of grain and pulse. Of course trees, +shrubs, and plants, of all kind in Oude, as elsewhere, derive +carbonic acid gas and ammonia from the atmosphere, and decompose +them, for their own use, in the same manner. + +In treating of the advantages of greater facilities for irrigation in +India, I do not recollect ever having seen any mention made of that +of penetrating by wells into the deep deposits below of the soluble +salts, or their bases, and bringing them to the surface in the water, +for the supply of the plants, shrubs, and trees we require. People +talk of digging for valuable metals, and thereby "developing +resources;" but never talk of digging for the more valuable solutions +of soluble salts, to be combined with the organic acids already +existing in the soil, or provided by man in manures--and with the +carbonic acid, ammonia, and water from the atmosphere--to supply him +with a never-ending succession of harvests. The practical +agriculturists of Oude, however, say, that brackish water in +irrigation is only useful to tobacco and shama; and where the salts +which produce it superabound, rain-water tanks and fresh-water rivers +and canals would, no doubt, be much better than wells for irrigation. +All these waters contain carbonic acid gas, atmospheric air, and +solutions of salts, which form food for plants, or become so when +combined with the organic acids, supplied by the decayed animal and +vegetable matter in the soil. + +Soils which contain salts, which readily give off their water of +crystallization and _effloresce_, sooner become barren than those +which contain salts that attract moisture from the air, and +deliquesce, as chlorides of calcium and magnesia, carbonates and +acetates of potassa, alumina, &c. Canals flowing over these deep dry +beds, through which little water from the springs below ever +percolates to the surface, are not only of great advantage for +irrigating the crops on the surface, but for supplying water as they +flow along, to penetrate through these deep dry beds; and, as they +rise to the surface by capillary attraction, carrying along with them +the soluble salts which they pick up on their way. In Oude, as in all +the districts that extend along to the north of the Ganges, and south +of the Himmalaya chain, easterly winds prevail, and bring up moisture +from the sea of the Bay of Bengal. All these districts are, at the +same time, abundantly studded with groves of fine trees and jungle, +that attract this moisture to the earth in rain and dew. Through +Goozerat, Malwa, Berar, and Bundelkund, and all the districts +bordering the Nerbudda river, from its mouth to its sources, westerly +winds prevail, and bring up moisture from the Gulf of Cambay; and +these districts are all well studded with groves, &c., and single +trees, which act in the same manner, in attracting the moisture from +the atmosphere to the earth, in rain and dew. In Rajpootana and Sinde +no prevailing wind, I believe, comes from any sea nearer than the +Atlantic ocean; and there are but few trees to attract to the earth +the little moisture that the atmosphere contains. The rain that falls +over these countries is not, I believe, equal to more than one-third +of what falls over the districts, supplied from the Bay of Bengal, or +to one-fourth of what falls in those supplied from the Gulf of +Cambay. Our own districts of the N. W. Provinces, which intervene +between those north of the Ganges and Rajpootana, have the advantage +of rivers and canals; but their atmosphere is not so well supplied +with moisture from the sea, nor are they so well studded as they +ought to be with trees. The Punjab has still greater advantages from +numerous rivers, flowing from the Himmalaya chain, and is, like +Egypt, in some measure independent of moisture from the atmosphere as +far as tillage is concerned; but both would, no doubt, be benefited +by a greater abundance of trees. They not only tend to convey to and +retain moisture in the soil, and to purify the air for man, by giving +out oxygen and absorbing carbonic acid gas, but they are fertilizing +media, through which the atmosphere conveys to the soil most of the +carbon, and much of the ammonia, without which no soil can be +fertile. It is, I believe, generally admitted that trees derive most +of their carbon from the air through their leaves, and most of their +ammonia from the soil through their roots; and that when the trees, +shrubs, and plants, which form our coal-measures, adorned the surface +of the globe, the atmosphere must have contained a greater portion of +carbonic acid gas than at present. They decompose the gases, use the +carbon, and give back the oxygen to the atmosphere. + +_December_ 30, 1849.--Ten miles to Salone, over a pretty country, +well studded with fine trees and well tilled, except in large patches +of oosur land, which occur on both sides of the road. The soil, +doomuteea, with a few short intervals of muteear. The Rajah of +Pertabghur, and other great landholders of the Sultanpoor division, +who had been for some days travelling with me, and the Nazim and his +officers, took leave yesterday. The Nazim, Aga Allee, is a man of +great experience in the convenances of court and city life, and of +some in revenue management, having long had charge of the estates +comprised in the "Hozoor Tehseel," while he resided at Lucknow. He +has good sense and an excellent temper, and his manners and +deportment are courteous and gentlemanly. The Rajah of Pertabghur is +a very stout and fat man, of average understanding. The rightful heir +to the principality was Seorutun Sing, whom I have mentioned in my +_Rambles and Recollections_, as a gallant young landholder, fighting +for his right to the succession, while I was cantoned at Pertabghur +in 1818. He continued to fight, but in vain, as the revenue +contractors were too strong for him. Gholam Hoseyn, the then Nazim, +kept him down while he lived, and Dursun Sing got him into his power +by fraud, and confined him for three years in gaol. + +He died soon after his release, leaving one son. Rajah Dheer Sing,* +who still lives upon the portion of land which his father inherited. +He has taken up the contest for the right bequeathed to him by his +father; and his uncle, Golab Sing, the younger brother of Seorutun, a +brave, shrewd, and energetic man, has been for some days importuning +me for assistance. The nearest relations of the family told me +yesterday, that they were coerced by the Government authorities into +recognising the adoption of the present Rajah, though it was contrary +to all Hindoo law and usage. Hindoos, they said, never marry into the +same gote or family, and they never ought to adopt one of the +relations of their wives, or a son of a sister, or any descendant in +the female line, while there is one of the male line existing. +Seoruttun Sing was the next heir in the male line; but the Rajah, +having married a young girl in his old age, adopted as his heir to +the principality her nearest relative, the present Rajah, who is of a +different _gote_. The desire to keep the land in the same family has +given rise to singular laws and usages in all nations in the early +stages of civilization, when industry is confined almost exclusively +to agriculture, and land is almost the only property valued. Among +the people of the Himmalaya hills, as in all Sogdiana, it gave rise +to polyandry; and, among the Israelites and Mahommedans, to the +marriage of many brothers in succession to the same woman. + +[* Rajah Deer Sing died in April 1851, leaving a very young son under +the guardianship of his uncle, Golab Sing.] + +The Rajah of Dharoopoor, who resides at Rampoor, our last halting- +place, holds, as above stated, a tract of land along the left bank of +the Ganges, called the Kalakunkur, in which he has lately built a +mud-fort of reputed strength. He is a very sensible and active man of +pleasing manners. He has two grown-up sons, who were introduced to me +by him yesterday. The Government authorities complain of his want of +punctuality in the payment of his revenue; and he complains, with +much more justice, of the uncertainty in the rate of the demand on +the part of Government and its officers or Court favourites, and in +the character of the viceroys sent to rule over them; but, above all, +of the impossibility of getting a hearing at Court when they are +wronged and oppressed by bad viceroys. He went twice himself to +Lucknow, to complain of grievous wrongs suffered by him and his +tenants from an oppressive viceroy; but, though he had some good +friends at Court, and among them Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, he was obliged +to return without finding access to the sovereign or his minister, or +any one in authority over the viceroy. He told me that all large +landholders, who had any regard for their character, or desire to +retain their estates, and protect their tenants, were obliged to arm +and take to their strongholds or jungles as their only resource, when +bad viceroys were sent--that if they could be assured that fair +demands only would be made, and that they would have access to +authority, when they required to defend themselves from false +charges, and to complain of the wrong doings of viceroys and their +agents, none of them would be found in resistance against the +Government, since all were anxious to bequeath to their children a +good name, as well as a good estate. He promised punctual payment of +his revenues to Government, and strict obedience in all things, +provided that the contractor did not enhance his demand upon him, as +he now seemed disposed to do, in the shape of gratuities to himself +and Court favourites. "To be safe in Oude" he said, "it is necessary +to be strong, and prepared always to use your strength in resisting +outrage and oppression, on the part of the King's officers." + +At Salone resides a holy Mahommedan, Shah Puna Ata, who is looked up +to with great reverence by both Mahommedans and Hindoos, for the +sanctity of his character, and that of his ancestors, who sat upon +the same religions _throne_, for throne his simple mattress is +considered to be. From the time that the heir is called to the +_throne_, he never leaves his house, but stays at home to receive +homage, and distribute blessings and food to needy travellers of all +religions. He gets from the King of Oude twelve villages, rent free, +in perpetuity; and they are said to yield him twenty-five thousand +rupees a-year, with which he provides for his family, and for needy +travellers and pilgrims. This eleemosynary endowment was granted, +about sixty years ago, by the then sovereign, Asuf-od Dowlah. The +lands had belonged to a family of Kumpureea Rajpoots, who were ousted +for contumacy or rebellion, I believe. He was plundered of all he +had, to the amount of some twenty thousand rupees, in 1834, during +the reign of Nuseer-on Deen Hyder, by Ehsan Hoseyn, the Nazim of +Byswara and Salone, one of the sons of Sobhan Allee Khan, the then +virtual minister; but some fifteen days after, he attacked the +tallookdar of Bhuderee, and lost his place in consequence. The +popular belief is, that he became insane in consequence of the holy +man's curses, and that his whole family became ruined from the same +cause. + +Bhuderee, which lies a few miles to the south of Salone, was then +held by two gallant Rajpoot brothers, Jugmohun Sing and Bishonath +Sing, the sons of Zalim Sing. In the month of October, A.D. 1832, +Dhokul Sing got the contract of the district, and demanded from +Bhuderee an increase of ten thousand rupees in its revenue. They +refused to pay this increase. At the established rate they had always +paid the Government demand punctually, and been good subjects and +excellent landlords. Dhokul Sing was superseded by Ehsan Hoseyn, in +March 1833; and he insisted upon having the increase of ten thousand. +They refused to pay, and Ehsan Hoseyn besieged and attacked their +fort in September. After defending themselves resolutely for five +days, Bishonath Sing consented to visit Ehsan Hoseyn, in his camp, on +a solemn assurance of personal security; but he no sooner came to his +tent than he was seized and taken to Rae Bareilly, the headquarters, +a prisoner, in the suite of the Nazim. He there remained confined, in +irons, under charge of a wing of a regiment, commanded by Mozim Khan, +till February 1834, when he effected his escape, and went back to +Bhuderee. In March, a large force was collected, with an immense +train of artillery, to aid the Nazim, and he again laid siege to the +fort. Having sent off their families before the siege began, and +seeing, in the course of a few days, that they could not long hold +out against so large a force, the two brothers buried eight out of +their ten guns, left the fort at midnight with the other two, cut +their way through the besiegers, and passed over a plain six miles to +Ramchora, on the left bank of the Ganges, and within the British +territory, followed by the whole of the Nazim's force. + +A brisk cannonade was kept up, on both sides, the whole way, and a +great many lives were lost The two brothers thought they should be +safe at Ramchora, under the protection of the British Government; but +the Nazim's force surrounded the place, and kept up a fire upon it. +The brothers contrived, however, to send over the Ganges the greater +part of their followers, under the protection of their two guns, and +the few men retained to defend and serve them. Jugmohun Sing at last +consented to accept the pledge of personal security tendered by Rajah +Seodeen Sing, the commander-in-chief of the attacking forces; but +while he and his brother were on their way to the camp, with a few +armed attendants, the soldiers of the Nazim, by whom they were +escorted, attempted to seize and disarm them. They resisted and +defended themselves. Others came to their rescue, and the firing +recommenced. Jugmohun Sing, and his brother, Bishonath Sing and all +their remaining followers were killed. The two brothers lost about +one hundred and fifty men, and the Nazim about sixty, in killed. The +heads of the two brothers were taken off, forthwith, and sent to the +King. Three villages in the British territory were plundered by the +Oude troops on this occasion. This violation of our territory the +King of Oude was called upon to punish; and Ehsan Hoseyn was deprived +of his charge, and heavily fined, to pay compensation to our injured +subjects. + +Roshun-od Dowlah, the minister, was entirely in the hands of Sobhan +Allee Khan; and, as long as he retained office, the family suffered +no other punishment. When he, Roshun-od Dowlah, was afterwards +deprived of office, he went to Cawnpore to reside, and Sobhan Allee +and all his family were obliged to follow his fortunes. On his +dismissal from office, Roshun-od Dowlah was put into gaol, and not +released till he paid twenty-two lacs of rupees into the Treasury. He +had given eight lacs, in our Government promissory notes, to his +wife, and three to his son, and he took some lacs with him to +Cawnpore, all made during the five years he held office. Sobhan Allee +Khan, his deputy, was made to pay into the Treasury seven lacs, and +five in gratuities--all made during the same five years. Sobhan Allee +died last year on a pilgrimage to Mecca, with the character of one of +the ablest and least scrupulous of men; and his sons continue to +reside at Cawnpore and Allahabad, with the character of having all +the bad, without any of the good, qualities of their father. The +widow of Jugmohun manages the estate; but she has adopted the nearest +heir to her husband, the present Rajah of Bhuderee, a fine, handsome, +and amiable youth, of sixteen years of age, who is now learning +Persian. He was one of the many chiefs who took leave of me +yesterday, and the most prepossessing of all. His adoptive mother, +however, absorbs the estates of her weaker neighbours, by fraud, +violence, and collusion, like other landholders, and the dispossessed +become leaders of gang robbers as in other parts. + +The Shah receives something from the local authorities, and +contributions from Mahommedan Princes, in remote parts of India, such +as Bhopal, Seronge, &c. Altogether his income is said to amount to +about fifty thousand rupees a-year. He has letters from Governors- +General of India, Lieutenant-Governors of the North-Western Provinces +and their Secretaries; and from Residents at the Court of Lucknow, +all of a complimentary character. He has lately declared his eldest +son to be his heir to the throne, and is said to have already put him +upon it. I received from him the usual letter of compliments and +welcome, with a present of a tame antelope, and some fruit and sugar; +and I wrote him a reply in the usual terms. His name is Shah Puna +Ata, and his character is held in high esteem by all classes of the +people, of whatever creed, caste, or grade. + +The Bhuderee family give their daughters in marriage to the Bugheela +Rajahs of Rewa and the Powar Rajahs of Ocheyra, who are considered to +be a shade higher in caste than they are among the Rajpoots. Not long +ago they gave one hundred thousand rupees, with one daughter, to the +only son of the Rewa Rajah, as the only condition on which he would +take her. Golab Sing, the brother of Seoruttun Sing, of Pertabghur, +by caste a Sombunsee, is said to have given lately fifty thousand +rupees, with another daughter, to the same person. Rajah Hunmunt +Sing, of Dharoopoor, who is by caste a Beseyn Rajpoot, the year +before last went to Rewa, accompanied by some fifty Brahmins, to +propose an union between his daughter and the same son of the Rewa +Rajah. A large sum was demanded, but he pleaded poverty, and at last +got the Rajah to consent to take fifty thousand rupees down, and +seventy-five thousand at the last ceremony of the barat, or fetching +home of the bride. When all had been prepared for this last ceremony, +the Rajah of Rewa pleaded the heat of the weather, and his son would +not come to complete it, and take away his bride. Hunmunt Sing +collected one hundred _resolute Brahmins_, and proceeded with them to +Rewa, where they sat _dhurna_ at the Rajah's door, without tasting +food, and declared that they would all die there unless the marriage +were completed. + +The Rajah did all he could, or could make his people do, to get rid +of them; but at last, afraid that some of the Brahmins would really +die, he consented that his son should go and fetch his bride, if +Hunmunt Sing would pay down twenty-five thousand rupees more, to +defray the cost of the procession, in addition to the seventy-five +thousand. He did so, and his daughter was taken off in due form. He +has another daughter to dispose of in the same way. The Rewa Rajah +has thus taken five or six wives for his son, from families a shade +lower in caste; but the whole that he has got with them will not be +enough to pay one of the Rajpoot families, a shade higher in caste +than he is, in Rajpootana, to take one daughter from him. It costs +him ten or twelve lacs of rupees to induce the Rajah of Oudeepoor, +Joudhpoor, or Jypoor, to take away, as his bride, a daughter of Rewa. +All is a matter of bargain and sale. Those who have money must pay, +in proportion to their means, to marry their daughters into families +a shade higher in caste or dignity, or to get daughters from them +when such families are reduced to the necessity of selling their +daughters to families of a lower grade. + +Among Brahmins it is the same. Take, for example, the Kunojee +Brahmins, among whom there are several shades of caste. The member of +a family a shade higher will not give his son in marriage to a +daughter of a family a shade lower, without receiving a sum in +proportion to its means; nor will he give a daughter in marriage to +such a family till he is so exalted as to be able to disregard the +feelings of his clan, or reduced to such a degree of poverty as shall +seem to his clan sufficient to justify it. This bargain and sale of +sons and daughters prevails, more or less, throughout all Hindoo +society, and is not, even now, altogether unknown among Christian +nations. In Oude, this has led to the stealing of young girls from +our own districts. Some men and women from our districts make a trade +of it. They pretend to be of Rajpoot caste, and inveigle away girls +from their parents, to be united in marriage to Rajpoots in Oude. +They pretend to have brought them with the consent of their parents, +of the same or higher caste, in our territories, and make large sums +by the trade. + +_December_ 31, 1849.--Eight miles to Sotee, over a country well +studded with trees, and generally well cultivated. The soil is, all +the way, doomuteea. The road, the greater part of the way, lies in +the purgunnah of Nyn, held by Jugunnath Sing, a Kumpureea Rajpoot, +and his nephew, and the collateral branches of their family. They +have a belt of jungle, extending for some twelve miles along the +right bank of the Saee river, and on the right side of the road, and +within from two to six miles from it--in some parts nearer, and in +others more remote. Wild hogs, deer, neelgae, and wild cattle abound +in this jungle, and do great injury to the crops in its vicinity. The +peasantry can kill and eat the hogs and deer, but dare not kill or +wound the wild cattle or neelgae. The wild cattle are said to be from +a stock which strayed or were let loose in this jungle some centuries +ago. They are described as fat, while the crops are on the ground, +and well formed--some black, some red, some white, and some mixed-- +and to be as wild and active as the deer of the same jungle. They are +sometimes caught by being driven into the Saee river; but the young +ones are said to refuse all food, and die soon, if not released. +Hindoos soon release them, from the religious dread that they may die +in confinement. The old ones sometimes live, and are considered +valuable. They are said to be finer in form than the tame cattle of +the country; and from July to March, when grass abounds, and the +country around is covered successively with autumn and spring crops, +more fat and sleek. + +The soil is good and strong, and the jungle which covers it very +thick. It is preserved by a family of Kumpureea Rajpoots, whose whole +possessions, in 1814, consisted of nine villages. By degrees they +have driven out or murdered all the other proprietors, and they now +hold no less than one hundred and fifty, for which they pay little or +no revenue to Government. The rents are employed in keeping up large +bands of armed followers and building strongholds, from which they +infest the surrounding country. The family has become divided into +five branches, each branch having a fort or stronghold in the Nyn +jungle, and becoming by degrees subdivided into smaller branches, who +will thrive and become formidable in proportion as the Government +becomes weak. Each branch acts independently in its depredations and +usurpations from weaker neighbours but all unite when attacked or +threatened by the Government. + +Rajah Dursun Sing held the district of Salone from 1827 to 1836, and +during this time he made several successful attacks upon the +Kumpureea Rajpoots of the Nyn jungle; and during his occasional +temporary residence he had a great deal of the jungle around his +force cut down, but he made no permanent arrangement for subduing +them. In 1837, the government of this district was transferred to +Kondon Lal Partak, who established a garrison in the centre of the +jungle, had much of it cut down, and kept the Kumpureea barons +effectually in check. He died in 1838, and Rajahs Dursun Sing and +Buktawar Sing again got the government, and continued the _partaks_ +system for the next five years, up to 1843. They lost the government +for 1844 and 1845, but their successors followed the same system, to +keep the Kumpureeas in order. Bukhtawar Sing got the government again +for 1846 and 1847, and persevered in this system; but in 1848 the +government was made over to Hamid Allee, a weak and inexperienced +man. His deputy, Nourouz Allee, withdrew the garrison, and left the +jungle to the Kumpureeas, who, in return, assigned to him three or +four of their villages, rent free, in perpetuity, which in Oude means +as long as the grantee may have the power or influence to be useful +to the granters, or to retain the grants. Since that time the +Kumpureeas have recovered all the lands they had lost, restored all +the jungle that had been cut down, and they are now more powerful +than ever. They have strengthened their old forts and built some new, +and added greatly to the number of their armed followers, so that the +governor of the district dares not do anything to coerce them into +the payment of the just demands of Government, or to check their +usurpations and outrages.* + +[* This Nourouz Allee was, 1851, the agent of the Kumpureea barons of +this jungle, at the Durbar, where he has made, in the usual way, many +influential friends, in collusion with whom he has seized upon many +estates in the vicinity of the jungle, and had them made over to +these formidable barons.] + +The present Nazim has with him two Nujeeb Regiments, one of nine +hundred and fifty-five, and the other of eight hundred and thirty +men; a squadron of horse and fourteen guns. The two corps are +virtually commanded by fiddlers and eunuchs at Court. Of the men +borne on the muster rolls and paid, not one-half are present; of the +number present, not one-half are fit for the duties of soldiers; and +of those fit for such duties, not one-half would perform them. They +get nominally four rupees a-month, liable to numerous deductions, and +they are obliged to provide their own clothing, arms, accoutrements, +and ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when they are +entitled to powder and ball from the Government officer under whom +they are employed. He purchases powder in the bazaars, or has it sent +to him from Lucknow; and, in either case, it is not more than one- +third of the strength used by our troops. It is made in villages and +supplied to contractors, whose only object is to get the article at +the cheapest possible rate; and that supplied to the most petted +corps is altogether unfit for service. + +The arms with which they are expected to provide themselves are a +matchlock and sword. They are often ten or twelve months in arrears, +and obliged to borrow money for their own subsistence and that of +their families, at twenty-four per cent. interest. If they are +disabled, they have little chance of ever recovering the arrears of +pay due to them; and if they are killed, their families have still +less. Even the arms and accoutrements which they have purchased with +their own money are commonly seized by the officers of Government, +and sold for the benefit of the State. Under all these disadvantages, +the Nazim tells me that he thinks it very doubtful whether any of the +men of the two corps would fight at all on emergency. The cavalry are +still worse off, for they have to subsist their horses, and if any +man's horse should be disabled or killed, he would be at once +dismissed with just as little chance of recovering the arrears of pay +due to him. Of the fourteen guns, two only are in a state fit for +service. Bullocks are provided for six out of fourteen, but they are +hardly able to stand from want of food, much less to draw heavy guns. +I looked at them, and found that they had had no grain for many +years, and very little grass or chaff, since none is allowed by +Government for their use, and little can be got by forage, or +plunder, which is the same thing. One seer and half of grain, or +three pounds a-day for each bullock, is allowed and paid for by +Government, but the bullocks never get any of it. Of the six best +guns, for which he has draft bullocks, the carriage of one went to +pieces on the road yesterday, and that of another went to pieces +this-morning in my camp, in firing the salute, and both guns now lie +useless on the ground. He has one mortar, but only two shells for it; +and he has neither powder nor ball for any of the guns. He was +obliged to purchase in the bazaar the powder required for the salute +for the Resident. + +The Nazim tells me, that he has entertained at his own cost two +thousand Nujeebs or Seobundies, on the same conditions as those on +which the others serve in the two Regiments, on duty under him--that +is, they are to get four rupees a-month each, and furnish themselves +with food, clothing, a matchlock, sword, accoutrements, and +ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when he is to +provide them with powder and ball from the bazaar. The minister, he +tells me, promised to send him another Nujeeb corps--the Futteh Jung-- +from Khyrabad; but he has heard so bad an account of its discipline, +that he might as well be without it. All the great landholders see +the helpless state of the Nazim, and not only withhold from him the +just dues of Government, but seize upon and appropriate with impunity +the estates of the small proprietors in their neighbourhood. + +_January_ 1, 1850.--Fourteen miles to Rae Bareilly, over a plain +with more than usual undulation, and the same doomuteea light soil, +tolerably cultivated, and well studded with trees of the finest kind. +The festoons of the bandha hang gracefully from the branches, with +their light green and yellow leaves, and scarlet flowers, in the dark +green foliage of the mango and mhowa trees in great abundance. I saw +them in no other, but they are sometimes said to be found in the +banyan, peepul, and other trees, with large leaves, though not in the +tamarind, babul, and other trees, with small leaves. I examined those +on the mango and mhowa trees, and they are the same in leaf and +flower, and are said to be the same in whatever tree found. Rae +Bareilly is in the estate of Shunkurpoor, belonging to Rana Benee +Madho, a large landholder. He resides at Shunkurpoor, ten miles from +this, and is strong, and not very scrupulous in the acquisition, by +fraud, violence, and collusion, of the lands of the small proprietors +in the neighbourhood. I asked Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, as +he was riding by my side, this morning, whether he was not a man of +bad character. He said, "No, by no means; he is a man of great +possessions, credit, and influence, and of good repute." "But does he +not rob smaller proprietors of their hereditary lands?" "If," replied +the Rajah, "you estimate men's character in Oude on this principle, +you will find hardly any landholder of any rank with a good one, for +they have all been long doing the same thing--all have been +augmenting their own estates by absorbing those of smaller +proprietors, by what you will call fraud, violence, and collusion, +but they are not thought the worse of for this by the Government or +its officers." Nothing could be more true. Men who augment their +estates in this way, purchase the acquiescence of temporary local +officers, either by gratuities, or promises of aid, in putting down +other powerful and refractory landholders; or they purchase the +patronage of Court favourites, who get their estates transferred to +the "Hozoor Tehseel," and their transgressions overlooked. Those who +augment their resources in this way, employ them in maintaining armed +bands, building forts, and purchasing cannon, to secure themselves in +the possession, and to resist the Government and its officers, who +might otherwise make them pay in some proportion to their +usurpations. + +Benee Madho called upon me after breakfast, and gave me the little of +his history that I desired to hear. He is of the Byans Rajpoot clan, +and his ancestors have been settled in Oude for about twenty-five +generations, as landholders of different grades. The tallook or +estate now belongs to him, and is considered to be a principality, to +descend entire by the law of primogeniture, to the nearest male heir, +unless the lands become divided during his life-time among his sons. +Such a division has already taken place, as will be seen by the +annexed note :* + +[* Abdool-Sing, the tallookdar of Shunkurpoor, had three sons; first, +Doorga Buksh, to whom he gave three shares; second, Chundha Buksh, to +whom he gave two shares; third, Bhowanee Buksh, to whom he gave one +and half share. The three shares of Doorga Buksh descended to his +son, Sheopersaud, who died without issue. Chunda Buksh left two sons, +Ramnaraen and Gor Buksh, Ramnaraen inherited the three shares of +Sheopersaud, as well as the two shares of his father. He had three +sons, Rana Benee Madho, Nirput Sing, and Jogray Sing; Benee Madho +inherited the three shares, and one of the other two was given to +Nirput Sing, and the other to Jogray Sing. Gorbuksh Sing left one +son, Sheopersaud, who gets the one and half share of Bhowanee Buksh, +whose son, Joorawun, died without issue. Benee Madho is now the head +of the family; and he has more than quadrupled his three shares by +absorptions, made in the way above mentioned.] + +The three and half shares held by his brothers and cousins are liable +to subdivision by the Hindoo law of inheritance, or the custom of his +family and clan; but his own share must descend undivided, unless he +divides it during his lifetime, or his heirs divide it during theirs, +and consent to descend in the scale of landholders. He says that, +during the five years that Fakeer Mahommed Khan was Nazim, a quarrel +subsisted between him and the tallookdar of Khujoor Gow, Rugonath +Sing, his neighbour; that Sahib Rae, the deputy of Fakeer Mahommed, +who was himself no man of business, adopted the cause of his enemy, +and persuaded his master to attack and rob him of all he had, turn +him out of his estate, and make it over to Rugonath Sing. He went to +Lucknow for redress, and remained there urging his claims for +fourteen months, when he got an order from the minister, Ameen-od +Dowlah, for the estate being restored to him and transferred to the +Hozoor Tehseel. He recovered his possessions, and the transfer was +made; and he has ever since lived in peace. He might have added that +he has been, at the same time, diligently employed in usurping the +possessions of his weaker neighbours.* + +[* Benee Madho and Rugonath Sing have since quarrelled about the +title of Rana. Benee Madho assumed the title, and Rugonath wished to +do the same, but Benee Madho thought this would derogate from his +dignity. They had some fighting, but Rugonath at last gave in, and +Benee Madho purchased, from the Court a recognition of his exclusive +right to the title, which is a new one in Oude. They had each a force +of five thousand brave men, besides numerous auxiliaries.] + +On our road, two miles from Rae Bareilly, we passed over a bridge on +the Saee river, built by _Reotee Ram_, the deputy of the celebrated +eunuch, Almas Allee Khan, some sixty or seventy years ago. He at the +same time planted an avenue of fine trees from Salone to Rae +Bareilly, twenty miles; and from Rae Bareilly to Dalamow, on the +Ganges, south, a distance of fourteen miles more. Many of the trees +are still standing and very fine; but the greater part have been cut +down during the contests that have taken place between the Government +officers and the landholders, or between the landholders themselves. +The troops in attendance upon local government authorities have, +perhaps, been the greatest enemies to this avenue, for they spare +nothing of value, either in exchange or esteem, that they have the +power to take. The Government and its officers feel no interest in +such things, and the family of the planter has no longer the means to +protect the trees or repair the works. + +Rae Bareilly is the head-quarters of the local authorities in the +Byswara district, and is considered to be one of the most healthy +places in Oude. It is near the bank of the small river Saee, in a +fine, open plain of light soil, and must be dry at all seasons, as +the drainage is good; and there are no jheels or jungles near. It +would be an excellent cantonment for a large force, and position for +large civil establishments. The town is a melancholy ruin, and the +people tell me that whatever landholder in the district quarrels with +the local authorities is sure, as his first enterprise, to sack _Rae +Bareilly_, as there is no danger in doing it. The inhabitants live so +far from each other, and are separated by such heaps of ruins and +deep water-courses, that they can make no resistance. The high walls +and buildings, all of burnt brick, erected in the time of Shahjehan, +are all gone to ruin. The plain, around the town, is open, level, +well cultivated, and beautifully studded with trees. There is a fine +tank of puckah masonry to the north-west of the town, built by the +same Reotee Ram, and repaired by some member of his family, who holds +and keeps in good order the pretty garden around it. The best place +for a cantonment, courts, &c., is the plain which separates the town +from the river Saee to the south-east: they should extend along from +the town to the bridge over the Saee river. The water of this river +is said to be excellent, though not quite equal to that of the +Ganges. There is good water in most of the wells, but in some it is +said to be brackish. The bridge requires repair. + +_January_ 2, 1850.--We halted at Rae Bareilly, and I inspected the +bullocks belonging to the guns of Sobha Sing's regiment and some guns +belonging to the Nazim. The bullocks have been starved, are hardly +able to walk, and quite unfit for any work. Some of the carriages of +the guns are broken down, and those that are still entire are so +rotten that they could not bear a march. This regiment of Sobha +Sing's was as good as any of those commanded by Captains Magness, +Bunbury, and Barlow, while commanded by the late Captain Buckley;* +and the native officers and sipahees trained under him are all still +excellent, but they are not well provided. Like the others, this +regiment was to have had guns permanently attached to it, but the +want of Court influence has prevented this. They now have them only +when sent on service from one or other of the batteries at Lucknow, +and the consequence is that they are good for nothing. Sobha Sing is +at Court, in attendance on the minister; and his adjutant, Bhopaul +Sing, a near relative of the Rajah of Mynpooree, commands: he seems +to be a good soldier, and an honest and respectable man. + + +[* Captain Buckley was the son of Colonel Buckley, of the Honourable +Company's service, a good soldier and faithful servant of the Oude +Government. His mother, widow, and son, were left destitute; but on +my earnest recommendation, the King granted the lad a pension of +fifty rupees a-month.] + +The Nazim has with him this one _Komukee_, or auxiliary regiment, and +half of three regiments of Nujeebs, amounting, according to the pay +abstracts and muster-rolls, to fifteen hundred men. He has one +hundred cavalry and seven guns, of which one only is fit for use, and +for that one he has neither stores nor ammunition. He was obliged to +purchase in the bazaar the powder and cloth required to make up the +cartridges for a salute for the Resident. Of the fifteen hundred +Nujeebs not two-thirds are present, and of these hardly one-half are +efficient: they are paid, armed, clothed, and provided like the corps +of Nujeebs placed under the other local officers. The tallookdars of +the districts have not as yet presented themselves to the Nazim, but +they have sent their agents, and, with few exceptions, shown a +disposition to pay their revenues. The chief landholder in the +district is Rambuksh, of Dondeea Kherah, a town, with a fort, on the +bank of the river Ganges. He holds five of the purgunnahs as +hereditary possessions:--1, Bhugwuntnuggur; 2, Dondeea Kherah; 3, +Mugraen; 4, Punheen; 5, Ghutumpoor. The present Nazim has put all +five under the management of Government officers, as the only safe +way to get the revenues, as Rambuksh is a bad paymaster. Had he not +been so, as well to his _own retainer_ as to the _King's officers_, +the Nazim would not have been able to do this. It is remarked as a +singular fact among Rajpoot landholders that Rambuksh wants courage +himself, and is too niggardly to induce others to fight for him with +spirit. The last Nazim, Hamid Allee, a weak and inexperienced man, +dared not venture upon such a measure to enforce payment of +balances.* + +[* Rambuksh recovered the management of his estate, and had it +transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel: but he failed in the payment of +the expected gratuities; and in April, 1851, he was attacked by a +large force, and driven across the Ganges, into British territory. He +had gone off on the pretence of a visit to some shrine, and his +followers would not fight. The fort was destroyed, and estate +confiscated. He is still, January, 1851, negotiating for the purchase +of both, and will succeed, as he has plenty of money at command. The +King's troops employed committed all manner of atrocities upon the +poor peasantry: many men were murdered, many women threw themselves +down in wells, after they had been dishonoured; and all were +indiscriminately plundered.] + +He married the daughter of Fuzl Allee, the prime minister for fifteen +months, during which time he made a fortune of some thirty or thirty- +five lacs of rupees, twelve of which Hamid Allee's wife got. He was +persuaded by Gholam Allee, his deputy, and others, that he might +aspire to be prime minister at Lucknow if he took a few districts in +farm, to establish his character and influence. In the farm of these +districts he has sunk his own fortune and that of his wife, and is +still held to be a defaulter to the amount of some eighteen lacs, and +is now in gaol. This balance he will wipe off in time in the usual +manner: he will beg and borrow to pay a small sum to the Treasury, +and four times the amount in gratuities to the minister, and other +persons, male and female, of influence at Court. The rest will be +struck off as irrecoverable, and he will be released. He was a man +respected at Delhi, as well on account of his good character as on +that of his wealth; but he is here only pitied as an ambitious fool. + +The wakeel, on the part of the King, with the Resident, has been +uniting his efforts to those of Hoseyn Buksh,* the present Nazim of +Salone, to prevail upon Rajah Hunmunt Sing, the tallookdar of +Dharoopoor, to consent to pay an addition of ten or fifteen thousand +rupees to the present demand of one hundred and sixteen thousand +rupees a-year for his estate. He sturdily refused, under the +assurance of the good offices of Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, who has +hitherto supported him. Among other things urged by him to account +for his inability to pay is the obligation he is under to liquidate, +by annual instalments, a balance due to Bukhtawar Sing; himself, when +he held the contract of the district many years ago. Bukhtawar Sing +acknowledges the receipt of the instalments, and declares that they +are justly due; but these payments are, in reality, nothing more than +gratuities, paid for his continued good offices with the minister and +Dewan. + +[* Hoseyn Buksh was killed in March following, by the followers of a +female landholder, whom he was trying to coerce into payment. He was +killed by a cannon shot through the chest, while engaged in the siege +of Shahmow, held by Golab Kour, the widow of Rajah Dirguj Sing, who +had succeeded to the estate, and would not or could not pay her +revenue. + +A few days before, Hoseyn Buksh attached the crops of another +tallookdar, Seodut Sing, of Dhunawan, who would pay no revenue. A +body of the King's cavalry was sent to guard the crops, but the +tallookdar drove them off, and killed one and wounded another. Hoseyn +Buksh then sent a regiment, the Futtehaesh, a corps of his own +Seobundies, and six guns, to coerce the tallookdar. Two guns were +mounted on one battery, under the Futtehaesh regiment, and four on +another, under the Seobundies. A crowd of armed peasants attacked the +battery with the two guns, drove back the regiment, captured the +guns, and fired upon the soldiers as they fled. They then attacked +the battery with the four guns, and the Seobundies fled, taking their +guns with them for four miles. In their flight they had three men +killed, and twelve wounded. Hoseyn Buksh, on hearing this, sent his +whole force, under his brother, Allee Buksh, to avenge the insult. +Seodut, thinking he could not prudently hold out any longer, +evacuated his fort during the night, and retired, and Hoseyn Buksh +took possession of the fort, and recovered his two guns. His +successor restored both Seodut and the widow, Golab Kour, to their +estates, on their own terms, after trying in vain to arrest them.] + +While Dursun Sing, and his brother, Bukhtawar, held the contract of +Salone, the estate was put under management, and yielded one hundred +and seventy-four thousand rupees a-year, out of which they allowed a +deduction, on account of nankar, or subsistence, of some twenty +thousand. The Rajah and Bukhtawar Sing urge that this was, for the +most part, paid out of the property left by Byree Saul, to whom +Himmut Sing succeeded; and that the estate can now be made to yield +only one hundred and sixteen thousand, from which is to be deducted a +nankar of forty thousand. They offer him a deduction of this forty +thousand, out of a rent-roll rated at one hundred and thirty +thousand; and threaten him with the vengeance of his Majesty if he +refuses. He looks at their military force and smiles. The agents of +all the tallookdars, who are in attendance on the Nazim, do the same. +They know that they are strong, and see that the Government is weak, +and they cease to respect its rights and orders. They see at the same +time that the Government and its officers regard less the rights than +the strength of the landholders; and, from fear, favour the strong +while they oppress and crush the weak.* + +[* Rajah Hunmunt Sing afterwards brought the contractor to consent to +take the same rate as had been paid to his predecessor; but he was +obliged to pay above six thousand rupees in gratuities.] + + +_January_ 3, 1850.--Gorbuksh Gunge, _alias_ Onae, fourteen miles. The +soil of the country over which we came is chiefly a light doomuteea; +but there is a good deal of what they call bhoor, or soil in which +sand superabounds. The greater part belongs to the estate of Benee +Madho, and is admirably cultivated, and covered with a great variety +of crops. The country is better peopled than any other part that we +have seen since we recrossed the Goomtee. We passed through several +villages, the people of which seemed very happy. But their +habitations had the same wretched appearance--naked mud walls, with +invisible mud coverings. The people told me that they could not +venture to use thatched or tiled roofs, for the King's troops, on +duty with the local authorities, always took them away, when they had +any. They were, they said, well secured from all other enemies by +their landlord. Bhopaul Sing, acting commandant of Sobha Sing's +Regiment, riding with me, said,-"Nothing can be more true than what +the people tell you, sir; but the _Koomukee_ Regiments, of which mine +is one, have tents provided for them, which none of the Nujeeb and +other corps have, and in consequence, these corps never take the +choppers of the peasantry for their accommodations. The peasantry, +however, always suffer more or less even from the Koomukee corps, +sir, for they have to forage for straw, wood, fuel, bhoosa, &c., like +the rest, and to take it wherever they can find it. When we have +occasion to attack, or lay siege to a stronghold, all the roofs, +doors, and windows of the people are, of course, taken to form +scaling-ladders, batteries, &c.; and it is lamentable, sir, to see +the desolation created around, after even a very short siege." + +Rajah Hunmunt Sing and Benee Madho were riding with me, and when we +had passed through a large crowd of seemingly happy peasantry in one +village, I asked Benee Madho (whose tenants they were), whether they +would all have to follow his fortunes if he happened to take up arms +against the Government. + +"Assuredly," said he, "they would all be bound in honour to follow +me, or to desert their lands at least." + +"And if they did not, I suppose you would deem it a _point of honour_ +to plunder them?" + +"That he assuredly would," said Rajah Hunmunt Sing; "and make them +the first victims." + +"And if any of them fell fighting on his side, would he think it a +_point of honour_ to-provide for their families?" + +"That we all do," said he; "they are always provided for, and taken +the greatest possible care of." + +"And if any one is killed in fighting for the King?" + +They did not reply to this question, but the adjutant, Bhopaul Sing, +said,--"his family would be left to shift for themselves,--no one +asks a question about them." + +"This," observed Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, "is one of the great sources +of the evil that exists in Oude. How can men be expected to expose +their lives when they know that no care will be taken of their +families if they are killed or disabled?" + +It is the rule to give a disabled man one month's pay and dismiss +him; and to give the family of any one killed in the service two +months' pay. But, though the King is charged for this, it is seldom +that the wounded man, or the family of the killed, get any portion of +it. On the contrary, the arrears of pay due-which are at all times +great--are never paid to the disabled sipahee, or the family of the +sipahee killed. If issued from the Treasury, they are appropriated by +the commandants and their friends at Court; and the arms and +accoutrements, which the deceased has purchased with his own money, +are commonly sold for the benefit of the State or its officers. + +They mentioned, that the family of the person who planted a mango- +tree, or grove, continued to hold it as their exclusive property in +perpetuity; but, that the person who held the mhowa trees, was +commonly expected to pay to the landlord, where there was one, and to +the Government officers, where there was not, a duty amounting to +from four annas to two rupees a-year for each tree, according to its +fruitfulness--that the proprietor often sold the fruit of one tree +for twenty rupees the season. The fruit of one mango-tree has, +indeed, often been sold for a hundred rupees the season, where the +mangoes are of a quality much esteemed, and numerous. The groves and +fine solitary trees, on the lands we have to-day passed through, are +more numerous than usual; and the country being undulating and well +cultivated, the scenery is beautiful; but, as everywhere else, it is +devoid of all architectural beauty in works of ornament or utility-- +not even a comfortable habitation is anywhere to be seen. The great +landholders live at a distance from the road, and in forts or +strongholds. These are generally surrounded by fences of living +bamboos, which are carefully kept up as the best possible defence +against attacks. The forts are all of mud, and when the walls are +exposed to view they look ugly. The houses of the peasants in the +villages are, for the most part, covered with mud, from which the +water is carried off, by tubes of wood or baked clay, about two feet +long. There are parapets around the roof a foot or two high, so that +it cannot be seen, and a village appears to be a mass of dead mud +walls, which have been robbed of their thatched or tiled roofs. Most +of the tubes used for carrying off the water from the roofs, are the +simple branches of the palm-tree, without their leaves. + +Among the peasantry we saw a great many sipahees, from our Native +Infantry Regiments, who have come home on furlough to their families. +From the estate of Rajah Hunmunt Sing, in the Banoda district, there +are one thousand sipahees in our service. From that of Benee Madho, +in the Byswara district, there are still more. They told us that they +and their families were very happy, and they seemed to be so; but +Hunmunt Sing said, they were a privileged class, who gave much +trouble and annoyance, and were often the terror of their non- +privileged neighbours and co-sharers in the land. Benee Madho, as I +have stated above, sometimes makes use of his wealth, power, and +influence, to rob his weaker neighbours of their estates. The lands +on which we are encamped he got two years ago from their proprietor, +Futteh Bahader, by foreclosing a mortgage, in which he and others had +involved him. The gunge or bazaar, close to our tents, was +established by Gorbuksh, the uncle of Futteh Bahader, and became a +thriving emporium under his fostering care; but it has gone to utter +ruin under his nephew, and heir, and the mortgagee. The lands around, +however, could never have been better cultivated than they are; nor +the cultivators better protected or encouraged. It rained slightly +before sunset yesterday, and heavily between three and four this +morning; but not so as to prevent our marching. + +This morning, a male elephant belonging to Benee Madho killed one of +his attendants near to our camp. He had three attendants, the driver +and two subordinates. The driver remained in camp, while the two +attendants took the elephant to a field of sugar-cane, to bring home +a supply of the cane for his fodder for the day. A third subordinate +had gone on to cut the cane and bind it into bundles. One of the two +was on the neck of the elephant, and another walking by the side, +holding one of the elephant's teeth in his left hand all the way to +the field, and he seemed very quiet. The third attendant brought the +bundles, and the second handed them up to the first on the back to be +stowed away. When they had got up about a dozen, the elephant made a +rush at the third attendant, who was bringing the bundles, threw him +to the ground with his foot, knelt down upon him, and crushed him to +death with his front. The second attendant ran off as soon as he saw +the elephant make a rush at the third; and the first fell off under +the bundles of sugar-cane, as soon as the elephant knelt down to +crush the third to death. When the elephant rose from the poor man, +he did not molest, or manifest any wish to molest either of the other +two, but stood still, watching the dead body. The first, seeing this, +ventured to walk up to him, to take him by the ear and ask him what +he meant. At first he seemed surly, and shoved the man off, and he +became alarmed, and retired a few paces; but seeing the elephant show +no further signs of anger, he again walked up, and took him by the +ear familiarly. Had he ran or shown any signs of fear, the elephant +would, he thought, have killed him also, for he had killed three men +in the service of his former proprietor, and was now in his annual +fit of madness, or must. Holding the elephant by the ear, he led him +to the first tree, and placed himself on the opposite side to see +whether the animal had become quite sober. Seeing that he had, he +again approached, and put upon his two forelegs the chain fetters, +which they always have with them, suspended to some part of the body +of elephants in this state. He could not venture to command the +elephant to kneel down in the usual way, that he might get upon his +neck; and, ascending the tree, he let himself down from one of the +branches upon his back, where he sat. He then made the animal walk on +in fetters, towards camp, and on the way, met the mahout, or driver, +to whom the second attendant had reported the accident. The driver +came up, and, after the usual volume of abuse on the elephant, his +mother, father, and sundry female relations, he ordered the attendant +to make him sit down that he might get on his neck. He did so in fear +and trembling, and the driver got on his neck, while the attendant +sat on his back, and the elephant took them to Benee Madho's village, +close to my camp, where he was fastened in chains to a tree, to +remain for some months on reduced allowances, till he should get over +his madness. The body of the poor man was burnt with the usual +ceremonies, and the first attendant told me, that his family would be +provided for by Benee Madho, as a matter of course. + +I asked him how he or any other person could be found to attend a +beast of that kind? Pointing to his stomach, he said--"We poor people +are obliged to risk our lives for this, in all manner of ways; to +attend elephants has been always my profession, and there is no other +open to me; and we make up our minds to do whatever our duties +require from us, and trust to Providence." He told me that when the +elephant shoved him off, he thought that in his anger he might have +forgotten him, and called out as loud as he could,--"What, have you +forgotten a service of six years, and do you intend to kill the man +who has fed you so long?" That the beast seemed to recollect his +voice and services, and became, at once, quiet and docile--"that had +he not so called out, and reminded the animal of his long services, +he thought he should have been killed; that the driver came, armed +with a spear, and showed himself more angry than afraid, as the +safest plan in such cases." + +Dangerous as the calling of the elephant-driver is, that of the +snake-keepers, in the King's service, seems still greater. He has two +or three very expert men of this kind, whose duty it is to bring him +the snakes, when disposed to look at them, and see the effects of +their poison on animals. They handle the most venomous, with +apparently as much carelessness as other men handle fighting-cocks or +quail. When bitten, as they sometimes are, they instantly cut into +the part, and suck out the poison, or get their companions to suck it +out when they can't reach the part with their own mouths. But they +depend chiefly upon their wonderful dexterity in warding off the +stoops or blows of the snakes, as they twist them round their necks +and limbs with seeming carelessness. While they are doing so, the eye +of the spectator can hardily detect the _stoops_ of the one and the +guards of the other. After playing in this way with the most venomous +snakes, they apply them to the animals. Elephants have died from +their bites in a few hours--smaller animals sooner. I have never, +myself, seen the experiments, but any one may see them at the palace. +Elephants and the larger animals are too expensive to be often +experimented on. + +_January_ 4, 1850.--Halted at the village of Onae, alias Gorbuksh +Gunge. It lost the name of Onae, after the proprietor, Gorbuksh, who +had built the Gunge, and made it a great emporium of trade in corn, +cotton cloth, &c.; but is recovering it again, now that the Gunge has +become a ruin, and the family of the builder has been dispossessed of +the lands. I rode out in the morning to look at the neighbouring +village of Doolarae-ka Gurhee, or the fort of Doolarae, and have some +talk with the peasantry, who are Bys Rajpoots, of one of the most +ancient Rajpoot families in Oude. They told me,--"That their tribe +was composed of two great families, Nyhussas and Synbunsies--that the +acknowledged head of the Synbunsies was, at present, Rugonath Sing, +of Kojurgow, and that Hindpaul, tallookdar of Korree Sudowlee, was +the head of the Nyhussas; that Baboo Rambuksh, tallookdar of Dhondeea +Kheera, had the title of Row, and Dirg Bijee Sing, tallookdar of +Morarmow, that of Rajah--that is, he was the acknowledged Rajah of +the clan, and Baboo Rambuksh, the Row, an inferior grade--that these +families had been always fighting with each other, for the possession +of each others lands, from the time their ancestors came into Oude, a +thousand years ago, except when they were united in resistance +against the common enemy, the governor or ruler of the country--that +one family got weak by the subdivision of the lands, among many sons +or brothers, or by extravagance, or misfortune, while another became +powerful, by keeping the lands undivided, and by parsimony and +prudence; and the strong increased their possessions by seizing upon +the lands of the weak, by violence, fraud or collusion with the local +authorities--that the same thing had been going on among them for a +thousand years, with some brief intervals, during which the rulers of +Oude managed, by oppression, to unite them all against themselves, or +by prudence, to keep them all to their respective rights and duties-- +that Doolarae, who gave his name to the village, by building the +fort, was of the Nyhussa family, and left two sons, and only two +villages, Gurhee and Agoree, out of a very large estate, the rest +having been lost in the contests with the other families of the +tribe--that these two had become minutely subdivided among their +descendants: and Bhugwan Das, Synbunsee of Simree, four years ago, +seized upon the Gurhee, in collusion with the local authorities; that +Thakoor Buksh Nyhussa, talookdar of Rahwa seized upon Agoree in the +same way that the local authorities designedly assessed these +villages at a higher rate than they could be made to pay, and then, +for a bribe, transferred them to the powerful tallookdars, on account +of default." + +Gorbuksh Sing, Synbunsee, died some twenty years ago, leaving an +estate, reduced from a greater number to ninety-three villages. His +nephew, Futteh Bahader, a child, was adopted by his widow, who +continued to manage the whole till she died, four years after. The +heir was still a boy; and Rugonath Sing, of Kojurgow, the head of the +Synbunsee family, took advantage of his youth, seized upon the whole +ninety-three villages, and turned him out to beg subsistence among +his relatives. In this he, Rugonath Sing, was, as usual, acting in +collusion with the local authorities of the Government. He continued +to possess the estate for ten years, but to reside in his fort of +Hajeepoor. Koelee Sing, a Guhlote, by caste, and a zumeendar of +Bheeturgow, and its eight dependent villages, which formed part of +the estate of Futteh Bahader, went to Court at Lucknow, and +represented, that Rugonath Sing had no right whatever to the lands he +held, and the Court had better make them over to him and the other +zumeendars, if they did not like to restore them to their rightful +heir. Bheeturgow and its dependent eight villages, were made over to +him; and ten sipahees, from Captain Hyder Hearsey's Regiment, were +sent to establish and support him in possession. Rugonath attacked +them, killed two of the sipahees, and drove out Koelee Sing. He +repaired to Court; and Mahomed Khan was sent out, as Special +Commissioner, with orders to punish Rugonath Sing. He and Captain +Hearsey attacked him in his fort of Hajeepoor, drove him out, and +restored Futteh Bahader, to twenty-four villages; and re-established +Koelee Sing, in Bheeturgow, and the eight villages dependent upon it. +Futteh Bahader was poor, and was obliged to tender the security of +Benee Madho, the wealthy tallookdar of this place, for the punctual +payment of the revenue. The year before last, when a balance of +revenue became due, he, the deputy, in collusion with Gholam Allee, +seized upon all the twenty-four villages. + +Futteh Bahader went to seek redress at Lucknow, but had no money to +pay his way at Court, while Benee Madho had abundance, and used it +freely, to secure the possession of so fine an addition to his +estate. Futteh Bahader, as his last resource, got his uncle, Bustee +Sing, of the 3rd Cavalry, whom he called his father,* to present a +petition for redress to the Resident, in April 1849. Gholam Allee was +ordered to release Futteh Bahader, whom Benee Madho had confined, and +send him to Lucknow. The order was not obeyed, and it was repeated in +December without effect; but his uncle's agent, Gorbuksh, was +diligent at the Residency, and the case was made over for +investigation and decision to the Ameen, Mahomed Hyat. Finding Futteh +Bahader still in confinement, with sundry members of his family, when +I came here yesterday, I ordered him to be made over to the King's +wakeel, in attendance upon me, to be sent to the Court, to prosecute +his claim, and produce proofs of his right. Of his right there can be +no question, and the property of which he was robbed, in taking +possession, and the rents since received, if duly accounted for, +would more than cover any balance due by Futteh Bahader. When he gave +the security of Benee Madho, for the payment of the revenue, he gave, +at the same time, what is called the Jumog of his villages to him; +that is, bound his tenants to pay to him their rents at the rate they +were pledged to pay to him; and the question pending is, simply, what +is fairly due to Benee Madho, over and above what he may have +collected from them. Benee Madho had before, by the usual process of +violence, fraud, and collusion, taken eighteen of the ninety-three +villages, and got one for a servant; and all the rest had, by the +same process, got into the possession of others; and Futteh Bahader +had not an acre left when his uncle interposed his good offices with +the Resident.** The dogs of the village of Doolarae-kee Gurhee +followed us towards camp, and were troublesome to the horses and my +elephant. I asked the principal zumeendar why they were kept. He said +they amused the children of the village, who took them out after the +hares, and by their aid and that of the sticks with which they armed +themselves, they got a good many; that all they got for food was the +last mouthful of every man's dinner, which no man was sordid enough +to grudge them--that when they wished to describe a very sordid man, +they said--"he would not even throw his last mouthful (koura) to a +dog!" + +[* He called Bustee Sing his _father_, as sipahees can seek redress +through the Resident, for wrongs suffered by no others than their +mothers, fathers, their children, and themselves.] + +[** A punchaet was assembled at Lucknow, to decide the suit between +Benee Madho and Futteh Bahader, at the instance of the Resident: and +they awarded to Benee Madho a balance due on account of thirty +thousand rupees, which Futteh Bahader has to pay before he can +recover possession of his estate.] + +_January_ 5, 1851.--Halted at Onae, in consequence of continued rain, +which incommodes us, but delights the landholders and cultivators, +whose crops will greatly benefit by it. The halting of so large a +camp inconveniences them, however, much more than us; for they are +called upon to supply us with wood, grass, and straw, for which they +receive little or no payment; for the Kings people will not let us +pay for these things, and pay too little themselves. Those who attend +us do not plunder along the road; but the followers of the local +authorities, who attend us, through their respective jurisdictions, +do so; and sundry fields of fine carrots and other vegetables +disappear, as under a flight of locusts along the road. The camp- +followers assist them, and as our train extends from the ground we +leave to that to which we are going, for twelve or fourteen miles, it +is impossible, altogether, to prevent such injuries from so +undisciplined a band. The people, however, say, they suffer much less +than they would from one-fourth of the number under a contractor +marching without an European superior, and I give compensation in +flagrant cases. Captain Weston acts as our Provost Marshal. He leaves +the ground an hour or two after I do, and seizes and severely +punishes any one found trespassing. + +In my ride this morning I found that Nyhussa and Synbunsee are two +villages distant about ten miles from our camp, to the south-east-- +that all the Byses, who give the name of Byswara to this large +district, are called Tilokchundees, from Tilokchund, the founder of +the family in Oude. He had two sons, _Hurhur Deo_ and _Prethee +Chund_. Hurhur Deo had two sons, one of whom, Kurun Rae, established +himself in Nyhussa, and the other, Khem Kurun, in Synbunsee. Their +descendants have taken their titles from their respective villages. +Prethee Chund's descendants established themselves in other parts, +and the descendants of both bear the appellation of Tilokchundee +Byses. The Rajahs and Rows are of the same family, and are so called +from their ancestors having, at some time, had the title of Rajah and +Row conferred upon them. + +Rajah Seodursun Sing, of Simrotee, who resides in the village of +Chundapoor upon his estate, four miles east of Bulla, has been with +me for the last five days. He is a strong man, and has been +refractory occasionally; but at present he pays his revenue +punctually, and keeps his estate in good order. He rendered good +service yesterday in the way in which all of his class might, by good +management, be made to aid the government of Oude. A ruffian, by name +Mohiboollah, who had been a trooper in the King of Oude's service, +contrived to get the lease of the estate of Bulla, which is about +twenty miles north-east from our camp; and turning out all the old +landholders and cultivators, he there raised a gang of robbers, to +plunder his neighbours and travellers. He had been only two months in +possession, when he attacked the house of an old invalid subadar- +major of the Honourable Company's service, (fifty-seventh Native +Infantry,) on the 21st of December, 1849, robbed him of all he had, +and confined him and all his family, till he promised, under good +security, to pay, within twenty days, a ransom of one thousand two +hundred rupees more. He had demanded a good deal more, but hearing +that the Resident's camp was approaching, he consented to take this +sum four days ago, and released all his prisoners. The subadar +presented a petition to me, and, after taking the depositions of the +old zumeendars and other witnesses, I requested the king's wakeel, to +send off a company of Soubha Sing's Regiment, to arrest him and his +gang. + +They went off from Rae Bareilly on the night of the 1st instant; but, +finding that the subadar-major and his family had been released the +day before, and that the village was full of armed men, ready to +resist, they returned on the evening of the 2nd. On the 3rd, the +whole regiment, with its artillery, and three hundred auxiliaries, +under Rajah Seodursun Sing, left my camp, at Onae, at midnight, and +before daylight surrounded the village. There were about one hundred +and fifty armed men in it; and, after a little bravado, they all +surrendered, and were brought to me. Mohiboollah had, however, gone +off, on the pretence of collecting his rents, two days before; but +his father and brother were among the prisoners. All who were +recognised as having been engaged in the robbery, were sent off +prisoners to Lucknow, and the rest were disarmed and released. + +Among those detained were some notorious robbers, and the gang would +soon have become very formidable but for the accident of my passing +near. He had got the lease of the estate through the influence of +Akber-od Dowlah, one of the Court favourites, for the sole purpose of +converting it into a den of robbers; and, the better to secure this +object, he had got it transferred from the jurisdiction of the Nazim +to the Hozoor Tehseel, over the manager of which the Court favourite +had paramount influence. He was to share with his client the fruits +of his depredations, and, in return, to secure him impunity for his +crimes. Many of his retainers were among the prisoners brought in to +me, having been present at the distribution of the large booty +acquired from the old subadar, some thirty or forty thousand rupees. +The subadar had resided upon the estate of Seodursun Sing; but +having, seven years ago complained through the Resident of over- +exactions for the small patch of land he held, and got back the grain +which had been attacked for the rent, he was obliged to give it up +and reside in the hamlet he afterwards occupied near Bulla, whose +zumeendars assured him of protection.* He had a large family, and a +great deal of property in money and other valuables concealed under +ground. Mohiboollah first seized and sent off the subadar, and then +had ramrods made red-hot and applied to the bodies of the children +till the females gave him all their ornaments, and pointed out to him +all the hidden treasures: they were then all taken to Bulla and +confined till the subadar had pledged himself to pay the ransom +demanded. + +[* The greater part of this property is understood to have been +confided, in trust, to the old subadar, by some other minion of the +Court, and the chief object of the gang was to get hold of it; as +their patron, Akber-od Dowlah, had become aware that his fellow- +minion had intrusted his wealth to the old subadar, after he had +taken up his residence near Bulla. The estate was made over, in farm, +to Benee Madho, as the best man to cope with Mohiboollah, should he +return and form a new gang.] + +I requested the King to take the estate from this ruffian and restore +it to its old proprietors, whose family had held it for several +centuries, or bestow it in lease to some other strong and deserving +person. + +The Tilokchundee Byses take the daughters of other Rajpoots, who are +a shade lower in caste, in marriage for their sons, but do not give +their daughters in marriage to them in return. They have a singular +notion that no snake ever has destroyed or ever can destroy one of +the family, and seem to take no precautions against its bite. If +bitten by a snake they do not attempt any remedy, nor could Benee +Madho recollect any instance of a Tilokchundee Bysee having died from +a bite. He tells me that some families in every Rajpoot tribe in Oude +destroy their female infants to avoid the cost of marrying them, +though the King prohibited infanticide and suttee in the year 1833. +That infanticide does still prevail among almost all the Rajpoot +tribes in Oude is unquestionable. + +_January_ 6, 1850.--Yesterday evening we moved to Omrowa West, +[Transcriber's note: this appears to be a misspelling for Morowa +West] a distance of twelve miles, over a plain of bad oosur soil, +scantily cultivated near the road. To the left and right of the road, +at a little distance, there are some fine villages, thickly peopled, +and situated in fine and well-cultivated soil. The country is well +wooded, except in the worst parts of the soil, where trees do not +thrive. We saw a great deal of sugar-cane in the distance and a few +pawn-gardens. The population of the villages came to the high road to +see us pass; and among them were a great many native officers and +sipahees of our Regiments, who are at their homes on furlough, +Government having given a very large portion of the native army the +indulgence of furlough during the present cold season. They all +seemed happy; but, to my discomfort, a vast number take advantage of +this furlough and my movements to urge their claims against the +Government, its officers, and subjects. Nothing can be more wretched +than the appearance of the buildings in which the people of all +grades live in these villages--mud walls without any appearance of +coverings, and doors and windows worse than I have seen in any other +part of India. Better would not be safe against the King's troops, +and these would certainly not be safe against a slight storm; a good +shower and a smart breeze would level the whole of the villages with +the ground in a few hours. "But," said the people, "the mud would +remain, and we could soon raise up the houses again without the aid +of masons, carpenters, or blacksmiths." It is enough that they are +used to them. + +Morowa is a large town, well situated and surrounded with groves of +the finest trees in great variety; and, to the surprise of the +officers with me, they saw a respectable house of burnt brick. It +belongs to the most substantial banker and agricultural capitalist in +these parts, _Chundun Lal_. These capitalists and their families are, +generally, more safe than others, as their aid is necessary to the +Government and its officers, and no less so to the landholders, +cultivators, and people of all classes. Their wealth consists in +their credit in different parts of India; and he who has most of it +may have little at his house to tempt the robber, while the +Government officers stand generally too much in daily need of his +services and mediation to molest him. A pledge made by these officers +to landholders and cultivators, or to these officers by such persons, +is seldom considered safe or binding till the respectable banker or +capitalist has ratified it by his mediation, to which all refer with +confidence. + +He understands the characters and means of all, and will not venture +to ratify any pledge till he is assured of both the disposition and +ability of the party to fulfil it. Chundun Lal is one of the most +respectable of this class in Oude. He resides at this place, Morowa, +but has a good landed estate in our territories, and banking +establishments at Cawnpoor and many other of our large stations. He +is a very sensible, well-informed man, but not altogether free from +the ailing of his class--a disposition to abuse the confidence of the +Government officers; and, in collusion with them, to augment his +possessions in land at the cost of his weaker neighbours. + +I am told here that the Tilokchund Byses, when bitten by a snake, do +sometimes condescend to apply a remedy. They have a vessel full of +water suspended above the head of the sufferer, with a small tube at +the bottom, from which water is poured gently on the head as long as +he can bear it. The vent is then stopped till the patient is equal to +bear more; and this is repeated four or five times till the sufferer +recovers. I have not yet heard of any one dying under the operation, +or from the bite of a snake. I find no one that has ever heard of a +member of this family dying of the bite of a snake. One of the Rajahs +of this family, who called on me to-day, declared that no member of +his family had ever been known to die of such a bite, and he could +account for it only "from their being descended from Salbahun, the +rival and conqueror of Bickermajeet, of Ojein." + +This Salbahun* is said to have been a lineal descendant of the _sake- +god!_ He told me that the females of this family could never wear +cotton cloth of any colour but plain white; that when they could not +afford to wear silk or satin they never wore anything but the piece +of white cotton cloth which formed, in one, the waistband, petticoat, +and mantle, or robe (the dhootee and loongree), without hemming or +needlework of any kind whatever. Those who can afford to wear silk or +satin wear the petticoat and robe, or mantle of that material, and of +any colour. On their ankles they can wear nothing but silver, and +above the ankles, nothing but gold; and if not, nothing, not even +silver, except on the feet and ankles. No Hindoo of respectability, +however high or wealthy, can wear anything more valuable than silver +below the waist. The Tilokchundee Byses can never condescend to hold +the plough; and if obliged to serve, they enlist in the army or other +public establishments of the Oude or other States. + +[* Salbahun must have been one of the leaders of the Scythian armies, +who conquered India in the reign of Vickramadittea.] + +The late governor of this district, Hamid Allee Khan, is now, as I +have already stated, in prison, as a great defaulter, at Lucknow. He +was a weak and inexperienced man, and guided entirely by his +deputies, Nourooz Allee and Gholam Allee. Calamities of season and +other causes prevented his collecting one-quarter of the revenue +which he had engaged in his contract to pay. Gholam Allee persuaded +the officers commanding regiments under him to pledge themselves for +the personal security of some of the tallookdars whom he invited in +to discuss the claims of Government, and their ability to meet them. +Four of them came--Hindooput, of Sudowlee, who called on me this +morning; Rugonath Sing, of Khojurgow; Rajah Dirg Bijee Sing, of +Morarmow; and Bhoop Sing, of Pahor. They were all seized and put into +confinement as soon as they appeared, by the officers who had pledged +themselves for their personal safety; and Gholam Allee went off to +Lucknow to boast of his prowess in seizing them. There he was called +upon to pay the balance due, and seeing no disposition to listen to +any excuse on the ground of calamity of season, he determined to +escape across the Ganges. He wrote to Hamid Allee to suggest that he +should do the same, and meet him at Horha, on the bank of the Ganges, +on a certain night. + +Hamid Allee sent his family across the Ganges, and prepared to meet +Gholam Allee at the appointed place; but the commandants of corps, +who suspected his intentions, and had not received from him any pay +for their regiments for many months, seized him, and sent him a +prisoner to Lucknow. Gholam Allee, however, effected his escape +across the Ganges, and is now at Delhi. The story of his having run +away with three lacs of Hamid Allee's money is represented here as a +fiction, as the escape had been concerted between them, and they had +sent across the Ganges all that they could send with that view. This +may or may not be the real state of the case. Hamid Allee, as I have +above stated, married a daughter of Fuzl Allee. Fuzl Allee's aunt, +Fyz-on Nissa, had been a great favourite with the Padshad Begum, the +wife of the King, Ghazee-od Deen, and adoptive mother of his +successor, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, who ascended the throne in 1827. She +had been banished from Oude by Ghazee-od Deen, but on his death she +returned secretly to Lucknow; and, in December of that year, her +nephew, Fuzl Allee, who had been banished with her, returned also, +and on the 31st of that month he was appointed prime minister, in +succession to Aga Meer. Hakeem Mehndee had been invited from +Futtehghur to fill the office, and had come so far as Cawnpoor, when +Fyz-on Nissa carried the day with the Queen Dowager, and he was +ordered back. In November, 1828, the King, at his mother's request, +gave him the sum of 21,85,722 1 11, the residue of the principal of +the pension of Shums-od Dowlah, the King's uncle, who had died. The +whole principal amounted to 33,33,333 5 4, but part had been +appropriated as a fund to provide for some members of the King's +family. + +In February, 1829, Fuzl Allee resigned the office of prime minister, +and was protected by the Government of India, on the recommendation +of the Resident, and saved, from the necessity of refunding to the +State any of the wealth (some thirty-five lacs of rupees) which he +had acquired during his brief period of office. This was all left to +his three daughters and their husbands on his death, which took place +soon after. He was succeeded in office by Hakeem Mehndee. Shums-od +Dowlah's pension of 16,666 10 6 a-month, was paid out of the +interest, at 6 per cent., of the loan of one crore, eight lacs, and +fifty thousand rupees, obtained from the sovereign of Oude (Ghazee-od +Deen Hyder, who succeeded his father on the 11th of July, 1814,) by +Lord Hastings, in October, 1814, for the Nepaul war. All the interest +(six lacs and fifty-one thousand) was, in the same manner, +distributed in stipends to different members of the family, and the +principal has been paid back as the incumbents have died off. Some +few still survive.* + +[* The ground, on the north-west side of Morowa, would be good for a +cantonment, as the soil is sandy, and the plain well drained. Water +must lie during the rains on all the other sides, and the soil has +more clay in it.] + +_January_ 7, 1850.--To Mirree, twelve miles, over a plain of light +doomuteea soil, sufficiently cultivated, and well studded with trees. +We passed Runjeet-ka Poorwa half-way--once a large and populous town, +but now a small one. The fog was, however, too thick to admit of my +seeing it. From this place to Lucknow, thirty miles, Seetlah Buksh, a +deputy of Almas Allee Khan's, planted an avenue of the finest kind of +trees. We had to pass through a mile of it, and the trees are in the +highest perfection, and complete on both sides. I am told that there +are, however, many considerable intervals in which they have been +destroyed. The trees must have been planted about sixty years ago. + +I may here remark that no native gentleman from Lucknow, save such as +hold office in districts, and are surrounded by troops, can with +safety reside in the country. He would be either suspected and +destroyed by the great landholders around him, or suspected and +ruined by the Court. Under a better system of government, a great +many of these native gentlemen, who enjoy hereditary incomes, under +the guarantee of the British Government, would build houses in +distant districts, take lands, and reside on them with their +families, wholly or occasionally, and Oude [would] soon be covered +with handsome gentlemen's seats, at once ornamental and useful. They +would tend to give useful employment to the people, and become bonds +of union between the governing and the governed. Under such an +improved system, our guarantees would be of immense advantage to the +whole country of Oude, in diffusing wealth, protection, education, +intelligence, good feeling, and useful and ornamental, works. At +present, these guarantees are not so. They have concentrated at the +capital all who subsist upon them, and surrounded the Sovereign and +his Court with an overgrown aristocracy, which tends to alienate him +more and more from his people. The people derive no benefit from, and +have no feeling or interest in common with, this city aristocracy, +which tends more and more to hide their Sovereign from their view, +and to render him less and less sensible of his duties and high +responsibilities; and what would be a blessing under a good, becomes +an evil under a bad system, such as that which has prevailed since +those guarantees began. + +In this overgrown city there is a perpetual turmoil of processions, +illuminations, and festivities. The Sovereign spends all that he can +get in them, and has not the slightest wish to perpetuate his name by +the construction of any useful or ornamental work beyond its suburbs. +All the members of his family and of the city aristocracy follow his +example, and spend their means in the same way. Indifferent to the +feelings and opinions of the landed aristocracy and people of the +country, with whom they have no sympathy, they spend all that they +can spare for the public in gratifying the vitiated tastes of the +overgrown metropolis. Hardly any work calculated to benefit or +gratify the people of the country is formed or thought of by the +members of the royal family or aristocracy of Lucknow; and the only +one formed by the Sovereign for many years is, I believe, the +metalled road leading from Lucknow to Cawnpoor, on the Ganges. + +One good these guarantees certainly have effected--they have tended +greatly to inspire the people of the city with respect for the +British Government, by whom the incomes of so large and influential a +portion of the community and their dependents are secured. That +respect extends to its public officers and to Europeans generally; +and in the most crowded streets of Lucknow they are received with +deference, courtesy, and kindness, while in those of Hydrabad, their +lives, I believe, are never safe without an escort from the Resident. + +The people of the country respect the British Government, its +officers, and Europeans generally, from other causes. Though the +Resident has not been able to secure any very substantial or +permanent reform in the administration, still he has often interposed +with effect, in individual cases, to relieve suffering and secure +redress for grievous wrongs. The people of the country see that he +never interposes, except for such purposes, and their only regret is +that he interposes so seldom, and that his efforts, when he does so, +should be so often frustrated or disregarded. In the remotest village +or jungle in Oude, as in the most crowded streets of the capital, an +European gentleman is sure to be treated with affectionate respect; +and the humblest European is as sure to receive protection and +kindness, unless be forfeits all claim to it by his misconduct. + +The more sober-minded Mahommedans of Lucknow and elsewhere are much +scandalized at the habit which has grown up among them, in the cities +of India, of commemorating every event, whether of sadness or of joy, +by brilliant illuminations and splendid processions, to amuse the +idle populations of such cities. It is, they say, a reprehensible +departure from the spirit of their creed, and from the simple tastes +of the early Mahommedans, who laid out their superfluities in the +construction of great and durable works of ornament and utility. +Certainly no event can be more sorrowful among Mahommedans than that +which is commemorated in the mohurrum by illuminations and +processions with the Tazeeas; and yet no illuminations are more +brilliant, and no processions more noisy, costly, and splendid. It is +worthy of remark, that Hindoo princes in Central and Southern India, +even of the Brahmin caste, commemorate this event in the same way; +and in no part of India are these illuminations and processions more +brilliant and costly. Their object is solely to amuse the population +of their capitals, and to gratify the Mahommedan women whom they have +under their protection, and their children, who must all be +Mahommedans. + + + __________________________ + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Nawabgunge, midway between Cawnpoor and Lucknow--Oosur soils how +produced--Visit from the prime minister--Rambuksh, of Dhodeeakhera-- +Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor--Agricultural capitalists. Sipahees and +native offices of our army--Their furlough, and petitions-- +Requirements of Oude to secure good government. The King's reserved +treasury--Charity distributed through the _Mojtahid_, or chief +justice--Infanticide--Loan of elephants, horses, and draft bullocks +by Oude to Lord Lake in 1804--Clothing for the troops--The Akbery +regiment--Its clothing, &c.,--Trespasses of a great man's camp in +Oude--Russoolabad and Sufeepoor districts--Buksh Allee, the dome-- +Budreenath, the contractor for Sufeepoor--Meeangunge--Division of the +Oude Territory in 1801, in equal shares between Oude and the British +Governments--Almas Allee Khan--His good government--The passes of +Oude--Thieves by hereditary profession, and village watchmen-- +Rapacity of the King's troops--Total absence of all sympathy between +the governing and governed--Measures necessary to render the Oude +troops efficient and less mischievous to the people--Sheikh Hushmut +Allee, of Sundeela. + +_January_ 8, 1850.--Nawabgunge, eleven miles over a plain, the soil +of which, near the road, is generally very poor oosur. No fruit or +ornamental trees, few shrubs, and very little grass. Here and there, +however, even near the road, may be seen a small patch of land, from +which a crop of rice has been taken this season; and the country is +well cultivated all along, up to within half a mile of the road, on +both tides [sides]. Nawabgunge is situated on the new metalled road, +fifty miles long, between Lucknow and Cawnpoor, and about midway +between the two places.* It was built by the late minister, Nawab +Ameen-od Dowlah, while in office, for the accommodation of +travellers, and is named after him. It is kept up at his expense for +the same purpose now that he has descended to private life. There is +a small house for the accommodation of European gentlemen and ladies, +as well as a double range of buildings, between which the road +passes, for ordinary travellers, and for shopkeepers to supply them. + +[* The term Gunge, signifies a range of buildings at a place of +traffic, for the accommodation of merchants, and all persons engaged +in the purchase and sale of goods and for that of their goods and of +the shopkeepers who supply them.] + +Some people told me, that even the worst of this oosur soil might be +made to produce fair crops under good tillage; while others denied +the possibility, though all were farmers or landholders. All, +however, agreed that any but the _worst_ might be made so by good +tillage--that is, by flooding the land by means of artificial +embankments, for two or three rainy seasons, and then cross- +ploughing, manuring, and irrigating it well. All say that the soil +hereabouts is liable to become oosur, if left fallow and neglected +for a few years. The oosur, certainly, seems to prevail most near the +high roads, where the peasantry have been most exposed to the +rapacity of the King's troops; and this tends to confirm the notion +that tillage is necessary in certain soils to check the tendency of +the carbonates or nitrates, or their alkaline bases, to +superabundance. The abundance of the chloride of sodium in the soil, +from which the superabounding carbonates of soda are formed, seems to +indicate, unequivocally, that the bed from which they are brought to +the surface by capillary attraction must at some time have been +covered by salt water. + +The soil of Scind, which was at one time covered by the sea, seems to +suffer still more generally from the same superabundance of the +carbonates of soda, formed from the _chlorides of sodium_, and +brought to the surface in the same manner. But in Scind the evil is +greater and more general from the smaller quantity of rain that +falls. Egypt would, no doubt, suffer still more from the same cause, +inasmuch as it has still less rain than Scind, but for the annual +overflowing of the Nile. The greater part of the deserts which now +disfigure the face of the globe in hot climates arise chiefly from +the same causes, and they may become covered by tillage and +population as man becomes wiser, more social, and more humane. + +_January_ 9, 1850.--Halted at Nawabgunge. A vast deal of grain of all +sorts has for the last two years passed from Cawnpoor to Lucknow for +sale. The usual current of grain is from the northern and eastern +districts of Oude towards Cawnpoor; but for these two years it has +been from Cawnpoor to these districts. This is owing to two bad +seasons in Oude generally, and much oppression in the northern and +eastern districts, in particular, and the advantage which the +navigation of the Ganges affords to the towns on its banks on such +occasions. The metalled road from Cawnpoor to Lucknow is covered +almost with carts and vehicles of all kinds. Guards have been +established upon it for the protection of travellers, and life and +property are now secure upon it, which they had not been for many +years up to the latter end of 1849. This road has lately been +completed under the superintendence of Lient. G. Sim of the +engineers, and cost above two lacs of rupees. + +The minister came out with a very large cortege yesterday to see and +talk with me, and is to stay here to-day. I met him this morning on +his way out to shoot in the lake; and it was amusing to see his +enormous train contrasted with my small one. I told him, to the +amusement of all around, that an English gentleman would rather get +no air or shooting at all than seek them in such a crowd. The +minister was last night to have received the Rajahs and other great +landholders, who had come to my camp, but they told me this morning +that they had some of them waited all night in vain for an audience; +that the money demanded by his followers, of various sorts and +grades, for such a privilege was much more than they could pay; that +to see and talk with a prime minister of Oude was one of the most +difficult and expensive of things. Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, +told me that he feared his only alternative now was a very hard one, +either to be utterly ruined by the contractor of Salone, or to take +to his jungles and strongholds and fight against his Sovereign.* + +[* The Rajah was too formidable to be treated lightly, and the Amil +was obliged to give in, and consent to take from him what he had paid +to his predecessor; but to effect this, the Rajah was, afterwards +obliged to go to Lucknow, and pay largely in gratuities.] + + +Rajah Rambuksh, of Dondhea Kheera, is in the same predicament. He +tells me, that a great part of his estate has been taken from him by +Chundun Lal, of Morowa, the banker already mentioned, in collusion +with the Nazim, Kotab-od Deen, who depends so much on him as the only +capitalist in his district; that he is obliged to conciliate him by +acquiescing in the spoliation of others; that he has already taken +much of his lands by fraud and collusion, and wishes to take the +whole in the same way; that this banker now holds lands in the +district yielding above two lacs of rupees a-year, can do what he +pleases, and is every day aggrandizing himself and family by the ruin +of others. There is some truth in what Rambuksh states, though he +exaggerates a little the wrong which he himself suffers; and it is +lamentable that all power and influence in Oude, of whatever kind or +however acquired, should be so sure to be abused, to the prejudice of +both sovereign and people. When these great capitalists become +landholders, as almost all do, they are apt to do much mischief in +the districts where their influence lies, for the Government officers +can do little in the collection of the revenue without their aid; and +as the collection of revenue is the only part of their duty to which +they attach much importance, they are ready to acquiesce in any wrong +that they may commit in order to conciliate them. The Nazim of +Byswara, Kotab-od Deen, is an old and infirm man, and very much +dependent upon Chundun Lal, who, in collusion with him, has certainly +deprived many of their hereditary possessions in the usual way in +order to aggrandize his own family. He has, at the same time, +purchased a great deal of land at auction in the Honourable Company's +districts where he has dealings, keeps the greater part of his +wealth, and is prepared to locate his family when the danger of +retaining any of either in Oude becomes pressing. The risk is always +great; but they bind the local authorities, civil and military, by +solemn oaths and written pledges, for the security of their own +persons and property, and those of their families and clients. + +_January_ 10, 1850.--At Nawabgunge, detained by rain, which fell +heavily yesterday, with much thunder and lightning, and has continued +to fall all night. It is painful and humiliating to pass through this +part of Oude, where the families of so many thousands of our sipahees +reside, particularly at this time when so large a portion of them are +at their homes on furlough. The Punjab war having closed, all the +corps engaged in it have this year been sent off to quiet stations in +our old provinces, and their places supplied by others which have +taken no share in that or any other war of late. As a measure of +economy, and with a view to indulge the native officers and sipahees +of the corps engaged in that war, Government has this season given a +long furlough to all the native army of Bengal. Some three hundred +and fifty native officers and sipahees from each regiment are, or are +to be, absent on leave this season. This saves to Government a very +large sum in the extra allowance which is granted to native officers +and sipahees, during their march from one station to another, and in +the deductions which are made from the pay and allowances of those +who go on furlough. During furlough, subadars receive 52 rupees a- +month instead of 67; jemadars 17, instead of 24; havildars 9, instead +of 14; naicks 7, instead of 12; and sipahees 5-8, instead of 7. + +These native officers and sipahees, with all their gallantry on +service and fidelity to their salt, are the most importunate of +suitors, and certainly among the most untruthful and unscrupulous in +stating the circumstances of their claims, or the grounds of their +complaints. They crowd around me morning and evening when I venture +outside my tent, and keep me employed all day in reading their +petitions. They cannot or will not understand that the Resident is, +or ought to be, only the channel through which their claims are sent +for adjustment through the Court to the Oude tribunals and local +authorities; and that the investigation and decision must, or ought +to, rest with them. They expect that he will at once himself +investigate and decide their claims, or have them investigated and +decided forthwith by the local authorities of the district through +which he is passing; and it is in vain to tell them that the "_law's +delay_" is as often and as justly complained of in our own territory +as in Oude, whatever may be the state of its _uncertainty_. + +The wrongs of which they complain are of course such as all men of +their class in Oude are liable to suffer; but no other men in Oude +are so prone to exaggerate the circumstances attending them, to bring +forward prominently all that is favourable to their own side, and +keep back all that is otherwise, and to conceal the difficulties +which must attend the search after the truth, and those still greater +which must attend the enforcement of an award when made. Their claims +are often upon men who have well-garrisoned forts and large bands of +armed followers, who laugh at the King's officers and troops, and +could not be coerced into obedience without the aid of a large and +well-appointed British force. For the immediate employment of such a +force they will not fail to urge the Resident, though they have, to +the commanding officer of their company and regiment represented the +debtor or offender as a man of no mark, ready to do whatever the +Resident or the Oude authorities may be pleased to order. On one +occasion no less than thirty lives were lost in attempting to enforce +an award in favour of a sipahee of our army. + +I have had several visits from my old friend Sheikh Mahboob Allee, +the subadar-major, who is mentioned in my _Essay on Military +Discipline_. He is now an invalid pensioner in Oude, and in addition +to the lands which his family held before his transfer to the +invalids, he has lately acquired possession of a nice village, which +he claimed in the usual way through the Resident. He told me that he +had possession, but that he found it very difficult to keep +cultivators upon it. + +"And why is this, my old friend?" I asked. "Cultivators are abundant +in Oude, and glad always to till lands on which they are protected +and encouraged by moderate rents and a little occasional aid in seed, +grain, and stock, and you are now in circumstances to afford them +both." + +"True, sir," said the old subadar, "but the great refractory +landholder, my neighbour, has a large force, and he threatens to +bring it down upon me, and my cultivators are afraid that they and +their families will all be cut up some dark night if they stay with +me." + +"But what has your great neighbour to do with your village? Why do +you not make friends with him?" + +"Make friends with him, sir!" replied the subadar; "the thing is +impossible." + +"And why, subadar sahib?" + +"Sir, it was from him that the village was taken by the orders of the +Durbar, through the interposition of the Resident, to be made over to +me, and he vows that he will take it back, whatever number of lives +it may cost him to do so." + +"And how long may he and his family have held it?" + +"Only thirty or thirty-five years, sir." + +"And neither you nor your family have ever held possession of it for +that time?" + +"Never, sir; but we always hoped that the favour of the British +Government would some day get it for us." + +"And in urging your claim to the village, did you ever tell the +Resident that you had been so long out of possession?" + +"No, sir, we said nothing about _time_" + +"You know, subadar sahib, that in all countries a limit is prescribed +in such cases, and at the Residency that limit is six years; and had +the Resident known that your claim was of so old a date he would +never have interposed in your favour, more especially when his doing +so involved the risk of the loss of so many lives, first in obtaining +possession for you, and then keeping you in it." Cases of this kind +are very numerous. + +The estate of Rampoor which we lately passed through belonged to the +grandfather of Rajah Hunmunt Sing. His eldest son, Sungram Sing, died +without issue, and the estate devolved on his second son, Bhow Sing, +the father of Rajah Hunmunt Sing. The third brother separated from +the family stock during the life of his father, and got, as his +share, Sursae, Kuttra Bulleepoor, and other villages. He had five +sons: first, Lokee Sing; second, Dirguj Sing; third, Hul Sing; +fourth, Dill Sing; and fifth, Bul Sing, and the estate was, on his +death, subdivided among them. Kuttra Bulleepoor devolved on Lokee +Sing, the eldest, who died without issue; and the village was +subdivided among his four brothers or their descendants. But Davey +Buksh, the grandson, by adoption of the second brother, Dirguj Sing, +unknown to the others, assigned, in lieu of a debt, the whole village +to a Brahmin named Bhyroo Tewaree, who forthwith got it transferred +to Hozoor Tehseel, through Matadeen, a havildar of the 5th Troop, +7th-Regiment of Cavalry, who, in an application to the Resident, +pretended that the estate was his own. It is now beyond the +jurisdiction of the local authorities, who could ascertain the truth; +and all the rightful co-sharers have been ever since trying in vain +to recover their rights. The Bramin [Brahmin] and the Havildar, with +Sookhal a trooper in the same regiment, now divide the profits +between them, and laugh at the impotent efforts of the old +proprietors to get redress. Gholam Jeelanee, a shopkeeper of Lucknow, +seeing the profits derived by sipahees, from the abuse of this +privilege, purchased a cavalry uniform--jacket, cap, pantaloon, +boots, shoes, and sword--and on the pretence of being an invalid +trooper of ours, got the signature of the brigadier commanding the +troops in Oude to his numerous petitions, which were sent for +adjustment to the Durbar through the Resident. He followed this trade +profitably for fifteen years. At last he got possession of a landed +estate, to which he had no claim of right. Soon after he sent a +petition to say that the dispossessed proprietor had killed four of +his relations and turned him out. This led to a more strict inquiry, +when all came out. In quoting this case to the Resident, in a letter +dated the 16th of June 1836, the King of Oude observes: "If a person +known to thousands in the city of Lucknow is able, for fifteen years, +to carry on such a trade successfully, how much more easy must it be +for people in the country, not known to any in the city, to carry it +on!" + +The Resident communicated to the King of Oude the resolution of the +Honourable the Court of Directors to relieve him from the payment of +the sixteen lacs of rupees a-year for the auxiliary force; and on the +29th of July 1839, he reported to Government the great gratification +which his Majesty had manifested and expressed at this opportune +relief. But his gratification at this communication was hardly so +great as that which he had manifested on the 14th of December 1837, +when told by the Resident that the British Government would not +insist upon giving to the subjects of Oude who might enlist into that +force the privilege of forwarding complaints about their village +affairs and disputes, through their military superiors and the +Resident; and it appeared to the Resident, "that this one act of +liberality and justice on the part of the British Government had done +more to reconcile the King of Oude to the late treaty, in which the +Oude auxiliary force had originated, than all that he had said to him +during the last three months as to the prospective advantages which +that treaty would secure to him and his posterity." The King +observed: "This kindness on the part of the British Government has +relieved my mind from a load of disagreeable thoughts." The prime +minister, Hakeem Mehndee, who was present, replied: "All will now go +on smoothly. When the men have to complain to their own Government, +they will seldom complain without just cause, being aware that a +false story will soon be detected by the native local authorities, +though it could not be so by European officers at a distance from the +villages; and that in all cases of real grievances their claims will +soon be fairly and speedily adjusted. If," added he, "the sipahees of +this force had been so placed that they could have enlisted their +officers on their side in making complaints, while such officers +could know nothing whatever of the circumstances beyond what the +sipahees themselves told them, false and groundless complaints would +have become endless, and the vexations thereby caused to Government +and their neighbours would have become intolerable. These troops," +said he, "will now be real soldiers; but if the privileges enjoyed by +the Honourable Company's sipahees had been conferred upon the seven +regiments composing this force, with the relations and pretended +relations of the sipahees, it would have converted into corrupt +traders in village disputes sixteen or seventeen thousand of the +King's subjects, settled in the heart of the country, privileged to +make false accusations of all kinds, and believed by the people to be +supported in these falsehoods by the British Government." Both the +King and the minister requested the Resident earnestly and repeatedly +to express to the Governor-General their most sincere thanks for +having complied with his Majesty's solicitations on this point.* + +[* See King of Oude's letter to the Governor-General, dated 5th +October, 1837, and Residents letters of the 7th idem and 14th +December, 1837.] + +This privilege which the native officers and sipahees of our native +army enjoy of petitioning for redress of grievances, through the +Resident, has now been extended to all the regular, irregular, and +local corps of the three Presidencies--that is, to all corps paid by +the British Government, and to all native officers and sipahees of +contingent corps employed in and paid by native States, who were +drafted into them from the regular corps of our army up to a certain +time; and the number cannot be less than fifty or sixty thousand. But +European civil and political functionaries, in our own provinces and +other native States, have almost all some men from Oude in their +offices or establishments, whose claims and complaints they send for +adjustment to the Resident; and it is difficult for him to satisfy +them, that he is not bound to take them up in the same manner as he +takes up those of the native officers and sipahees of our native +army; and he is often induced to yield to their importunity, and +thereby to furnish grounds for further applications of the same sort. +This privilege is not recognized or named in any treaty, or other +engagement with the Sovereign of Oude; nor does any one now know its +origin, for it cannot be found in any document recorded in the +Resident's office. + +If the Resident happens to be an impatient, overbearing man, he will +often frighten the Durbar and its Courts, or local officers, into a +hasty decision, by which the rights of others are sacrificed for the +native officers and sipahees; and if he be at the same time an +unscrupulous man, he will sometimes direct that the sipahee shall be +put in possession of what he claims in order to relieve himself from +his importunity, or that of his commanding officer, without taking +the trouble to inform himself of the grounds on which the claim is +founded. Of all such errors there are unhappily too many instances +recorded in the Resident's office. This privilege is in the hands of +the Resident an instrument of _torture_, which it is his duty to +apply every day to the Oude Durbar. He may put on a _screw more_ or +a _screw less_, according to his temper or his views, or the +importunity of officers commanding corps or companies, and native +officers and sipahees in person, which never cease to oppress him +more or less. + +The most numerous class of complaints and the most troublesome is +that against the Government of Oude or its officers and landholders, +for enhanced demands of rents; and whenever these officers or +landholders are made to reduce these demands in favour of the +privileged sipahees, they invariably distribute the burthen in an +increased rate upon their neighbours. + +Officers who have to pass through Oude in their travels or sporting +excursions have of late years generally complained that they receive +less civility from villages in which our invalid or furlough sipahees +are located than from any others; and that if they are anywhere +treated with actual disrespect, such sipahees are generally found to +be either the perpetrators or instigators. This complaint is not, I +fear, altogether unfounded; and may arise from the diminished +attachment felt by the sipahees for their European officers in our +army, and partly from the privilege of urging their claims through +the Resident, enjoyed by native officers and sipahees, now ceasing on +their being transferred to the invalid establishment. + +But the privilege itself is calculated to create feelings of +dissatisfaction with their European officers, among the honest and +hard-working part of our native army. Such men petition only when +they have just cause; and not one in five of them can obtain what +they demand, and believe to be their just right, under an +administration like that of Oude, whatever efforts the Resident may +make to obtain it for them; and where one is satisfied, four become +discontented; while the dishonest and idle portion of their brother +soldiers, who have no real wrongs to complain of, and feign them only +to get leave of absence, throw all the burthen of their duties upon +them. Others again, by fraud and collusion with those whose influence +they require to urge their claims, often obtain more than they have +any right to; and their unmerited success tends to increase the +dissatisfaction felt by the honest, and more scrupulous portion of +the native officers and sipahees who have failed to obtain anything. + +Government will not do away with the privilege without first +ascertaining the views and wishes of the military authorities. They +are not favourable to the abolition, for though the honest and hard- +working sipahees may say that it is of no use to them, the idle and +unscrupulous, who consider it as a lottery in which they may +sometimes draw a prize, or a means of getting leave of absence when +they are not entitled to it, will tell them that the fidelity of the +whole native army depends upon its being maintained and extended. I +am of opinion, after much consideration, and a good deal of +experience in the political working of the system, that the abolition +of the privilege would be of great advantage to the native army; and +it would certainly relieve the European officers from much +importunity and annoyance which they now suffer from its enforcement. +It is not uncommon for a sipahee of a regiment in Bombay to obtain +leave of absence for several times over for _ten months_ at a time, +on the pretence of having a case pending in Oude. When his leave is +about to expire, he presents a petition to the Resident, who obtains +for him from the Court an order for the local authorities to settle +his claim. This order is sent to the officer commanding his regiment. +The man then makes up a piteous story of his having spent the whole +ten months in prosecuting his claim in vain, when, in reality, he has +been enjoying himself at home, and had no claim whatever to settle. +The next year, or the year after, he gets another ten months' leave, +for the same purpose, and when it is about to expire, he presents +himself to the Resident, and declares that the local authorities have +been changed, and the new officers pay no regard to the King's +orders. New orders are then got for the new officers, and sent to his +regiment, and the same game is played over again. + +Native officers and sipahees, in the privilege of presenting +petitions through the Resident, are now restricted to their own +claims and those of their wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and +daughters. They cannot petition through the Resident for the redress +of wrongs suffered, or pretended to have been suffered, by any other +relations. In consequence, it has become a common custom with them to +lend or sell their names to more remote relations, or to persons not +related to them at all. The petition is made out in their own name, +and the real sufferer or pretended sufferer, who is to prosecute the +claim, is named as the mookteear or attorney. A great many bad +characters have in this way deprived men of lands which their +ancestors had held in undisputed right of property for many +generations or centuries; for the Court, to save themselves from the +importunity of the Residency, has often given orders for the claimant +being put in possession of the lands without due inquiry or any +inquiry at all. The sipahees are, in consequence, much dreaded by the +people among whom they reside; for there really is no class of men +from whom it is more difficult to get the truth in any case. They +have no fear of punishment, because all charges against them for +fraud, falsehood, or violation of the rules laid down by Government +have to be submitted either to a court-martial, composed of native +officers, or to the Governor-General. Both involve endless trouble, +and it would, I fear, be impossible to get a conviction before a +court-martial so composed. No Resident will ever submit to a +Governor-General the scores of flagrant cases that every month come +before him; still less will he worry unoffending and suffering people +by causing them to be summoned to give evidence before a military +court. + +In a recent instance (July 1851), a sipahee in a regiment stationed +at Lucknow was charged before a court-martial with three abuses of +the privilege. He required no less than seventy-four witnesses to be +summoned in his defence. The Court had to wait till what could be got +out of the seventy-four appeared, and the man became an object of +sympathy, because he was kept so long in arrest. He named the first +Assistant to the Resident, who has charge of the Sipahee Petition +Department, as a witness; and he was not, in consequence, permitted +to attend the Court on the part of the Resident, who preferred the +charges, though he was never called or examined by the Court on the +part of the defence. The naming him, and the summoning of so many +witnesses were mere _ruses_ on the part of the sipahee to escape. No +person on the part of the Resident was allowed to attend the Court +and see that his witnesses were examined; nor had he any means of +knowing whether they were or not. He had reason to believe that the +most important were not. The sipahee was of course acquitted, as +sipahees charged with such abuses of the privilege always will be. +This man's regiment was at Lucknow, and near the place where the +cause of action arose, his own village, and the Resident's office. +How much more difficult would it be to get a conviction against a +sipahee whose regiment happens to be many hundred miles off! + +The transfer of their lands from the jurisdiction of the local +authorities to that of the Hozoor Tehseel is often the cause of much +suffering to their copartners and neighbours. Their co-sharers in the +land often find much inconvenience from it, and apprehend that, +sooner or later, the influence of the sipahee will enable him to add +their shares to his own. The village so transferred, being removed +from the observation and responsibility of the local authorities, +often becomes a safe refuge for the bad characters of the district, +who thence depredate upon the country around with impunity. Claims to +villages, to which the claimant had really no right whatever, have +been successfully prosecuted by or through sipahees, for the sole +purpose of having them transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel, and made +dens of thieves and highway robbers. The person in charge of the +Hozool Tehseel villages has generally a good deal of influence at +Court, and this he lends to such claimants, for a consideration, +without fear or scruple, as he feels assured that he shall be able to +counteract any representations on the part of the local authorities +of the evils suffered from the holders and occupants of such +villages. He never pretends to be able to watch over or control the +conduct of the holders and occupiers of the villages under his +charge, situated, as they mostly are, in remote districts. The +transfer of such villages can be justified only in districts that are +held in contract, and even in them it might be easy to provide +effectually for the protection of the holders from over-exactions on +the part of the contractors. + +This privilege is attended with infinite difficulty and perplexity to +the Resident and Government; and is at the same time exceedingly +odious to the people and Government of Oude. Officers commanding +regiments and companies have much trouble with such petitions. Able +to hear only one side of any question, they think that the evils +suffered by the sipahees are much greater and more numerous than they +really are, and grant leave to enable them to prosecute their claims +to redress more often than is necessary. Men who want leave, when +they are not otherwise entitled to it, feign wrongs which they never +suffered, or greatly exaggerate such as may really have been +inflicted on them in order to obtain it; or, as I have stated, lend +their names to others and ask leave to prosecute claims with which +they have really nothing whatever to do. The sipahees and native +officers of our army are little better with than they would be +without the privilege; and a great many enlist or remain in the +service solely with the view of better prosecuting their claims, and +resign or desert as soon as they have effected their purpose, or find +that the privilege is no longer necessary. They make a convenience in +this way of our service, and are the most useless soldiers in our +ranks. I am persuaded that we should have from Oude just as many and +as good recruits for our army without as with this privilege. + +The regiments of the Gwalior Contingent get just as good recruits +from Oude as those of the Line, though they do not enjoy the +privilege. I believe that those corps which did not enjoy the +privilege till within the last two years got just as good recruits +from Oude as they now do, since it has been extended to them. Till +1848 the privilege was limited to the native officers and soldiers of +our regular army, and to such as had been drafted from our regular +army into local corps up to a certain date; but in July of that year +the privilege was extended to all corps, regular and irregular, +attached to the Bengal, Madras, and Bombay Presidencies, which are +paid by the British Government. The feelings and opinions of the Oude +Government had not been consulted in the origin of this privilege, +nor were they now consulted in the extension given to it. + + +Officers commanding regiments and companies complain that the +sipahees and native officers never get redress, whatever trouble they +take to obtain it for them; and, I believe, they hardly ever hear a +sipahee or native officer acknowledge that he has had redress. A +sipahee one day came to the first Assistant, Captain Shakespear, +clamouring for justice, and declared that not the slightest notice +had been taken of his petition by the Oude Government or its local +authorities. On being questioned, he admitted that no less than forty +persons had been seized and were in prison on his requisition; but he +would not admit that this was any proof of the slightest notice +having been taken of his complaint. All are worried, and but few +benefited by the privilege, and the advantage of it to the army never +can counterbalance all the disadvantages. Invalid pensioners do not +now enjoy the privilege, but are left to prefer their claims direct +to the King's Courts, like others of the King's subjects, on the +ground that they cannot--like _sipahees still serving_--plead +distance from their homes; but a large proportion of the sipahees +still serving who have, or pretend to have, claims, obtain leave of +absence from their regiments to prosecute them in person. + +The objection once raised by Lord William Bentinck against our +employing troops in support of the Government of Oude against +refractory landholders, is equally valid against our advocacy of the +claims of sipahees to lands. "If," said his Lordship, "British troops +be lent to enforce submission, it seems impossible to avoid becoming +parties to the terms of submission and guarantees of their observance +afterwards on both sides; in which case we should become mixed up in +every detail of the administration." If the sipahee does not pay +punctually the assessment upon the lands which he has obtained +through the Resident, the Oude Government calls upon the Resident to +enforce payment; and if the Oude Government ventures to add a rupee +to the rate demanded for the year, or for any one year, the sipahee, +through the commandant of his corps, and, perhaps, the Commander-in- +Chief and Governor-General, calls upon the Resident to have the rate +reduced, or to explain the grounds upon which it has been made; or if +the sipahee has a dispute with his numerous co-sharers, the Resident +is called upon to settle it. If the King's troops have trespassed, if +the crops have suffered from calamities of season or marauders, or +the village has been robbed, the sipahee refuses to pay, and demands +a remission of the Government demand; and if he does not get it, +appeals in the same manner to the Resident. If a sipahee be arrested +or detained for defalcation, a demand comes for his immediate +release; and if his crops or stock be distrained for balance, or +lands attached, the Resident is called upon to ascertain and explain +the reason why, and obtain redress. All such distraint is represented +as open robbery and pillage. + +It is not at all uncommon for a sipahee to obtain leave of absence +from his regiment three or four times to enable him to prosecute the +same case in person at Lucknow, though he might prosecute it just as +well through an attorney. He often enjoys himself at his home while +his attorney prosecutes his claim, if he really has any, at Lucknow. +The commanding officers of his regiment and company of course believe +all he says regarding the pressing necessity for his presence at +Lucknow; and few of them know that the cases are derided in the +King's Courts, and that the Resident could not possibly decide them +himself if he had five times the establishment he has and full powers +to do so. If the Resident finds that a sipahee has lent his name to +another, and reports his conduct, he makes out a plausible tale, +which his commanding officer believes to be true; the Commander-in- +Chief is referred to; the case is submitted to the Governor-General, +and sometimes to the Court of Directors, and a voluminous +correspondence follows, till the Resident grows weary, and the +sipahee escapes with impunity. In the mean time, troops of witnesses +have been worried to show that the sipahee has no connection whatever +with the estate, or thing claimed in his name, or with the family to +whom his name was lent. Many a man has, in this way, as above stated, +been robbed of an estate which his family had held for many +generations; and many a village which had been occupied by an honest +and industrious peasantry has been turned into a den of robbers. In +flagrant cases of false claims, the Resident may get the attorney, +employed by the sipahee in prosecuting it, punished by the Durbar, +but he can rarely hope to get the sipahee himself punished. + +In a case that occurred shortly before I took charge, a sipahee +complained that a tallookdar had removed him, or his friends, from +their village by over exactions, demanding two thousand eight hundred +rupees a-year instead of eight hundred. An ameen was sent out to the +district to settle the affair. Having some influence at Court, he got +the sipahee put into possession, at the rate of eight hundred, and +obtained from him a pledge to pay to him, the ameen, a large portion +of the _two thousand_ profit! The tallookdar, being a powerful man, +made the contractor reduce his demand upon his estate, of which the +village was a part, in proportion; and the contractor made the +Government give him credit for the whole two thousand eight hundred, +which the estate was well able to pay, in any other hands, and ought +to have paid. The holder continued, I believe, to pay the ameen, who +continued to give him the benefit of his influence at Court. Cases of +this kind are not uncommon. The Resident is expected by commandants +of corps and companies to secure every native officer and sipahee in +the possession of his estate at a fixed rate, in perpetuity; and as +many of their relations and friends as may contrive to have their +claims presented through the Resident in their names. He is expected +to adjust all disputes that may arise between them and their co- +sharers and neighbours; or between them and their landholders and +Government officers; to examine all their complicated accounts of +collections and balances, fair payments, and secret gratuities. + +Sipahees commonly enter the service under false names, and give false +names to their relatives and places of abodes, in order that they may +not be traced if they desert; or that the truth may not be discovered +if they pretend to be of higher caste than they really are, or +otherwise offend. When they find, in the prosecution of their claims +through the Resident, that this is discovered, they find an alias for +each name, whether of person, place, or thing: the troubles and +perplexities which arise from this privilege are endless. + +The Court of Directors, in a despatch dated the 4th March, 1840, +remarking on a report dated the 29th November, 1838, from the +Resident, Colonel Low, relating to abuses arising from the +interference of the Resident in respect to complaints preferred by +subjects of Oude serving in our army, observes, "that these abuses +appear to be even more flagrant than the Court had previously +believed them to be, and no time ought to be lost in applying an +effectual remedy: cases are not wanting in which complaints and +claims, that are utterly groundless, meet with complete success, the +officers of the Oude Government finding it less troublesome to comply +with the unjust demand than to investigate the case in such a manner +as to satisfy the Resident; and the Oude Government, for the purpose +of getting rid of importunity, reduces the assessment on the lands of +these favoured individuals, making up the loss by increased exactions +from their neighbours." The Court orders the immediate abolition of +the privilege in the case of invalided and pensioned sipahees, and +directs that those still serving in our army be no longer allowed to +complain in respect of all their relatives, real or pretended, but +only in cases in which they themselves, their parents, wives, or +children are actually interested. "All unfounded complaints, and all +false allegations made in order to render complaints cognizable, +ought to be, when discovered, _punishable by our own military +authorities, who ought not to be remiss in inflicting such punishment +when justly incurred_." "Under the restrictions which we have +enjoined," continues the Court, "the trial may once more be made +whether this privilege is compatible with good government in Oude, +and with the rightful authority of the King of Oude and his officers. +Should the abuses which have prevailed still continue under the +altered system, the whole subject must be again taken into +consideration, and the Resident is to be required to submit a report +on the operation of the privilege after the expiration of one year." + +How the rule with regard to relationship is evaded has been already +stated, and among the numerous instances of this evasion that have +been discovered every year since this order of the Honourable Court +was passed, the offence has never been punished by any military +authority in one. The Resident has no hope, nor the sipahee any fear, +that such an offence will ever be punished by a court-martial; and +the former feels averse to trespass on the time and attention of the +Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief with such references. He +hardly ever submits them till the necessity is forced upon him by +references made to the Commander-in-Chief, by officers commanding +regiments, in behalf of offenders in whose veracity they are disposed +to place too much confidence. + +In one of the cases quoted by Colonel Low in his letter of the 29th +November, 1838, Reotee Barn, a sipahee, claimed a village, which was +awarded to him by the Court, without due inquiry, to avoid further +importunity. The owner in possession would not give it up. A large +force was sent to enforce the award; lives were lost; the real owner +was seized and thrown into gaol, and there died. Reotee Ram had no +right whatever to the village, and he could not retain possession +among such a sturdy peasantry. His commanding officer again appealed +to the Commander-in-Chief, and the case was referred to the Governor- +General and to the Honourable the Court of Directors, and a +voluminous correspondence took place. It was afterwards fully proved, +that the sipahee, Reotee Ram, had never had the slightest ground of +claim to the village; and had been induced to set up one solely at +the instigation of an interested attorney with whom he was to share +the profits. + +In another case quoted by Colonel Low in that letter, a pay havildar +of the 58th Regiment complained, jointly with his brother Cheyda, +through the Commander-in-Chief, to the Governor-General, in June +1831, stating, that Rajah Prethee Put had murdered two of his +relations, plundered his house, burnt his title-deeds, cut down five +of his mango-groves, seized seventy-three beegahs of land belonging +to him, of hereditary right, turned all his family out of the +village, including the widows of the two murdered men, and still held +in confinement his relative Teekaram, a sipahee of the Bombay army. +On investigation before the Assistant Resident, Captain Shakespear, +the havildar and Cheyda admitted-first, that Teekaram had rejoined +his regiment before they complained; second, that of the two murdered +men, one had been killed fifty-five years before, and the other +twenty years, and that both had fallen in affrays between +landholders, in which many lives had been lost on both sides; third, +that he had never himself held the lands, and that his father had +been forty years before deprived of them by the father of Cheyda, who +had the best claim to them, and had mortgaged them to a Brahmin, from +whom Prethee Put had taken them for defalcation; fourth, that it was +not his own claim he was urging, but that of Cheyda, who was not his +brother, but the great grandson of his grandfather's brother, and +that he had never been in the British service; fifth, that the lands +had been taken from his father by Cheyda's father fourteen years +before he, the havildar, entered the British service twenty-eight +years ago; sixth, that his family had lost nothing in the village, by +Prethee Put, and that the persons deprived of their mango-groves were +only very distantly related to him. + +Fuzl Allee, a notorious knave, having, in collusion with the local +authorities of the district, taken from Hufeez-ollah the village of +Dewa, which had been held by his family in proprietory right for many +generations, and tried to extort from him a written resignation of +all his rights to the lands, Hufeez-ollah made his escape, and went +to Lucknow to seek redress. During his absence his relations tried to +recover possession, and in the contest one of Fuzl Allee's followers +was killed. Fuzl Allee then prevailed upon Ihsan Allee, a pay +havildar in the 9th Regiment of our Cavalry, who was in no way +whatever connected with the parties, and had no claim whatever on the +lands, to present a petition to the Resident, charging Hufeez-ollah +with having committed a gang-robbery upon his house, and murdered one +of his servants. Hufeez-ollah was seized and thrown into prison, and +the case was made over for trial to Zakir Allee. No proof whatever +having been adduced against him for four months, Zakir Allee declared +him innocent, and applied for his release; but before his application +reached the Durbar, another petition was presented to the Resident, +Colonel Richmond, in the name of the pay havildar; and the Durbar +ordered that the case should be made over to the Court of Mahommed +Hyat, and that the prisoner should not be released without a +settlement and the previous sanction of the Durbar, as the affair +related to the English. + +The prisoner proved that he was at Lucknow at the time of the affray, +and that the lands in dispute had belonged to his family for many +generations. No proof whatever was produced against him, but by +frequently changing the attorneys of the pay havildar, pretending +that he required to attend in person but could not get leave of +absence, and other devices, Fuzl Allee contrived to postpone the +final decision till the 27th of February, 1849, when Mahommed Hyat +acquitted the prisoner, and declared that the pay havildar had in +reality no connection whatever either with the parties or with the +lands; that his name had been used by Fuzl Allee for his own evil +purposes; that he had become very uneasy at the thought of keeping an +innocent man so long in prison merely to gratify the malice and evil +designs of his enemy; and prayed the Durbar to call upon the +prosecutor to prove his charges before the Minister or other high +officer within a certain period, or to direct the release of the poor +man. + +On the 16th of January, 1852, the prisoner sent a petition to the +Resident, Colonel Sleeman, to say, that after he had been acquitted +by Mahommed Hyat on the 27th of February, 1849, his enemy, Fuzl +Allee, had contrived to prevail upon the Durbar to have his case made +over to the Court of the Suder-os Sudoor, by whom he had been a third +time acquitted; but that the Durbar dared not order his release, as +the case was one in which British officers were concerned. He +therefore prayed that the Resident would request the King to order +his release, on his giving security for his appearance when required, +as he had been in prison for more than four years. On the 24th of +January, 1852, the Resident requested the King to have the prisoner +immediately released. This was the first time that the case came to +the notice of Colonel Sleeman, though Hufeez-ollah had been four +years in prison, under a fictitious charge from the pay havildar. + +_January_ 11, 1850.--At Nawabgunge, detained by rain, which fell +heavily all last night, to the great delight of the _landed +interest_, and great discomfort of travellers. Nothing but mud around +us--our tents wet through, but standing, and the ground inside of +them dry. Fortunately there has been no strong wind with the heavy +rain, and we console ourselves with the thought that the small +inconvenience which travellers suffer from such rain at this season +is trifling, compared with the advantage which millions of our +fellow-creatures derive from it. This is what I have heard all native +travellers say, however humble or however great--all sympathise with +the landed interests in a country where industry is limited almost +exclusively to the culture of the soil, and the revenue of the +sovereign derived almost exclusively from the land. After such rains +the cold increases--the spirits rise--the breezes freshen--the crops +look strong--the harvest is retarded--the grain gets more sap and +becomes perfect--the cold season is prolonged, as the crops remain +longer green, and continue to condense the moisture of the +surrounding atmosphere. Without such late rain, the crops ripen +prematurely, the grain becomes shrivelled, and defective both in +quantity and quality. While the rain lasts, however, a large camp is +a wretched scene; for few of the men, women, and children, and still +fewer of the animals it contains, can find any shelter at all! + +_January_ 12, 1850.-At Nawabgunge, still detained by rain. The +Minister had ordered out tents for himself and suite on the 8th, but +they had not come up, and I was obliged to lend him one of my best, +and some others as they came up, or they would have been altogether +without shelter. When he left them on the 10th, his attendants cut +and took away almost all the ropes, some of the kanats or outer +walls, and some of the carpets. He knew nothing about it, nor will he +ever learn anything till told by me. His attendants were plundering +in all the surrounding villages while he remained; and my people +tried in vain to prevent them, lest they should themselves be taken +for the plunderers. Of all this the Minister knew nothing. The +attendants on the contractors and other local officers are, if +possible, still worse; and throughout the country the King's officers +all plunder, or acquiesce in the plunder, utterly regardless of the +sufferings of the people and the best interests of their Sovereign. +No precaution whatever is taken to prevent this indiscriminate +plunder by the followers of the local authorities; nor would any one +of them think it worth his while to interpose if he saw the roofs of +the houses of a whole village moving off on the heads of his +followers to his camp; or a fine crop of sugar-cane, wheat, or +vegetables cut down for fodder by them before his face. It is the +fashion of the country, and the Government acquiesces in it. + +Among the people no man feels mortified, or apprehends that he shall +stand the worse in the estimation of the Government or its officers, +for being called and proved to be a robber. It is the trade of every +considerable landholder in the country occasionally, and that of a +great many of them perpetually; the murder of men, women, and +children generally attends their depredations. A few days ago, when +requested by the King to apply to officers commanding stations, and +magistrates of bordering districts, for aid in the arrest of some of +the most atrocious of these rebels and robbers, I told his Majesty, +that out of consideration for the poor people who suffered, I had +made a requisition for that aid for the arrest of three of the worst +of them; but that I could make no further requisition until he did +something to remove the impression now universal over Oude, that +those who protected their peasantry managed their estates well, +obeyed the Government in all things, and paid the revenue punctually, +were sure to be oppressed, and ultimately ruined by the Government +and its officers, while those who did the reverse in all these things +were equally sure to be favoured and courted. + +As an instance, I mentioned Gholam Huzrut, who never paid his +revenues, oppressed his peasantry, murdered his neighbours, and +robbed them of their estates, attacked and plundered the towns around +with his large band of robbers, and kept the country in a perpetual +state of disorder; yet, when seized and sent in a prisoner to Lucknow +by Captain Bunbury, he managed to bribe courtiers, and get orders +sent out to the local authorities to have his son kept in possession +of all his ill-gotten lands, and favoured and protected in all +possible ways. I knew that such orders had been obtained by bribery; +and the Minister told me, that he had ordered nothing more than that +the son should have the little land which had been held of old by the +family, and should be required to give up all that he had usurped. I +showed him a copy of the order issued by his confidential servant, +Abid Allee, to all commanders of troops in the district, which had +been obtained for me for the occasion of the Minister's visit to my +camp; and he seemed much ashamed to see that his subordinates should +so abase the confidence he placed in them. The order was as follows:- + + "_To the Officers commanding the Forces in the District + of Sidhore, Nawabgunge, Dewa, &c._ + +"By Order of the Minister.--The King's chuprassies have been sent to +Para to invite in Bhikaree the son of Gholam Huzrut; and you all are +informed that the said Bhikaree is to be honoured and cherished by +the favour of the King; and if any of you should presume to prevent +his coming in, or molest him in the possession of any of the lands he +holds, you will incur the severe displeasure of his Majesty. You are, +on no account, to molest or annoy him in any way connected with his +affairs. + + (Signed) "ABID ALLEE." + +The thing necessary in Oude is a system and a machinery that shall +inspire all with a feeling-first, of security in their tenure in +office so long as the duties of it are performed ably and honestly; +second, in their tenure in their lands assessed at moderate rates, as +long as the rents and revenues so assessed are fully and punctually +paid, and the duties of the holders towards the Government, their +tenants, and the public, are faithfully discharged; third, in the +safety of life, person, and property on the roads and in the towns, +villages, and hamlets scattered over the country. This good can never +be effected with the present system and machinery, whatever be the +ability and diligence of the King, the Minister, and the Resident; be +they of the highest possible order, the good they can effect must be +small and temporary; there can be, under such a system, no stability +in any rule, no feeling of security in any person or thing! + +A tribunal, formed under the guarantee of the British Government, +might, possibly--first, form a settlement of the land revenue of the +whole country, and effectually enforce from all parties, the +fulfilment of the conditions it imposed; second, decide, finally, +upon all charges against public officers--protect the able and +honest, and punish all those who neglect their duties or abuse their +authority; third, reform the military force in all its branches--give +it the greatest possible efficiency, compatible with the outlay-- +concentrate it at five or six stations, and protect the people of the +country from its rapacity; fourth, raise and form a police, distinct +altogether from this military force, and efficient for all the duties +required from it; fifth, create and maintain judicial courts to which +all classes might look up with confidence and respect. But to effect +all this it would require to transfer at least twenty-five lacs of +rupees a-year from the pockets of official absorbants and Court +favourites to those of efficient public officers; and, finally, to +set aside the present King, Minister, and Commander-in-Chief, and +take all the executive upon itself. + +The expenditure is now about twenty lacs of rupees a-year above the +income, and the excess is paid out of the reserved treasury. This +reserved treasury was first established by Saadut Allee Khan in A.D. +1801, when he had serious thoughts of resigning the government of his +country into the hands of the Honourable Company, and retiring into +private life. Up to this time he used to drink hard, and to indulge +in other pleasures, which tended to unfit him for the cares and +duties of sovereignty; but, in 1801, he made a solemn vow at the +shrine of Huzrut Abbas at Lucknow to cease from all such indulgences, +and devote all his time and attention to his public duties. This vow +he kept, and no Sovereign of Oude has ever conducted the Government +with so much ability as he did for the remaining fourteen years of +his life. On his death, which took place on the 12th of July, 1814, +he left in this reserved treasury the sum of fourteen crores of +rupees, or fourteen millions sterling, with all his establishments +paid up, and his just debts liquidated. When he ascended the musnud +on the 21st January, 1798, he found nothing in the Treasury, and the +public establishments all much in arrears. + +Out of this reserved treasure, the _zukaat_, or two and a-half per +cent., is every year paid to the mojtahid for distribution among the +poor of the Sheea sect at Lucknow. No person of the Sonnee sect is +permitted to partake of this charity. Syuds or lineal descendants of +the Prophet are not permitted to take any part of this charity, +except for the _bona fide_ payment of debt due. The mojtahid is, at +the same time, the high priest and the highest judicial functionary +in the State. Being a Syud, neither he nor any member of his family +can legally take any part of this charity for themselves, except for +the _bona fide_ purpose of paying debts; but they get over the +difficulty by borrowing large sums before the money is given out, and +appropriate the greater part of the money to the liquidation of these +debts, though they all hold large sums in our Government securities. +To his friends at Court he sends a large share, with a request that +they will do him the favour to undertake the distribution among the +poor of their neighbourhood. To prevent popular clamour, a small +portion of the money given out is actually distributed among the poor +of the Sheea sect at Lucknow; but that portion is always small. + +Saadut Allee's son and successor, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, spent four +crores out of the reserved treasury over and above the whole income +of the State; and when he died, on the 20th of October, 1827, he left +ten crores of rupees in that treasury. His son and successor, +Nusseer-od Deen Hyder, spent nine crores and thirty lacs; and when he +died, on the 7th of July, 1837, he left only seventy lacs in the +reserved treasury. His successor, Mahommed Allee Shah, died on the +16th of May, 1842, leaving in the reserved treasury thirty-five lacs +of rupees, one hundred and twenty-four thousand gold mohurs, and +twenty-four lacs in our Government securities--total, seventy-eight +lacs and eighty-four thousand rupees. His son and successor, Amjud +Allee Shah, died on the 13th of February, 1847, leaving in the +reserved treasury ninety-two lacs of rupees, one hundred and twenty- +four thousand gold-mohurs, and twenty-four lacs in our Government +securities--total, one crore and thirty-six lacs. His son and +successor, his present Majesty, Wajid Allee Shah, is spending out of +this reserved treasury, over and above the whole income of the +country, above twenty lacs of rupees a-year; and the treasury must +soon become exhausted. His public establishments, and the stipendiary +members of the royal family, are, at the same time, kept greatly in +arrears.* + +[* _November_ 30, 1851.--The gold-mohurs have been all melted down, +and the promissory notes of our Government all, save four lacs, given +away; and of the rupees, I believe, only three lacs remain; so that +the reserved treasury must be entirely exhausted before the end of +1851; while the establishments and stipendiary members of the royal +family are in arrears for from one to three years. Fifty lacs of +rupees would hardly suffice to pay off these arrears. The troops on +detached duty, in the provinces with local officers, are not so much +in arrears as those in and about the capital. They are paid out of +the revenues as they are collected, and their receipts sent in to the +treasury. For some good or pleasing services rendered by him to the +minister this year, in the trial of offenders whom that minister +wished to screen, three lacs of rupees have been paid to the mojtahid +as _zukaat_ for distribution to the poor. This has all been +appropriated by the mojtahid, the minister, and Court favourites. + +The State, like individuals, is bound to pay this _zukaat_ only when +it is free from debts of all kinds. The present King's father was +free from debt, and had his establishments always paid up; and he +always paid this charity punctually. The present King is not bound to +pay it, but the high-priest, minister, and Court favourites are too +deeply interested in its payment to permit its discontinuance; and +the king, like a mere child in their hands, acquiesces in all they +propose. The _zukaat_ has, in consequence, increased as the treasury +has become exhausted.] + +_January_ 13, 1850.--Russoolabad, twelve miles, over a country better +peopled and cultivated than usual, where the soil admits of tillage. +There is a good deal that requires drainage, and still more that is +too poor to be tilled without great labour and outlay in irrigation, +manure, &c. The villages are, however, much nearer to each other than +in any other part of the country that we have passed over; and the +lands, close around every village, are well cultivated. The +landholders and cultivators told me, that the heavy rain we have had +has done a vast deal of good to the crops; and, as it has been +followed by a clear sky and fine westerly wind, they have no fear of +the blight which might have followed had the sky continued cloudy, +and the winds easterly. Certainly nothing could look better than the +crops of all kinds do now, and the people are busily engaged in +ploughing the land for sugar-cane, and for the autumn crops of next +season. + +I had some talk with the head zumeendar of Naraenpoor about midway. +He is of the Ditchit family of Rajpoots, who abound in the district +we have now entered. We passed over the boundary of Byswara, about +three miles from our last encampment, and beyond that district there +are but few Rajpoots of the Bys clan. These Ditchits give their +daughters in marriage to the Bys Rajpoots, but cannot get any of +theirs in return. Gunga Sing, the zumeendar, with whom I was talking, +told me that both the Ditchits and Byses put their infant daughters +to death, and that the practice prevailed more or less in all +families of these and, he believed, all other clans of Rajpoots in +Oude, save the Sengers.* I asked him whether it prevailed in his own +family, and he told me that it did, more or less, as in all others. I +bade him leave me, as I could not hold converse with a person guilty +of such atrocities, and told him that they would be all punished for +them in the next world, if not in this. + +[* The Sengers are almost the only class of Rajpoots in Bundelkund, +and Boghilcund, Rewa, and the Saugor territories, who used to put +their female infants to death; and here, in Oude, they are almost the +only class who do not.] + + +Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, who was on his horse beside my elephant, said, +"They are all punished in this world, and will, no doubt, be punished +still more in the next. Scarcely any of the heads of these landed +aristocracy are the legitimate sons of their predecessors; they are +all adopted, or born of women of inferior grade. The heads of +families who commit or tolerate such atrocities become leprous, +blind, deaf or dumb, or are carried off in early life by some +terrible disease. Hardly any of them attain a good old age, nor can +they boast of an untainted line of ancestors like other men. If they +get sons, they commonly die young. They unite themselves to women of +inferior castes for want of daughters in families of their own ranks, +and there is hardly a family among these proud Rajpoots unstained by +such connections.* Even the reptile _Pausies_ become _Rajpoots_ by +giving their daughters to Powars and other Rajpoot families, when by +robbery and murder they have acquired wealth and landed property. The +sister of Gunga Buksh, of Kasimgunge, was married to the Rajah of +Etondeea, a Powar Rajpoot in Mahona; and the present Rajah--Jode +Sing--is her son. Gunga Buksh is a Pausee, but the family call +themselves Rawats, and are considered to be Rajpoots, since they have +acquired landed possessions by the murder and ruin of the old +proprietors. They all delight in murder and rapine--the curse of God +is upon them, sir, for the murder of their own innocent children!" + + +[* A great number of girls are purchased and stolen from our +territories, brought into Oude, and sold to Rajpoot families, as +wives for their sons, on the assurance, that they are of the same or +higher caste, and that their parents have been induced to part with +them from poverty. A great many of our native officers and sipahees, +who marry while home on furlough, and are pressed for time, get such +wives. Some of their neighbours are always bribed by the traders in +such girls, to pledge themselves for the purity of their blood. If +they ever find out the imposition, they say nothing about it.] + +"When I was sent out to inquire into the case of Brigadier Webber, +who had been attacked and robbed while travelling in his palkee, with +relays of bearers, from Lucknow to Seetapoor, I entered a house to +make some inquiries, and found the mistress weeping. I asked the +cause, and she told me that she had had four children, and lost all-- +that three of them were girls, who had been put to death in infancy, +and the last was a fine boy, who had just died! I told her that this +was a just punishment from God for the iniquities of her family, and +that I would neither wash my hands nor drink water under her roof. I +never do under the roof of any family in which such a cruel practice +prevails. These Rajpoots are all a bad set, sir. When men murder +their own children, how can they scruple to murder other people? The +curse of God is upon them, sir. + +"In the district of Byswara," he continued, "through which we have +just passed, you will find at least fifty thousand men armed to fight +against each other, or their government and its officers: in such a +space, under the Honourable Company's dominion, you would not find +one thousand armed men of the same class. Why is this, but because +you do not allow such crimes to be perpetrated? Why do you go on +acquiring dominion over one country after another with your handful +of European troops and small force of native sipahees, but because +God sees that your rule is just, and that you have an earnest desire +to benefit the people and improve the countries you take?" + +He told me that he had charge of the cattle under Saadut Allee Khan +when Lord Lake took the field at the first siege of Bhurtpoor; that +his master lent his Lordship five hundred elephants, eight thousand +artillery bullocks, and five hundred horses; that two hundred and +fifty of the elephants returned; but whether any of the bullocks and +horses came back or not he could not say. + +The country we came over to-day is well studded with groves and fine +single trees, but the soil is generally of the lighter doomuteea +kind, which requires much labour and outlay in water and manure. The +irrigation is all from wells and pools. In the villages we came +through, we saw but few of the sipahees of our army home on furlough; +they are chiefly from the Byswara and Bunoda districts. We found our +tents pitched upon a high and dry spot, with a tight soil of clay and +sand. After the heavy rain we have had, it looked as if no shower had +fallen upon it for an age. The mud walls of the houses we saw on the +road were naked, as usual. The rapacity of the King's troops is +everywhere, directly or indirectly, the cause of this: and till they +are better provided and disciplined the houses in the towns and +villages can never improve. + +The commandant, Imdad Hoseyn, of the Akberee or Telinga Regiment, on +duty with the Amil of the Poorwa district, in which our camp was last +pitched, followed me a few miles this morning to beg that I would try +to prevail upon the Durbar to serve out clothing for his corps. He +told me that the last clothing it got from the Government was on the +occasion of Lord Hastings' visit to Lucknow, some thirty-three years +ago, in 1817; that many orders had been given since that time for new +clothing, but there was always some one about Court to counteract +them, from malice or selfishness; that his father, Zakir Allee, +commanded the corps when it got the last clothing, and he succeeded +him many years ago. The Telinga Regiments are provided with arms, +accoutrements, and clothing by Government. The sipahees formerly got +five rupees a-month, but for only ten months in the year; they now +get four rupees and three and a-half annas a-month for all the twelve +months. 'He is, he says, obliged to take a great many _sufarashies_, +or men put in by persons of influence at Court, out of favour, or for +the purpose of sharing in their pay; and, under the deductions and +other disadvantages to which they are liable, he could get no good +men to enlist. The corps, in consequence, has a wretched appearance, +and certainly could not be made formidable to an enemy. The "Akbery" +is one of the Telinga corps of infantry, and was intended to be, in +all things, like those of Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and Magness; but +Imdad Hoseyn told me that they had a certain weight at Court, which +secured for their regiments many advantages necessary to make the +corps efficient, while he had none: that they had occasional +intercourse with the Resident, and were all at Court for some months +in the year to make friends, while he was always detached. + +_January_ 14, 1850.--Halted at Russoolabad, for our second set of +tents, which did not come up till night, when it was too late to send +them on to our next ground. We have two sets of sleeping and dining +tents--one to go on and the other to remain during the night--but +only one set of office tents. They are struck in the afternoon, when +the office duties of the day are over, and are ready by the time we +reach our ground the next morning. This is the way in which all +public functionaries march in India. Almost all officers who have +revenue charges march through the districts under their jurisdiction +during the cold season, and so do many political officers who have +control over more than one native principality. I have had charges +that require such moving ever since the year 1822, or for some +twenty-eight years; and with the exception of two intervals of +absence on medical certificate in 1826 and 1836, I have been every +cold season moving in the way I describe. + +No Resident at the Court of Lucknow ever before moved, over the +country as I am doing to inquire into the condition of the people, +the state of the country, and character of the administration; nor +would it be desirable for them to do so unless trained to civil +business, and able and disposed to commune freely with the people of +all classes. The advantages would hardly counterbalance the +disadvantages. When I apologize to the peasantry for the unavoidable +trespasses of my camp, they always reply good-humouredly, "The losses +we suffer from them are small and temporary, while the good we hope +from your visit is great and permanent." Would that I could realize +the hopes to which my visit gives rise. + +_January_ 15, 1850.--To Meeangunge, five miles, over a plain of good +doomuteea soil, well studded with trees; but much of the land lies +waste, and many of the villages and hamlets are unoccupied and in +ruins. We passed the boundary of the Russoolabad district, about two +miles from our last ground, and crossed into that of Meeangunge or +Safeepoor. The Russoolabad district was held in contract for some +years by one of the greatest knaves in Oude, Buksh Allee, a dome by +caste, whose rise to wealth and influence may be described as +illustrative of the manners and customs of the Lucknow Court and +Government. This man and his deputy, Munsab Allee, reduced a good +deal of the land of the district to waste, and depopulated many of +its villages and hamlets by over-exactions and by an utter disregard +of their engagements with the landholders and cultivators; and they +were in league with many atrocious highway robbers, who plundered and +murdered so many travellers along the high road leading from Lucknow +to Cawnpoor, which runs through the district, that it was deemed +unsafe to pass it except in strong bodies. + +When I took charge of my office in January last, they used to seize +every good-looking girl or young woman, passing the roads with +parents and husbands, who were too poor to purchase redress at Court, +and make slaves or concubines of them; and, feeling strong in the +assurance of protection from the fiddlers in the palace, who are of +the same caste--domes--Buksh Allee defied all authority, and kept +those girls and women in his camp and house at Lucknow, while their +parents and husbands, for months and years, in vain besought all who +were likely to have the least influence or authority to interpose for +their release. Some of them came to me soon after I took charge, and, +having collected sufficient proof of these atrocities, and of some +robberies which he had committed or caused to be committed along the +high road, I insisted upon his being deprived of his charges and +punished. He remained for many months concealed in the city, but was +at last seized by some of the Frontier Police, under the guidance of +an excellent officer, Lieutenant Weston, the Superintendent. + +I had prevailed on the King to offer two thousand rupees for his +apprehension, and the two thousand rupees were distributed among the +captors. The girls and young women were released, their parents and +husbands compensated for the sufferings they had endured, and many of +the persons who had been robbed by him and his deputy had the value +of their lost property made good. Great impediments were thrown in +the way of all this by people of influence about Court; but they were +all surmounted by great skill and energy on the part of Lieutenant +Weston and steady perseverance on mine; and Buksh Allee remained in +gaol, treated as a common felon, till all was effected. All had, in +appearance, been done by the King's officers, but in reality by ours, +under his Majesty's sanction, for it was clear that nothing would be +done unless we supervised and guided their proceedings. The district +is now held in contract by a very respectable man, Mahommed Uskaree, +who has taken it for four years. + +The district of Safeepoor, in which we are now encamped, has been +held in contract for five years by Budreenath, a merchant of Lucknow, +who had given security for the former contractor. He could not fulfil +his engagements to Government, and the contract was made over to him +as surety, on condition that he paid the balance. He has held it ever +since, while his younger brother, Kiddernath, has conducted their +mercantile affairs at Lucknow. Budreenath has always considered the +affair as a mercantile speculation, and thought of nothing but the +amount he has to pay to Government and that which he can squeeze out +of the landholders and cultivators. He is a bad manager; the lands +are badly tilled, and the towns, villages, and hamlets are scantily +peopled and most wretched in appearance. + +Near the border, we passed one village, Mahommedpoor, entirely in +ruins. After some search we found a solitary man of the Pausee tribe, +who told us that it had been held for many generations by the family +of Rugonath, a Gouree Rajpoot, who paid for it at an uniform rate of +six hundred rupees a-year. About three years ago the contractor +demanded from him an increased rate, which he could not pay. Being +sorely pressed, he fled to the jungles with the few of his clan that +he could collect, and ordered all the cultivators to follow his +fortunes. They were of a different clan--mostly Bagheelas--and +declined the honour. He urged that, if they followed him for a season +or two, the village would be left untilled, and yield nothing to the +contractor, who would be constrained to restore him to possession at +the rate which his ancestors had paid; that his family had nothing +else to depend upon, and if they did not desert the land and take to +the jungles and plunder with him, he must, of necessity, plunder +them. They had never done so, and would not do so now. He attacked +and plundered the village three times, killed three men, and drove +all the rest to seek shelter and employment in other villages around. +Not a soul but himself, our informant, was left, and the lands lay +waste. Rogonath Sing rented a little land in the village of Gouree, +many miles off, and in another district, still determined to allow no +man but himself to hold the village or restore its tillage and +population. This, said the Pausee, is the usage of the country, and +the only way in which a landholder can honestly or effectually defend +himself against the contractor, who would never regard his rights +unless he saw that he was prepared to defend them in this way, and +determined to involve all under him in his own ruin, depopulate his +estate, and lay waste his lands. + +Meean Almas, after whom this place, Meeangunge, takes his name, was +an eunuch. He had a brother, Rahmut, after whom the town of +Rahmutgunge, which we passed some days ago, took its name. Meean +Almas was the greatest and best man of any note that Oude has +produced. He held for about forty years this and other districts, +yielding to the Oude Government an annual revenue of about eighty +lacs of rupees. During all this time he kept the people secure in +life and property, and as happy as people in such a state of society +can be; and the whole country under his charge was, during his life- +time, a garden. He lived here in a style of great magnificence, and +was often visited by his sovereign, who used occasionally to spend a +month at a time with him at Meeangunge. A great portion of the lands +held by him were among those made over to the British Government, on +the division of the Oude territory, by the treaty of 1801, concluded +between Saadut Allee Khan and the then Governor-General Lord +Wellesley. + +The country was then divided into equal shares, according to the +rent-roll at the time. The half made over to the British Government +has been ever since yielding more revenue to us, while that retained +by the sovereign of Oude has been yielding less and less to him; and +ours now yields, in land-revenue, stamp-duty, and the tax on spirits, +two crore and twelve lacs a-year, while the reserved half now yields +to Oude only about one crore, or one crore and ten lacs. When the +cession took place, each half was estimated at one crore and thirty- +three lacs. Under good management the Oude share might, in a few +years, be made equal to ours, and perhaps better, for the greater +part of the lands in our share have been a good deal impoverished by +over-cropping, while those of the Oude share have been improved by +long fallows. Lands of the same natural quality in Oude, under good +tillage, now pay a much higher rate of rent than they do in our half +of the estate. + +Almas Allee Khan, at the close of his life, was supposed to have +accumulated immense wealth; but when he died he was found to have +nothing, to the great mortification of his sovereign, who seized upon +all. Large sums of money had been lent by him to the European +merchants at Lucknow, as well as to native merchants all over the +country. When he found his end approaching, he called for all their +bonds and destroyed them. Mr. Ousely and Mr. Paul were said to have +at that time owed to him more than three lacs of rupees each. His +immense income he had expended in useful works, liberal hospitality, +and charity. He systematically kept in check the tallookdars, or +great landholders; fostered the smaller, and encouraged and protected +the better classes of cultivators, such as Lodhies, Koormies, and +Kachies, whom he called and considered his children. His reign over +the large extent of country under his jurisdiction is considered to +have been its golden age. Many of the districts which he held were +among those transferred to the British Government by the treaty of +1801; and they were estimated at the revenue which he had paid for +them to the Oude Government. This was much less than any other +servant of the Oude Government would have been made to pay for them; +and this accounts, in some measure, for the now increased rate they +yield to us. Others pledged themselves to pay rates which they never +did or could pay; and the nominal rates in the accounts were always +greater than the real rates. He never pledged himself to pay higher +rates than he could and really did pay. + +Now the tallookdars keep the country in a perpetual state of +disturbance, and render life, property, and industry everywhere +insecure. Whenever they quarrel with each other, or with the local +authorities of the Government, from whatever cause, they take to +indiscriminate plunder and murder over all lands not held by men of +the same class; no road, town, village, or hamlet is secure from +their merciless attacks; robbery and murder become their diversion-- +their sport; and they think no more of taking the lives of men, +women, and children who never offended them, than those of deer or +wild hogs. They not only rob and murder, but seize, confine, and +torture all whom they seize, and suppose to have money or credit, +till they ransom themselves with all they have, or can beg or borrow. +Hardly a day has passed since I left Lucknow in which I have not had +abundant proof of numerous atrocities of this kind committed by +landholders within the district through which I was passing, year by +year, up to the present day. The same system is followed by +landholders of smaller degrees and of this military class--some +holders of single villages or co-sharers in a village. This class +comprises Rajpoots of all denominations, Mussulmans, and Pausies. +Where one co-sharer in a village quarrels with another, or with the +Government authorities, on whatever subject, he declares himself in a +_state of war_, and adopts the same system of indiscriminate plunder +and reckless murder. He first robs the house and murders all he can +of the family of the co-sharer with whom he has quarrelled, or whose +tenement he wishes to seize upon; and then gets together all he can +of the loose characters around, employs them in indiscriminate +plunder, and subsists them upon the booty, without the slightest +apprehension that he shall thereby stand less high in the estimation +of his neighbours, or that of the officers of Government; on the +contrary, he expects, when his _pastime_ is over, to be at least more +feared and courted, and more secure in the possession of increased +lands, held at lower rates. + +All this terrible state of disorder arises from the Government not +keeping faith with its subjects, and not making them keep faith with +each other. I one day asked Rajah Hunmunt Sing how it was that men +guilty of such crimes were tolerated in society, and he answered by +quoting the following Hindee couplet:--"Men reverence the man whose +heart is wicked, as they adore and make offerings to the evil planet, +while they let the good pass unnoticed, or with a simple salute of +courtesy."* + +[* There is another Hindee verse to the same effect. "Man dreads a +crooked thing--the demon Rahoo dares not seize the moon till he sees +her full." They consider the eclipse to be caused by the demon Rahoo +seizing the moon in his mouth.] + +The contractor for this district, Budreenath, came to call in the +afternoon, though he is suffering much from disease. He bears a good +character with the Government, because he contrives to pay its +demand; but a very bad one among the people, from whom he extorts the +means. He does not adhere to his engagements with the landholders and +cultivators, but exacts, when the crops are ripe, a higher rate than +they had engaged to pay at the commencement of tillage; and the +people suffer not only from what he takes over and above what is due, +but from the depredations of those whom such proceedings drive into +rebellion. Against such persons he is too weak to protect them; and +as soon as the rebels show that they can reduce his income by +plundering and murdering the peasantry, and all who have property in +the towns and villages, he re-establishes them on their lands on +their own terms. He had lately, however, by great good luck, seized +two very atrocious characters of this description, who had plundered +and burnt down several villages, and murdered some of their +inhabitants; and as he knew that they would be released on the first +occasion of thanksgiving at Lucknow, having the means to bribe Court +favourites, he begged my permission to make them over to Lieutenant +Weston, superintendent of the Frontier Police, as robbers by +profession. "If they come back, sir, they will murder all who have +aided in their capture, or given evidence against them, and no +village or road will be safe." + +Some shopkeepers in the town complained that the contractor was in +the habit of forcing them to stand sureties for the fulfilment, on +the part of landholders, of any engagements they might make, to pay +him certain sums, or to make over to him certain land produce at the +harvest. This, they said, often involved them in heavy losses, as the +landholders frequently could not, or would not, do either when the +time came, and they were made to pay. This is a frequent practice +throughout Oude. Shopkeepers and merchants who have property are +often compelled by the contractors and other local officers to give +such security for bad or doubtful paymasters with whom they may +happen to have had dealings or intercourse, and by this means robbed +of all they have. All manner of means are resorted to to compel them: +they and their families are seized and confined, and harshly or +disgracefully treated, till they consent to sign the security bonds. +The plea that the bonds had been forced from them would not avail in +any tribunal to which they might appeal: it would be urged against +them that the money was for the State; and this would be considered +as quite sufficient to justify the Government officer who had robbed +them. The brief history which I propose to give of Buksh Allee, the +late contractor for the Russoolabad district, is as follows:-- + +Mokuddera Ouleea, one of the consorts of the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, was the daughter of Mr. George Hopkins Walters, a half-pay +officer of one of the regiments of British Dragoons, who came to +Lucknow as an adventurer. He there united himself (though not in +marriage) to the widow of Mr. Whearty, an English merchant or +shopkeeper of that city, who had recently died, leaving this widow, +who was the daughter of Mr. Culloden, an English merchant of Lucknow, +and one son, now called Ameer Mirza, and one daughter, now called +Shurf-on Nissa. By Mr. Walters this widow had one daughter, who +afterwards became united to the King in marriage (in 1827), under the +title of "Mokuddera Ouleea." Mr. Walters died at Lucknow, and the +widow and two daughters went to reside at Cawnpoor. The daughters +were good-looking, and the mother was disposed to make the most of +their charms, without regard to creed or colour. + +Buksh Allee, a dome by caste, who had been by profession a drummer to +a party of dancing-girls, served them as a coachman and table +attendant. At Cawnpoor he cohabited with Mrs. Walters, and prevailed +upon her to take her children back to Lucknow as the best possible +market for them, as he had friends at Court who would be able to +bring them to the notice of the sovereign. They were shown to the +King as soon as he succeeded his father on the throne in 1827. He was +captivated with the charms of Miss Walters, though they were not +great, demanded her hand from the mother, and was soon after united +to her in marriage according to the Mahommedan law. A suitable +establishment was provided by the King for her mother, father-in-law, +brother, and sister; and as his Majesty considered that the manner in +which Buksh Allee and her mother had hitherto lived together was +unsuitable to the connection which now subsisted between them, he +caused them to be married in due form according to the Mahommedan +law. The mother and her three children now changed their creed for +that of Islamism, and took Mahommedan names. + +By a deed of engagement with the British Government, hearing date the +1st of March 1829, the King contributed to the five per cent loan the +sum of sixty-two lacs and forty thousand rupees, the interest of +which, at five per cent., our Government pledged itself to pay to the +four females.* + +[* Mulika Zumanee, 10,000; Taj Mahal, 6,000; Mokuddera Ouleea, 6,000; +Zeenut-on Nissa, the daughter of Mulika Zumanee, 4,000.] + +These pensions were to descend in perpetuity to their heirs, if they +left any; and if they left none, they were to have the power to +bequeath them by will to whomsoever and for what purposes soever they +chose, the British Government reserving to itself the power to pay to +the heirs the principal from which the pensions arose, instead of +continuing the pensions. + +The King died in July 1837, and Mokuddera Ouleea went to reside near +her mother and Buksh Allee, taking with her great wealth in jewels +and other things, which she had accumulated during the King's +lifetime. Her sister, Ashrof--_alias_ Shurf-on Nissa--resided in the +same house with her mother and Buksh Allee. Mokuddera Ouleea had from +the time she became estranged from her husband, the King, led a very +profligate life, and she continued to do the same in her widowhood. +On the 14th of September 1839, the mother died; and the sister, +Shurf-on Nissa, supplied her place, as the wife or concubine of Buksh +Allee. + +Mokuddera Ouleea became pregnant, and on the 9th of November 1840, +she was taken very ill from some violent attempt to produce abortion. +She continued insensible and speechless till the evening of the 12th +of that month, when she expired. The house which Buksh Allee occupied +at that time is within the Residency compound, and had been purchased +by Mr. John Culloden, the father of Mrs. Walters, from Mr. George +Prendergast on the 22nd of February 1802. Mr. Prendergast purchased +the house from Mr. S. M. Taylor, an English merchant at Lucknow, who +obtained it from the Nawab Assuf-od Dowlah, as a residence. The Nawab +afterwards, on the 5th of January 1797, gave him, through the +Resident, Mr. J. Lumsden, permission to sell it to Mr. Prendergast. +The remains of Mokuddera Ouleea were interred within the compound of +that house, near those of her mother, though the King, Mahommed Allee +Shah, wished to have them buried by the side of those of her husband, +the late King. The house is still occupied by Shurf-on Nissa, who +succeeded to her sister's pension and property, under the sanction of +the British Government, and has built, or completed within the +enclosure, a handsome mosque and mausoleum. + +On the death of Mr. Walters, Mrs. Whearty made application, through +the house of Colvin and Co., for the arrears of pension or half-pay +due to him up to the time of his death, and for some provision for +herself as his widow; but she was told that unless she could produce +the usual certificate, or proof of her marriage with him, she could +get neither. No proof whatever of the marriage was forthcoming, and +the claim was prosecuted no further. Shurf-on Nissa, and her brother +and his son, continued to live with Buksh Allee, who, upon the wealth +and pension left by Mokuddera Ouleea to her sister, kept up splendid +establishments both at Lucknow and Cawnpoor. + +At the latter place he associated on terms of great intimacy with the +European gentlemen, and is said to have received visits from the +Major-General commanding the Division and his lady. With the aid of +his wealth and the influence of his brother domes (the singers and +fiddlers who surround the throne of his present Majesty), Buksh Allee +secured and held for some years the charge of this fertile and +populous district of Russoolabad, through which passes the road from +Lucknow to Cawnpoor, where, as I have already stated, he kept up +bands of myrmidons to rob and murder travellers, and commit all kinds +of atrocities. This road became, in consequence, the most unsafe of +all the roads in Oude, and hardly a day passed in which murders and +robberies were not perpetrated upon it. Proof of his participation in +these atrocities having been collected, Buksh Allee was, in October +1849, seized by order of the Resident, tried before the King's +Courts, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, and ordered to +restore or make good the property which he was proved to have taken, +or caused to be taken, from travellers. His house had become filled +with girls of all ages, whom he had taken from poor parents, as they +passed over this road, and converted into slaves for his seraglio. +They were all restored to their parents, with suitable compensation; +and the Cawnpoor road has become the most safe, as well as the best, +road in Oude. + +On the death of Mokuddera Ouleea, a will was sent to the Resident by +her sister, who declared that it had been under her sister's pillow +for a year, and that she had taken it out on finding her end +approaching, and made it over to her, declaring it to contain her +last wishes. By this document pensions were bequeathed to the persons +mentioned in the note below* out of one-third, and the other two- +thirds were bequeathed to her sister and brother. In submitting this +document to Government, the Resident declared that he believed it to +be a forgery; and in reply he was instructed to ascertain whether the +persons named in the document had any objections to consider Shurf-on +Nissa sole heir to her sister's property and pension. Should they +have none to urge, he was directed to consider her as sole heir, and +the pretended will as of no avail. They all agreed to consider her as +sole heir; and the Resident was directed to make over to her the +property, and pay to her the pension or the principal from which it +arose. The Resident considered the continuance of the pension as the +best arrangement for the present, and of this Government approved. + +[* Buksh Allee, 1,000 rupees per month; Allee Hoseyn, 75; Sooraj +Bhan, 40; Syud Hoseyn, 30; Sheik Hingun, 20; Mirza Allee, 30; Ram +Deen, 12; Meea Sultan, 15; Sudharee, 10; Imam Buksh, 3; Ala Rukhee, +10; Sadoo Begum, 20; Akbar, 15; Mahdee Begum, 30.] + +Shurf-on Nissa has no recognised children, and her brother and his +reputed son are her sole heirs, so that no injury can arise to him +from the omission, on the part of Government and the Resident, of all +mention of his right as co-sharer in the inheritance. Neither brother +nor sister had really any legal right whatever to succeed to this +pension, for Mokuddera Ouleea was an illegitimate child, and had no +legal heirs according to either English or Mahommedan law. This fact +seems to have been concealed from the Resident, for he never +mentioned it to Government. It was the dread that this fact would +cause the whole pension to be sent to the shrines in Turkish Arabia, +that made them forge the will. All readily consented to consider +Shurf-on Nissa the heir, when they found that our Government had no +objection to consider her as such. The King wished to have the money +to lay out on bridges and roads in Oude, and the Resident advocated +this wish; but our Government, ignorant of the fact of the +illegitimacy of the deceased, and with the guaranteed bequest of the +late King before them, could not consent to any such arrangement. + +Government has long been strongly and justly opposed to all such +guarantees, and the Resident was told on the 14th November 1840, +"that the Governor-General in Council could not consent to grant the +absolute and unqualified pledge of protection which the King was +solicitous of obtaining in favour of four other females; and directed +to state to his Majesty that, although in the instances he had cited, +such guarantees had certainly been afforded in former times, yet they +were always given either under the impression of an overruling +necessity, or in consequence of some acknowledged claims, or +previously existing engagements, the force of which could not be +avoided; that their existence had often operated practically in the +most embarrassing manner, while it constituted a standing and +perpetual infringement of the rights of the Government of Oude; and +that his Lordship in Council was, consequently, decidedly opposed to +the continuance of a system so plainly at variance with every just +principle of policy." The objections of the British Government to +such guarantees are stated in letters dated 18th February, 28th +March, 20th May, 3rd October, and 19th December 1839, and 11th May +1848. + +In a despatch from the Honourable the Court of Directors, dated 4th +March 1840, their just disapprobation of such guarantees is +expressed; and reference is made to former strong expressions of +disapprobation. In their despatch of the 28th March 1843, the +Honourable Court again express their disapprobation of such +guarantees; and refer to their letter of the 16th March, in which +they gave positive orders that no such engagement should ever be +concluded without a previous reference to the Court. The argument +that the arrangement did not, in any particular case, add to the +number of guaranteed persons, such persons being already under +guarantee, did not in the opinion of the Court touch the stronger +objection to such a measure, that of the impropriety of our aiding, +especially by the grant of peculiar privileges, the appropriation of +the resources of the State to the advantage of individuals. The Court +expresses a hope that they shall never have occasion to notice any +future violation of their orders as respects such engagements. + +_January_ 16, 1850.--We were to have gone this morning to Ouras, but +were obliged to encamp at Burra, eight miles from Meeangunge, on the +left bank of the Saee river, which had been too much increased by the +late rains to admit of our baggage and tents passing over immediately +on anything but elephants. As we have but few of them, our tents were +pitched on this side of the river, that our things might have the +whole day before them to pass over on carts and camels, as the river +subsided. Ouras is three miles from our camp, and we are to pass +through it and go on to Sundeela to-morrow. There is no bridge, and +boats are not procurable on this small river, which we have to cross +and recross several times. + +The country from Meeangunge is scantily cultivated, but well studded +with trees, and generally fertile under good tillage. The soil is the +light doomuteea, but here and there very sandy and poor, running into +what is called bhoor. The villages and hamlets which we could see are +few and wretched. We have few native officers and sipahees in our +army from the districts we are now in, and I am in consequence less +oppressed with complaints from this class of the Oude subjects. + +We met, near our tents, a party of soldiers belonging to Rajah Ghalib +Jung, a person already mentioned, and at present superintendent of +police, along the Cawnpoor road, escorting a band of thieves, who +robbed Major Scott some ten months ago on his way, by dawk, from +Lucknow, and an European merchant, two months ago, on his way, by +dawk, from Cawnpoor to Lucknow. They had been seized in the Sundeela +districts, and the greater part of the stolen property found in their +houses. They are of the Pausie tribe, and told me that thieving was +their hereditary trade, and that they had long followed it on the +Cawnpoor road with success. The landholder, who kept them upon his +estate and shared in their booty, was also seized, but made over to +the revenue contractor, who released him after a few days' +imprisonment for a gratuity. + +Of these Pausies there are supposed to be about one hundred thousand +families in Oude. They are employed as village watchmen, but, with +few exceptions, are thieves and robbers by hereditary profession. +Many of them adopt poisoning as a trade, and the numbers who did so +were rapidly increasing when Captain Hollings, the superintendent of +the Oude Frontier Police, arrested a great many of them, and +proceeded against them as Thugs by profession, under Act III. of +1848. His measures have been successfully followed up by Captain +Weston, his successor, and this crime has been greatly diminished in +Oude. It prevails still, however, more or less, in all parts of +India. + +These Pausies of Oude generally form the worst part of the gangs of +refractory tallookdars in their indiscriminate plunder. They use the +bow and arrow expertly, and are said to be able to send an arrow +through a man at the distance of one hundred yards. There is no +species of theft or robbery in which they are not experienced and +skilful, and they increase and prosper in proportion as the disorders +in the country grow worse. They serve any refractory landholder, or +enterprising gang-robber, without wages, for the sake of the booty to +be acquired. + +Many of the sipahees of the Mobarick Pultun, on detached duty with +the king's wakeel in attendance upon me, were this morning arrested, +while taking off the choppers from the houses of villages along the +road and around my camp, for fuel and fodder, in what they called the +"_usual way_." The best beams and rafters and the whole of the straw +were fast moving off to my camp; and when seized, the sipahees seemed +much surprised, and asked me what they were to do, as they had not +received any pay for six months, and the Government expected that +they would help themselves to straw and timber wherever they could +most conveniently find it. All were fined; but the hope to put a stop +to this intolerable evil, under the present system, is a vain one. +The evil has the acquiescence and encouragement of the Government and +its functionaries of all kinds and grades throughout the country. It +is distressing to witness every day such melancholy proofs of how +much is done that ought not to be done, and how much that ought to be +done is left undone, in so fine a country. + +A want of sympathy or fellow-feeling between the governing and +governed is common in all parts of India, but in no part that I have +seen is it so marked as in Oude. The officers of the Government +delight in plundering the peasantry, and upon every local Governor +who kills a landholder of any mark, rewards and honours are instantly +bestowed, without the slightest inquiry as to the cause or mode. They +know that no inquiry will be made, and therefore kill them when they +can; no matter how, or for what cause. The great landholders would +kill the local Governors with just as little scruple, did they not +fear that it might make the British Government interpose and aid in +the pursuit after them. + +_January_ 17, 1850.--Sundeela, about thirteen miles from our last +camp, on the bank of the little River Saee, over a plain of good +doomuteea soil, very fertile, and well cultivated in the +neighbourhood of villages. The greater portion of the plain is, +however, uncultivated, though capable of the best tillage, and shows +more than the usual signs of maladministration. In this district +there are only three tallookdars, and they do not rob or resist the +Government at present. They distrust the Government authorities, +however, and never have any personal intercourse with them. The waste +is entirely owing to the bad character of the contractors, and the +license given to the troops and establishments under them. The +district is now held in _amanee_ tenure, and under the management of +Hoseyn Buksh, who entered into his charge only six weeks ago. He is +without any experience in, or knowledge of, his duties; he has three +regiments of Nujeebs on duty under him, and all who are present came +out to meet me. Anything more unlike soldiers it would be difficult +to conceive. They are feared only by the honest and industrious. +Wherever the Amil goes they go with him, and are a terrible scourge +to the country--by far the worst that the country suffers under. + +The first thing necessary to effect a reform is--to form out of these +disorderly and useless bodies a few efficient regiments; do away with +the purveyance system, on which, they are now provided with fuel, +fodder, carriage, &c.; pay them liberally and punctually; supply them +with good clothing, arms, accoutrements, and ammunition; and +concentrate them at five or six points in good cantonments, whence +they can move quickly to any part where their services may be +required. No more than are indispensably required should attend the +local authorities in their circuits. All the rest should remain in +cantonments till called for on emergency; and when so called for, +they should have all the conveyance they require, and the supplies +provided for them--the conveyance at fixed rates, and the supplies at +the market price, in good bazaars. For police duties and revenue +collections there should be a sufficient body of men kept up, and at +the disposal of the revenue and police authorities. The military +establishments should be under the control of a different authority. +But all this would be of no avail unless the corps were under able +commanders, relieved from the fear of Court favourites, and under a +Commander-in-Chief who understood his duty and had influence enough +to secure all that the troops required to render them efficient, and +not a child of seven years of age. + +Several of the villages of Sundeela are held by Syud zumeendars, who +are peaceable and industrious subjects, and were generally better +protected than others under the influence of Chowdhere, Sheik Hushmut +Allee, of Sundeela, an agricultural capitalist and landholder, whom +no local authority could offend with impunity. His proper trade was +to aid landholders of high and low degree, by becoming surety for +their punctual payment of the Government demand, and advancing the +instalments of that demand himself when they had not the means, and +thereby saving them from the visits of the local authorities and +their rapacious and disorderly troops: but in an evil hour he +ventured to extend his protection a little further, and, to save them +from the oppressions of an unscrupulous contractor, he undertook to +manage the district himself, and make good all the Government demand +upon it. He was unable to pay all that he had bound himself to pay. +His brother was first seized by the troops and taken to Lucknow. He +languished under the discipline to which he was there subjected, and +when on the point of death from what his friends call a _broken +heart_, and the Government authorities _cholera-morbus_, he was +released. He died immediately after his return home, and Hushmut +Allee was then seized and taken to Lucknow, where he is now confined. +The people here lament his absence as a great misfortune to the +district, as he was the only one among them who ever had authority +and influence, united with a fellow-feeling for the people, and a +disposition to promote their welfare and happiness.* + +[* Hushmut Allee is still in confinement, but under the troops at +Sundeela, and not at Lucknow. July 20, 1851.] + +END OF VOL. 1. + + + + + + + + + + +A JOURNEY + +THROUGH THE + +KINGDOM OF OUDE + +IN 1849--1850; + + +BY DIRECTION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE, +GOVERNOR-GENERAL. + +WITH PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ANNEXATION +OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA, &c. + +BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B. + +Resident at the Court of Lucknow + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. II. + +LONDON: +RICHARD BENTLEY +Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. +1858. + +CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + +CHAPTER 1. + +Sundeela--The large landholders of the district--Forces with the +Amil--Tallookdars, of the district--Ground suited for cantonments and +civil offices--Places consecrated to worship--Kutteea Huron--Neem +Sarang, traditions regarding--Landholders and peasantry of Sundeela-- +Banger and Sandee Palee, strong against the Government authorities +from their union--_Nankar_ and _Seer_. Nature and character of-- +Jungle--Leaves of the peepul, bur, &c., used as fodder--Want of good +houses and all kinds of public edifices--Infanticide--Sandee +district--Security of tenure in groves--River Gurra--Hafiz Abdulla, +the governor--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Thieves in the Banger +district--Infanticide--How to put down the crime--Palee--Richness of +the foliage, and carpeting of spring-crops--Kunojee Brahmins--Success +of the robber's trade in Oude--Shahabad--Timber taken down the little +river Gurra to the Ganges, from the Tarae forest--Fanaticism of the +Moosulman population of Shahabad; and insolence and impunity with +which they oppress the Hindoos of the town. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Infanticide--Nekomee Rajpoots--Fallows in Oude created by disorders-- +Their cause and effect--Tillage goes on in the midst of sanguinary +conflicts--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Mahomdee district--White +Ants--Traditional decrease in the fertility of the Oude soil--Risks +to which cultivators are exposed--Obligations which these risks +impose upon them--Infanticide--The Amil of Mahomdee's narrow escape-- +An infant disinterred and preserved by the father after having been +buried alive--Insecurity of life and property--Beauty of the surface +of the country, and richness of its foliage--Mahomdee district--State +and recent history of--Relative fertility of British and Oude soil-- +Native notions of our laws and their administration--Of the value of +evidence in our Courts--Infanticide--Boys only saved--Girls destroyed +in Oude--The priests who give absolution for the crime abhorred by +the people of all other classes--Lands in our districts becoming more +and more exhausted from over-cropping--Probable consequences to the +Government and people of India--Political and social error of +considering land private property--Hakeem Mehndee and subsequent +managers of Mahomdee--Frauds on the King in charges for the keep of +animals--Kunojee Brahmins--Unsuccessful attempt to appropriate the +lands of weaker neighbours--Gokurnath, on the border of the Tarae-- +The sakhoo or saul trees of the forest. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe--Dispute between Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his relatives--Cultivation +along the border of the Tarae forest--Subdivision of land among the +Ahbun families--Rapacity of the king's troops, and establishments of +all kinds--Climate near the Tarae--Goitres--Not one-tenth of the +cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the villages peopled-- +Criterion of good tillage--Ratoon crops--Manure available--Khyrabad +district better peopled and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the +soil over-cropped--Blight--Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of +Khymara--Ousted by collusion and bribery--Anrod Sing of Oel, and +Lonee Sing--State of Oude forty years ago compared with its present +state--The Nazim of the Khyrabad district--Trespasses of his +followers--Oel Dhukooa--_Khalsa_ lands absorbed by the Rajpoot +barons--Salarpoor--Sheobuksh Sing of Kuteysura--_Bhulmunsee_, or +property-tax--Beautiful groves of Lahurpoor--Residence of the Nazim-- +Wretched state of the force with the Nazim--Gratuities paid by +officers in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust--Rajah +Arjun Sing's estate of Dhorehra--Hereditary gang-robbers of the Oude +Tarae suppressed--Mutiny of two of the King's regiments at Bhitolee-- +Their rapacity and oppression--Singers and fiddlers who govern the +King--Why the Amils take all their troops with them when they move-- +Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of Oude Local +Infantry--Sipahees not equal to those in Magness's, Barlow's, and +Bunbury's, or in our native regiments of the line--Why--The prince +Momtaz-od Dowlah--Evil effects of shooting monkeys--Doolaree, _alias_ +Mulika Zumanee--Her history, and that of her son and daughter. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder's death--His repudiation of his son, Moona Jan, +leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od Dowlah--Contest for +the succession between these two persons--The Resident supports the +uncle, and the Padshah Begum supports the son--The ministers supposed +to have poisoned the King--Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth +by his successor--Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which Oude +was divided into two equal shares--One transferred to the British +Government, one reserved by Oude--Estimated value of each at the time +of treaty--Present value of each--The sovereign often warned that +unless he governs as he ought, the British Government cannot support +him, but must interpose and take the administration upon itself--All +such warnings have been utterly disregarded--No security to life or +property in any part of Oude--Fifty years of experience has proved, +that we cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its +people--The alternative left appears to be to take the management +upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the sovereign and +royal family of Oude--Probable effects of such a change on the +feelings and interests of the people of Oude. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Baree-Biswa district--Force with the Nazim, Lal Bahader--Town of +Peernuggur--Dacoitee by Lal and Dhokul Partuks--Gangs of robbers +easily formed out of the loose characters which abound in Oude--The +lands tilled in spite of all disorders--Delta between the Chouka and +Ghagra rivers--Seed sown and produce yielded on land--Rent and stock +--Nawab Allee, the holder of the Mahmoodabad estate--Mode of +augmenting his estate--Insecurity of marriage processions--Belt of +jungle, fourteen miles west from the Lucknow cantonments--Gungabuksh +Rawat--His attack on Dewa--The family inveterate robbers--Bhurs, once +a civilized and ruling people in Oude--Extirpated systematically in +the fourteenth century--Depredations of Passees--Infanticide--How +maintained--Want of influential middle class of merchants and +manufacturers--Suttee--Troops with the Amil--Seizure of a marriage +procession by Imambuksh, a gang leader--Perquisites and allowances of +Passee watchmen over corn-fields--Their fidelity to trusts--Ahbun +Sing, of Kyampoor, murders his father--Rajah Singjoo of Soorujpoor-- +Seodeen, another leader of the same tribe--Principal gang-leaders of +the Dureeabad Rodowlee district--Jugurnath Chuprassie--Bhooree Khan-- +How these gangs escape punishment--Twenty-four belts of jungle +preserved by landholders always, or occasionally, refractory in Oude +--Cover eight hundred and eighty-six square miles of good land--How +such atrocious characters find followers, and landholders of high +degree to screen, shelter, and aid them. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Adventures of Maheput Sing of Bhowaneepoor--Advantages of a good road +from Lucknow to Fyzabad--Excellent condition of the artillery +bullocks with the Frontier Police--Get all that Government allows for +them--Bred in the Tarae--Dacoits of Soorujpoor Bareyla--The Amil +connives at all their depredations, and thrives in consequence--The +Amil of the adjoining districts does not, and ruined in consequence-- +His weakness--Seetaram, a capitalist--His account of a singular +_Suttee_--Bukhtawar Sing's notions of _Suttee_, and of the reason why +Rajpoot widows seldom become _Suttees_--Why local authorities carry +about prisoners with them--Condition of prisoners--No taxes on +mangoe-trees--Cow-dung cheaper than wood for fuel--Shrine of "Shaikh +Salar" at Sutrik--Bridge over the small river Rete--Recollection of +the ascent of a balloon at Lucknow--End of the pilgrimage. + + ______________________ + +Private Correspondence subsequent to the Journey through the Kingdom +of Oude, and relating to the Annexation of Oude to British India. + + + +DIARY + +A TOUR THROUGH OUDE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Sundeela--The large landholders of the district--Forces with the +Amil--Tallookdars, of the district--Ground suited for cantonments and +civil offices--Places consecrated to worship--Kutteea Huron--Neem +Sarang, traditions regarding--Landholders and peasantry of Sundeela-- +Banger and Sandee Palee, strong against the Government authorities +from their union--_Nankar_ and _Seer_. Nature and character of-- +Jungle--Leaves of the peepul, bur, &c., used as fodder--Want of good +houses and all kinds of public edifices--Infanticide--Sandee +district--Security of tenure in groves--River Gurra--Hafiz Abdulla, +the governor--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Thieves in the Banger +district--Infanticide--How to put down the crime--Palee--Richness of +the foliage, and carpeting of spring crops--Kunojee Brahmins--Success +of the robber's trade in Oude--Shahabad--Timber taken down the little +river Gurra to the Ganges, from the Tarae forest--Fanaticism of the +Moosulman population of Shahabad; and insolence and impunity with +which they oppress the Hindoos of the town. + + +The baronial proprietors in the Sundeela district are Murdun Sing, of +Dhurawun, with a rent-roll of 38,000; Gunga Buksh, of Atwa, with one +of 25,000; Chundeeka Buksh, of Birwa, with one of 25,000; and Somere +Sing, of Rodamow, with one of 34,000. This is the rent-roll declared +and entered in the accounts; but it is much below the real one. The +Government officers are afraid to measure their lands, or to make any +inquiries on the estates into their value, lest they should turn +robbers and plunder the country, as they are always prepared to do. +They have always a number of armed and brave retainers, ready to +support them in any enterprise, and can always add to their number on +emergency. There is never any want of loose characters ready to fight +for the sake of plunder alone. A tallookdar, however, when opposed to +his government, does not venture to attack another tallookdar or his +tenants. He stands too much in need of his aid, or at least of his +neutrality and forbearance. + +_January_ 18, 1850.--Halted at Sundeela. To the north of the town +there is a large uncultivated plain of _oosur_ land, that would +answer for cantonments; but the water lies, for some time after rain, +in many places. The drainage is defective, but might be made good +towards a rivulet to the north and west. There is another open plain +to the west of the town, between the suburbs and the small village of +Ausoo Serae, where the Trigonometrical Survey has one of its towers. +It is about a mile from east to west, and more from north to south, +and well adapted for the location of troops and civil establishments. +The climate is said to be very good. The town is large and still +populous, but the best families seem to be going to decay, or leaving +the place. Many educated persons from Sundeela in our civil +establishments used to leave their families here; but life and +property have become so very insecure, that they now always take them +with them to the districts in which they are employed, or send them +to others. I observed many good houses of burnt brick and cement, but +they are going fast to decay, and are all surrounded by numerous mud- +houses without coverings, or with coverings of the same material, +which are hidden from view by low parapets. These houses have a +wretched appearance. + +The Amil has twelve guns with him; but the bullocks are all so much +out of condition from want of food that they can scarcely walk; and +the Amil was obliged to hire a few plough-bullocks from the +cultivators, to draw out two guns to my camp to fire the salute. They +get no grain, and there is little or no grass anywhere on the fallow +and waste lands, from the want of rain during June, July, and August. +The Amil told me, that he had no stores or ammunition for the guns; +and that their carriages were all gone, or going, to pieces, and had +received no repairs whatever for the last twelve years. I had in the +evening a visit from Rajah Murdun Sing, of _Dharawun_, a stout and +fat man, who bears a fair character. He is of the Tilokchundee Bys +clan, who cannot intermarry with each other, as they are all of the +sama gote or family. It would, according to their notions, be +incestuous. + +_January_ 19, 1850.--Hutteeah Hurrun, thirteen miles. The plain level +as usual, and of the loose doomuteea soil, fertile in natural powers +everywhere, and well tilled around the villages, which are more +numerous than in any other part that we have passed over. The water +is everywhere near the surface, and wells are made at little cost. A +well is dug at a cost of from five to ten rupees; and in the muteear, +or argillaceous soil, will last for irrigation for forty years. To +line it with burnt bricks without cement will cost from one to two +hundred rupees; and to add cement will cost a hundred more. Such +lining is necessary in light soil, and still more so in sandy or +_bhoor_. They frequently line their wells at little cost with long +thick cables, made of straw and twigs, and twisted round the surface +inside. The fields are everywhere irrigated from wells or pools, and +near villages well manured; and the wheat and other spring crops are +excellent. They have been greatly benefited by the late rains, and in +no case injured. The ground all the way covered with white hoar +frost, and the dews heavy in a cloudless sky. Finer weather I have +never known in any quarter of the world. + +This place is held sacred from a tradition, that Ram, after his +expedition against Cylone, came here to bathe in a small tank near +our present camp, in order to wash away the sin of having killed a +_Brahmin_ in the person of Rawun, the monster king of that island, +who had taken away his wife, Seeta. Till he had done so, he could not +venture to revisit his capital, Ajoodheea. There are many legends +regarding the origin of the sanctity of this and the many other +places around, which pilgrims must visit to complete the _pykurma_, +or holy circuit. The most popular seems to be this. Twenty-eight +thousand sages of great sanctity were deputed, with the god Indur at +their head, on a mission to present an address to Brimha, as he +reposed upon the mountain Kylas, praying that he would vouchsafe to +point out to them the place in Hindoostan most worthy to be +consecrated to religious worship. He took a discus from the top-knot +on his head, and, whirling it in the air, directed it to proceed in +search. After much search it rested at a place near the river +Goomtee, which it deemed to be most fitted for the purification of +one's faith, and which thenceforth took the name of _Neem Sarung_, a +place of devotion. The twenty-eight thousand sages followed, and were +accompanied by Brimha himself, attended by the Deotas, or subordinate +gods. He then summoned to the place no less than _three crores and +half_, or thirty millions and half of _teeruts_, or angels, who +preside each over his special place of religions worship. All settled +down at places within ten miles of the central point, Neem Sarung; +but their departure does not seem to have impaired the sanctity of +the places whence they came. The angels, or spirits, who presided +over them sent out these offshoots to preside at Neemsar and the +consecrated places around it, as trees send off their grafts without +impairing their own powers and virtues. + +Misrik, a few miles from this, and one of the places thus +consecrated, is celebrated as the residence of a very holy sage, +named Dudeej. In a great battle between the Deotas and the Giants, +the Deotas were defeated. They went to implore the aid of the drowsy +god, Brimha, upon his snowy mountain top. He told them to go to +Misrik and arm themselves with the _bones_ of the old sage, Dudeej. +They found Dudeej alive and in excellent health; but they thought it +their duty to explain to him their orders. He told them, that he +should be very proud indeed to have his bones used as arms in so holy +a cause; but he had unfortunately vowed to bathe at all the sacred +shrines in India before he died, and must perform his vow. Grievously +perplexed, the Deotas all went and submitted their case to their +leader, the god Indur. Indur consulted his chaplain, Brisput, who +told him, that there was really no difficulty whatever in the case-- +that the angels of all the holy shrines in India had been established +at and around Neemsar by Brimha himself; and the Deotas had only to +take water from all the sacred places over which they presided, and +pour it over the old sage, to get both him and themselves out of the +dilemma. They did so, and the old sage, expressing himself satisfied, +gave up his life. In what mode it was taken no one can tell me. The +Deotas armed themselves with his bones, attacked the Giants +forthwith, and gained an easy and complete victory. The wisdom of the +orders of drowsy old Brimha, in this case, is as little questioned by +the Hindoos of the present day as that of the orders of drunken old +Jupiter was in the case of Troy, by the ancient Greeks and Romans. +Millions, "wise in their generation," have spent their lives in the +reverence of both. + +There is hardly any sin that the waters of these dirty little ponds +are not supposed to be capable of washing away; and, over and above +this, they are supposed to improve all the good, and reduce to order +all the bad passions and emotions of those who bathe in them, by +propitiating the aid of the deity, and those who have influence over +him. + +A good deal of the land, distant from villages, lies waste, though +capable of good tillage; and from the all pervading cause, the want +of confidence in the Government and its officers, and of any feeling +of security to life, property, and industry. Should this cause be +removed, the whole surface of the country would become the beautiful +garden which the parts well cultivated and peopled now are. It is all +well studded with fine trees--single and in clusters and groves. The +soil is good, the water near the surface, and to be obtained in any +abundance at little outlay, and the peasantry are industrious, brave, +and robust. Nothing is wanted but good and efficient government, +which might be easily secured. I found many Kunojee Brahmins in the +villages along the road, who tilled their own fields without the aid +of ploughmen; and they told me, that when they had no longer the +means to hire ploughmen, they were permitted to hold their own +ploughs--that is, they were not excommunicated for doing so. + +In passing along, with wheat-fields close by on our left, while the +sun is a little above the horizon on the right, we see a _glory_ +round the shadows of our heads as they extend into the fields. All +see these _glories_ around their own heads, but cannot see them +around those of their neighbours. They stretch out from the head and +shoulders, with gradually-diminished splendour, to some short +distance. This beautiful and interesting appearance arises from the +leaves and stalks of the wheat being thickly bespangled with dew. The +observer's head being in the direct rays of the sun, as they pass +over him to that of his shadow in the field, he carries the glory +with him. Those before and behind him see the same glory around the +shadows of their own heads, but cannot see it round that of the head +of any other person before or behind; because he is on one or other +side of the direct rays which pass over them. It is best seen when +the sky is most clear, and the dew most heavy. It is not seen over +bushy crops such as the arahur, nor on the grass plains. + +_January_ 20, 1850.--Beneegunge, eight miles, over a slightly- +undulating plain of light sandy soil, scantily cultivated, but well +studded with fine trees of the best kind. Near villages, where the +land is well watered and manured, the crops are fine and well varied. +All the pools are full from the late rain, and they are numerous and +sufficient to water the whole surface of the country, with a moderate +fall of rain in December or January. If they are not available, the +water is always very near the surface, and wells can be made for +irrigation at a small cost. The many rivers and rivulets which enter +Oude from the Himmalaya chain and Tarae forest, and flow gently +through the country towards the Ganges, without cutting very deeply +into the soil, always keep the water near the surface, and available +in all quarters and in any quantity for purposes of irrigation. Never +was country more favoured, by nature, or more susceptible of +improvement under judicious management. There is really hardly an +acre of land that is not capable of good culture, or that need be +left waste, except for the sites of towns and villages, and ponds for +irrigation, or that would be left waste under good government. The +people understand tillage well, and are industrious and robust, +capable of any exertion under protection and due encouragement. + +The Government has all the revenues to itself, having no public debt +and paying no tribute to any one, while the country receives from the +British Government alone fifty lacs, or half a million a-year; first, +in the incomes of guaranteed pensioners, whose stipends are the +interest of loans received by our Government at different times from +the sovereigns of Oude, as a provision for their relatives and +dependents in perpetuity, and as endowments for their mausoleums and +mosques, and other religious and eleemosynary establishments; second, +in the interest paid for Government securities held by people +residing in Oude; third, in the payment of pensions to the families +of men who have been killed in our service, and to invalid native +officers and sipahees of our army residing there, fourth, in the +savings of others who still serve in our army, while their families +reside in Oude; and those of the native officers of our civil +establishments, whose families remain at their homes in Oude; fifth, +in the interest on a large amount of our Government securities held +by people at Lucknow, who draw the interest not from the Resident's +Treasury, but from the General Treasury in Calcutta, or the +Treasuries of our bordering districts, in order to conceal their +wealth from the King and his officers. Over and above all this our +Government has to send into Oude, to be expended there, the pay of +five regiments of infantry and a company of artillery, which amounts +to some six or seven lacs more. Oude has so many places of +pilgrimage, that it receives more in the purchase of the food and +other necessaries required by the pilgrims, during their transit and +residence, than it sends out with pilgrims who visit shrines and holy +places in other countries. It requires little from other countries +but a few luxuries for the rich--in shawls from Kashmere and the +Punjab, silks, satins, broad-cloth, muslins, guns, watches, &c. from +England. + +A great portion of the salt and saltpetre required is raised within +Oude, and so is all the agricultural produce, except in seasons of +drought; and the arms required for the troops are manufactured in +Oude, with the exception of some few cannon and shells, and the +muskets and bayonets for the few disciplined regiments. The royal +family and some of the Mahommedan gentlemen at Lucknow send money +occasionally to the shrines of Mecca, Medina, Kurbala, and Nujuf +Ashruf, in Turkish Arabia; and some Hindoos send some to Benares and +other places of worship, to be distributed in charity or laid out in +useful works in their name. Some of the large pensions enjoyed by the +relatives and dependents of former sovereigns, under the guarantee of +our Government, go in perpetuity to the shrines in Turkish Arabia, in +default of both _will_ and _heir_. When Ghazee-od Deen succeeded his +father on the musnud in 1814, contrary to his expectation and to his +father's wish, he gave the minister about fifty lacs of rupees to be +expended in charity at those shrines, and in canals, saraees, and +other works of utility. Letters, full of expressions of gratitude and +descriptions of these useful works, were often shown to him; but the +minister, Aga Meer, is said to have kept the whole fifty lacs to +himself, and got all these letters written by his private +secretaries. Some few Hindoo and Mahommedan gentlemen, when they have +lost their places and favour at the Oude Court, go and reside at +Cawnpoor, and some few other places in the British territory for +greater security; but generally it may be said, that in spite of all +disadvantages Mahommedan gentlemen from Oude, in whatever country +they may serve, like to leave their families in Oude, and to return +and spend what they acquire among them. They find better society +there than in our own territories, or society more to their tastes; +better means for educating their sons; more splendid processions, +festivals, and other inviting sights, in which they and their +families can participate without cost; more consideration for rank +and learning, and more attractive places for worship and religious +observances. The little town of Karoree, about ten or twelve miles +from Lucknow, has, I believe, more educated men, filling high and +lucrative offices in our civil establishments, than any other town in +India except Calcutta. They owe the greater security which they there +enjoy, compared with other small towns in Oude, chiefly to the +respect in which they are known to be held by the British Government +and its officers, and to the influence of their friends and relatives +who hold office about the Court of Lucknow. + +_January_ 21, 1849.--Sakin, ten miles north-west. The country well +studded with fine trees, and pretty well cultivated, but the soil is +light from a superabundance of sand; and the crops are chiefly +autumn, except in the immediate vicinity of villages, and cut in +December. The surface on which they stood this season appears to be +waste, except where the stalks of the jowar and bajara, are left +standing for sale and use, as fodder for cattle. These stalks are +called kurbee, and form good fodder for elephants, bullocks, &c., +during the cold, hot, and rainy season. They are said to keep better +when left on the ground, after the heads have been gathered, than +when stacked. The sandy soil, in the vicinity of villages, produces +fine spring crops of all kinds, wheat, gram, sugarcane, arahur, +tobacco, &c., being well manured by drainage from the villages, and +by the dung stored and spread over it; and that more distant would +produce the same, if manured and irrigated in the same way. + +The head men or proprietors of some villages along the road +mentioned, "that the fine state in which we saw them was owing to +their being strong, and able to resist the Government authorities +when disposed, as they generally were, to oppress or rack-rent them; +that the landholders owed their strength to their union, for all were +bound to turn out and afford aid to their neighbour on hearing the +concerted signal of distress; that this league, '_offensive and +defensive_,' extended all over the Baugur district, into which we +entered about midway between this and our last stage; and that we +should see how much better it was peopled and cultivated in +consequence than the district of Mahomdee, to which we were going; +that the strong only could keep anything under the Oude Government; +and as they could not be strong without union, all landholders were +solemnly pledged to aid each other, _to the death_, when oppressed or +attacked by the local officers." They asked Captain Weston, who was +some miles behind me, what was the Resident's object in this tour, +whether the Honourable Company's Government was to be introduced into +Oude? He told them that the object was solely to see the state of the +country and condition of the people, with a view to suggest to the +King's Government any measures that might seem calculated to improve +both; and asked them whether they wished to come under the British +rule? They told him, "that they should like much to have the British +rule introduced, if it could be done without worrying them with its +complicated laws and formal and distant courts of justice, of which +they had heard terrible accounts." + +The Nazim of the Tundeeawun or Baugur district met me on his border, +and told me, "that he was too weak to enforce the King's orders, or +to collect his revenues; that he had with him one efficient company +of Captain Bunbury's corps, with one gun in good repair, and provided +with draft-bullocks, in good condition; and that this was the only +force he could rely upon; while the landholders were strong, and so +leagued together for mutual defence, that, at the sound of a +matchlock, or any other concerted signal, all the men of a dozen +large villages would, in an hour, concentrate upon and defeat the +largest force the King's officers could assemble; that they did so +almost every year, and often frequently within the same year; that he +had nominally eight guns on duty with him, but the carriage of one +had already gone to pieces; and those of the rest had been so long +without repair that they would go to pieces with very little firing, +that the draft-bullocks had not had any grain for many years, and +were hardly able to walk; and he was in consequence obliged to hire +plough-bullocks, to draw the gun required to salute the Resident; but +he had only ten days ago received an order to give them grain +himself, charge for it in his accounts, and hold himself responsible +for their condition; that they had been so starved, that he was +obliged to restrict them to a few ounces a-day at first, or they +would have all died from over-eating." This order has arisen from my +earnest intercession in favour of the artillery draft-bullocks; but +so many are interested in the abuse, that the order will not be long +enforced. Though the grain will, as heretofore, be paid for from the +Treasury, it will, I hear, be given to the bullocks only while I am +out on this tour. + +In the evening some cultivators came to complain that they had been +robbed of all their bhoosa (chaff) by a sipahee from my camp. I +found, on inquiry, that the sipahee belonged to Captain Hearsey's +five companies of Frontier Police; that these companies had sixteen +four-bullock hackeries attached to them for the carriage of their +tents and luggage; and that these hackeries had gone to the village, +and taken all that the complainants had laid up for their own cattle +for the season; that such hackeries formerly received twenty-seven +rupees eight annas a-month each, and their owners were expected to +purchase their own fodder; but that this allowance had for some years +been cut down to fourteen rupees a-month, and they were told _to help +themselves to fodder wherever they could find it_; that all the +hackeries hired by the King and his local officers, for the use of +troops, establishments, &c. had been reduced at the same rate, from +twenty-seven eight annas a-month to fourteen, and their owners +received the same order. All villages near the roads along which the +troops and establishments move are plundered of their bhoosa, and all +those within ten miles of the place, where they may be detained for a +week or fortnight, are plundered in the same way. + +The Telinga corps and Frontier Police are alone provided with tents +and hackeries by Government. The Nujeeb corps are provided with +neither. The Oude Government formerly allowed for each four-bullock +hackery thirty rupees a-month, from which _two rupees and half_ were +deducted for the perquisites of office. The owners of the hackeries +were expected to purchase bhoosa and other fodder for their bullocks +at the market price; but they took what they required without +payment, in _collusion with_ the officers under whom they were +employed, or in _spite_ of them; and the Oude Government in 1845 cut +the allowance down to seventeen rupees and half, out of which _three +rupees and half_ are cut for perquisites, leaving fourteen rupees for +the hackeries: and their owners and drivers have the free privilege +of helping themselves to bhoosa and other fodder wherever they can +find them. Some fifty or sixty of these hackeries were formerly +allowed for each Telinga corps with guns, now only twenty-two are +allowed; and when they move they must, like Nujeeb corps, seize what +more they require. They are allowed to charge nothing for their extra +carriage, and therefore pay nothing. + +_January_ 22, 1849.--Tundeeawun, eight miles west. The country level, +and something between doomuteen and muteear, very good, and in parts +well cultivated, particularly in the vicinity of villages; but a +large portion of the surface is covered with jungle, useful only to +robbers and refractory landholders, who abound in the purgunnah of +Bangur. In this respect it is reputed one of the worst districts in +Oude. Within the last few years the King's troops have been +frequently beaten and driven out with loss, even when commanded by an +European officer. The landholders and armed peasantry of the +different villages unite their _quotas of auxiliaries_, and +concentrate upon them on a concerted signal, when they are in pursuit +of robbers and rebels. Almost every able-bodied man of every village +in Bangur is trained to the use of arms of one kind or another, and +none of the King's troops, save those who are disciplined and +commanded by European officers, will venture to move against a +landholder of this district; and when the local authorities cannot +obtain the aid of such troops, they are obliged to conciliate the +most powerful and unscrupulous by reductions in the assessment of the +lands or additions to their _nankar_. + +To illustrate the spirit and system of union among the chief +landholders of the Bangur district, I may here mention a few facts +within my own knowledge, and of recent date. Bhugwunt Singh, who held +the estate of Etwa Peepureea, had been for some time in rebellion +against his sovereign; and he had committed many murders and +robberies, and lifted many herds of cattle within our bordering +district of Shajehanpoor; and he had given shelter, on his own +estate, to a good many atrocious criminals, from that and others of +our bordering district. He had, too, aided and screened many gangs of +Budhuks, or dacoits by hereditary profession. The Resident, Colonel +Low, in 1841, directed every possible effort to be made for the +arrest of this formidable offender, and Captain Hollings, the second +in command of the 2nd battalion of Oude local infantry, sent +intelligencers to trace him. + +They ascertained that he had, with a few followers, taken up a +position two hundred yards to the north of the village of Ahroree, in +a jungle of palas-trees and brushwood in the Bangur district, about +twenty-eight miles to the south-west of Seetapoor, where that +battalion was cantoned, and about fourteen miles west from Neemkar. +Captain Hollings made his arrangements to surprise this party; and on +the evening of the 3rd of July 1841, he marched from Neemkar at the +head of three companies of that battalion, and a little before +midnight he came within three-quarters of a mile of the rebel's post. +After halting his party for a short time, to enable the officers and +sipahees to throw off all superfluous clothing and utensils, Captain +Hollings moved on to the attack. When the advanced guard reached the +outskirts of the robber's position about midnight, they were first +challenged and then fired upon by the sentries. The subadar in +command of this advance guard fell dead, and a non-commissioned +officer and a sipahee severely wounded. + +The whole party now fired in upon the gang and rushed on. One of the +robbers was shot, and the rest all escaped out on the opposite side +of the jungle. The sipahees believing, since the surprise had been +complete, that the robbers must have left all their wealth behind +them, dispersed, as soon as the firing ceased and the robbers +disappeared, to get every man as much as he could. While thus engaged +they were surrounded by the Gohar, (or body of auxiliaries which +these landholders send to each other's aid on the concerted signal,) +and fired in upon from the front, and both right and left flanks. +Taken by surprise, they collected together in disorder, while the +assailants from the front and sides continued to pour in their fire +upon them; and they were obliged to retire in haste and confusion, +closely followed by the auxiliaries, who gained confidence, and +pressed closer as their number increased by the quotas they received +from the villages the detachment had to pass in their retreat. + +All efforts on the part of Captain Hollings to preserve order in the +ranks were vain. His men returned the fire of their pursuers, but +without aim or effect. At the head of the auxiliaries were Punchum +Sing, of Ahroree, and Mirza Akbar Beg, of Deureea; and they were fast +closing in upon the party, and might have destroyed it, when Girwur +Sing, tomandar, came up with a detachment of the Special Police of +the Thuggee and Dacoitee Department. At this time the three companies +were altogether disorganized and disheartened, as the firing and +pursuit had lasted from midnight to daybreak; but on seeing the +Special Police come up and join with spirit in the defence, they +rallied, and the assailants, thinking the reinforcement more +formidable than it really was, lost confidence and held back. Captain +Hollings mounted the fresh horse of the tomandar, and led his +detachment without further loss or molestation back to Neemkar. His +loss had been one subadar, one havildar, and three sipahees killed; +one subadar, two havildars, one naik, and fourteen sipahees wounded +and missing. Captain Hollings' groom was shot dead, and one of his +palankeen-bearers was wounded. His horse, palankeen, desk, clothes, +and all the superfluous clothing and utensils, which the sipahees had +thrown off preparatory to the attack fell into the hands of the +assailants. Attempts were made to take up and carry off the killed +and wounded; but the detachment was so sorely pressed that they were +obliged to leave both on the ground. The loss would have been much +greater than it was, but for the darkness of the night, which +prevented the assailants from taking good aim; and the detachment +would, in all probability, have been cut to pieces, but for the +timely arrival of the Special Police under Girwur Sing. + +Such attacks are usually made upon robber bands about the first dawn +of day; and this attack at midnight was a great error. Had they not +been assailed by the auxiliaries, they could not, in the darkness, +have secured one of the gang. It was known, that at the first shot +from either the assailing or defending party in that district, all +the villages around concentrate their quotas upon the spot, to fight +to the death against the King's troops, whatever might be their +object; and the detachment ought to have been prepared for such +concentration when the firing began, and returned as quickly as +possible from the place when they saw that by staying they could not +succeed in the object. + +Four months after, in November, Punchum Sing, of Ahroree, himself cut +off the head of the robber, Bhugwunt Sing, with his own hand, and +sent it to the governor, Furreed-od Deen, with an apology for having +_by mistake_ attacked Captain Hollings' detachment. The governor sent +the head to the King, with a report stating that he had, at the peril +of his life, and after immense toil, hunted down and destroyed this +formidable rebel; and his Majesty, as a reward for his valuable +services, conferred upon Furreed-od Deen a title and a first-rate +dress of honour. Soon after, in the same month of July 1841, his +Majesty the King of Oude's second regiment of infantry, under the +command of a very gallant officer, Captain W. D. Bunbury, was +encamped near the village of Belagraon, when information was brought +that certain convicts, who had escaped from the gaol at Bareilly, had +taken refuge in the village of Parakurown, about fifty miles to the +north-west of his camp. Captain Bunbury immediately detached three +companies, with two six-pounders, under his brother, Lieutenant A. C. +Bunbury, to arrest them. After halting for a short time at Gopamow, +to allow his men to take breath. Lieutenant Bunbury pushed on, and +reached the place a little before the dawn of day. He demanded the +surrender of the outlaws from the chief of the village, named Ajrael +Sing, a notoriously bad character, who insolently refused to give +them up. A fight commenced, in which one of the convicts, and some +others, were killed; but at last Lieutenant Bunbury succeeded in +securing Arjael Sing himself, with some few of his followers, and the +outlaws. + +Hearing the firing of the field-pieces, the surrounding villages +concentrated their quotas of auxiliaries upon the place, and attacked +Lieutenant Bunbury's detachment on all sides. He had taken possession +of the village; but finding it untenable against so large and +increasing a body of assailants, he commenced his retreat. He had +scarcely reached the outskirts when he found himself surrounded by +overwhelming numbers of these auxiliaries, through whom he was +obliged to fight his way for a distance of fourteen miles to Pahanee. +The armed peasantry of every village, on the right and left of the +road as they passed, turned out and joined the pursuers in their +attempt to rescue his prisoners. Lieutenant Bunbury's conduct of this +retreat was most gallant and judicious; and his men behaved +admirably. When the assailants appeared likely to overwhelm him, he +abandoned one of his two guns, and hastened on, leaving three men +lying under them apparently wounded, and unable to move. On this they +pressed on, sword in hand, to despatch the wounded men, and seize the +guns. When the assailants were within thirty or forty yards of the +gun, they started up, and poured in upon the dense crowd a discharge +of grape with deadly effect. A party then doubled back from the main +body of the detachment, protected the artillery men in limbering up +the gun, and escorting it to the main body, which again resumed its +march. This experiment was repeated several times with success as +they passed other villages, from which further auxiliaries poured +out, till they approached Pahanee, where they found support. In this +retreat Lieutenant Bunbury lost sixty men out of his three companies, +or about one-third of his number; but he retained all his prisoners. +Ajrael Sing soon after died of the wounds he had received in +defending the convicts in his village; and the rest of the prisoners +were all sent to the Oude Durbar. Lieutenant Bunbury is now in the +Honourable Company's Service, and in the 34th Regiment of Bengal +Native Infantry. + +On the 23rd of January 1849, Captain Hearsey, of the Oude Frontier +Police, sent his subadar-major, Ramzan Khan, with a party of one +hundred and fifty men of that police, to arrest a notorious robber, +Mendae Sing, and other outlaws, from the Shajehanpoor district, who +had found an asylum in the village of Sahurwa, in the Mahomdee +district, whence they carried on their depredations upon our villages +across the border. The party reached Sahurwa the next morning a +little before sunrise. The subadar-major having posted his men so as +to prevent the escape of the outlaws, demanded their surrender from +the village authorities. They were answered by a volley of matchlock- +balls; and finding the village too strong to be taken by his small +detachment without guns, he withdrew to a more sheltered position to +the westward, and detached a havildar with fifty men to take +possession of a large gateway to the south of the village. During +this movement the villagers continued to fire upon them; and the +quotas of auxiliaries from the surrounding villages, roused by the +firing, came rushing on from all quarters. Seeing no chance of being +able either to take the village or to maintain his position against +such numbers, the subadar-major drew off his detachment, and +proceeded for support to Pahanee, a distance of twelve miles. He +reached that place pursued by the auxiliaries, and with the loss of +one havildar and one sipahee killed, and three sipahees very severely +wounded. There are numerous instances of this sort in which the +King's troops have been attacked and beaten back, and their prisoners +rescued by the landholders of Bangur, and the adjoining districts of +Mahomdee and Sandee Palee. They are never punished for doing so, as +the King is too weak, and the aid of the British troops, for the +purpose, has seldom been given. + +It would be of advantage to remove the Regiment of Oude Local +Infantry from Seetapoor to Tundeeawun, where its presence and +services are much more required. The climate is as good, and all that +native soldiers require for food and clothing are cheaper. The +drainage is good; and to the east of the town there is one of the +finest plains for a cantonment that I have ever seen. There are but +few wells, but new ones can be made at a trifling cost; and the Oude +Government would willingly incur the outlay required for these and +for all the public buildings required for the new cantonments, to +secure the advantage of such a change. The cost of the public +buildings would be only 12,000 rupees; and the same sum would have to +be given in compensation for private buildings-total 24,000. The +refractory landholders would soon be reduced to order, and prevented +from any longer making their villages dens of robbers as they now do; +and the jungles around would all soon disappear. These jungles are +not thick, or unhealthy, consisting of the small dhak or palas tree, +with little or no underwood; and the surface they now occupy would +soon be covered with fine spring crops, and studded with happy +village communities, were people encouraged by an assurance of +protection to settle upon it, and apply their capital and labour to +its cultivation. The soil is everywhere of the finest quality, the +drainage is good, and there are no jheels. A few ponds yield the +water required for the irrigation of the spring crops, during their +progress to maturity, from November to March: they are said all to +become dry in the hot season. It is, I think, capable of being made +the finest part of this fine country of Oude. + +It was in contemplation to make the road from Lucknow to Shajehanpoor +and Bareilly pass through this place, Tundeeawun, by which some +thirty miles of distance would be saved, and a good many small rivers +and watercourses avoided. Why this design was given up I know not; +but I believe the only objection was the greater insecurity of this +line from the bad character of the great landholders of the Bangur +and Sandee Palee districts; and the greater number of thieves and +robbers who, in consequence, reside in them. There has been but +little outlay in works of any kind in the whole line through +Seetapore; and when measures have been taken to render this line more +secure, a good road will, I hope, be made through Tundeeawun. It was +once a populous place, but has been falling off for many years, as +the disorders in the district have increased. The Nazim resides here. +The last Nazim, Hoseyn Allee, who was removed to Khyrabad, at the end +of last year, is said to have given an increase of _nankar_ to the +refractory landholders of this district during that year, to the +extent of forty thousand rupees a-year, to induce them to pay the +Government demand, and desist from plunder. By this means he secured +a good reputation at Court, and the charge of a more profitable and +less troublesome district; and left the difficult task of resuming +this lavish increase of the _nankar_ to his successor, Seonath, the +son of Dilla Ram, who held the contract of the district for some +twenty years up to the time of his death, which took place last year. +Seonath is a highly respectable and amiable man; but he is very +delicate in health, and, in consequence, deficient in the vigour and +energy required to manage so turbulent a district. He has, however, a +deputy in Kidder Nath, a relative, who has all the ability, vigour, +and energy required, if well supported and encouraged by the Oude +Durbar. He was deputy under Dilla Ram for many years, and the same +under Hoseyn Allee last year. He is a man of great intelligence and +experience; and one of the best officers of the Oude Government that +I have yet seen. + +There are two kinds of recognised perquisites which landholders enjoy +in Oude and in most other parts of India--the _nankar_ and the _seer_ +land. The _nankar_ is a portion of the recognised rent-roll +acknowledged by the ruler to be due to the landholder for the risk, +cost, and trouble of management, and for his perquisite as hereditary +proprietor of the soil when the management is confided to another. It +may be ten, twenty, or one hundred percent upon the rent-roll of the +estate, which is recognised in the public accounts, as the holder +happens to be an object of fear or of favour, or otherwise; and the +real rent-roll may be more or less than that which is recognised in +the public accounts. The actual rent which the landholder receives +may increase with improvements, and he may conceal the improvement +from the local authorities, or bribe them to conceal it from +Government; or it may diminish from lands falling out of tillage, or +becoming impoverished by over-cropping, or from a diminution of +demand for land produce; and the landholder may be unable to satisfy +the local authorities of the fact, or to prevail upon them to +represent the circumstance to Government. The amount of the _nankar_ +once recognised remains the same till a new rate is recognised by +Government; but when the Government becomes weak, the local +authorities assume the right to recognise new rents, to suit their +own interest, and pretend that they do so to promote that of their +sovereign. + +I may instance the Amil of this district last year. He was weak, +while the landholders were strong. They refused to pay, on the plea +of bad seasons. He could send no money to the Treasury, and was in +danger of losing his place. The man who had to pay a revenue of ten +thousand could not be induced to pay five: he enjoyed an acknowledged +_nankar_ of two thousand upon a recognised rent-roll of twelve +thousand; and, to induce him to pay, he gives him an increase to this +_nankar_ of one thousand, making the _nankar_ three thousand, and +reducing the revenue to nine thousand. Being determined to render the +increase to his _nankar_ permanent, whether the Government consents +or not, the landholder agrees to pay the ten thousand for the present +year. The collector sends the whole or a part of the one thousand as +gratuities to influential men at Court, and enters it in the public +accounts as irrecoverable balance. The present Amil, finding that the +increase to the _nankar_ has not been acknowledged by Government, +demands the full ten thousand rupees for the present year. The +landholder refuses to pay anything, takes to the jungles, and +declares that he will resist till his permanent right to the increase +be acknowledged. + +The Amil has taken the contract at the rate of last year, as the +Government had sanctioned no increase to the _nankar_, and he pleads +in vain for a remission in the rate, which he pledged himself to pay, +or an increase of means to enforce payment among so turbulent and +refractory a body of landholders. As I have before mentioned, the +Oude Government has this season issued an order to all revenue +collectors to refuse to recognise any increase to the _nankar_ that +has been made since the year A.D. 1814, or Fusilee 1222, when Saadut +Allee died, as none has since that year received the sanction of +Government, though the _nankar_ has been more than doubled within +that period in the manner above described by local authorities. The +increase to the _nankar_, and the alienation in rent-free tenure of +lands liable to assessment in 1814 by local authorities and +influential persons at Court, are supposed to amount in all Oude to +forty lacs of rupees a-year. None of them have been formally +recognised by the Court, but a great part of them has been tacitly +acquiesced in by the minister and Dewan for the time being. They +cannot enforce the order for reverting to the _nankar_ of 1814, and +if they attempt to do so the whole country will be in disorder. +Indeed, the minister knows his own weakness too well to think +seriously of ever making such an attempt. The _seer_ lands are those +which the landholders and their families till themselves, or by means +of their servants or hired cultivators. Generally they are not +entered at all in the rent-rolls; and when they are entered, it is at +less rates than are paid for the other lands. The difference between +the no rent, or less rates, and the full rates is part of their +perquisites. These lands are generally shared out among the members +of the family as hereditary possessions. + +_January_ 23, 1850.--Behta, ten miles, over a plain of fine muteear +soil. The greater part of the surface is, however, covered by a low +palas jungle. The jungle remains, because no one will venture to lay +out his capital in rooting up the trees and shrubs, and bringing the +land under culture where the fruits of his industry, and his own life +and those of his family, would be so very insecure, and because the +powerful landholders around require the jungles to run to when in +arms against the Government officers, as they commonly are. The land +under this jungle is as rich in natural powers as that in tillage; +and nothing can be finer than the crops in the cultivated parts, +particularly in those immediately around villages. There are numerous +large trees in the jungles, but the fine peepul and banyan trees are +torn to pieces for the use of the elephants and camels of the +establishments of the local officers, and for the cows, bullocks, and +buffaloes of the peasantry. The cows and buffaloes are said to give +greater quantities of milk when fed on the leaves of these trees than +when fed on anything else available in the dry season; but the milk +is said to be of inferior quality. All the cultivated and peopled +parts are beautifully studded with single trees and groves. + +No respectable dwelling-house is anywhere to be seen, and the most +substantial landholders live in wretched mud-hovels with invisible +covers. I asked the people why, and was told that they were always +too insecure to lay out anything in improving their dwelling-houses; +and, besides, did not like to have such local ties, where they were +so liable to be driven away by the Government officers or by the +landholders in arms against them, and their reckless followers. The +local officers of Government, of the highest grade, occupy houses of +the same wretched description, for none of them can be sure of +occupying them a year, or of ever returning to them again when once +removed from their present offices; and they know that neither their +successors nor any one else will ever purchase or pay rent for them. +No mosques, mausoleums, temples, seraees, colleges, courts of +justice, or prisons to be seen in any of the towns or villages. There +are a few Hindoo shrines at the half-dozen places which popular +legends have rendered places of pilgrimage, and a few small tanks and +bridges made in olden times by public officers, when they were more +secure in their tenure of office than they are now. All the fine +buildings raised by former rulers and their officers at the old +capital of Fyzabad are going fast to ruin. The old city of Ajoodhea +is a ruin, with the exception of a few buildings along the bank of +the river raised by wealthy Hindoos in honour of Ram, who once lived +and reigned there, and is believed by all Hindoos to have been an +incarnation of Vishnoo. + +I have often mentioned that the artillery draft-bullocks receive no +grain, and are everywhere so poor that they can hardly walk, much +less draw heavy guns and tumbrils. The reason is this, the most +influential men at Court obtain the charge of feeding the cattle in +all the different establishments, and charge for a certain quantity +of grain or other food at the market price for each animal. They +contract for the supply of the cattle with some grain-merchant of the +city, who undertakes to distribute it through his own agents. The +contractor for the supply of the artillery draft-bullocks sends an +agent with those in attendance upon every collector of the land +revenue, and he gives them as little as possible. The contractor, +afraid of making an enemy of the influential man at Court, who could +if he chose deprive him of his contract or place, never presumes to +interfere, and the agent gives the poor bullocks no grain at all. The +collector, or officer in charge of the district, is, however, obliged +every month to pay the agent of the contractor the full market price +of the grain supposed to be consumed--that is, one seer and half a- +day by every bullock. The same, or some other influential person at +Court, obtains and transfers in the same way the contract for the +feeding of the elephants, horses, camels, bullocks, and other animals +kept at Lucknow for use or amusement, and none of them are in much +better condition than the draft-bullocks of the artillery in the +remote districts--all are starved, or nearly starved, and objects of +pity. Those who are responsible for their being fed are too strong in +Court favour to apprehend any punishment for not feeding them at all. + +In my ride this morning I asked the people of the villages through +and near which we passed whether infanticide prevailed: they told me +that it prevailed amongst almost all the Rajpoot families of any rank +in Oude; that very poor families of those classes retained their +daughters, because they could get something for them from the +families of lower grade, into which they married them; but that those +who were too well off in the world to condescend to take money for +their daughters from lower grades, and were obliged to incur heavy +costs in marrying them into families of the same or higher grade, +seldom allowed their infant daughters to live. + +"It is strange," I observed, "that men, who have to undergo such +heavy penance for killing a cow, even by accident, should have to +undergo none for the murder of their own children, nor to incur any +odium among the circle of society in which they live--not even among +Brahmins and the ministers of their religion." + +"They do incur odium, and undergo penance," said Rajah Bukhtawur +Sing; "do they not?" said he to some Brahmins standing near. They +smiled, but hesitated to reply. "They know they do," said the Rajah, +"but are afraid to tell the truth, for they and their families live +in villages belonging to these proud Rajpoot landholders, and would +be liable to be turned out of house and home were they to tell what +they know." One of the Brahmins then said, "All this is true, sir; +but after the murder of every infant the family considers itself to +be an object of displeasure to the deity, and after the twelfth day +they send for the family priest (Prohut), and, by suitable +gratuities, obtain absolution. This is necessary, whether the family +be rich or poor; but when the absolution is given, nothing more is +thought or said about the matter. The Gour and other Rajpoots who can +afford to unite their daughters in marriage to the sons of Chouhans, +Byses, and other families of higher grade, though they cannot obtain +theirs in return for their sons, commit less murders of this kind +than others; but all the Rajpoot clans commit more or less of them. +Habit has reconciled them to it; but it appears very shocking to us +Brahmins and all other classes. They commonly bury the infants alive +as soon as possible after their birth. We, sir, are helpless, living +as we do among such turbulent and pitiless landholders, and cannot +presume to admonish or remonstrate: our lives would not be safe for a +moment were we to say anything, or seem to notice such crimes." + +I do not think that any landholder of this class, in the Bangur +district, would feel much compunction for the commission of any crime +that did not involve their expulsion from caste, or degradation in +rank. Great crimes do not involve these penalties: they incur them +only by small peccadillos, or offences deemed venal among other +societies. The Government of Oude, as it is at present constituted, +will never be able to put down effectually the great crimes which now +stain almost every acre of land in its dominions. It is painful to +pass over a country abounding so much in what the evil propensities +of our nature incite men to do, when not duly restrained; and so +little in what the good prompt us to perform and create, when duly +protected and encouraged, under good government. + +_January_ 24, 1850.--Sandee, fourteen miles, over a plain of light +domuteea soil, which becomes very sandy for the last four or five +miles. The crops are scanty upon the more sandy parts, except in the +vicinity of villages; but there is a little jungle, and no undue +portion of fallow for so light a soil. About five miles from our last +ground, we came through the large and populous village of Bawun; +about three miles further, through another of nearly the same size, +Sungeechamow; and about three miles further on, through one still +larger, Admapoor, which is three miles from Sandee. Sandee and +Nawabgunge join each other, and are on the bank of the Gurra river, a +small stream whose waters are said to be very wholesome. We passed +the boundary of the Bangur district, just before we entered the +village of Sungeechamow, which lies in that of Sandee. + +There is a Hindoo shrine on the right of the road between Sandee and +Admapoor, which is said to be considered very sacred, and called +Barmawust. It is a mere grove, with a few priests, on the bank of a +large lake, which extends close up to Sandee on the south. The river +Gurra flows under the town to the north. The place is said to be +healthy, but could hardly be so, were this lake to the west or east, +instead of the south, whence the wind seldom blows. This lake must +give out more or less of malaria, that would be taken over the +village, for the greater portion of the year, by the prevailing +easterly and westerly winds. I do not think the place so eligible for +a cantonment at Tundeeawun, in point either of salubrity, position, +or soil. + +_January_ 25, 1850.--Halted at Sandee. The lake on the south side, +mentioned yesterday, abounds in fish, and is covered with wild fowl; +but the fish we got from it yesterday was not good of its kind. I +observed very fine groves of mango-trees close to Sandee, planted by +merchants and shopkeepers of the place. The oldest are still held by +the descendants of those by whom they were first planted, more than a +century ago; and no tax whatever is imposed upon the trees of any +kind, or upon the lands on which they stand. Many young groves are +growing up around, to replace the old ones as they decay; and the +greatest possible security is felt in the tenure by which they are +held by the planter, or his descendants, though they hold no written +lease, or deed of gift; and have neither written law nor court of +justice to secure it to them. Groves and solitary mango, semul, +tamarind, mhowa and other trees, whose leaves and branches are not +required for the food of elephants and camels, are more secure in +Oude than in our own territories; and the country is, in consequence, +much better provided with them. While they give beauty to the +landscape, they alleviate the effects of droughts to the poorer +classes from the fruit they supply; and droughts are less frequently +and less severely felt in a country so intersected by fine streams, +flowing from the Tarae forest, or down from the perpetual snows of +neighbouring hills, and keeping the water always near the surface. +These trees tend also to render the air healthy, by giving out oxygen +in large quantities during the day, and absorbing carbonic acid gas. +The river Gurra enters the Ganges about twelve miles below Sandee. +Boats take timber on this stream from the Phillibeet district to +Cawnpoor. It passes near the town of Shajehanpoor; and the village of +Palee, twenty miles north-west from Sandee, where we shall have to +recross it. + +_January_ 26, 1850.--Busora, twelve miles north-west from Sandee, +over a plain of light sandy soil, or bhoor, with some intervals of +oosur. The tillage extends over as much of the surface as it ought in +so light a soil; and the district of Sandee Palee generally is said +to be well cultivated. It has been under the charge of Hafiz +Abdoollah, a very honest and worthy man, for seven years up to his +death, which took place in November last. He is said never to have +broken faith with a landholder; but he was too weak in means to keep +the bad portion under control; and too much occupied in reading or +repeating the _Koran_, which he knew all by heart, as his name +imports. His son Ameer Gholam Allee, a lad of only thirteen years of +age, has been appointed his successor. He promises to be like his +father in honesty and love of the holy book.* + +[* He has been since removed, and was in prison as a defaulter, July +1851.] + +About half way we passed the village of Bhanapoor, held by zumeendars +of the _Dhaukurree_ Rajpoot clan, who told me, that they gave their +daughters in marriage to the Rykwars, but more to the Sombunsie +Rajpoots, who abound in the district, and hold the greater part of +the lands; that these Sombunsies have absorbed almost all the lands +of the other classes by degrees, and are now seizing upon theirs; +that the Sombunsies give their daughters in marriage only to the +Rathore and Chouhan Rajpoots, few of whom are to be found on the Oude +side of the Ganges; and, in consequence, that they take such as they +preserve to our districts on the other side of that river, but murder +the greater part rather than condescend to marry them to men of the +other Rajpoot clans whom they deem to be of inferior grade, or go to +the expense of uniting them in marriage to clans of higher or equal +grade in Oude. Some Sombunsies, who came out to pay their respects +from the next village we passed, told us, that they did not give +their daughters even to the Tilokchundee Bys Rajpoots; but in this +they did not tell the truth. + +At the next village, the largest in the parish, Barone, the chief +landholder, Kewul Sing, came out and presented his offering of a fine +fighting-ram. He was armed with his bow, and "quiver full of arrows," +but told me, that he thought a good gun, with pouch and flask, much +better, and he carried the bow and quiver merely because they were +lighter. He was surrounded by almost all the people of the town, and +told me, that the family held in copartnership fifty-two small +villages, immediately around _Barone_--that this village had been +attacked and burnt down by Captain Bunbury and his regiment the year +before last, without any other cause that they could understand save +that he had recommended him not to encamp in the grove close by. The +fact was, that none of the family would pay the Government demand, or +obey the old Amil, Hafiz Abdoollah; and it was necessary to make an +example. On being asked whether his family and clan, the Sombunsies, +preserved or destroyed their daughters, he told me, in the midst of +his village community, that he would not deceive me; that they, one +and all, destroyed their infant daughters; but that one was, +occasionally, allowed to live (_ek-adh_); that the family was under a +taint for twelve days after the murder of an infant, when the family +priest (Prohut) was invited and fed in due form; that he then +declared the absolution complete, and the taint removed. + +The family priest was present, and I asked him what he got on such +occasions? He said, that to remove the taint, or grant absolution +after the murder of a daughter, he got little or no money; he merely +partook of the food prepared for him in due form; but that, on the +birth of a son, he got ten rupees from the parents. All the assembled +villagers bore testimony to the truth of what the patriarch and the +priest told me. They said, that no one would enter a house in which +an infant daughter had been destroyed, or eat or drink with any +member of the family till the Prohut had granted the absolution, +which he did after the expiration of twelve days, as a matter of +course, depending as he did upon the good-will of the landholders, +who were all of the same clan, Sombunsies. Few other Brahmins will +condescend to eat, drink, or associate with these family and village +priests, who take the sins of such murderers upon their own heads. + +The old patriarch rode on with me upon his pony, five miles to my +tents, as if I should not think the worse of him for having murdered +his own daughters, and permitted others to murder theirs. I told him, +that I could hold no converse with men who were guilty of such +crimes; and that the vengeance of God would crush them all, sooner or +latter. For his only excuse he told me, that it was a practice, +derived from a long line of ancestors, wiser and better than they +were; and that it prevailed in almost every Rajpoot family in the +country; that they had, in consequence, become reconciled to it, and +knew not how to do without it. Family pride is the cause of this +terrible evil! + +The estate of Kuteearee, on the left-hand side of the road towards +the Ramgunga and Ganges, is held by Runjeet Sing, of the Kuteear +Rajpoot clan. His estate yields to him about one hundred and twenty +thousand rupees a-year, while he is assessed at only sixteen +thousand. While Hakeem Mehndee was in banishment at Futtehgurh, about +fifteen years ago, he became intimate with Runjeet Sing, of +Kuteearee; and when he afterwards became minister, in 1837, he is +said to have obtained for him the King's seal and signature to a +perpetual lease at this rate, from which is deducted a _nankar_ of +four thousand, leaving an actual demand of only twelve thousand. Were +such grants, in perpetuity, respected in Oude, the ministers and +their minions would soon sell the whole of his Majesty's dominions, +and leave him a beggar. He has not yet been made to pay a higher +rate; not, however, out of regard for the King's pledge, but solely +out of that for Runjeet's fort of Dhunmutpoor, on the bank of the +Ganges, his armed bands, and his seven pieces of cannon. He has been +diligently employing all his surplus rents in improving his defensive +means; and, besides his fort and guns, is said to have a large body +of armed and disciplined men. He has seized upon a great many +villages around, belonging to weaker proprietors: and is every year +adding to his estate in this way. In this the old Amil, Hafiz +Abdoollah, acquiesced, solely because he had not the means nor the +energy to prevent it. He got his estate excluded from the +jurisdiction of the local authorities, and placed in the Huzoor +Tuhseel. + +Like others of his class, who reside on the border, he has a village +in the British territory to reside in, unmolested, when charged by +the Oude authorities with heavy crimes and balances. He had been +attacked and driven across the Ganges, in 1837, for contumacy and +rebellion; deprived of his estate, and obliged to reside at +Futtehgurh, where he first became acquainted with Hakeem Mehndee. The +Oude Government has often remonstrated against the protection which +this contumacious and atrocious landholder receives from our subjects +and authorities.* Crimes in this district are not quite so numerous +as in Bangur; but they are of no less atrocious a character. The +thieves and robbers of Bangur, when taken and taxed with being so, +say, "of course we are robbers--if we were not, how should we have +been permitted to reside in Bangur?" All are obliged to fight and +plunder with the landholders, or to rob for them on distant roads, +and in distant villages. + +[* See the Resident's letter to Government North-Western Provinces, +3rd August, 1837. The King's letter to the Resident, 7th April, 1837. +The same to the same, 19th May, 1837. Depositions and urzies. Runjeet +Sing was attacked by the King's troops and driven across the Ganges +again in June 1851, and died during the contest, which is being +continued by his son. 1851.--W. H. S.] + +My camp has been robbed several times within the time I have been +out, and the property has been traced to villages in the Sundeela and +Bangur districts. In the Sundeela district it can be recovered when +traced with a small force, and the thieves taken; but in the Bangur +district it would require a large military force well commanded, and +a large train of artillery to recover the one or seize the other. + +A respectable landholder of this place, a Sombunsie, tells me, that +the custom of destroying their female infants has prevailed from the +time of the first founder of their race; that a rich man has to give +food to many Brahmins, to get rid of the stain, on the twelfth or +thirteenth day, but that a poor man can get rid of it by presenting a +little food in due form to the village priest; that they cannot give +their daughters in marriage to any Rajpoot families, save the +Rhathores and Chouhans; that the family of their clan who gave a +daughter to any other class of Rajpoots, would be excluded from caste +immediately and for ever; that those who have property have to give +all they have with their daughters to the Chouhans and Rhathores, and +reduce themselves to nothing; and can take nothing from them in +return, as it is a great stain to take "_kuneea dan_," or virgin +price; from any one; that a Sombunsie may, however, when reduced to +great poverty, take the "_kuneea dan_" from the Chouhans and +Rhathores for a virgin daughter without being excommunicated from the +clan, but even he could not give a daughter to any other clan of +Rajpoots without being excluded for ever from caste; that it was a +misfortune no doubt, but it was one that had descended among them +from the remotest antiquity, and could not be got rid of; that +mothers wept and screamed a good deal when their first female +infants were torn from them, but after two or three times giving +birth to female infants, they become quiet and reconciled to the +usage, and said, "do as you like;" that some poor parents of their +clan did certainly give their daughters for large sums to wealthy +people of lower Clans, but lost their caste for ever by so doing; +that it was the dread of sinking, in substance from the loss of +property, and in grade from the loss of caste, that alone led to the +murder of female infants; that the dread prevailed more or less in +every Rajpoot clan, and led to the same thing, but most in the clan +that restricted the giving of daughters in marriage to the smallest +number of clans. + +The infant is destroyed in the room where it is born, and there +buried. The floor is then plastered over with cow-dung, and on the +thirteenth day the village or family priest must cook and eat his +food in that room. He is provided with wood, ghee, barley, rice, and +tillee (sesamum). He boils the rice, barley, and sesamum in a brass +vessel, throws the ghee over them when they are dressed, and eats the +whole. This is considered as a _hom_, or burnt-offering, and by +eating it in that place the priest is supposed to take the whole +_hutteea_ or sin upon himself, and to cleanse the family from it. I +am told that they put the milk of the mudar shrub "asclepias +gigantea," into the mouth of the infant to destroy it, and cover the +mouth with the faeces that first pass from, the infant's bowels. It +soon dies; and after the expiation the parents again occupy the room, +and there receive the visits of their family and friends, and gossip +as usual! + +Rajah Bukhtawar Sing tells me, that he has heard the whole process +frequently described in this way by the midwives who have attended +the birth. These midwives are however generally sent out of the room +with the mother when the infant is found to be a girl. In any law for +the effectual prevention of this crime, it would be necessary to +prescribe a severe punishment for the priest, as an accessary after +the fact. The only objection to this is, I think, that it might +deprive the Court of the advantage of an important witness when +required at the trial of the parents, but when necessary he might be +admitted as King's evidence. All the people here that I talk to on +the subject, say that the crime has been put down in the greater part +of the British territories, and that judicious measures honestly and +firmly carried out would put it down in Oude, and do away with the +scruples which one clan of Rajpoots have to give their daughters in +marriage to another. Unable to murder their daughters, they would be +glad to dispose of them in marriage to all clans of Rajpoots. It +might be put down in Oude, as it was put down by Mr. Willoughby, of +Bombay, in the districts under his charge, by making the abolition +one of the conditions on which all persons of the Rajpoot clans hold +their lands, and strictly enforcing the observance of that condition. +The Government of Oude as now constituted could do nothing whatever +towards putting it down in this or any other way. + +_January_ 27, 1850.--Palee, eight miles north-west. The road half way +from Sandee to Busora, and half way from Busora to Palee, passes over +a very light, sandy soil--bhoor. I have already stated that kutcha +wells, or wells without burnt brick and cement, will not last in this +sandy soil, while it stands more in need of irrigation. The road for +the last half way of this morning's stage passes over a good +doomuteea soil. The whole country is however well cultivated, and +well studded with fine trees; and the approach to Palee is at this +season very picturesque. The groves of mango and other fine trees +amidst which the town stands, on the right bank of the Gurra river, +appear very beautiful as one approaches, particularly now that the +surrounding country is covered by so fine a carpet of rich spring +crops. The sun's rays, falling upon such rich masses of foliage, +produce an infinite variety of form, colour, and tint, on which the +eye delights to repose. We intended to have our camp on the other +side of the river, but no good ground could be found for it, without +injury to the crops, within three miles from Palee, and we must cross +it on our way to Shahabad to-morrow. + +This small river flows along a little to the right of our march this +morning. About half way we passed a very pretty village, held and +cultivated by families of Kunojee Brahmins, who _condescend_ to hold +and drive their own ploughs. Other families of this class pride +themselves upon never condescending to drive their own ploughs, and +consider themselves in consequence a shade higher in caste. Other +Brahmin families have different shades or degrees of caste, like the +Kunojeeas; but I am not aware that any family of any other class of +Brahmins condescend to hold their own ploughs. I told them, that "God +seemed to favour their exertions, and bless them with prosperity, for +I had not seen a neater village or village community." They seemed to +be all well pleased with my compliment. At Palee resides Bulbhuder +Sing, a notorious robber, who was lately seized and sent as a felon +to Lucknow. After six months' confinement he bribed himself out, got +possession of the estate which he now holds, and to which he had no +right whatever, and had it excluded from the jurisdiction of the +local authorities, and transferred to the "Hozoor Tuhseel." He has +been ever since diligently employed in converting it into a den of +robbers, and in the usual way seizing upon other people's lands, +stock, and property of all kinds. + +Hundreds in Oude are doing the same thing in the same way. Scores of +those who suffer from the depredations of this class of offenders, +complain to me every day; but I can neither afford them redress, nor +hold out any hope of it from any of the Oude authorities. It is a +proverb, "that those who are sentenced to six years' imprisonment in +Oude, are released in six months, and those who are sentenced to six +months, are released in six years." Great numbers are released every +year at Lucknow for _thanksgivings_, or _propitiation_. If the King +or any member of his family becomes sick, prisoners are released, +that they may recover; and when they recover, others are released as +a grateful, and, at the same time, profitable acknowledgment, since +the Government relieves itself from the cost of keeping them; and its +servants appropriate the money paid for their ransom. Those who are +in for long periods are, for the most part, great offenders, who are +the most able and most willing to pay high for their release; those +who are in for short ones are commonly the small ones, who are the +least able and least disposed to give anything. The great offenders +again are those who are most disposed, and most able, to revenge +themselves on such persons as have aided the Government in their +arrest or conviction; and they do all they can to murder and rob them +and their families and relatives, as soon as they are set at large, +in order to deter others from doing the same. This would be a great +evil in any country, but is terrible in Oude, where no police is +maintained for the protection of life and property. The cases of +atrocious murders and robberies which come before me every day, and +are acknowledged by the local authorities, and neighbours of the +sufferers, to have taken place, are frightful. Such sufferings, for +which no redress is to be found, would soon desolate any part of +India less favoured by nature. + +In the valley of the Nerbudda, for instance, such sufferings would +render a district desolate for ages. The people, driven off from an +estate, go and settle in another better governed. The grass grows +rankly from the richness of the soil, and the humidity of the air, +and becomes filled with deer and other animals, that are food for +beasts of prey. Tigers, leopards, wolves, wild dogs, &c. follow, to +feed upon them; and they render residence and industry unsafe. +Malaria follows, and destroys what persons the tigers leave. I have +seen extensive tracts of the richest soil and most picturesque +scenery, along the banks of the Nerbudda, which had been rendered +desolate for ages by the misrule of only a few years. It is the same +in the Tarae forest, which separates Oude from Nepaul. But in the +rest of Oude, from the Ganges to this belt of forest, no such effects +follow misrule, however great and prolonged. Here no grass grows too +rankly, few deer fill it, few tigers, leopards, wolves, or wild dogs +come in pursuit of them, and no malaria is feared. If a landholder +takes to rebellion and plunder, he is followed by all his retainers +and clansmen; and their families, and the cultivators of other +classes, feeling no longer secure, go and till lands on other +estates, till they are invited back. The cowherds and shepherds, who +live by the produce of their cattle and sheep, remain and thrive by +the abundance of pasture lands, from which the rich spring and +harvest crops have disappeared. These cattle and sheep graze over +them, and enrich the soil by restoring to it a portion of those +elements of fertility, of which a long succession of harvests had +robbed it. Over and above what they leave on the grounds, over which +they graze, large stores of manure are collected for future use by +the herdsmen, who now exclusively occupy the villages. The landholder +and his followers, in the meantime, subsist and enrich themselves by +the indiscriminate plunder of the surrounding country; and are at +last invited back by a weak and wearied Government, to reoccupy the +lands, improved by this salutary fallow, at a lower rate of rent, or +no rent at all for some years, and a remission of all balances for +past years, on account of _paemalee_, or treading down of crops, +during the disorder that has prevailed. + +The cultivators return to occupy their old lands, so enriched, at +reduced rates of rent; and, in two or three years, these lands become +again carpeted with a beautiful variety of spring and autumn crops. +The crops, in our districts, on the opposite side of the river +Ganges, bear no comparison with those on the Oude side. The lands are +all overcropped and under-stocked with cattle and sheep from the want +of pasture lands. There is little manure, the water is too far below +the surface to admit of sufficient irrigation, without greater outlay +than the farmers and cultivators can afford; the rotation of crops is +insufficient, and no salutary fallow comes to the relief of the soil, +from the labour of men living and working under the efficient +protection of a strong and able Government. The difference in the +crops is manifest to the beholder, and shown in the rate of rents +paid for the lands where the price of land produce is the same in +both; the same river conveying the produce of both to and from the +same markets. + +A Murhutta army, under the Peshwa, Ballajee, invaded the districts, +about the source of the Nerbudda river, about one hundred and seven +years ago, A.D. 1742. They ravaged these districts as they did all +others which they invaded; but they, like the greater part of the +Oude Tarae, remain waste; while the others, like the rest of Oude, +soon recovered and become prosperous from the circumstances above +stated. The soil of some of the districts, about the source of the +Nerbudda, then ravaged, is among the finest in the world; but the +long grass and rich foliage, by which it is covered, are occupied, +like the pampos of South America, almost exclusively by wild cattle, +buffaloes, deer, and tigers. The district of Mundula, which +intervenes between them and the rich and highly-cultivated district +of Jubbulpoor, in the valley of that river, was populous and well +cultivated when we took possession of it in the year 1817; but it has +become almost as waste under our rule by a more gradual but not less +desolating process. Not considering the diminishing markets for land +produce, our assessments of the land revenue were too high, and the +managing officers never thought the necessity of reduction +established, till the villages were partially or wholly deserted. The +farmers and cultivators all emigrated, by degrees, into the +neighbouring districts of Nagpoor and Rewa, where they had more +consideration and lighter assessments, and the markets for land +produce were improving. The lands of Mundula became waste, and +covered with rank grass filled with deer; tigers followed to feed +upon them, and carried off all the poor peasantry, who remained and +attempted to cultivate small patches; malaria followed and completed +the work. + +Like the _tharoos_ of the Oude forest, the Gonds born in this malaria +are the only people who can live in it; and the ravages of tigers and +endemial disease prevent their numbers from increasing. Those who +once emigrate never come back, and population and tillage have been +decreasing ever since we took possession, or for thirty-three years. +The same process has been going on in other parts of the Nerbudda +valley with the same results. In Oude, from the causes above +described, lands of the same denomination and kind often yield double +the rate of rent that they yield in our own conterminous districts, +or districts on the opposite side of the Ganges, and other rivers +that separate our territories from those of Oude. Under a tolerable +Government, Oude would soon become one of the most beautiful +countries in India; but the lands would fall off, in fertility, as +ours do from over-cropping, no doubt. + +_January_ 28, 1850.--Shahabad, ten miles. We crossed, close under +Palee, the little river Gurra, which continued for some miles to flow +along, in its winding course, close by on our left. It is here some +five or six miles to the south-west of the town. The soil we have +come over is chiefly muteear, or the doomuteea, tightened by a +mixture of clay, or argillaceous earth. Rich crops of rice are grown +on this muteea, which retains its moisture so much better than the +looser doomutea soil. + +Half-way we came through a neat village, the lands of which are +subdivided between the members of a large family of Kunojee Brahmins, +who came out to see us pass, and pay their respects. The cultivation +was so fine that I hoped they were of the class who condescended to +hold their own ploughs. I asked them; and they, with seeming pride, +told me that they did not--that they employed servants to hold their +ploughs for them. When I told them that this was their _misfortune_, +they seemed much amused, but were all well-behaved and respectful, +though they must have thought my notion very odd. + +The little Gurra flows from the Oude Tarae forest by the town of +Phillibheet, where boats are built, to be taken down to Cawnpoor, on +the Ganges, for sale. About four hundred, great and small, are +supposed to be taken down the Gurra every year, in the season of the +rains. They take down the timber of the Tarae forest, rice, and other +things; and all are sold, with their cargoes, at Cawnpoor, or other +places on the Ganges. The timbers are floated along on both sides of +the boats. Palee is a good place for a cantonment, or seat of public +civil establishments, and Shahabad is no less so. The approach to +both, from the south-east, is equally beautiful, from the rich crops +which cover the ground up to the houses, and the fine groves and +majestic single trees which surround them. + +Shahabad is a very ancient and large town, occupied chiefly by Pathan +Mussulmans, who are a very turbulent and fanatical set of fellows. +Subsookh Rae, a Hindoo, and the most respectable merchant in the +district, resided here, and for some time consented to officiate, as +the deputy of poor old Hafiz Abdoollah, for the management of the +town, where his influence was great. He had lent a good deal of money +to the heads of some of the Pathan families of the town, but finding +few of them disposed to repay, he was last year obliged to refuse +further loans. They determined to take advantage of the coming +mohurrum festival to revenge the _affront_ as men commonly do who +live among such a fanatical community. The tazeeas are commonly taken +up, and carried in procession, ten days after the new moon is first +seen, at any place where they are made; but in Oude all go by the day +in which the moon is seen from the capital of Lucknow. As soon as she +is seen at Lucknow, the King issues an order throughout his dominions +for the tazeeas to be taken in procession ten days after. The moon +was this year, in November, first seen on the 30th of the month at +Lucknow; but at Shahabad, where the sky is generally clearer, she had +been seen on the 29th. The men to whom Subsookh Rae had refused +farther loans determined to take advantage of this incident to wreak +their vengeance; and when the deputy promulgated the King's order for +the tazeeas to be taken in procession ten days after the 30th, they +instigated all the Mahommedans of the town to insist upon taking them +out ten days after the 29th, and persuaded them that the order had +been fabricated, or altered, by the malice of their Hindoo deputy, +_to insult their religious feelings_. They were taken out +accordingly, and having to pass the house of Subsookh Rae, when their +excitement, or spirit of religious fervour, had reached the highest +pitch, they there put them down, broke open the doors, entered in a +crowd, and plundered it of all the property they could find, +amounting to above seventy thousand rupees. Subsookh Rae was obliged +to get out, with his family, at a back door, and run for his life. He +went to Shajehanpoor, in our territory, and put himself under the +protection of the magistrate. Not content with all this, they built a +small miniature mosque at the door with some loose bricks, so that no +one could go either out or in without the risk of knocking it down, +or so injuring this _mock mosque_ as to rouse, or enable the evil- +minded to rouse, the whole Mahommedan population against the +offender. Poor Subsookh Rae has been utterly ruined, and ever since +seeking in vain for redress. The Government is neither disposed nor +able to afford it, and the poor boy who has now succeeded his learned +father in the contract is helpless. The little mock mosque, of +uncemented bricks, still stands as a monument of the insolence of the +Mahommedan population, and the weakness and apathy of the Oude +Government. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Infanticide--Nekomee Rajpoots--Fallows in Oude created by disorders-- +Their cause and effect--Tillage goes on in the midst of sanguinary +conflicts--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Mahomdee district--White +Ants--Traditional decrease in the fertility of the Oude soil--Risks +to which cultivators are exposed--Obligations which these risks +impose upon them--Infanticide--The Amil of Mahomdee's narrow escape-- +An infant disinterred and preserved by the father after having been +buried alive--Insecurity of life and property--Beauty of the surface +of the country, and richness of its foliage--Mahomdee district--State +and recent history of--Relative fertility of British and Oude soil-- +Native notions of our laws and their administration--Of the value of +evidence in our Courts--Infanticide--Boys only saved--Girls destroyed +in Oude--The priests who give absolution for the crime abhorred by +the people of all other classes--Lands in our districts becoming more +and more exhausted from over-cropping--Probable consequences to the +Government and people of India--Political and social error of +considering land private property--Hakeem Mehndee and subsequent +managers of Mahomdee--Frauds on the King in charges for the keep of +animals--Kunojee Brahmins--Unsuccessful attempt to appropriate the +lands of weaker neighbours--Gokurnath, on the border of the Tarae-- +The sakhoo or saul trees of the forest. + + +Lalta Sing, of the Nikomee Rajpoot tribe, whom I had lately an +opportunity of assisting, for his good services in arresting outlays +[outlaws ?] from our territories, has just been to pay his respects. +Our next encamping ground is to be on his estate of Kurheya and Para. +He tells me that very few families of his tribe now destroy their +female infants; that tradition ascribes the origin of this evil to the +practice of the Mahommedan emperors of Delhi of demanding daughters +in marriage from the Rajpoot princes of the country; that some of +them were too proud to comply with the demand, and too weak to resist +it in any other way than that of putting all their female infants to +death. This is not impossible. He says that he believes the +_Dhankuries_, whom I have described above to be really the only tribe +of Rajpoots among whom no family destroys its infant daughters in +Oude; that all tribes of Rajpoots get money with the daughters they +take from tribes a shade lower in caste, to whom they cannot give +theirs in return; and pay money with the daughters they give in +marriage to tribes a shade higher, who will not give their daughters +to them in return. The native collector of Shahabad, a gentlemanly +Mahommedan, came out two miles to pay his respects on my approach, +and we met on a large space of land, lying waste, while all around +was covered with rich crops. I asked, "Pray why is this land left +waste?" "It is, sir, altogether unproductive." "Why is this? It seems +to me to be just as good as the rest around, which produces such fine +crops." "It is called _khubtee_--slimy, and is said to be altogether +barren." "I assure you, sir," said Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, "that it is +good land, and capable of yielding good crops, under good tillage, or +it would not produce the fine grass you see upon it. You must not ask +men like this about the kinds and qualities of soils for they really +know nothing whatever about them: they are _city gentlemen's sons_, +who get into high places, and pass their lives in them without +learning anything but how to screw money out of such as we are, who +are born upon the soil, and depend upon its produce all our lives for +subsistence. Ask him, sir, whether either he or any of his ancestors +ever knew anything of the difference between one soil and another." + +The collector acknowledged the truth of what the old man said, and +told me that he really knew nothing about the matter, and had merely +repeated what the people told him. This is true with regard to the +greater part of the local revenue officers employed in Oude. "One of +these city gentlemen, sir," said. Bukhtawar Sing, "when sent out as a +revenue collector, in Saadut Allee's time, was asked by his +assistants what they were to do with a crop of sugar-cane which had +been attached for balances, and was becoming too ripe, replied, '_Cut +it down, to be sure, and have it stacked!_' He did not know that +sugar-cane must, as soon as cut, be taken to the mill, or it spoils." +"I have heard of another," said the old Rusaldar Nubbee Buksh, "who, +after he entered upon his charge, asked the people about him to show +him the tree on which grew the fine _istamalee_* rice which they used +at Lucknow." "There is no question, sir," said Bukhtawar Sing, "that +is too absurd, for these cockney gentlemen to ask when they enter +upon such revenue charges as these. They are the aristocracy of towns +and cities, who are learned enough in books and court ceremonies and +intrigues, but utterly ignorant of country life, rural economy, and +agricultural industry." + +[* The _istamalee_ rice is rice of fine quality, which has been kept +for some years before used. To be good, rice must be kept for some +years before used, and that only which has been so kept is called +_istamalee_ or _useable_.] + +For a cantonment or civil station, the ground to the north of +Shahabad, on the left-hand side of the road leading to Mahomdee, +seems the best. It is a level plain, of a stiff soil formed of clay +and sand, and not very productive. + +The country, from Sandee and Shahabad to the rivers Ganges and +Ramgunga, is one rich sheet of spring cultivation; and the estate of +Kuteearee, above described, is among the richest portions of this +sheet. The portions on which the richest crops now stand became waste +during the disorders which followed the expulsion of Runjeet Sing, in +the usual way, in 1837, and derived the usual benefit from the +salutary fallow. A stranger passing through such a sheet of rich +cultivation, without communing with the people, would little suspect +the fearful crimes that are every year committed upon it, from the +weakness and apathy of the Government, and the bad faith and bad +character of its officers and chief landholders. The land is tilled +in spite of all obstacles, because all depend upon its produce for +subsistence; but there is no indication of the beneficial +interference of the Government for the protection of life, property, +and character, and for the encouragement of industry and the display +of its fruits. The land is ploughed, and the seed sown, often by +stealth at night, in the immediate vicinity of a sanguinary contest +between the Government officers and the landholders. It is only when +the latter are defeated, and take to the jungles, or the Honourable +Company's districts, and commence their indiscriminate plunder, that +the cultivator ceases from his labours, and the lands are left waste. + +Runjeet Sing two or three years ago seized upon the village of +Mulatoo, in his vicinity, to which he had no claim whatever, and he +has forcibly retained it. It had long paid Government ten thousand a- +year, but he has consented to pay only one thousand. Lands yielding +above nine thousand he has cut off from its rent-roll, and added to +those of his hereditary villages on the borders. Last year he seized +upon the village of Nudua, with a rent-roll of fourteen hundred +rupees, and he holds it with a party of soldiers and two guns. The +Amil lately sent out a person with a small force to demand the +Government dues; but they were driven back, as he pretends that he +got it in mortgage from Dumber Sing, who had taken a short lease of +that and other khalsa villages, and absconded as a defaulter; and +that he has purchased the lands from the cultivating proprietors, and +is, therefore, bound to pay no revenue whatever for them-to the King. +All defaulters and offenders who take refuge on his estate he +instigates to plunder, and provides with gangs, on condition of +getting the greater part of the booty. He thinks that he is sure of +shelter in the British territory, should he be driven from Oude; he +feels also sure of aid from other large landholders of the same class +in the neighbourhood. + +_January_ 30, 1850.--Kurheya Para, twelve miles, over a plain of +excellent muteear soil, a good deal of which-is covered with jungle. +Para is a short distance from Kurheya, and our camp is midway between +the two villages. The boundary of the Sandee Palee and Mahomdee +districts we crossed about four miles from our present encampment. +This district, of Mahomdee was taken in contract by Hakeem Mehndee, +at three lacs and eleven thousand rupees a-year, in 1804 A.D., and in +a few years he brought it into full tillage, and made it yield above +seven lacs. It has been falling off ever since it was taken from him, +and now yields only between three and four lacs. The jungle is +studded with large peepul-trees, which are all shorn of their small +branches and leaves. The landholders and cultivators told me that +they were taken off by the cowherds who grazed their buffaloes, +bullocks, and cows in these jungles; that they formed their chief +and, in the cold season, their best food, as the leaves of the +peepul-tree were supposed to give warmth to the stomach, and to +increase the quantity of the milk; that the cowherds were required to +pay nothing for the privilege of grazing their cattle in these +jungles, by the person to whom the lands belonged, because they +enriched the soil with their manure, and all held small portions of +land under tillage, for which they paid rent; that they had the free +use of the peepul-trees in the jungles, but were not permitted to +touch those on the cultivated lands and in villages. + +White ants are so numerous in the argillaceous muteear soil, in which +their food abounds, that it is really dangerous to travel on an +elephant, or _swiftly_ on horseback, over a new road cut or enlarged +through any portion of it that has remained long untilled. The two +fore legs of my elephant went down yesterday morning into a deep pit +made by them, but concealed by the new road, which has been made over +it for the occasion of my visit near Shahabad, and it was with some +difficulty that he extricated them. We have had several accidents of +the same kind since we came out. In cutting a new road they cut +through large ant-hills, and leave no trace of the edifices or the +gulf below them, which the little insects have made in gathering +their food and raising their lofty habitation. They are not found in +the bhoor or oosur soils, and in comparatively small numbers in the +doomuteea or lighter soil, but they abound In the muteear soil in +proportion to its richness. Cultivation, where the crops are +irrigated, destroys them, and the only danger is in passing over new +roads cut through jungle, or lands that have remained long untilled, +or along the sides of old pathways, from which these land-marks have +been removed in hastily widening them for wheeled carriages. + +A Brahmin cultivator, whose cart we had been obliged to press into +our own service for this stage, came along with me almost all the +way. He said, "The spring crops of this season, sir, are no doubt +very fine; but in days of yore, before the curse of _Bhurt Jee_ (the +brother of Ram) came upon the landholders and cultivators of Oude, +they were much finer; when he set out from his capital of Ajoodheea +for the conquest of Cylone, he left the administration to his +brother, Bhurt Jee, who made a liberal settlement of the land tax. He +put a ghurra or pitcher, with a round bottom, turned upside down, +into every half acre (beegha) of the cultivated land, and required +the landholder or cultivator to leave upon it, as much of the grain +produced as the rounded bottom would retain, which could not be one +ten-thousandth part of the produce; he lived economically, and +collected at this rate during the many years that his brother was +absent. But when his brother returned and approached the boundary of +his dominions, he met hosts of landholders and cultivators clamouring +against the _rapacity and oppression_ of his brother's +administration. The humanity of Ram's disposition was shocked, sir, +at all this, and he became angry with his brother before he heard +what he had to say. When Bhurt had satisfied his brother that he had +not taken from them the thousandth part of what he had a right to +take, and Ram had, indeed, taken from them himself, he _sighed_ at +the wickedness and ingratitude of the agricultural classes of Oude; +and the baneful effects of this sad _sigh_ has been upon us ever +since, sir, in spite of all we can do to avert them. In order to have +the blessing of God upon our labours, it is necessary for us to +fulfil strictly all the responsibilities under which we hold and till +the land; first, to pay punctually the just demands of Government; +second, all the wages of the labour employed; third, all the +charities to the poor; fourth, all the offerings to our respective +tutelary gods; fifth, a special offering to Mahabeer, alias Hunooman. +These payments and offerings, sir, must all be made before the +cultivator can safely take the surplus produce to his store-room for +sale and consumption." + +Old Bukhtawar Sing, who was riding by my side, said, "A conscientious +farmer or cultivator, sir, when he finds that his field yields a +great deal more than the usual returns, that is when it yields twenty +instead of the usual return of ten, gives the whole in charity, lest +evil overtake him from his unusual good luck and inordinate +exultation." + +I asked the Brahmin cultivator why all these offerings were required +to be made by cultivators in particular? He replied, "There is, sir, +no species of tillage in which the lives of numerous insects are not +sacrificed, and it is to atone for these numerous murders, and the +ingratitude to Bhurt, that cultivators, in particular, are required +to make so many offerings;" and, he added, "much sin, sir, is no +doubt brought upon the land by the murder of so many female infants. +I believe, sir, that all the tribes of Rajpoots murder them; and I do +not think than one in ten is suffered to live. If the family or +village priest did not consent to eat with the parents after the +murder, no such murders could take place, sir; for none, even of +their nearest relatives, will ever eat with them till the Brahmin has +done so." + +The bearers of the tonjohn in which I sat, said, "We do not believe, +sir, that one girl in twenty among the Rajpoots is preserved. Davey +Buksh, the Gonda Rajah, is, we believe, the only one of the Biseyn +Rajpoot tribe who preserves his daughters;* his father did the same, +and his sister, who was married to the Bhudoreea Rajah of Mynpooree, +came to see him lately on the occasion of a pilgrimage to Ajoodheea, +on the death of her husband; of the six Kulhuns families of +Chehdwara, two only preserve their daughters--Surnam Sing of Arta, +and Jeskurn of Kumeear; but whether their sons or successors in the +estates will do the same is uncertain." These bearers are residents +of that district. + +[* There are a great many families of the Biseyn Rajpoots who never +destroy their infant daughters.] + +I may here remark, that oak-trees in the hills of the Himmelah chain +are disfigured in the same manner, and for the same purpose, as the +peepul and banyan trees are here; their small branches and leaves are +torn off to supply fodder for bullocks and other animals. The ilex of +the hills has not, however, in its nakedness the majesty of the +peepul and banyan of the plains, though neither of them can be said +to be "when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most." + +_January_ 31, 1850.--Puchgowa, north-east, twelve miles over a plain +of doomuteea soil, a good deal of which is out of tillage at present. +On the road we came through several neat villages, the best of which +was occupied exclusively by the families of the Kunojeea Brahmin +proprietors, and the few persons of inferior caste who ploughed their +lands for them, as they are a shade too high in caste to admit of +their holding their own ploughs. They are, however, very worthy +people, and seemed very much pleased at being put so much at their +ease in a talk with the great man about their own domestic and rural +economy. They told me, that they did not permit Rajpoots to reside in +or have anything to do with their village. + +"Why?" I asked.--"Because, sir, if they once get a footing among us, +they are, sooner or later, sure to turn us all out." "How?"--"They +get lands by little and little at lease, soon refuse to pay rent, +declare the lands to be their own, collect bad characters for +plunder, join the Rajpoots of their own clan in all the villages +around in their enterprises, take to the jungles on the first +occasion, of a dispute, attack, plunder, and burn the village, murder +us and our families, and soon get the estate for themselves, on their +own terms from the local authorities, who are wearied out by the loss +of revenue arising from their depredations; our safety, sir, depends +upon our keeping entirely aloof from them." + +Under a government so weak, the only men who prosper seem to be these +landholders of the military classes who are strong in their union, +clan feeling, courage, and ferocity. The villages here are numerous +though not large, and by far the greater part are occupied by +Rajpoots of the Nikomee tribe. + +The Amil of the Mahomdee district, Krishun Sahae, had come out so far +as Para to meet me, and have my camp supplied. He had earned a good +reputation as a native collector of long standing in the Shajehanpore +district, under Mr. Buller; but being ambitious to rise more rapidly +than he could hope to do, under our settled government, he came to +Lucknow with a letter of introduction from Mr. Buller to the +Resident, Colonel Richmond, paid his court to the Durbur, got +appointed Amil of the Mahomdee district, under the _amanee_ system, +paid his nazuranas on his investiture, in October last, and entered +upon his charge. A few days ago it pleased the minister to appoint to +his place Aboo Toorab Khan, the nephew and son-in-law of Moonowur-ood +Dowla; and orders were sent out immediately, by a camel-messenger, to +the commandants of the corps on duty, with Krishun Sahae, to seize +and send him, his family, and all his relations and dependents, with +all his property to be found upon them, to Lucknow. The wakeel, whom +he kept at Court for such occasions, heard of the order for the +supercession and arrest, and forthwith sent off a note to his master +by the fastest foot-messenger he could get. The camel-messenger found +that the Amil had left Mahomdee, and gone out two stages to Para, to +meet the Resident. He waited to deliver his message to the +commandants and subordinate civil officers of the district, and see +that they secured all the relatives, dependents, and property of the +Amil that could be found. The foot-messenger, more wise, went on, and +delivered his letter to Krishun Sahae; at Para, on the evening of +Tuesday the 29th. He ordered his elephant very quietly, and mounting, +told the driver to take him to a village on the road to Shajehanpoor. + +On reaching the village about midnight, the driver asked him whither +he was going--"I am flying from my enemies," said Krishun Sahae; "and +we must make all haste, or we shall be overtaken before we reach the +boundary." "But," said the driver, "my house and family are at +Lucknow, and the one will be pulled to the ground and the other put +into gaol if I fly with you." Krishun Sahae drew out a pistol and +threatened to shoot him if he did not drive on as told. They were +near a field of sugar-cane, and the driver hedged away towards it, +without the Amil's perceiving his intention. When they got near the +field the elephant dashed in among the cane to have a feast; and the +driver in his seeming effort to bring him out, fell off and +disappeared under the high cane. The Amil did all he could to get out +his elephant, but the animal felt that he was no longer in danger of +severe treatment from above, and had a very comfortable meal before +him in the fine ripe cane, and would not move. The poor Amil was +obliged to descend, and make all possible haste on foot across the +border, attended by one servant who had accompanied him in his +flight. The driver ran to the village and got the people to join him +in the pursuit of his master, saying that he was making off with a +good deal of the King's money. With an elephant load of the King's +money in prospect, they made all the haste they could; but the poor +Amil got safely over the border into British territory. They found +the elephant dining very comfortably on the sugar-cane. After abusing +the driver and all his female relations for deluding them with the +hope of a rich booty, they permitted him to take the empty elephant +to the new Amil at Mahomdee. News of all this reached my camp last +night. + +I omitted to mention that, at Busora on the 27th, a Rajpoot +landholder of the Sombunsie tribe, came to my camp with a petition +regarding a mortgage, and mentioned that he had a daughter, now two +years of age; that when she was born he was out in his fields, and +the females of the family put her into an earthen pot, buried her in +the floor of the apartment, where the mother lay, and lit a fire over +the grave; that he made all haste home as soon as he heard of the +birth of a daughter, removed the fire and earth from the pot, and +took out his child. She was still living, but two of her fingers +which had not been sufficiently covered were a good deal burnt. He +had all possible care taken of her, and she still lives, and both he +and his wife are very fond of her. Finding that his tale interested +me, he went home for the child; but his village was far off, and he +has not been able to overtake me. He had given no orders to have her +preserved, as his wife was confined sooner than he expected; but the +family took it for granted that she was to be destroyed, and in +running home to preserve her he acted on the impulse of the moment. +The practice of destroying female infants is so general among this +tribe, that a family commonly destroys the daughter as soon as born, +when the father is from home, and has given no special orders about +it, taking it to be his wish as a matter of course. + +Several respectable landholders of the Chouhan, Nikomee, and other +tribe of Rajpoots, were talking to me yesterday evening, and as they +were connected by marriage with Rajpoot families of the same and +higher clans in the British territories, I asked them whether some +plan could not be devised to suppress the evil in Oude, as it had +been suppressed there; for the disorders which prevailed seemed to me +to be only a visitation from above for such an all-pervading sin. +They told me that there would be little difficulty in putting down +this system under an honest and strong Government that would secure +rights, enforce duties, and protect life and property, as in the +British territories. Atrocious and cruel as this crime is in Oude, it +is hardly more so than that which not long ago prevailed in France +and other nations of Europe, of burying their daughters alive in +nunneries in order to gratify the same family pride. + +It is painful to me to walk out of my tent of an evening, for I have +every day large crowds seeking redress for grievous wrongs, for which +I see no hope of redress: men and women, who have had their dearest +relatives murdered, their houses burnt down, their whole property +taken away, their lands seized upon, their crops destroyed by +ruffians residing in the same or neighbouring villages, and actually +in the camp of the Amil, without the slightest fear of being punished +or made to surrender any portion of what they have taken. The +Government authorities are too weak, even to enforce the payment of +the Government demand, and have not the means to seize or punish +offenders of any kind, if they have the inclination. In some +districts they not only acquiesce in the depredations of these gangs +of robbers, but act in collusion with their leaders, in order to get +their aid in punishing defaulters or pretended defaulters, among the +landholders. They murder the landholders, and as many as possible of +their families, and as a reward for their services the local +authorities make over their lands to them at reduced rates. + +The Nazim of Sandee Palee told me on taking leave, that he had only +two wings of Nujeeb Regiments with him, one of which was fit for some +service, and in consequence, spread over the district on detached +duties. The other was with him, but out of the five hundred, for +which he had to issue monthly pay, he should not be able to get ten +men to follow him on any emergency. They are obliged to court and +conciliate the strong and reckless who prey upon the weak and +industrious; and in consequence become despised and detested by the +people. I feel like one moving among a people afflicted with +incurable diseases, who crowd around him in hope, and are sent away +in despair. I try to make the local authorities exert themselves in +behalf of the sufferers; but am told that they have already done +their utmost in vain; that if they seize robbers and murderers and +send them to Lucknow, they are sure to purchase their enlargement and +return to wreak their vengeance on them and on all who have aided +them in their arrest and conviction; that if they attempt to seize +one of the larger landholders, who refuses to pay the Government +demand, seizes upon the lands of his weaker neighbours, and murders +and robs them indiscriminately, he removes across the Ganges, into +one of the Honourable Company's districts, and thence sends his +myrmidons to plunder and lay waste the whole country, till he is +invited back by a weak and helpless Government upon his own terms; +that formerly British troops were employed in support of the local +authorities against offenders of this class; but that of late years +all such aid and support have been withdrawn from the Oude +Government, while the offenders find all they require from the +subjects and police authorities of the bordering British districts. + +The country we passed over to-day, between Para and Puchgowa, is a +plain, beautifully studded with groves and fine solitary trees, in +great perfection. The bandha or mistletoe, upon the mhowa and mango +trees, is in full blossom, and adds much to their beauty; the soil is +good, and the surface everywhere capable of tillage, with little +labour or outlay; for the jungle where it prevails the most is of +grass, and the small palas-trees (butea-frondosa) which may be-easily +uprooted. The whole surface of Oude is, indeed, like a gentleman's +park of the most beautiful description, as far as the surface of the +ground and the foliage go. Five years of good Government would make +it one of the most beautiful parterres in nature. To plant a large +grove, as it ought to be, a Hindoo thinks it necessary to have the +following trees:-- + +The banyan, or burgut; peepul, ficus religiosa; mango; tamarind; +jamun, eugenia jambolana; bele, cratoeva marmelos; pakur, ficus +venosa; mhowa, bassia latifolia; oula, phyllanthus emblica; goolur, +figus glomerata; kytha, feronia elephantum; kuthal, or jack; +moulsaree, mimusops elengi; kuchnar, bauhinea variegata; neem, melia +azadirachta; bere, fizyphus jujuba; horseradish, sahjuna; sheeshum, +dalbergia sisa; toon, adrela toona; and chundun, or sandal. + +Where he can get or afford to plant only a small space, he must +confine himself to the more sacred and generally useful of these +trees; and they are the handsomest in appearance. Nothing can be more +beautiful than one of those groves surrounded by fields teeming with +rich spring crops, as they are at present; and studded here and there +with fine single banyan, peepul, tamarind, mhowa, and cotton trees, +which, in such positions, attain their highest perfection, as if +anxious to display their greatest beauties, where they can be seen to +the most advantage. Each tree has there free space for its roots, +which have the advantage of the water supplied to the fields around +in irrigation, and a free current of air, whose moisture is condensed +upon its leaves and stems by their cooler temperature, while its +carbonic acid and ammonia are absorbed and appropriated to their +exclusive use. Its branches, unincommoded by the proximity of other +trees, spread out freely, and attain their utmost size and beauty. + +I may here mention what are the spring crops which now in a +luxuriance not known for many years, from fine falls of rain in due +season, embellish the surface over which we are passing :-- + +_Spring Crops_.--Wheat; barley; gram; arahur, of two kinds (pulse); +musoor (pulse); alsee (linseed); surson (a species of fine mustard); +moong (pulse); peas, of three kinds; mustard; sugar-cane, of six +kinds; koosum (safflower); opium; and palma christi. + +_February_ 1, 1850.--Mahomdee, eleven miles, over a level plain +of muteear soil of the best quality, well supplied with groves and +single trees of the finest kind; but a good deal of the land is out +of tillage, and covered with the rank grass, called garur, the roots +of which form the fragrant khus, for tatties, in the hot winds; and +dhak (butea frondosa) jungle. Several villages, through and near +which we passed, belong to Brahmin zumeendars, who were driven away +last year by the rapacity of the contractor, Mahomed Hoseyn, a +senseless oppressor, who was this year superseded by a very good +officer and worthy man, who was driven out with disgrace, as +described yesterday, while engaged in inviting back the absconded +cultivators to these deserted villages, and providing them with the +means of bringing their lands again into tillage. Hoseyn Allee had +seized and sold all their plough-bullocks, and other agricultural +stock, between the autumn and spring harvests, together with all the +spring crops, as they became ripe, to make good the increased rate of +revenue demanded; and they were all turned out beggars, to seek +subsistence among their relatives and friends, in our bordering +district of Shajehanpoor. The rank grass and jungle are full of +neelgae and deer of all kinds; and the cowherds, who remain to graze +their cattle on the wide plains, left waste, find it very difficult +to preserve their small fields of corn from their trespass. They are +said to come in herds of hundreds around these fields during the +night, and to be frequently followed by tigers, several of which were +killed last year, by Captain Hearsey, of the Frontier Police. Waste +lands, more distant from the great Tarae forest, are free from +tigers. + +I had a long talk with the Brahmin communities of two of these +villages, who had been lately invited back from the Shajehanpoor +district, by Krishun Sahae, and resettled on their lands. They are a +mild, sensible, and most respectable body, whom a sensible ruler +would do all in his power to protect and encourage; but these are the +class; of landholders and cultivators whom the reckless governors of +districts, under the Oude Government, most grievously oppress. They +told me--"that nothing could be better than the administration of the +Shajehanpoor district by the present collector and magistrate, Mr. +Buller, whom all classes loved and respected; that the whole surface +of the country was under tillage, and the poorest had as much +protection as the highest in the land; that the whole district was, +indeed, a garden." "But the returns, are they equal to those from +your lands in Oude?"--"Nothing like it, sir; they are not half as +good; nor can the cultivator afford to pay half the rate that we pay +when left to till our lands in peace." "And why is this?"--"Because, +sir, ours is sometimes left waste to recover its powers, as you now +see all the land around you, while theirs has no rest" "But do they +not alternate their crops, to relieve the soil?"--"Yes, sir, but this +is not enough: ours receive manure from the herds of cattle and deer +that graze upon it while fallow: and we have greater stores of manure +than they have, to throw over it when we return and resume our +labours. We alternate our crops, at the same time, as much as they +do; and plough and cross-plough our lands more." "And where would you +rather live--there, protected as the people are from all violence, or +here, exposed as you are to all manner of outrage and extortion."-- +"We would rather live here, sir, if we could; and we were glad to +come back." "And why? There the landholders and cultivators are sure +that no man will be permitted to exact a higher rate of rent or +revenue than that which they voluntarily bind themselves to pay +during the period of a long lease; while here you are never sure that +the terms of your lease will be respected for a single season."-- +"That is all true, sir, but we cannot understand the '_aen_ and +_kanoon_' (the rules and regulations), nor should we ever do so; for +we found that our relations, who had been settled there for many +generations, were just as ignorant of them as ourselves. Your Courts +of justice (adawluts) are the things we most dread, sir; and we are +glad to escape from them as soon as we can, in spite of all the evils +we are exposed to on our return to the place of our birth. It is not +the fault of the European gentlemen who preside over them, for they +are anxious to do, and have justice done, to all; but, in spite of +all their efforts, the wrong-doer often escapes, and the sufferer is +as often punished." + +"The truth, sir, is seldom told in these Courts. There they think of +nothing but the number of witnesses, as if all were alike; here, sir, +we look to the quality. When a man suffers wrong, the wrong-doer is +summoned before the elders, or most respectable men of his village or +clan; and if he denies the charge and refuses redress, he is told to +bathe, put his hand upon the peepul-tree, and declare aloud his +innocence. If he refuses, he is commanded to restore what he has +taken, or make suitable reparation for the injury he has done; and if +he refuses to do this, he is punished by the odium of all, and his +life becomes miserable. A man dares not, sir, put his hand upon that +sacred tree and deny the truth--the gods sit in it and know all +things; and the offender dreads their vengeance. In your adawluts, +sir, men do not tell the truth so often as they do among their own +tribes, or village communities--they perjure themselves in all manner +of ways, without shame or dread; and there are so many men about +these Courts, who understand the 'rules and regulations,' and are so +much interested in making truth appear to be falsehood, and falsehood +truth, that no man feels sure that right will prevail in them in any +case. The guilty think they have just as good a chance of escape as +the innocent. Our relations and friends told us, that all this +confusion of right and wrong, which bewildered them, arose from the +multiplicity of the 'rules and regulations,' which threw all the +power into the hands of bad men, and left the European gentlemen +helpless!" + +"But you know that the crime of murdering female infants, which +pervades the whole territory of Oude, and brings the curse of God +upon it, has been suppressed in the British territory, in spite of +these '_aens and kanoons?_'"--"True, sir, it has been put down in +your bordering districts; but the Rajpoot families who reside in them +manage to escape your vigilance, and keep up the evil practice. They +intermarry with Rajpoot families in Oude, and the female infants, +born of the daughters they give in marriage to Oude families, are +destroyed in Oude without fear or concealment; while the daughters +they receive in marriage, from Oude families, are sent over the +border into Oude, when near their confinement, on the pretence of +visiting their relations. If they give birth to boys, they bring them +back with them into your districts; but if they give birth to girls, +they are destroyed in the same manner, and no questions are ever +asked about them." "Do you ever eat or drink with Rajpoot parents who +destroy their female infants?"--"Never, sir! we are Brahmins, but we +can take water in a brass vessel from the hands of a Rajpoot, and we +do so when his family is unstained with this crime; but nothing would +ever tempt us to drink water from the hands of one who permitted his +daughters to be murdered." "Do you ever eat with the village or +family priest who has given absolution to parents who have permitted +their daughters to be murdered, by eating in the room where the +murder has been perpetrated?"--"Never, sir; we abhor him as a +participator in the crime; and nothing would ever induce one of us to +eat or associate with him: he takes all the sin upon his own head by +doing so, and is considered by us as an outcast from the tribe, and +accursed! It is they who keep up this fearful usage. Tigers and +wolves cherish their offspring, and are better than these Rajpoots, +who out of family or clan pride, destroy theirs. As soon as their +wives give birth to sons, they fire off guns, give largely in +charity, make offerings to shrines, and rejoice in all manner of +ways; but when they give birth to poor girls, they bury them alive +without pity, and a dead silence prevails in the house; it is no +wonder, sir, that you say that the curse of God is upon the land in +which such sins prevail!" + +The quality of testimony, no doubt, like that of every other +commodity, deteriorates under a system, which renders the good of no +more value in exchange than the bad. The formality of our Courts +here, as everywhere else, tends to impair, more or less, the quality +of what they receive. The simplicity of Courts, composed of little +village communities and elders, tends, on the contrary, to improve +the quality of the testimony they get; and in India, it is found to +be best in the isolated hamlets of hills and forests, where men may +be made to do almost anything rather than _tell a lie_. A Marhatta +pandit, in the valley of the Nerbudda, once told me, that it was +almost impossible to teach a wild Gond of the hills and jungles the +_occasional_ value of a lie! It is the same with the Tharoos and +Booksas, who are, almost exclusively the cultivators of the Oude +Tarae forest, and with the peasantry of the Himmalaya chain of +mountains, before they have come much in contact with people of the +plains, and become subject to the jurisdiction of our Courts. These +Courts are, everywhere, our _weak point_ in the estimation of our +subjects; and they should be, everywhere, simplified to meet the +wants and wishes of so simple a people. + +That the lands, under the settled Government of the Honourable East +India Company, are becoming more and more deteriorated by +overcropping is certain; and an Indian statesman will naturally +inquire, what will be the probable consequence to the people and the +Government? To the people, the consequence must be, a rise in the +price of land produce, proportioned to the increased cost of +producing and bringing to market what is required for consumption. +The price in the market must always be sufficient to cover the cost +of producing, and bringing what is required from the poorest and most +distant lands to which that market is at any time obliged to have +recourse for supply; and as these lands deteriorate in their powers +of fertility, recourse must be had to lands more distant, or more +cost must be incurred in manure, irrigation, &c., to make these, +already had recourse to, to produce the same quantity, or both. The +price in the market must rise to meet the increased outlay required, +or that outlay will not be made; and the market cannot be supplied. + +As men have to pay more for the Land produce they require, they will +have less to lay out in other things; and as they cannot do without +the land produce, they must be satisfied with less of other things, +till their incomes increase to meet the necessity for increased +outlay. People will get this increase in proportion as their labour, +services, talents, or acquirements are more or less indispensable to +the society; and the price of other things will diminish, as the cost +of producing and bringing them to market diminishes, with +improvements in manufactures, and in the facilities of transport. No +very serious injury to the people of our territories is, therefore, +to be apprehended from the inevitable deterioration in the natural +powers of the soil, under our settled Government, which gives so much +security to life, property, and character, and so much encouragement +to industry. + +The consequence to the Government will be less serious than might at +first appear. Under a system of limited settlements of the land- +revenue, such as prevail over all our dominions, except in Bengal, +the Government is in reality the landlord; and our land-revenue is in +reality land-rent.* We alienate a portion of that rent for limited +periods in favour of those with whom we make such settlements, and +take all the rest ourselves. On an average, perhaps, our Government +takes one-sixth of the gross produce of the land; and the persons, +with whom the settlements are made, take another sixth. The net rent, +which the Government and they divide equally between them, may be +taken, on an average, at one-third of the gross produce of the land. +The cultivator would, I believe, always be glad to take and cultivate +land, on an average, on condition of giving one-third of the gross +produce, or the value of one-third, to be divided between the +Government and its lessee; and the lessee will always consider +himself fortunate if he gets one-half of this third, to cover the +risk and cost of management. + +* I believe our Government committed a great _political_ and _social_ +error, when it declared all the land to be the property of the +lessees: and all questions regarding it to be cognizable by Judicial +Courts. It would have been better for the people, as well as the +Government, had all such questions been left to the Fiscal and +Revenue Courts. There is the same regular series of these Courts, +from the Tuhseeldar to the Revenue Sudder Board, as of the Judicial +Courts, from the Moonsiff to the Judicial Sudder Board; and they are +all composed of the same class of persons, with the same character +and motives to honest exertion. Why force men to run the gauntlet +through both series? It tends to make the Government to be considered +as a rapacious tax-gatherer, instead of a liberal landlord, which it +really is; and to foster the growth of a host of native pettifogging +attorneys, to devour, like white ants, the substance of the +landholders of all classes and grades. + +Where the soil of a particular village in a district deteriorates, an +immediate reduction in the assessment must be given, or the lands +will be deserted. If the Government does not consent to such a +reduction, the lessee must sustain the whole burthen, for he cannot +shift it off upon the cultivators, without driving them from the +lands. The lessee may sustain the whole burthen for one or two years; +but if the officers of Government attempt to make him sustain it +longer, they drive him after his cultivators, and the land is left +waste. I have seen numerous estates of villages and some districts +made waste by such attempts in India. I have seen land in such +estates, which, when unexhausted, yielded, on an average, twelve +returns of the seed, without either manure or irrigation, and paid a +rent of twenty shillings an acre, become so exhausted by overcropping +in a few years as to yield only three or four returns, and unable to +pay four shillings an acre--indeed, unable to pay any rent at all. +The cultivator, by degrees, ceases to sow the more exhausting and +profitable crops, and is at last obliged to have recourse to manure, +or desert his land altogether; but no manure will enable him to get +the same quantity of produce as he got before, while what he gets +sells at the same rate in the market. He can, therefore, no longer +pay the same rate of rent to Government and its lessee. He has got a +less quantity of produce, and it has cost him much more to raise it, +while it continues to sell at the same price in the market. + +But when the lands of a whole country, or a large extent of country, +deteriorate in the same manner, and all cultivators are obliged to do +the same thing, the price of land produce must rise in the markets, +so as to pay the additional costs of supply. All but the poorest and +most distant to which these markets must have recourse for supply, at +any particular time, will pay rent, and pay it at a rate proportioned +to their greater fertility or nearer proximity to the markets. Such +Markets must pay for land produce a price sufficient to cover the +costs of producing and bringing it from the poorest and most distant +lands, to which they are obliged at any particular time to have +recourse for supply. All land produce of the same quality must, at +the same time and place, sell in the market at the same price; and +all that is over and above the cost of producing and bringing it to +market will go to the proprietors of the land, that is, to the +Government and its lessees. The poorest and most distant land, to +which any market may have recourse at any particular time, may pay no +rent, because the price is no more than sufficient to pay the cost of +producing and bringing their supply to that market; but all that is +less poor and distant will pay rent, because the price which their +produce brings in that market will be more than sufficient to pay the +cost of producing and bringing their supply to that market. + +The increase in the price of land produce which must take place, as +the lands become generally exhausted by overcropping, will, probably, +prevent any great falling off in the money rate of rents and +revenues, from the land in our Indian possessions; and with the +improvements in manufactures, and in the facilities of transport, +which must tend to reduce the price of other articles, that money +will purchase more of them in the market; and the establishments +which have to be maintained out of these rents and revenues may not +become more costly. Government and its lessees may have the same +incomes in money, and the greater price, they and their +establishments are obliged to pay for land produce may be compensated +by the lesser price they will have to pay for other things. + +As facilities for irrigation are extended and improved in wells and +canals, new elements of fertility will be supplied to the surface, in +the soluble salts contained in their waters. The well-waters will +bring these salts from great depths, and the canal-waters will +collect them as they flow along, or percolate through, the earth; and +as they rise, by capillary attraction, they will convey them to the +surface, where they are required for tillage. The atmosphere, in +water, ammonia, and carbonic-acid gas will continue to supply plants +with the oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon which they require +from it; and judicious selection and supply of manure will provide +the soil with those elements in which it happens to be deficient. +Peace, security, instruction, and a due encouragement to industry, +will, it may be hoped, secure to the people all that they require +from our Government, and to our Government all that it can fairly +require from the people. + +The soil of Mahomdee is as fine as that of any part of Oude that I +have seen; and the soil of Oude, generally, is equal to the best that +I have seen in any part of India. It is all of the kinds above +described--muteear (argillaceous), doomuteea (light), bhoor (sandy), +and oosur (barren), as far as I have seen. In some parts, the muteear +is more productive than in others, and the same may be said of all +the other denominations of soil. In the poorer parts of the muteear, +the stiff clay, devoid of decayed vegetable and animal matter, seems +to superabound, as the sand does in the lightest or poorer portions +of the soil, called doomuteea, which runs into bhoor. The oosur, or +soil rendered unproductive by a superabundance of substances not +suitable to the growth of plants, seems to be common to both kinds. +In all soils, except the oosur, fine trees grow, and good crops are +produced under good tillage; but in the muteear, the outlay to +produce them is the least. It is an error to suppose that a soil, +even of pure sand, must be absolutely barren. Quartz-sand commonly +contains some of the inorganic substances necessary to plants-- +silica, lime, potash, alumina, oxide of iron, magnesia, &c.--and they +are rendered soluble, and fit for the use of plants by atmospheric +air and water, impregnated with carbonic-acid gas, as all water is +more or less. The only thing required from the hand of man, besides +water, to render them cultivable, is vegetable or animal substances, +to supply them, as they decay or decompose, with organic acids. + +The late Hakeem Mehndee, took the contract of the Mahomdee district, +as already stated, in the year A.D. 1804, when it was in its present +bad state, at 3,11,000 rupees a-year; and he held it till the year +1819, or for sixteen years. He had been employed in the Azimgurh +district, under Boo Allee Hakeem, the contractor; and during the +negotiations for the transfer of that district, with the other +territories to the British Government, which took place in 1801; he +lost his place, and returned to Lucknow, where he paid his court to +the then Dewan, or Chancellor of the Exchequer, who offered him the +contract of the Mahomdee district, at three lacs and eleven thousand +rupees a-year, on condition of his depositing in the Treasury a +security bond for thirty-two thousand rupees. There had been a +liaison between him and a beautiful dancing-girl, named Peeajoo, who +had saved a good deal of money. She advanced the money, and Hakeem +Mehndee deposited the bond, and got the contract. The greater part of +the district was then, as now, a waste; and did not yield more than +enough to cover the Government demand, gratuities to courtiers, and +cost of management. The Hakeem remained to support his influence at +Court, while his brother, Hadee Allee Khan, resided at Mahomdee, and +managed the district. The Hakeem and his fair friend were married, +and lived happily together till her death, which took place before +that of her husband, while she was on a pilgrimage to Mecca. While +she lived, he married no other woman; but on her death he took to +himself another, who survived him; but he had no child by either. His +vast property was left to Monowur-od Dowlah, the only son of his +brother, Hadee Allee Khan, and to his widow and dependents. The +district improved rapidly under the care of the two brothers; and, in +a few years, yielded them about seven lacs of rupees a-year. The +Government demand increased with the rent-roll to the extent of four +lacs of rupees a-year. This left a large income for Hakeem Mehndee +and his family, who had made the district a garden, and gained the +universal respect and affection of the people. + +In the year 1807, Hakeem Mehndee added, to the contract of Mahomdee, +that of the adjoining district of Khyrabad, at five lacs of rupees a- +year, making his contract nine lacs. In 1816, he added the contract +for the Bahraetch district, at seven lacs and seventy-five thousand; +but he resigned this in 1819, after having held it for two years, +with no great credit to himself. In 1819, he lost the contract for +Mahomdee and Khyrabad, from the jealousy of the prime minister, Aga +Meer. In April 1818, the Governor-General the Marquess of Hastings +passed through his district of Khyrabad, on his way to the Tarae +forest, on a sporting excursion, after the Marhatta war. Hakeem +Mehndee attended him during this excursion, and the Governor-General +was so much pleased with his attentions, courteous manners, and +sporting propensities, and treated him with so much consideration and +kindness, that the minister took the alarm, and determined to get rid +of so formidable a rival. He in consequence made the most of the +charge preferred against him, of the murder of Amur Sing; and +demanded an increase of five lacs of rupees a-year, or fourteen lacs +of rupees a-year, instead of nine. This Hakeem Mehndee would not +consent to give; and Shekh Imam Buksh was, in 1819, sent to supersede +him, as a temporary arrangement. + +In 1820, Poorun Dhun, and Govurdhun Dass, merchants of Lucknow, took +the contract of the two districts at twelve lacs of rupees a-year, or +an increase of three lacs; and from that time, under a system of +rack-renting, these districts have been falling off. Mahomdee is now +in a worse state than Khyrabad, because it has had the bad luck to +get a worse set of contractors. Hakeem Mehndee retired with his +family, first to Shajehanpoor, and then to Futtehgurh, on the Ganges, +and resided there, with his family, till June 1830, when he was +invited back by Nusseer-do Deen Hyder, to assume the office of prime +minister. He held the office till August 1832, when he was removed by +the intrigues of the Kumboos, Taj-od Deen Hoseyn, and Sobhan Allee +Khan, who persuaded the King that he was trying to get him removed +from the throne, by reporting to the British Government the murder of +some females, which had, it is said, actually taken place in the +palace. Hakeem Mehndee was invited from his retirement by Mahomed +Allee Shah, and again appointed minister in 1837; but he died three +months after, on the 24th of December, 1837. + +During the thirty years which have elapsed since Hakeem Mehndee lost +the contract of Mahomdee, there have been no less than seventeen +governors, fifteen of whom have been contractors; and the district +has gradually declined from what it was, when he left it, to what it +was when he took it--that is from a rent-roll of seven lacs of rupees +a-year, under which all the people were happy and prosperous, to one +of three, under which all the people are wretched. The manager, +Krishun Sahae, who has been treated as already described, would, in a +few years, have made it what it was when the Hakeem left it, had he +been made to feel secure in his tenure of office, and properly +encouraged and supported. He had, in the three months he had charge, +invited back from our bordering districts hundreds of the best +classes of landholders and cultivators, who had been driven off by +the rapacity of his predecessor, re-established them in their +villages and set them to work in good spirit, to restore the lands +which had lain waste from the time they deserted them; and induced +hundreds to convert to sugar-cane cultivation the lands which they +had destined for humbler crops, in the assurance, of the security +which they were to enjoy under his rule. The one class tells me, they +must suspend all labours upon the waste lands till they can learn the +character of his successor; and the other, that they must content +themselves with the humbler crops till they can see whether the +richer and more costly ones will be safe from his grasp, or that of +the agents, whom he may employ to manage the district for him. No man +is safe for a moment under such a Government, either in his person, +his character, his office, or his possession; and with such a feeling +of insecurity among all classes, it is impossible for a country to +prosper.* + +[* Krishun Sahae has been restored, but does not feel secure in his +tenure of office.] + +I may here mention one among the numerous causes of the decline of +the district. The contract for it was held for a year and half, in +A.D. 1847-48, by Ahmed Allee. Feeling insecure in his tenure of +office, he wanted to make as much as possible out of things as they +were, and resumed Guhooa, a small rent-free village, yielding four +hundred rupees a-year, held by Bahadur Sing, the tallookdar of +Peepareea, who resides at Pursur. He had recourse to the usual mode +of indiscriminate murder and plunder, to reduce Ahmed Allee to terms. +At the same time, he resumed the small village of Kombee, yielding +three hundred rupees a-year, held rent-free by Bhoder Sing, +tallookdar of Magdapoor, who resided in Koombee; and, in consequence, +he united his band of marauders to that of Bahadur Sing; and together +they plundered and burnt to the ground some dozen villages, and laid +waste the purgunnah of Peepareea, which had yielded to Government +twenty-five thousand rupees a-year, and contained the sites of one +hundred and eight villages, of which, however, only twenty-five were +occupied. + +During the greater part of the time that these depredations were +going on, the two rebels resided in our bordering district of +Shajehanpoor, whence they directed the whole. Urgent remonstrances +were addressed to the magistrate of that district, but he required +judicial proof of their participation in the crimes, that were +committed by their followers, upon the innocent and unoffending +peasantry; and no proof that the contractor could furnish being +deemed sufficient, he was obliged to consent to restore the rent-free +villages. The lands they made waste, still remain so, and pay no +revenue to Government. + +Saadut Allee Khan (who died in 1814), when sovereign of Oude, was +fond of this place, and used to reside here for many months every +year. He made a garden, about a mile to the east of the town, upon a +fine open plain of good soil, and planted an avenue of fine trees all +the way. The trees are now in perfection, but the garden has been +neglected; and the bungalow in the centre, in which he resided, is an +entire ruin. He kept a large establishment of men and cattle, for +which sixty thousand rupees a-year were regularly charged in the +accounts of the manager of the district, through his reign and those +of Ghazee-od Deen, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, Mahomed Allee Shah, and +Amjud Allee Shah, and the first year of the reign of his present +Majesty, Wajid Allee Shah; though, with the exception of two bullocks +and two gardeners, the cattle had all disappeared, and the servants +been all discharged some thirty years before. + +In October last, when six guns were required from the great park of +artillery at Lucknow, to be sent out on detached duty with the +Gungoor Regiment, an inspection of the draft-bullocks took place, and +it was found, that the Court favourite who had charge of the park had +made away with no less than one thousand seven hundred and thirty of +them, and only twenty could be found to take the guns. He had been +charging for the food of these one thousand seven hundred and thirty +for a long series of years. On mentioning this fact to a late +minister, he told me of two facts within his own knowledge, +illustrative of these sort of charges. This same Court favourite, in +the reign of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, in 1835, received charge of +sixteen bullocks, of surpassing beauty, which had been presented to +the King, and he was allowed to draw, from the Treasury, a rupee a- +day, for the food of each bullock. + +In the reign of Mahomed Allee Shah, his prudent successor, a muster +of all the bullocks was called for, and Ghalib Jung, to whom the +muster was intrusted, to spite the favourite, called for these +sixteen bullocks. The favourite had disposed of them, though, he +continued to draw the allowance; and, to supply their place, he sent +to the bazaar and seized sixteen of the bullocks which had that day +brought corn to market. They were presented to Ghalib Jung for +muster. He pretended to be very angry, declared that it was +disgraceful to keep such poor creatures on the King's establishment, +and still more so to charge a rupee a-day for the food of each, and +ordered them to be sold forthwith by auction. Soon after they had +been sold, the poor men to whom they belonged came up to claim them, +but could never get either the bullocks or their price, nor could the +favourite ever be persuaded to refund any portion of the money he had +drawn for the sixteen he had sold.* + +[* The favourite, in both these cases, was Anjum-od Dowlah.] + +In the early part of the reign of Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, a fine dog +from the Himmalaya Hills was presented to him, and made over to the +charge of one of the favourites, who drew a rupee a-day for his food. +Soon after his Majesty became ill and very irritable, and one day +complained much of this dog's barking. He was told that the only way +to silence a dog of this description was to give him a seer of +conserve of roses to eat every day, and a bottle of rose-water to +drink. His Majesty ordered them to be given forthwith, and his repose +was never after disturbed by the dog's barking. A rupee a-day +continued to be drawn for these things for the dog for the rest of +the long reign of Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, and through that of his +successor, Nuseer-od Deen, which lasted for ten years, and ended in +1837, though the animal had died soon after the order for these +things was given, or in 1816, and he believed it continued to be +drawn up to the present day. + +The cantonment at Mahomdee stands between this garden of Saadut +Allee's and the town, and this is the best site for any civil or +military establishments that may be required at Mahomdee. The Nazims +usually reside in the fort in the town. + +_February_ 2, 1850.--Halted at Mahomdee. The spring crops around the +town are very fine, and the place is considered to be very healthy. +There is, however, some peculiarity in the soil, opposed to the +growth of the poppy. The cultivators tell me that they have often +tried it; that it is stunted in growth, whatever care be taken of it, +and yields but little juice, and that of bad quality, though it +attains perfection in the Shahabad and other districts around. The +doomuteea soil is here esteemed better than the muteear, though it +requires more labour in the tillage. It is said that _mote_ and +_mash_, two pulses, do not thrive in the muteear soil so well as in +the doomuteea. + +_February_ 3, 1850.--Poknapoor, eight miles. We crossed the Goomtee +about midway, over a bridge of boats that had been prepared for us. +The boats came up the river thus far for timber, and were detained +for the occasion. The stream is here narrow, and said to flow from a +basin (the phoola talao) in the Tarae forest, some fifty miles to the +north, at Madhoo Tanda. There is some tillage on the verge of the +stream on the other side; but from the river to our tents, four +miles, there is none. The country is level and well studded with +groves and fine single trees, bur, peepul, mhowa, mango, &c., but +covered with rank grass. + +Near the river is a belt of the sakhoo and other forest trees, with +underwood, in which tigers lodge and prey upon the deer, which cover +the grass plain, and frequently upon the bullocks, which are grazed +upon it in great numbers. Several bullocks have been killed and eaten +by them within the last few days; and an old fakeer, who has for some +months taken up his lodging on this side the river under a peepul- +tree, in a straw hut just big enough to hold him, told us that he +frequently saw them come down to drink in the stream near his +lodging. We saw a great many deer in passing, but no tigers. The soil +near the river is sandy, and the ground uneven, but still cultivable; +and on this side of the sandy belt it is all level and of the best +kind of doomuteea. Our tents are in a fine grove of mango-trees, in +the midst of a waste, but level and extensive, plain of this soil, +not a rood of which is unfit for the plough or incapable of yielding +crops of the finest quality. It is capable of being made, in two or +three years, a beautiful garden. + +The single trees, which are scattered all over it, have been shorn of +their leaves and small branches by the cowherds for their cattle, but +they would all soon clothe themselves again under protection. The +groves are sufficiently numerous to furnish sites for the villages +and hamlets required. All the large sakhoo-trees have been cut down +and taken away on the ground we have come over, which is too near the +river for them to be permitted to attain full size. Not an acre or a +foot of the land is oosur, or unfit for tillage. Poknapoor is in the +estate of Etowa, which forms part of the pergunnah of Peepareea, to +which Bahadur Sing, the person above described, lays claim. He holds +a few villages round his residence at Pursur; but the pergunnah is +under the management of a Government officer, under the Amil of +Mahomdee. The Rajah, Syud Ashruf Allee Khan, of Mahomdee, claims a +kind of suzerainty over all the district, and over this pergunnah of +Peepareea among the rest. From all the villages tilled and peopled he +is permitted to levy an income for himself at the rate of two rupees +a-village. This the people pay with some reluctance, though they +recognise his right. + +The zumeendars of Poknapoor are Kunojee Brahmins, who tell me that +they can do almost everything in husbandry save holding their own +ploughs: they can drive their own harrows and carts, reap their own +crops, and winnow and tread out their own corn; but if they once +condescend to _hold their own ploughs_ they sink in grade, and have +to pay twice as much as they now pay for wives for their sons from +the same families, and take half of what they now take for their +daughters from the same families, into which they now marry them. +They have, they say, been settled in these pergunnahs, north-east of +the Goomtee River, for fifty-two generations as farmers and +cultivators; and their relatives, who still remain at Aslamabad, a +village one koss south-east of Mahomdee, which was the first abode of +the tribe in Oude, have been settled there for no less than eighty- +four generations. They form village communities, dividing the lands +among the several members, and paying over and above the Government +demand a liberal allowance to the head of the village and of the +family settled in it, to maintain his respectability and to cover the +risk and cost of management, either in kind, in money, or in an extra +share of the land. + +The lands of Poknapoor are all divided into two equal shares, one +held by _Dewan_ and the other by _Ramnath_, who were both among the +people with whom I conversed. Teekaram, who has a share in Dewan's +half, mentioned that about thirteen years ago the Amil, Khwaja +Mahmood, wanted to increase the rate of the Government demand on the +village from the four hundred, which they had long paid, to four +hundred and fifty; that they refused to pay, and Hindoo Sing, the +Rajpoot tallookdar of Rehreea, one koss east of Poknapoor, offered to +take the lease at four hundred and fifty, and got it. They refused to +pay, and he, at the head of his gang of armed followers, attacked, +plundered, and burnt down the village, and killed his, Teekaram's, +brother Girdharee, with his two sons, and inflicted three severe cuts +of a sabre on the right arm of his wife, who is now a widow among +them. Hindoo Sing's object was to make this village a permanent +addition to his estate; but, to his surprise, the Durbar took serious +notice of the outrage, and he fled into the Shajehanpoor district, +where he was seized by the magistrate, Mr. Buller, and made over to +the Oude authorities for trial. He purchased his escape from them in +the usual way; but soon after offered to surrender to the collector, +Aboo Torab Khan, on condition of pardon for all past offences. + +The collector begged the Brahmins to consent to pardon him for the +murders, on condition of getting from Hindoo Sing some fifty beeghas +of land, out of his share in Rehreea. They said they would not +consent to take five times the quantity of the land among such a +turbulent set; but should be glad to get a smaller quantity, rent- +free, in their own village, for the widow of Girdharee. The collector +gave them twenty-five beeghas, or ten acres, in Poknapoor; and this +land Teekaram still holds, and out of the produce supports the poor +widow. A razenamah, or pardon, was given by the family, and Hindoo +Sing has ever since lived in peace upon his estate, The lease of the +village was restored to the Brahmin family, at the reduced rate of +two hundred and fifty, but soon after raised to four hundred, and +again reduced to two hundred and fifty, after the devastation of +Bahadur Sing and Bhoder Sing. + +These industrious and unoffending Brahmins say that since these +Rajpoot landholders came among them, many generations ago, there has +never been any peace in the district, except during the time that +Hakeem Mehndee held the contract, when the whole plain that now lies +waste became a beautiful _chummun_ (parterre); that since his +removal, as before his appointment, all has been confusion; that the +Rajpoot landholders are always quarrelling either among themselves or +with the local Government authorities; and, whatever be the nature or +the cause of quarrel, they always plunder and murder, +indiscriminately, the unoffending communities of the villages around, +in order to reduce these authorities to their terms; that when these +Rajpoot landholders leave them in peace, the contractors seize the +opportunity to increase the Government demand, and bring among them +the King's troops, who plunder them just as much as the rebel +landholders, though they do not often murder them in the same +reckless manner. They told me that the hundreds of their relatives +who had gone off during the disorders and taken lands, or found +employment in our bordering districts, would be glad to return to +their own lands, groves, and trees, in Oude, if they saw the +slightest chance of protection, and the country would soon become +again the beautiful parterre which Hakeem Mehndee left it thirty +years ago, instead of the wilderness in which they were now so +wretched; that they ventured to cultivate small patches here and +there, not far from each other, but were obliged to raise small +platforms, upon high poles, in every field, and sit upon them all +night, calling out to each other, in a loud voice, to keep up their +spirits, and frighten off the deer which swarmed upon the grass +plain, and would destroy the whole of the crops in one night, if left +unprotected; that they were obliged to collect large piles of wood +around each platform, and keep them burning all night, to prevent the +tigers from carrying off the men who sat upon them; that their lives +were wretched amidst this continual dread of man and beast, but the +soil and climate were good, and the trees and groves planted by their +forefathers were still standing and dear to them; and they hoped, now +that the Resident had come among them, to receive, at no distant day, +the protection they required. This alone is required to render this +the most beautiful portion of Oude, and Oude the most beautiful +portion of India. + +_February_ 4, 1850.--Gokurnath, thirteen miles, north-east, over a +level plain of the same fine muteear soil, here and there running +into doomuteea and bhoor, but in no case into oosur. The first two +miles over the grass plain, and the next four through a belt of +forest trees, with rank grass and underwood, abounding in game of all +kinds, and infested by tigers. Bullocks are often taken by them, but +men seldom. The sal (_alias_ sakhoo) trees are here stunted, gnarled, +and ugly, while in the Tarae forest they are straight, lofty, and +beautiful. The reason is, that beyond the forest their leaves are +stripped off and sold for _plates_. They are carried to distant +towns, and stored up for long periods, to form breakfast and dinner +plates, and the people in the country use hardly anything else. +Plates are formed of them by sewing them together, when required; and +they become as pliable as leather, even after being kept for a year +or more, by having a little water sprinkled over them. They are long, +wide, and tough, and well suited to the purpose. All kinds of food +are put upon them, and served up to the family and guests. The cattle +do not eat them, as they do leaves of the peepul, bur, neem, &c. The +sakhoo, when not preserved, is cut down, when young, for beams, +rafters, &c., required in building. In the Tarae forest, the +proprietors of the lands on which they stand preserve them till they +attain maturity, for sale to the people of the plains; and they are +taken down the Ghagra and other rivers that flow through the forest +to the Ganges, and vast numbers are sold in the Calcutta market. The +fine tall sakhoos in the Tarae forest are called "sayer"; the +knotted, stunted, and crooked shakoos, beyond the forest, are called +"khohurs." There are but few teak (or sagwun) trees in this part of +the Tarae forest. The country is everywhere studded with the same +fine groves and single trees, and requires only tillage to become a +garden. From the belt of jungle to our camp at Gokurnath, seven +miles, the road runs over an open grass plain, with here and there a +field of corn. The sites of villages are numerous, but few of them +are occupied at present. All are said to have been in a flourishing +state, and filled by a happy peasantry, when Hakeem Mehndee lost the +government. Since that time these villages and hamlets have +diminished by degrees, in proportion as the rapacity of the +contractors and the turbulence of the Rajpoot landholders have +increased. + +The first village we passed through, after emerging from the belt of +jungle, was Pureylee, which is held and occupied by a large family of +cultivating proprietors of the Koormee caste. Up to the year 1847, it +had for many years been in a good condition, and paid a revenue of +two thousand rupees a-year to Government. In that year Ahmud Allee, +the collector, demanded a thousand more. They could not pay this, and +he sold all their bullocks and other stock to make up the demand; the +lands became waste as usual; and Lonee Sing, of Mitholee, offered the +next contractor one thousand rupees a-year for the lease, and got it. +The village has now been permanently absorbed in his estate, in the +usual way; and, as the Koormees are a peaceful body, they have +quietly acquiesced in the arrangement, and get all the aid they +require from their new landlord. Before this time they had held their +lands, as proprietors, directly under Government. From allodial* +proprietors they are become feudal tenants under a powerful Rajpoot +chief. + +[* By allodial, I mean, lands held in proprietary right, immediately +under the crown, but liable to the land-tax.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe--Dispute between Rajah +Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his relatives--Cultivation +along the border of the Tarae forest--Subdivision of land among the +Ahbun families--Rapacity of the king's troops, and establishments of +all kinds--Climate near the Tarae--Goitres--Not one-tenth of the +cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the villages peopled-- +Criterion of good tillage--Ratoon crops--Manure available--Khyrabad +district better peopled and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the +soil over-cropped--Blight--Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of +Khymara--Ousted by collusion and bribery--Anrod Sing of Oel, and +Lonee Sing--State of Oude forty years ago compared with its present +state--The Nazim of the Khyrabad district--Trespasses of his +followers--Oel Dhukooa--_Khalsa_ lands absorbed by the Rajpoot +barons--Salarpoor--Sheobuksh Sing of Kuteysura--_Bhulmunsee_, or +property-tax--Beautiful groves of Lahurpoor--Residence of the Nazim-- +Wretched state of the force with the Nazim--Gratuities paid by +officers in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust--Rajah +Arjun Sing's estate of Dhorehra--Hereditary gang-robbers of the Oude +Tarae suppressed--Mutiny of two of the King's regiments at Bhitolee-- +Their rapacity and oppression--Singers and fiddlers who govern the +King--Why the Amils take all their troops with them when they move-- +Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of Oude Local +Infantry--Sipahees not equal to those in Magness's, Barlow's, and +Bunbury's, or in our native regiments of the line--Why--The prince +Momtaz-od Dowlah--Evil effects of shooting monkeys--Doolaree, _alias_ +Mulika Zumanee--Her history, and that of her son and daughter. + + +Lonee Sing, who visited me yesterday afternoon with a respectable +train, has, in this and other ways less creditable, increased his +estate of _Mitholee_ from a rent-roll of forty to one of one hundred +and fifty thousand rupees a-year, out of which he pays fifty thousand +to Government, and he is considered one of its best subjects. He is, +as above stated, of the Ahbun Rajpoot clan, and a shrewd and +energetic man. The estate was divided into six shares. It had formed +one under Rajah Davey Sing, whose only brother, Bhujun Sing, lived +united with him, and took what he chose to give him for his own +subsistence and that of his family. Davey Sing died without issue, +leaving the whole estate to his brother, Bhujun Sing, who had two +sons, Dul Sing and Maun Sing, among whom he divided the estate.* Dul +Sing had six sons, but Maun Sing had none. He, however, adopted +Bhowanee Sing, to whom he left his portion of the estate. Dul Sing's +share became subdivided among his six sons; but Khunjun Sing, the son +of his eldest son, when he became head of the family, got together a +large force, with some guns, and made use of it in the usual way by +seizing upon the lands of his weaker neighbours. He attacked his +nephew, Bhowanee Sing, and took all his lands; and got, on one +pretence or another, the greater part of those of his other +relatives. + +[* _Mitholee_ contains the sites of one thousand four hundred and +eighty-six villages, only one-third of which are now occupied.] + +He died without issue, leaving his possessions and military force to +Lonee Sing, his brother, who continued to pursue the same course. In +1847 he, with one thousand armed men and five guns, attacked his +cousin, Monnoo Sing, of Mohlee, the head of the family of the fourth +son of Dul Sing, killed four and wounded two persons; and, in +collusion with the local governor, seized upon all his estate. +Redress was sought for in vain; and as I was passing near, Monnoo +Sing and his brother Chotee Sing came to me at Mahomdee to complain. +Monnoo Sing remained behind sick at Mahomdee; but Chotee Sing +followed me on. He rode on horseback behind my elephant, and I made +him give me the history of his family as I went along, and told him +to prepare for me a genealogical table, and an account of the mode in +which Lonee Sing had usurped the different estates of the other +members of the family. This he gave to me on the road between +Poknapoor and Gokurnath by one of his belted attendants, who, after +handing it up to me on the elephant, ran along under the nose of +Rajah Bukhtawur Sing's fine chestnut horse without saying a word. + +I asked the Rajah whether he knew Lonee Sing? "Yes," said he; +"everybody knows him: he is one of the ablest, best, and most +substantial men in Oude; and he keeps his estate in excellent order, +and is respected by all people."--"Except his own relations," said +the belted attendant; "these he robs of all they have, and nobody +interposes to protect them, because he has become wealthy, and they +have become poor!" "My good fellow," said the Rajah, "he has only +taken what they knew not how to hold, and with the sanction of the +King's servants."--"Yes," replied the man, "he has got the sanction +of the King's servants, no doubt, and any one who can pay for it may +get that now-a-days to rob others of the King's subjects. Has not +Lonee Sing robbed all his cousins of their estates, and added them to +his own, and thereby got the means of bribing the King's servants to +let him do what he likes?" "What," said the Rajah, with some +asperity, "should you, a mere soldier, know about State affairs? Do +you suppose that all the members of any family can be equal? Must +there not be a head to all families to keep the rest in order? +Nothing goes on well in families or governments where all are equal, +and there is no head to guide; and the head must have the means to +guide the rest."--"True," said the belted attendant, "all can't be +equal in the rule of States; but in questions of private right, +between individuals and subjects, the case is different; and the +ruler should give to every one his due, and prevent the strong from +robbing the weak. I have five fingers in my hand: they serve me, and +I treat them all alike. I do not let one destroy or molest the +other." "I tell you," said the Rajah, with increasing asperity, "that +there must be heads of families as well as heads of States, or all +would be confusion; and Lonee Sing is right in all that he has done. +Don't you see what a state his district is in, now that he has taken +the management of the whole upon himself? I dare say all the waste +that we see around us has arisen from the want of such heads of +families."--"You know," said the man, "that this waste has been +caused by the oppression of the King's officers, and their disorderly +and useless troops, and the strong striving to deprive the weak of +their rights." + +"You know nothing about these matters," said the Rajah, still more +angrily. "The wise and strong are everywhere striving to subdue the +weak and ignorant, in order that they may manage what they hold +better than they can. Don't you see how the British Government are +going on, taking country after country year after year, in order to +manage them better than they were managed under others? and don't you +see how these countries thrive under their strong and just +Government? Do you think that God would permit them to go on as they +do unless he thought that it was for the good of the people who come +under their rule?" Turning to me, the Rajah continued: "When I was +one day riding over the country with Colonel Low, the then Resident, +as I now ride with you, sir, he said, with a sigh, 'In this country +of Oude what darkness prevails! No one seems to respect the right of +another; and every one appears to be grasping at the possessions of +his neighbour, without any fear of God or the King'--'True, sir,' +said I; 'but do you not see that it is the necessary order of things, +and must be ordained by Providence? Is not your Government going on +taking country after country, and benefiting all it takes? And will +not Providence prosper their undertakings as long as they do so? The +moment they come to a stand, all will be confusion. Sovereigns cannot +stand still, sir; the moment _their bellies are full_ (their ambition +ceases), they and the countries they govern retrograde. No sovereign +in India, sir, that has any regard for himself or his country, can +with safety sit down and say that _his belly is full_ (that he has no +further ambition of conquest): he must go on to the last.'"* + +[* The Rajah's reasoning was drawn from the practice in Oude, of +seizing upon the possessions of weaker neighbours, by means of gangs +of robbers. The man who does this, becomes the slave of his gangs, as +the imperial robber, who seizes upon smaller states by means of his +victorious armies, becomes their slave, and, ultimately, their +victim, The history of India is nothing more than the biography of +such men, and the Rajah has read no other.] + +The poor belted attendant of Chotee Sing was confounded with the +logic and eloquence of the old Rajah, and said nothing more; and +Chotee Sing himself kept quietly behind on his horse, with his ears +well wrapped up in warm cloth, as the morning was very cold, and he +was not well. He looked very grave, and evidently thought the Rajah +had outlived his understanding. But the fact is that the Rajah has, +by his influence at Court, taken all the lands held by his two elder +nephews, Rughbur Sing and Ramadeen, and made them over to their +youngest brother, Maun Sing, whom he has adopted, made his heir, and +the head of the family. He has, in consequence, for the present a +strong fellow-feeling with Lonee Sing; and, in all this oration at +least, "his wishes were father to his thoughts." + +The sharpest retort that I remember ever having had myself was given +to me by a sturdy and honest old landholder of the middle class, whom +I had known for a quarter of a century on the bank of the Nerbudda, +in 1843. During the insurrection in the Saugor and Nerbudda +territories, which commenced in 1842, I was sent down by the +Governor-General Lord Ellenborough to ascertain if possible the +causes which had led to it. I conversed freely with the landholders, +and people of all classes in the valley, who had been plundered by +the landed aristocracy of the jungles on the borders, and had one +afternoon some fifty in my tent seated on the carpet. After a good +deal of talk about the depredations of the jungle barons upon the +people of the cultivated plains, and remonstrance at the want of +support on their part to the Government officers, I said to Umrao +Sing, one of the most sturdy and honest among them, "Why did you +withhold from the local officers the information which you must have +had of the movements and positions of the rebels and their followers, +who were laying the country waste? In no part of India have the +farmers and cultivators been more favoured in light assessments and +protection to life and property; but there are some men who never can +be satisfied; give them what you will, they will always be craving +after more."--"True, sir," said Umrao Sing, looking me steadily in +the face, and with the greatest possible gravity, "there are some +people who never can be satisfied, give them what you will. Give them +the whole of Hindoostan, and they will go off to Kabul to take more!" + +There was a pause, during which all looked very grave, for they +thought that the old man had exceeded the bounds of the privilege he +had long enjoyed of expressing his thoughts freely to European +gentlemen; and Umrao Sing continued: "The fact is, sir, that after +you had, by good government, made us all happy and prosperous, and +proud to display the wealth we had acquired on our persons, and in +our houses and villages, you withdrew all your troops from among us, +and left us a prey to the wild barons of the hills and jungles on our +borders, whose families had risen to wealth, distinction, and large +landed possessions under former misrule and disorder, and who are +always longing for the return of such disorders, that they may have +some chance of recovering the consequence and influence which they +have lost under a settled and strong Government: they saw that your +troops had been taken off for distant conquests, and heard of nothing +but defeats and disasters, and readily persuaded themselves that your +rule was at an end; for what could men, born and bred in the jungles, +know of your resources to retrieve such disasters? + +"After the Mahratta war, in 1817, you prohibited the people of your +newly-acquired districts from carrying arms, not dreaming that the +only persons who would obey or regard your order were the peaceful +landholders and peasantry of the plains, who were satisfied with your +Government, and anxious for its duration, but exposed to the envy and +hatred of the Gond and Lodhee chiefs, who occupied the hills and +jungles on their borders. + +"When they came down upon us, you had no means left to protect us; +and having no longer any arms or any experience of the use of them, +after a quarter of a century of peace, we were unable to defend our +villages, our houses, or our families; if we attempted to defend +them, we and our families were killed; if we did not, we were robbed +and threatened with death, if we gave you information to their +prejudice. We saw that they could carry their threats into execution, +for your local officers had not the means to protect us from their +vengeance, and we suffered in silence; but you must not infer from +this that we were tired of your rule, or pleased with their +depredations; all here can testify that we longed for the return of +your strength and their downfal. It is true, however," added he, +"that the new European officers placed over us did not treat us with +the same courtesy and consideration as the old ones, or seem to +entertain the same kindly feeling towards us; and our communion with +them was less free and cordial." + +All approved of my old friend's speech, and declared that he had +given expression to the thoughts and feelings of all present, and of +all the people of the plains, who lived happily under our rule, and +prayed earnestly for its duration. The portion of the estate of +Mitholee, held by Lonee Sing, now contains the sites of six hundred +and four villages, about one-half of which are occupied; four hundred +and eighty-four of these lie in the Mahomdee district, and one +hundred and twenty in that of Khyrabad. The number and names of the +villages are still kept up in the accounts. + +_February_ 5, 1850.--Kurrunpoor Mirtaha, ten miles over a plain of +fine muteear soil, scantily cultivated, but bearing excellent spring +crops where it is so. Not far from our last camp at Gokurnath, we +entered a belt of jungle three miles wide, consisting chiefly of +stunted, knotty, and crooked sakhoo trees, with underwood and rank +chopper grass. This belt of jungle is the same we passed through, as +above described, between Poknapoor and Gokurnath. It runs from the +great forest to the north, a long way down south-east, into the +Khyrabad district. From this belt to our present ground, six miles, +the road passes over a fine plain, nine-tenths of which is covered +with this grass, but studded with mango-groves and fine single trees. +The forest runs along to the north of our road--which lay east--from +one to three miles distant, and looked very like a continued mango- +grove. The level plain of rich soil extends up through the forest to +the foot of the hills, and is all the way capable of the finest +cultivation. Here and there the soil runs into light doomuteea; and +in some few parts even into bhoor, in proportion as the sand abounds; +but generally the soil is the fine muteear, and very fertile. The +whole plain is said to have been in cultivation thirty years ago, +when Hakeem Mehndee held the contract; but the tillage has been +falling off ever since, under the bad or oppressive management of +successive contractors. + +The estate through which we have been passing is called Bharwara, and +contains the sites of nine hundred and eighty-nine villages, about +one-tenth of which are now occupied. The landholders are all of the +Ahbun Rajpoot tribe; but a great part of them have become Musulmans. +They live together, however, though of different creeds, in tolerable +harmony; and eat together on occasions of ceremony, though not from +the same dishes. No member of the tribe ever forfeited his +inheritance by changing his creed. Nor did any one of them, I +believe, ever change his creed, except to retain his inheritance, +liberty, or life, threatened by despotic and unscrupulous rulers. +They dine on the same floor, but there is a line marked off to +separate those of the party who are Hindoos from those who are +Musulmans. The Musulmans have Mahommedan names, and the Hindoos +Hindoo names; but both still go by the common patronymic name of +Ahbuns. The Musulmans marry into Musulman families, and the Hindoos +into Hindoo families of the highest castes, Chouhans, Rathores, +Rykwars, Janwars, &c. Of course all the children are of the same +religion and caste as their parents. They tell me that the conversion +of their ancestors was effected by force, under a prince or chief +called "Kala Pahar." This must have been Mahommed Firmally, _alias_ +Kala Pahar--to whom his uncle Bheilole, King of Delhi, left the +district of Bahraetch as a separate inheritance a short time before +his death, which took place A.D. 1488. This conversion seems to have +had the effect of doing away with the murder of female infants in the +Ahbun families who are still Hindoos; for they could not get the +Musulman portion of the tribe to associate with them if they +continued it. + +The estate of Bharwara is divided into four parts, Hydrabad, +Hurunpoor, Aleegunge, and Sekunderabad. Each division is subdivided +into parts, each held by a separate branch of the family; and the +subdivision of these parts is still going on, as the heads of the +several branches of the family die, and leave more than one son. The +present head of the Ahbun family is Mahommed Hussan Khan, a Musulman, +who resides in his fort in the village of Julalpoor, near the road +over which we passed. The small fort is concealed within, and +protected by a nice bamboo-fence that grows round it. He holds twelve +villages rent free, as _nankar_, and pays revenue for all the rest +that compose his share of the great estate. The heads of families who +hold the other shares enjoy in the same manner one or more villages +rent free, as _nankar_. These are all well cultivated, and contain a +great many cultivators of the best classes, such as Koormees, +Lodhies, and Kachies. + +We passed through one of them, Kamole, and I had a good deal of talk +with the people, who were engaged in pressing out the juice of sugar- +cane. They told me that the juice was excellent, and that the syrup +made from it was carried to the district of Shajehanpoor, in the +British territory, to be made into sugar. Mahommed Hussan Khan came +up, as I was talking with the people, and joined in the conversation. +All seemed to be delighted with the opportunity of entering so freely +into conversation with a British Resident who understood farming, and +seemed to take so much interest in their pursuits. I congratulated +the people on being able to keep so many of their houses well covered +with grass-choppers; but they told me, "that it was with infinite +difficulty they could keep them, or anything else they had, from the +grasp of the local authorities and the troops and camp-followers who +attended them, and desolated the country like a flock of locusts; +that they are not only plundered but taxed by them--first, the +sipahees take their choppers, beams, and rafters off their houses-- +then the people in charge of artillery bullocks and other cattle take +all their stores of bhoosa, straw, &c., and threaten to turn the +cattle loose on their fields, if not paid a gratuity--the people who +have to collect fuel for the camp (bildars) take all their stores of +wood, and doors and windows also, if not paid for their redemption-- +then the people in charge of elephants and camels threaten to denude +of their leaves and small branches all the peepul, burgut, and other +trees most sacred and dear to them, near their homes, unless paid for +their forbearance; and--though last, not least--men, women, and +children are seized, not only to carry the plunder and other burthens +gratis for sipahees and servants of all kinds and grades, and camp- +followers, but to be robbed of their clothes, and made to pay ransoms +to get back, while all the plough-bullocks are put in requisition to +draw the guns which the King's bullocks are unable to draw +themselves. In short, that the approach of King's servants is dreaded +as one of the greatest calamities that can befal them." + +I should here mention, that all the Telinga regiments, fourteen in +number, are allowed tents and hackeries to carry them. The way in +which the bullocks of such carts are provided with fodder has been +already mentioned; but no tents or conveyance of any kind are allowed +for the Nujeeb corps, thirty-two in number. Whenever they move (and +they are almost always moving), they seize whatever conveyance and +shelter they require from the people of the country around. Each +battalion, even in its ordinary incomplete state, requires four +hundred or five hundred porters, besides carts, bullocks, horses, +ponies, &c. Men, women, and children, of all classes, are seized, and +made to carry the baggage, arms, accoutrements, and cages of pet +birds, belonging to the officers and sipahees of these corps. They +are stripped of their clothes, confined, and starved from the time +they are seized; and as it is difficult to catch people to relieve +them along the road, they are commonly taken on two or three stages. +If they run away, they forfeit all their clothes which remain in the +hands of the sipahees; and a great many die along the road of +fatigue, hunger, and exposure to the sun. Numerous cruel instances of +this have been urged by me on the notice of the King, but without any +good effect. The line of march of one of these corps is like the road +to the temple of Juggurnaut! When the corps is about to move, +detachments are sent out to seize conveyance of all kinds; and for +one cart required and taken, fifty are seized, and released for a +donation in proportion to their value, the respectability of the +proprietors, and the necessity for their employment at home at the +time. The sums thus extorted by detachments they share with their +officers, or they would never be again sent on such lucrative +service. + +It appears that in this part of Oude the people have not for many +years suffered so much from the depredations of the refractory +landholders as in other parts; and that the desolate state of the +district arises chiefly from the other three great evils that afflict +Oude--the rack-renting of the contractors; the divisions they create +and foster among landholders; and the depredations of the troops and +camp-followers who attend them. But the estate has become much +subdivided, and the shareholders from this cause, and the oppression +of the contractors, have become poor and weak; and the neighbouring +landholders of the Janwar and other Rajpoot tribes have taken +advantage of their weakness to seize upon a great many of their best +villages. Out of Kurumpoor, within the last nine years, Anorud Sing, +of Oel, a Janwar Rajpoot, in collusion with local authorities, has +taken twelve; and Umrao Sing, of Mahewa, of the same tribe, has taken +eighteen, making twenty villages from the Kurumpoor division. These +landholders reside in the Khyrabad district, which adjoins that of +Mahomdee, near our present camp. + +The people everywhere praise the climate--they appear robust and +energetic, and no sickness prevails, though many of the villages are +very near the forest. The land on which the forest stands contains, +in the ruins of well-built towns and fortresses, unquestionable signs +of having once been well cultivated and thickly peopled: and it would +soon become so again under good government. There is nothing in the +soil to produce sickness; and, I believe, the same soil prevails up +through the forest to the hills. Sickness would, no doubt, prevail +for some years, till the underwood and all the putrid leaves should +be removed. The water that stagnates over them, and percolates +through the soil into the wells, from which the people drink, and the +exhalations which arise from them and taint the air, confined by the +dense mass of forest trees, underwood, and high grass, are, I +believe, the chief cause of the diseases which prevail in this belt +of jungle. + +It is however remarkable, that there are two unhealthy seasons in the +year in this forest--one at the latter end of the rains in August, +September, and October, and the other before the rains begin to fall +in the latter part of April, the whole of May, and part of June. The +diseases in the latter are, I believe, more commonly fatal than they +are in the former; and are considered by the people to arise solely +from the poisonous quality of the water, which is often found in +wells to be covered with a thin crust of petrolium. Diseases of the +same character prevail at the same two seasons in the jungles, above +the sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun rivers, and are ascribed by the +people to the same causes--those which take place after the rains, to +bad air; and those which take place immediately before the rains, +after the cold and dry seasons, to bad water. The same petrolium, or +liquid bitumen, is found floating on the spring waters in the hot +season, when the most fatal diseases break out in the jungles, about +the sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun, as in the Oude Tarae; and, in +both places, the natives appear to me to be right in attributing them +to the water; but whether the poisonous quality of the water be +imparted to it by bitumen from below, or by the putrid leaves of the +forest trees from above, is uncertain; the people drink from the +bituminous spring waters at this season, as well as from stagnant +pools in the beds of small rivers, which have ceased to flow during +part of the Cold, and the whole of the hot, season. These pools +become filled with the leaves of the forest trees which hang over +them. + +The bitumen, in all the jungles to which I refer, arises, I believe, +from the _coal measures_, pressed down by the overlying masses of +sandstone strata, common to both the Himmalaya chain of mountains +over the Tarae forest, and the Vendeya and Sathpoor ranges of hills +at the sources of the Nerbudda and Sohun rivers. It is, however, +possible that the water of these stagnant pools, tainted by the +putrid leaves, may impart its poison through the medium of the air in +exhalations; and I have known European officers, who were never +conscious of having drunk either of the waters above described, take +the fever (owl) in the month of May in the Tarae, and in a few hours +become raving mad. These tainted waters may possibly act in both +ways--directly, and through the medium of the air. + +While on the subject of the causes or sources of disease, I may +mention two which do not appear to me to have been sufficiently +considered and provided against in India. First, when a new +cantonment is formed and occupied in haste, during or after a +campaign, terraces are formed of the new earth dug up on the spot to +elevate the dwellings of officers and soldiers from the ground, which +may possibly become flooded in the rains; and over the piles of fresh +earth officers commonly form wooden floors for their rooms to secure +them from the damp, new earth. Between this earth and the wooden +floor a small space of a foot or two is commonly left. The new earth, +thus thrown up from places that may not have been dug or ploughed for +ages, absorbs rapidly the oxygen from the air above, and gives out +carbonic acid, nitrogen and hydrogen gases, which render the air +above unfit for men to breathe. This noxious air accumulates in the +space below the wooden floor, and, passing through the crevices, is +breathed by the officers and soldiers as they sleep. + +Between the two campaigns against Nepal in 1814 and 1815, the brigade +in which my regiment served formed such a cantonment at Nathpoor, on +the right bank of the river Coosee. The land which these cantonments +occupied had been covered with a fine sward on which cattle grazed +for ages, and was exceedingly rich in decayed vegetable and animal +matter. The place had been long remarked for its salubrity by the +indigo-planters and merchants of all kinds who resided there; and on +the ground which my regiment occupied there was a fine pucka-house, +which the officer commanding the brigade and some of his staff +occupied. In the rains the whole plain, being very flat, was often +covered with water, and thousands of cattle grazed upon it during the +cold and hot seasons. The officers all built small bungalows for +themselves on the plan above described; and the medical officers all +thought that they had, in doing so, taken all possible precautions. +The men were provided with huts, as much as possible on the same +plan. These dwellings were all ready before the rains set in, and +officers and soldiers were in the finest state of health and spirits. + +In the middle and latter part of the rains, officers and men began to +suffer from a violent fever, which soon rendered the European +officers and soldiers delirious, and prostrated the native officers +and sipahees; so that three hundred of my own regiment, consisting of +about seven hundred, were obliged to be sent to their homes on sick +leave. The greater number of those who remained continued to suffer, +and a great many died. Of about ten European officers present with my +regiment, seven had the fever, and five died of it, almost all in a +state of delirium. I was myself one of the two who survived, and I +was for many days delirious. + +Of the medical officers of the brigade, the only one, I believe, who +escaped the fever was Adam Napier, who, with his wife and children, +occupied apartments in the brigadier's large pucka-house. Not a +person who resided in that house was attacked by the fever. There was +another pucka-house a little way from the cantonments, close to the +bank of the river, occupied by an indigo-planter, a Mr. Ross. No one +in that house suffered. The fever was confined to those who occupied +the houses and huts which I have described. All the brigade suffered +much, but my regiment, then the first battalion of the 12th Regiment, +and now the 12th Regiment, suffered most; and it was stationed on the +soil which had remained longest unturned and untilled on what had +been considered a park round the pucka-house, in which the brigadier +resided. I believe that I am right in attributing this sickness +exclusively to the circumstances which I have mentioned; and I am +afraid that, during the thirty-five years that have since elapsed, +similar circumstances have continued to produce similar results. I am +myself persuaded, that had the sward remained unbroken, and the +houses and huts been raised upon it, over wooden platforms placed +upon it, to secure officers and men from the damp ground, there would +have been little or no sickness in that brigade. + +The second of the two causes or sources of disease, to which I refer, +is the insufficient room which is allowed for the accommodation of +our European troops in India. Within the room assigned for the non- +commissioned officers and soldiers, they soon exhaust the atmosphere +around of its oxygen or vital air, while they expire or exhale +carbonic acid, nitrogen and hydrogen gases, which render it +altogether unfit to sustain animal life; and death or disease must +soon overtake those who inhale or inspire it. + +I may illustrate this by a fact within my own observation. In 1817, a +flank battalion of six hundred European soldiers was formed at +Allahabad, where I then was with my regiment to escort the Governor- +General the Marquess of Hastings. With these six hundred soldiers +there were thirty-two European officers. The soldiers and non- +commissioned officers were put into the barracks in the fort, where +they had not sufficient room. The commissioned officers resided in +bungalows in the cantonments, or in tents on the open plain. The men +were effectually prevented from exposing themselves to the sun, and +from indulging in any kind of intemperance, and every possible care +was taken of them. The commissioned officers lived as they liked, +denied themselves no indulgence, and were driving about all day, and +every day, in sun and rain, to visit each other and their friends. A +fever, similar to that above described, broke out among the soldiers +and non-commissioned officers in the fort, and great numbers died. Of +the six hundred, only sixteen escaped the fever. When too late, they +were removed from the fort into tents on the plain. From that day the +deaths diminished, and the sick began to recover. Of the thirty-two +commissioned officers, only one, I think, was ever sick at all, and +his sickness was of a kind altogether different; and, it is +impossible to resist the conclusion, that the non-commissioned +officers and soldiers got their disease from want of sufficient room, +and, consequently, of sufficient pure air to breathe. Subsequent +experience has, I believe, tended to confirm the conclusion; and, I +may safely say, that more European soldiers have died from a +disregard of it, than from all the wars that we have had within the +thirty-three years that have since elapsed. The cause is still in +operation, and continues to produce the same fatal results, and will +continue to do so till we change the system of accommodating our +European troops in India. + +The buildings in which they are lodged should all have thatched or +tiled roofs, through which the hot and impure air, which has been +already breathed, may pass, and be replaced within by the pure air of +the atmosphere around, instead of roofs of pucka-masonry which +confine this air to be breathed over again by the people within; and +double or quadruple the space now allowed to each man should be +given. At the cost now incurred in providing them with this +insufficient room, under roofs of pucka-masonry, they could be +provided with four times the space, under roofs of thatch and tiles, +which would be so much more safe and suitable. + +The state of the Bharwara district may be illustrated by that of one +of its four divisions or mahals, Alleegunge. In the last year of +Hakeem Mehudee's role (1818), this division was assessed at one +hundred and thirty-eight thousand rupees, with the full consent of +the people, who were all thriving and happy. The assessment was, +indeed, made by the heads of the principal Ahbun families of the +district, with Mahommed Hussan Khan as chief assessor. One hundred +and thirty-two thousand were collected, and six thousand were +remitted in consequence of a partial failure of the crops. Last year, +by force and violence, the landholders of this division were made to +agree to an assessment upon the lands in tillage of ten thousand and +five hundred rupees, of which not six thousand can be collected. The +other three divisions are in the same state. Not one-tenth of the +land is in tillage, nor are one-tenth of the villages peopled. The +soil is really the finest that I have seen in India; and I have seen +no part of India in which so small a portion of the surface is unfit +for tillage. The moisture rises to the surface just as it is +required; and a tolerable crop is got by a poor man who cannot afford +to keep a plough, and merely burns down the grass and digs the +surface with his spade, or pickaxe, before he sows the seed. +Generally, however, the tillage, in the portion cultivated, is very +good. The surface is ploughed and cross-ploughed from six to twenty, +or even thirty, times in the season; and the harrow and roller are +often applied till every clod is pulverized to dust. + +The test of first-rate preparation for the seed is that a ghurra, or +earthen pitcher, full of water, let fall upon the field from a man's +head, shall not break. The clods in the muteear soil are so +pulverised only in the fields that are to be irrigated, or to the +surface of which moisture rises from below as the weather becomes +warm. The people say that it does so rise when required in land even +a good way from the forest, and that the clods are, in consequence, +not necessary to retain it. This is the only part of India in which I +have known the people take ratoon, or second crops of sugar-cane from +the same roots; and the farmers and cultivators tell me that the +second crop is almost as good as the first. The fields in tillage are +well supplied with manure, which is very abundant where so large a +portion of the surface is waste; and affords such fine pasture. They +are also well watered, for the water is near the surface, and in the +tight muteear soil a kutcha well, or well without masonry, will stand +good for twenty seasons. To make pucka-wells, or wells lined with +burnt bricks and cement, would be costly. Each well of this kind +costs about one hundred rupees. The kutcha-wells, which are lined +with nothing, or with thick ropes of twigs and straw, cost only from +five to ten rupees. The people tell me that oppression and poverty +have made them less fastidious than they were formerly; that formerly +it was considered disgraceful to plough with buffaloes, or to use +them in carts, but they are now in common use for both purposes; that +vast numbers of the Kunojee Brahmins and others, who could not +formerly drive their own ploughs, drive them now; and that all will +in time condescend to do so, as the penalties of higher payments with +and for daughters in marriage cease to be exacted from men whose +necessities have become so pressing. + +_March_ 6, 1850. **--Halted at Kurunpoor, where the gentlemen of my +camp shot some floricans, hares, partridges, and a porcupine along +the bank of the small river Ole, which flows along from north-west to +south-east within three miles of Kurunpoor. + +[** Transcriber's Note: The diary date jumps from the previous entry +of _February_ 5, 1850, at Kurrunpoor. This is a mistake in the date, +as at the start of Chapter V the diary jumps back to _February_ 14, +1850.] + +_March_ 7, 1850.--Teekur, twelve miles. The road, for three miles, +lay through grass jungle to the border of the Khyrabad district, +whence the plain is covered with cultivation, well studded with +trees, clusters of bamboos, and well peopled with villages, all +indicating better management. A great many fields are reduced to the +fine dust above described to receive the sugar-cane, which is planted +in February. The soil is muteear, but has in many parts become +impaired by over-cropping. The people told me that the crops were not +so rich as they ought to be, from the want of manure, which is much +felt here, where there is so little pasture for cattle. The wheat has +almost everywhere received an orange tint from the geerwa, or blight, +which covers the leaves, but, happily, has not as yet settled upon +the stalks to feed on the sap. This blight, the cultivators say, +arises from the late and heavy rain they have had, and the easterly +wind that prevailed for a few days. The geerwa is a red fungus, +which, when it adheres to the stems, thrusts its roots through the +pores of the epidermis and robs the grain of the sap as it ascends. +When easterly winds and sultry weather prevail, the pores of the +epidermis appear to be more opened and exposed to the inroads of +these fungi than at other times. If the wind continue westerly for a +fortnight more, little injury may be sustained; but should easterly +winds and sultry weather prevail, the greater part may be lost. "We +cultivators and landholders," said Bukhtawur Sing, "are always in +dread of something, and can never feel quite easy: if little rain +falls, we complain of the want of more; if a good deal comes down, we +are in dread of this blight, and never dare to congratulate ourselves +on the prospect of good returns." To the justice and wisdom of this +observation all assented.* + +[* Westerly winds and cold weather prevailed and the blight did +little apparent injury to the crops; but the wheat crops, generally, +over Oude and the adjoining districts, was shrivelled and deficient +in substance. It had "run to stalk" from the excess of rain.] + +The landholders of this purgunnah are chiefly Janwar Rajpoots. +Kymara, a fine village, through which we passed, about five miles +from Kurunpoor, is the residence of the present head of this family, +Rajah Ajeet Sing. He has a small fort close by, in which he is now +preparing to defend himself against the King's forces. The poor old +man came out with all his village community to meet and talk with me, +in the hope that I might interpose to protect him. He is weak in mind +and body, has no son, and, having lately lost his only brother and +declared heir to the estate, his cousins and more distant relations +are scrambling for the inheritance. The usual means of violence, +collusion, and intrigue have been had recourse to. The estate is in +the Huzoor Tuhseel, and not under the jurisdiction of the contractor +of Khyrabad. The old man seemed care-worn and very wretched, and told +me that the contractor, whom I should meet at Teekur, had only +yesterday received orders from Court to use all his means to oust him +from possession, and make over the estate to his cousin, Jodha Sing, +who had lately left him in consequence of a dispute, after having, +since the death of his brother, aided him in the management of the +estate; that he had always paid his revenues to the King punctually, +and last year he owed a balance of only one hundred and sixty rupees, +when _Anrod Sing_, his distant relative, wanted him to declare his +younger brother, Dirj Bijee Sing, his heir to the estate, in lieu of +Jodha Sing. + +This he refused to do, and Anrod Sing came, with a force of two +thousand armed men, supported by a detachment from Captain Barlow's +regiment, and laid siege to his fort, on the pretence that he was +required to give security for the more punctual payment of the +revenue. To defend himself, he was obliged to call in the aid of his +clan and neighbours, and expend all that he had or could borrow, and, +at last, constrained to accept Anrod Sing's security, for no +merchants would lend money to a poor man in a state of siege. Anrod +Sing had now gone off to Lucknow, and bribed the person in charge of +the Huzoor Tuhseel, Gholam Ruza Khan, one of the most corrupt men in +the corrupt Court of Lucknow, to get an order issued by the Minister +to have him turned out, and the estate made over to Jhoda Sing, from +whom he would soon get it on pretence of accumulated balances, and +make it over, in perpetuity, to his brother, Dirj Bijee Sing. In this +attempt, the old man said, a good many lives must be lost and crops +destroyed, for his friends would not let him fall without a +struggle.* + +[* The old man has been attacked and turned out with the loss of some +lives, in spite of the Resident's remonstrance, and the estate has +been made over to Jodha Sing, on the security for the payment of the +revenue of Anrod Sing. Jodha Sing is, naturally, of weak intellect; +and Anrod Sing will soon have him turned out as an incompetent +defaulter, and get the estate for himself, or for his younger +brother. Luckily _Anrod Sing_ and _Lonee Sing_, of Mitholee, are at +daggers-drawn about some villages, which Anrod Sing has seized, and +to which Lonee Sing thinks he has a better right. Their dread of each +other will be useful to the Government and the people.] + +As soon as we left the poor old man, Bukhtawur Sing said, "This, sir, +is the way in which Government officers manage to control and subdue +these sturdy Rajpoot landholders. While they remain united, as in the +Bangur district, they can do nothing with them, and let them keep +their estates on their own terms; but the moment a quarrel takes +place between them they take advantage of it: they adopt the cause of +the strongest, and support him in his aggressions upon the other +members of his family or clan till all become weak by division and +disorder, and submit. Forty or fifty years ago, sir, when I used to +move about the country on circuit with Saadut Allee Khan, the then +sovereign, as I now move with you, there were many Rajpoot +landholders in Oude stronger than any that defy the Government now; +but they dared not then hold their heads so high as they do now. The +local officers employed by him were men of ability, experience, and +character, totally unlike those now employed. Each had a wing of one +of the Honourable Company's regiments and some good guns with him, +and was ready and able to enforce his master's orders and the payment +of his just demands; but, since his death, the local officers have +been falling off in character and strength, while the Rajpoot +landholders have risen in pride and power. The aid of the British +troops has, by degrees, been altogether withdrawn, and the +landholders of this class despise the Oude Government, and many of +them resist its troops whenever they attempt to enforce the payment +of even its most moderate demands. The revenues of the State fall off +as the armed bands of these landholders increase, and families who, +in his time, kept up only fifty armed men, have now five hundred, or +even a thousand or two thousand, and spend what they owe to +Government in maintaining them. To pay such bands they withhold the +just demands of the State, rob their weaker neighbours of their +possessions, and plunder travellers on the highway, and men of +substance, wherever they can find them. + +"When Saadut Allee made over one-half of his dominions to the British +Government in 1801, he was bound to reduce his military force and +rely altogether upon the support of your Government. He did so; but +the force he retained, though small, was good; and while that support +was afforded things went on well--he was a wise man, and made the +most of the means he had. Since that time, sir, the Oude force has +been increased four-fold, as your aid has been withdrawn; but the +whole is not equal to the fourth part which served under Saadut +Allee. You see how insignificant it everywhere is, and how much it is +despised even by the third-class Rajpoot landholders. You see, also, +how they everywhere prey upon the people, and are dreaded and +detested by them: the only estates free from their inroads are those +under the 'Huzoor Tuhseel,' into which the Amils and their disorderly +hosts dare not enter. If the landholders could be made to feel that +they would not be permitted to seize other men's possessions, nor +other men to seize theirs, as long as they obeyed the Government and +paid its just dues, they would disband these armed followers, and the +King might soon reduce his. He will never make them worth anything; +there are too many worthless, but influential persons about the +Court, interested in keeping up all kinds of abuses, to permit this. +These abuses are the chief source of their incomes: they rob the +officers and sipahees, and even the draft-bullocks; and you +everywhere see how the poor animals are starved by them." + +Within a mile of the camp I met the Nazim, Hoseyn Allee Khan, who +told me that Rajah Goorbuksh Sing, of Ramnuggur Dhumeree, had +fulfilled all the engagements entered into before me at Byramghat, on +the Ghagra, on the 6th of December, and was no longer opposed to the +Government; and that the only large landholder in his district who +remained so at present was Seobuksh Sing, of Kateysura, a strong +fort, mounted with seven guns, near the road over which I am to pass +the day after tomorrow, between Oel and Lahurpoor. As he came up on +his little elephant along the road, I saw half-a-dozen of his men, +mounted on camels, trotting along through a fine field of wheat, now +in ear, with as much unconcern as if they had been upon a fine sward +to which they could do no harm. I saw one of my people in advance +make a sign to them, on which they made for the road as fast as they +could. I asked the Nazim how he could permit such trespass. He told +me, "That he did not see them, and unless his eye was always upon +them he could not prevent their doing mischief, for they were the +King's servants, who never seemed happy unless they were trespassing +upon some of his Majesty's subjects." Nothing, certainly, seems to +delight them so much as the trespasses of all kinds which they do +commit upon them. + +_March_ 8, 1850.--Oel, five miles, over a plain of the same fine +muteear soil, beautifully cultivated and studded with trees, +intermixed with numerous clusters of the graceful bamboo. A great- +grandson of the monster Nadir Shah, of Persia, Ruza Kolee Khan, who +commands a battalion in the King of Oude's service, rode by me, and I +asked him whether he ever saw such a cultivated country in Persia. +"Never," said he: "Persia is a hilly country, and there is no tillage +like this in any part of it. I left Persia, with my father, twenty- +two years ago, when I was twenty-two years of age, and I have still a +very distinct recollection of what it was then. There is no country +in the world, sir," said the Nazim, "like Hindoostan, when it enjoys +the blessings of a good government. The purgunnah of Kheree, in which +we now are, is all held by the heads of three families of Janwar +Rajpoots: Rajah Ajub Sing, of Kymara; Anrod Sing, of Oel; and Umrao +Sing, of Mahewa. There are only sixty-six villages of Khalsa, or +Crown lands left, yielding twenty-one thousand rupees a-year. The +rest have been all absorbed by the heads of these Rajpoot families. + + + Villages. Jumma. + Kymara . . . 82 . . 13,486 0 0 + Oel . . . . 170 . . 54,790 0 0 + Mahewa . . . 70 . . 20,835 0 0 + ___ _____________ + 322 . . 89,111 0 0 + Khalsa . . . 66 . . 21,881 0 0 + ___ _______________ + + 388 . . 1,10,992 0 0 + ___ _______________ + +"These heads of families have each a fort, surrounded by a strong +fence of bamboos, and mounted with good guns; and the King cannot get +so large a revenue from them as he did thirty years ago, in the time +of Hakeem Mehndee, though their lands are as well tilled now as they +were then, and yield more rent to their holders. They spend it all in +keeping up large armed bands to resist the Government; but they +certainly take care of their cultivators and tenants of all kinds, +and no man dares molest them. + +"But," said Bukhtawur Sing, "this beautiful scene would all be +changed were they encouraged or permitted to contend with each other +for the possession of the lands. I yesterday saw a great number of +the merchants of Kymara following the Resident's camp; and, on asking +them why, they told me that the order from Court obtained by Gholam +Ruza for you (the Nazim) to assist the Oel chief, Anrod Sing, in +despoiling Rajah Ajub Sing of his estate, had driven out all who had +no fields of corn or other local ties to detain them, and had +anything to lose by remaining. The chief and his retainers were +repairing their fort, and preparing to fight for their possessions to +the last; and if you take your disorderly force against them +according to orders, the crops now in the ground will be all +destroyed, and the numerous fields now prepared to receive sugar-cane +and the autumn seed will be left waste: they will make reprisals upon +Oel; others of their clan will join in the strife; and this district +will be what that of Bharwara, which we have just left, now is. The +merchants are in the right, sir, to make off: no property in such a +scene is ever safe. There is no property, sir, like that in the +Honourable Company's paper: it is the only property that we can enjoy +in peace. You feel no anxiety about it. It doubles itself in fifteen +or sixteen years; and you go on from generation to generation +enjoying your five per cent., and neither fearing nor annoying +anybody." + +The two villages of Oel and Dhukwa adjoin each other, and form a +large town; but the dwelling-houses have a wretched appearance, +consisting of naked mud walls, with but a few more grass-choppers +than are usually found upon them in Oude towns. There is a good- +looking temple, dedicated to Mahadeo, in the centre of the town, and +the houses are close upon the ditch of the fort, which has its +bamboo-fence inside its ditch and outer mud walls. I have written to +the Durbar to recommend that the order for the attack upon Rajah Ajub +Sing be countermanded, and more pacific measures adopted for the +settlement of the claims of the Exchequer and Anrod Sing upon poor +old Ajub Sing. + +The Kanoongoes of this place tell me that the dispute has arisen from +a desire, on the part of the old man's wife, to set aside the just +claim of Jodha Sing, the old man's nephew, to the inheritance, in +favour of a lad whom she has adopted and brought up, by name Teeka +Sing, in whose name the estate is now managed by a servant; that +Jodha Sing is the rightful heir, and managed the estate well for his +uncle, after the death of his brother, till lately, when his aunt +persuaded his uncle to break with him, which he did with reluctance; +that Jodha Sing now lives in retirement at his village of Barkerwa; +that Anrod Sing's design upon the inheritance for his younger +brother, Dirj Bijee Sing, is unjust; and that he is, in consequence, +obliged to prosecute it on the pretence of recovering money due, and +supporting the claim of Jodha Sing, and in collusion with the +officers of Government; that Gholam Ruza, who has charge of the +Huzoor Tuhseel, is ready to adopt the cause of any one who will pay +him; and that Anrod Sing is now at Lucknow paying his court to him, +and getting these iniquitous orders issued. + +Oel was transferred to the Huzoor Tuhseel in 1834, Kymara in 1836, +and Mahewa in 1839. These Rajpoot landholders do not often seize upon +the lands of a relative at once, but get them by degrees by fraud and +collusion with Government officers, so that they may share the odium +with them. They instigate these officers to demand more than the +lands can pay; offer the enhanced rate, and get the lands at once; or +get a mortgage, run up the account, and foreclose by their aid. They +no sooner get the estate than they reduce the Government demand, by +collusion or violence, to less than what the former proprietor had +paid. + +_March_ 9, 1850.--Lahurpoor, twelve miles, over a plain of doomuteea +soil, well studded with groves and single trees, but not so fully +cultivated the last half way as the first. For the first halfway the +road lies through the estate of Anrod Sing, of Oel; but for the last +it runs through that of Seobuksh Sing, a Gour Rajpoot, who has a fort +near the town of Kuteysura, five miles from Lahurpoor, and seven from +Oel. It is of mud, and has a ditch all round, and a bamboo-fence +inside the outer walls. It is of great extent, but not formidable +against well-provided troops. The greater part of the houses in the +town are in ruins, and Seobuksh has the reputation of being a +reckless and improvident landholder. He is said not only to take from +his tenants higher rates of rent than he ought, but to extort from +them very often a _property tax_, highly and capriciously rated. This +is what the people call the _bhalmansae_, of which they have a very +great abhorrence. "You are a _bhala manus_" (a gentleman, or man of +substance), he says to his tenant, "and must have property worth at +least a thousand rupees. I want money sadly, and must have one-fifth: +give me two hundred rupees." This is what the people call +"_bhalmansae_," or rating a man according to his substance; and to +say that a landlord or governor does this, is to say that he is a +reckless oppressor, who has no regard to obligations or to +consequences. + +There are manifest signs of the present landholder, Seobuksh Sing, +being of this character; but others, not less manifest, of his +grandfather having been a better man, in the fine groves which +surround Lahurpoor, and the villages between this place and +Kuteysura, all of which are included in his estate. These groves +were, for the most part, planted during the life of his grandfather +by men of substance, who were left free to-dispose of their property +as they thought best. + +All the native gentlemen who rode with me remarked on the beauty of +the approach to Lahurpoor, in which a rich carpet of spring crops +covers the surface up to the groves, and extends along under the +trees which have been recently planted. There are many young groves +about the place, planted by men who have acquired property by trade, +and by the savings out of the salaries and perquisites of office at +Lahurpoor, which is the residence of the Nazim, or local governor, +during several months in the year; and the landlord, Seobuksh, cannot +venture to exact his _property-tax_ from them. The air and water are +much praised, and the general good health of the troops, civil +establishments, and residents of all classes, show that the climate +must be good. The position, too, is well chosen with reference to the +districts, and the character of the people under the control of the +governor of the Khyrabad district. + +The estate of Seobuksh is very extensive. The soil is all good and +the plain level, so that every part of it is capable of tillage. +Rutun Sing, the father of Seobuksh, is said to have been a greater +rack-renter, rebel, and robber than his son is, and together they +have injured the estate a good deal, and reduced it from a rent-roll +of one hundred thousand to one of forty. Its rent-roll is now +estimated in the public accounts at 54,640, out of which is deducted +a _nankar_ of 17,587, leaving a Government demand of only 37,053. +This he can't pay; and he has shut himself up sullenly in his mud +fort, where the Nazim dares not attack him. He is levying +contributions from the surrounding villages, but has not yet +plundered or burnt down any. He was lately in prison, for two years; +but released on the security of Rajah Lonee Sing, of Mitholee, whose +wife is his wife's sister. He, however, says that he was pledged to +produce him when required, not before the _present Nazim_, but his +_predecessor_; and that he is no longer bound by this pledge. This +reasoning would, of course, have no weight with the Government +authorities, nor would it be had recourse to were Lonee Sing less +strong. Each has a strong fort and a band of steady men. The Nazim +has not the means to attack Seobuksh, and dares not attack Lonee +Sing, as his estate of Pyla is in the "Huzoor Tuhseel," and under the +protection of Court favourites, who are well paid by him. + +Lonee Sing's estate of Mitholee is in the Mahomdee district, and +under the jurisdiction of the Amil; and it is only the portion, +consisting of one hundred and four recently-acquired villages, which +he holds in the Pyla estate, in the Khyrabad district, that has been +made over to the Huzoor Tuhseel.* He offered an increased rate for +these villages to the then Amil, Bhowood Dowlah, in the year A.D. +1840. It was accepted, and he attacked, plundered, and murdered a +good many of the old proprietors, and established such a dread among +them, that he now manages them with little difficulty. Basdeo held +fourteen of these villages under mortgage, and sixteen more under +lease. He had his brother, maternal uncle, and a servant killed by +Lonee Sing, and is now reduced to beggary. Lonee Sing took the lease +in March, 1840, and commenced this attack in May. + +[* Anrod Sing holds twenty-eight villages in the Pyla estate, +acquired in the same way as those held by Lonee Sing.] + +The Nazim had with him, of infantry, 1. Futteh Aesh Nujeebs. 2. +Wuzeree, ditto. 3. Zuffur, Mobaruk Telinga. 4. Futteh Jung ditto; +Ruza Kolee Khan. 5. Captain Barlow's ditto. Eleven guns. But, being +unable to get any duty from the three regiments first named, he +offered to dispense with the two first, on condition that the command +of the third should be placed at his disposal for his son or nephew. + +This request was complied with; and, on paying a fee of five thousand +rupees, he got the dress of investiture, and offered it to Lieutenant +Orr, a very gallant officer, the second in command of Captain +Barlow's corps, as the only way to render the corps so efficient as +he required it to be. The Durbar took away the two regiments; but, as +soon as they heard that Lieutenant Orr was to command the third, they +appointed Fidda Hoseyn, brother of the ruffian Mahommed Hoseyn, who +had held the district of Mahomdee, and done so much mischief to it. +Fidda Hoseyn, of course, paid a high sum for the command to be +exacted from his subordinates, or the people of the district in which +it might be employed; and the regiment has remained worse than +useless. Of the eleven guns, five are useless on the ground, and +without bullocks. The bullocks for the other six are present, but too +weak to draw anything. They had had no grain for many years; but +within the last month they have had one-half seer each per day out of +the one seer and half paid for by Government. There is no ammunition, +stores, or anything else for the guns, and the best of the carriages +are liable to fall to pieces with the first discharge. They are not +allowed to repair them, but must send them in to get them changed for +others when useless. The Durbar knows that if they allow the local +officers to charge for the repair of guns, heavy charges will be +made, and no gun ever repaired; and the local officers know that if +they send in a gun to be repaired at Lucknow, they will get in +exchange one _painted_ to look well, but so flimsily done up that it +will go to pieces the first or second time it is fired. + +Captain Barlow's corps is a good one, and the men are finer than any +that I have seen in our own infantry regiments, though they get only +five rupees a-month each, while ours get seven. They prefer this rate +under European officers in the Oude service, to the seven rupees a- +month which sipahees get in ours, though they have no pension +establishment or extra allowance while marching. They feel sure that +their European commandants will secure them their pay sooner or +later; they escape many of the harassing duties to which our sipahees +are liable; they have leave to visit their homes one month in twelve; +they never have to march out of Oude to distant stations, situated in +bad climates; they get fuel and fodder, and often food, for nothing; +their baggage is always carried for them at the public cost. But to +secure them their pay, arms, accoutrements, clothing, &c., the +commandant must be always about the Court himself, or have an +_ambassador_ of some influence there at great cost. Captain Barlow +is almost all his time at Court, as much from choice as expediency, +drawing all his allowances and emoluments of all kinds, while his +second in command performs his regimental duties for him. The other +officers like this, because they know that the corps could not +possibly be kept in the state it is without it. Captain Barlow has +lately obtained three thousand rupees for the repair of his six gun- +carriages, tumbrils, &c., that is, five hundred for each. They had +not been repaired for ten years; hardly any of the others have been +repaired for the last twenty or thirty years. + +The Nazim of this district of Khyrabad has taken the farm of it for +one year at nine lacs of rupees, that is one lac and a half less than +the rate at which it was taken by his predecessor last year. He tells +me, that he was obliged, to enter into engagements to pay in +gratuities fifty thousand to the minister, of which he has as yet +paid only five thousand; twenty-five thousand to the Dewan, +Balkishun, and seven thousand to Gholam Ruza, who has charge of the +Huzoor Tuhseel--that he was obliged to engage to pay four hundred +rupees a-month, in salaries, to men named by the Dewan, who do no +duty, and never show their faces to him; and similar sums to the +creatures of the minister and others--that he was obliged to pay +gratuities to a vast number of understrappers at Court--that he was +not made aware of the amount of these gratuities, &c., till he had +received his dress of investiture, and had merely promised to pay +what his predecessor had paid--that when about to set out, the +memorandum of what his predecessor had paid was put into his hand, +and it was then too late to remonstrate or draw back. There may be +some exaggeration in the rate of the gratuities demanded; but that he +has to pay them to the persons named I have no doubt whatever, +because; all men in charge of districts have to pay them to those +persons, whether they hold the districts in contract, or in trust. + +The Zuffer Mobaruk regiment, with its commandant, Fidda Hoseyn, is +now across the Ghagra in charge of Dhorehra, an estate in the forest +belonging to Rajah Arjun Sing, who has absconded in consequence of +having been ruined by the rapacity of a native collector last year; +and they are diligently employed in plundering all the people who +remain. The estate paid 2,75,000 a-year till these outrages began; +and it cannot now pay fifty thousand. Arjun Sing and Seobuksh Sing, +of Kuteysura, are the only refractory landholders in the Khyrabad +district at present. + +_March_ 10, 1850.--Halted at Lahurpoor. There is good ground for +large civil and military establishments to the south of the town, +about a mile out, on the left of the road leading to Khyrabad. It is +a fine open plain of light soil. New pucka-wells would be required; +and some low ground, near the south and north, would also require to +be drained, as water lies in it during the rains. There is excellent +ground nearer the town on the same side, but the mango-groves are +thick and numerous, and would impede the circulation of air. The +owners would, moreover be soon robbed of them were a cantonment, or +civil station, established among or very near to them. The town and +site of any cantonment, or civil station, should be taken from the +Kuteysura estate, and due compensation made to the holder, Seobuksh. +The town is a poor one; and the people are keeping their houses +uncovered, and removing their property under the apprehension that +Seobuksh will attack and plunder the place. All the merchants and +respectable landholders, over the districts bordering on the Tarae +forest, through which we have passed, declare, that all the colonies +of Budukh dacoits, who had, for many generations, up to 1842, been +located in this forest, have entirely disappeared. Not a family of +them can now be found anywhere in Oude. Six or eight hundred of their +brave and active men used to sally forth every year, and carry their +depredations into Bengal, Bebar and all the districts of the north- +west provinces. Their suppression has been a great benefit conferred +upon the people of India by the British Government. + +_March_ 11, 1850.--Kusreyla, ten miles, over a plain of excellent +muteear soil scantily cultivated, but studded with fine trees, single +and in groves. Kusreyla is among the three hundred villages which +have been lately taken in mortgage from the proprietors, and in lease +from Government, by Monowur-od Dowlah, the nephew and heir of the +late Hakeem Mehndee. He is inviting and locating in these villages +many cultivators of the best classes; and they will all soon be in a +fine state of tillage. No soil can be finer, and no acre of it is +incapable of bearing fine crops. The old proprietors and lessees, to +whom he had lent money on mortgage, have persuaded him to foreclose, +that they may come under so substantial and kind a landholder. They +prefer holding the sub-lease under such a man, to holding the lease +directly under Government, subject to the jurisdiction of the Nazim. +Monowur-od Dowlah pays forty thousand rupees a-year for the whole to +Government, and has had the whole transferred to the Huzoor Tuhseel. + +The Nazim of Khyrabad rode by my side during this morning's march, +and at my request he described the mutiny which took place in two of +the regiments that attended him in the siege of Bhitolee, just before +I crossed the Ghagra at Byramghat. These were the Futteh Aesh, and +the Wuzeeree. Their commandants are Allee Hoseyn, a creature of one +of the singers, Kootab Allee; and Mahommed Akhbur, a creature of the +minister's. They were earnestly urged by the minister and Nazim to +join their regiments for the short time they would be on this +important service, but in vain; nothing could induce them to quit the +Court. All the corps mentioned above, as attending the Nazim, were +present, and the siege had begun when, on the 17th of November, some +shopkeepers in camp, having been robbed during the night by some +thieves, shut up their shops, and prepared to leave the camp in a +body. The siege could not go on if the traders all left the place; +and he sent a messenger to call the principal men that he might talk +to them. They refused to move, and the messenger, finding that they +were ready to set out, seized one of them by the waist-hand, and when +he resisted, struck him on the head with a stick, and said he would +make him go to his master. The man called out to some sipahees of the +Wuzeeree regiment, who were near, to rescue him. They did so: the +messenger struggled to hold his grasp, but was dragged off and +beaten. He returned the blows; the sipahees drew their swords: he +seized one of the swords and ran off towards his master's tent, +waiving it over his head, to defend himself, followed by some of the +sipahees. The others ran back to the grove in which their regiment +and the Futteh Aesh were bivouaced; both regiments seized their arms +and ran towards the Nazim's tents; and when they got within two +hundred yards, commenced firing upon them. + +The Nazim had with him only a few of his own armed servants. They +seized their arms, and begged permission to return the fire, but were +restrained till the regiment came near, and two tomandars, or +officers, who stood by the Nazim, were shot down, one dead; and the +other disabled. His men could be restrained no longer, and they shot +down two of the foremost of the assailants. The Nazim then sent off +to Lieutenant Orr, who was exercising his corps with blank cartridge +on the parade; and, supposing that one of these regiments was doing +the same thing near the Nazim's tents, he paid no attention to them. +He and his brother, the Adjutant, ran forward, and entreated the two +regiments to cease firing; and the Nazim sent out Syud Seoraj-od Deen +(the commandant of the Bhurmar regiment, stationed in the adjoining +district of Ramnugger Dhumeree, who had just come to him on a visit), +with the Koran in his hand, to do the same. The remonstrances of both +were in vain. They continued to fire upon the Nazim, and Lieutenant +Orr went off to bring up his regiment, which stood ready to move on +the parade. Alarmed at this, the two regiments ran off to their +grove, and the firing ceased. + +During all this time, the other two regiments, the Zuffer Mobaruk and +Futteh Jung, stood looking on as indifferent spectators; and +afterwards took great credit to themselves for not joining in this +attempt to blow up the viceroy, who was obliged, the next day, to go +to their camp and apologize humbly for his men having presumed to +return their fire, which he declared that they had done without his +orders! On his doing this, they consented to forego their claim to +have the unhappy messenger sent to their camp to be _executed_; and +to remain with him during the siege. As to taking any part in the +siege and assault on the fort, that was altogether out of their line. +Ruza Kolee Khan, the commandant of the Futteh Jung, was at Lucknow +during this mutiny, but he joined a few days after. Lieutenant Orr +gave me the same narrative of the affair at the dinner-table last +night; and said, that he and his brother had a very narrow escape-- +that his regiment would have destroyed all the mutineers had they +been present; and he left them on the parade lest he might not be +able to restrain them in such a scene. Even this mutiny of the two +regiments could not tempt their commandants to leave Court, where +they are still enjoying the favour of their patrons, the minister and +the singers, and a large share of the pay and perquisites of their +officers and sipahees, though the regiments have been sent off to the +two disturbed districts of Sundela and Salone. + +They dare not face the most contemptible enemy, but they spare not +the weak and inoffensive of any class, age, or sex. A respectable +landholder, in presenting a petition, complaining of the outrages +committed upon his village and peasantry, said a few days ago--"The +oppression of these revenue collectors, and their disorderly troops, +is intolerable, sir--they plunder all who cannot resist them, but +cannot lift their arms, or draw their breath freely in the presence +of armed robbers and rebels--it is a proverb, sir, that _insects_ +prey upon soft _wood_; and these men prey only upon the peaceful and +industrious, who are unable to defend themselves." The Nazim tells +me, that the lamentations of the poor people, plundered and +maltreated, were incessant and distressing during the whole time +these two corps were with him; and that he could exercise no control +whatever over them, protected as they were, in all their iniquities, +by the Court favour their two commandants enjoyed at Lucknow.* + +[* Kootab Allee was one of the singers who were soon after banished +from Oude in disgrace. But all the influence they exercised over the +King has been concentrated in the hands of the two singers who +remained, Mosahib Allee and Anees-od Dowla. All are despicable +_domes_; but the two, who now govern the King, are much worse +characters than any of those who were banished.] + +I asked Bukhtawur Sing, before the Nazim overtook us this morning, +why it was, that these governors always took so many troops with them +when they moved from place to place, merely to settle accounts and +inspect the crops. "Some of them," said he, "take all the troops they +can muster, to show that they are great men; but, for the most part, +they are afraid to move without them. They, and the greater part of +the landholders, consider each other as natural and irreconcilable +enemies; and a good many of those, who hold the largest estates, are +at all times in open resistance against the Government. They have +their Vakeels with the contractors when they are not so, and spies +when they are. They know all his movements, and would waylay and +carry him off if not surrounded with a strong body of soldiers, for +he is always moving over the country, with every part of which they +are well acquainted. Besides, under the present system of allowing +them to forage or plunder for themselves, it is ruinous to any place +to leave them in it for even a few days--no man, within several +miles, would preserve shelter for his family, or food for his cattle, +during the hot and rainy months--he is obliged to take them about +with him to distribute, as equally as he can, the terrible burthen of +maintaining them. Now that the sugar-cane is ripe, not one cane would +be preserved in any field within five miles of any place where the +Nazim kept his troops for ten days." + +_March_ 12, 1850.--Seetapoor, nine miles over a plain of muteear +soil, the greater part of which is light, and yields but scanty crops +without manure, which is very scarce. Immediately about the station +and villages, where manure is available, the crops are good. The wind +continues westerly, the sky is clear, and the blight does not seem to +increase. + +The 2nd Regiment of Oude Local Infantry is stationed at Seetapoor, +but it has no guns or cavalry of any kind. Formerly there was a corps +of the Honourable Company's Native Infantry here, with two guns and a +detail of artillery. The sipahees of this corps, and of the 1st Oude +Local Infantry, at Sultanpoor, are somewhat inferior in appearance to +those of our own native infantry regiments, and still more so to the +Oude corps under Captains Barlow, Magness, and Bunbury. They receive +five rupees eight annas a-month pay, and batta, or extra allowance, +when marching; and the same pay as our own sipahees of the line +(seven rupees a-month) when serving with them. But the commandants +cannot get recruits equal to those that enlist in our regiments of +the line, or those that enlist in the corps of the officers above +named. They have not the rest and the licence of the one, while they +have the same drill and discipline, without the same rate of pay as +the other. They have now the privilege of petitioning through the +Resident like our sipahees of the line, and that of the pension +establishment, while Barlow's, Bunbury's, and Magness's corps have +neither. They have none but internal duties--they are hardly ever +sent out to aid the King's local authorities, and do not escort +treasure even for their own pay. It is sent to them by drafts from +Lucknow on the local collectors of the district in which they are +cantoned; and the money required for the Resident's Treasury--a great +portion of which passes through the Seetapoor cantonments--is +escorted by our infantry regiments of the line, stationed at Lucknow, +merely because a General Order exists that no irregular corps shall +be employed on such duties while any regular corps near has a relief +of guards present. The corps of regular infantry at Shajehanpoor +escorts the treasure six marches to Seetapoor, where it is relieved +by a detachment from one of the regular corps at Lucknow, six marches +distant. + +The native officers and sipahees of these two corps have leave of +absence to visit their families just as often and for just as long +periods as those of the corps under the three above-named officers-- +that is, for one month out of twelve. The native officers and +sipahees of these three corps are not, however, so much drilled or +restrained as those of the two Oude local corps, in which no man +dares to help himself occasionally to the roofs of houses and the +produce of fields or gardens; nor to take presents from local +authorities, as they are hardly ever sent out to assist them. The +native officers and sipahees of the very best of the King of Oude's +corps do all this more or less; and they become, in consequence, more +attached to their officers and the service. Moreover, the commandants +of the two corps of Oude local infantry never become _mediators_ +between large landholders and local governors as those of the King of +Oude's corps so often do; nor are any landed estates ever assigned to +them for the liquidation of their arrears of pay, and confided to +their management. So highly do the native officers of these three +Oude _Komukee_ corps appreciate all the privileges and perquisites +they enjoy, when out on duty under district officers, that they +consider short periods of guard duty in the city, where they have +none of them, as serious punishments. + +The drainage about Seetapoor is into the small river Surain, which +flows along on the west boundary, and is excellent; and the lands in +and about the station are at all times dry. The soil, too, is good; +and the place, on the whole, is well adapted for the cantonment of a +much larger force. + +_March_ 13, 1850.--Khyrabad, east nine miles, over a plain of +doomuteea soil with much oosur. A little outlay and labour seem, +however, to make this oosur produce good crops. On entering the town +on the west side, we passed over a good stone bridge over this little +stream, the Surain; and to the east of the town is another over the +still smaller stream of the Gond. Khyrabad is not so well drained as +Seetapoor, nor would it be so well adapted for a large cantonment. It +is considered to be less healthy. There is an avenue of good trees +all the way from Seetapoor to Khyrabad, a distance of six miles, +planted by Hakeem Mehndee. Our camp being to the eastern extremity of +the town, renders the distance nine miles. + +Yesterday at Seetapoor I had a visit from Monowur-od Dowla, late +prime minister, and Moomtaz-od Dowla, grandson to the late King, +Mahommed Allee Shah, on their way out to the Tarae forest to join +Kindoo Rao, the brother of the Byza Bae, of Gwalior, in pursuit of +tigers. This morning on the road, old Bukhtawur Sing, after a sigh, +said: "I presented a nazur to the prince, Moomtaz-od Dowla, sir; he +is the grandson of a King, and the victim of the folly and crime of +shooting a monkey! His father, Asgur Allee Khan, was the eldest son +of Mahommed Allee Shah, and elder brother of Amjud Allee Shah, the +father of the present King. He was fond of his gun, and one day a +monkey, of the red and short-tailed kind, came and sat upon one of +his out-offices. He sent for his gun, and shot it dead with a ball. +The very next day, sir, he had a severe attack of fever, which +carried him off in three days. During this time he frequently called +out in terror, 'Save me from that monkey! save me from that monkey!' +--pointing to the part of the room in which he _saw him_. The monkey +killed Asgur Allee Khan, sir; and no man ever escapes death or misery +who wilfully kills one. Moomtaz-od Dowla might, sir, have been now +King of Oude had his father not shot that monkey." + +"But I thought," said I, "it was the _hanoomaun_, or long-tailed +monkey, that was held sacred by the Hindoos?"--"Sir," said Bukhtawur +Sing, "both are alike sacred.* Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, the predecessor +of Mahommed Allee Shah, went one day shooting in the dilkhoosha park. +Several of the long-tailed monkeys came and sat upon a mango-tree +near him. He could not resist the temptation, and shot several of +them, one after another, with ball. He returned to the palace; but +had not been home more than three hours, when he and his favourite +wife, the Kooduseea Begum,** had a fierce quarrel, in which both +became insane; she was so enraged that she took poison forthwith, +and, in her agony, actually spit up her liver, which had been torn to +pieces by the force of the poison! The King could not stand the +horrible sight, and ran off and hid himself in the race-stand, near +which you fell and broke your thigh-bone in April last; there he +remained shut up till she died. He had had warning, sir, for a few +months after his accession to the throne; I attended him and his +minister, Aga Meer, on a visit to the garden, called padshah baag, on +the opposite side of the river: he had a gun with him, and, seeing a +monkey on a tree, he ordered the prime minister to try his hand at +it. I told Aga Meer that evil would certainly befall him or his house +if he shot the animal, and begged his Majesty not to assist upon the +minister's doing it. Both laughed at what they thought my folly; the +minister shot the monkey; and in a few days he was out of office and +in a prison. One way or other, sir, a man who wilfully destroys a +monkey is sure to be punished." + +[* That Asgur Allee Khan, the eldest son of the King, Mahommed Allee +Shah, did shoot the monkey, got a fever a few days after, and died of +it, are facts well known at Lucknow. That he often mentioned the +monkey during his delirium, is generally believed; and that his death +was the consequence of his shooting that animal is the opinion of all +the Hindoo, and a great part of the Musulman, population. His death, +while his father lived, deprived his son, Moomtaz-od Dowla, of the +throne.] + +[** The Kooduseea Begum had been introduced into the palace as +waiting-woman to Mulika Zumanee, whom she soon superseded in the +King's affections, which she retained till her death. She was married +to the King on the 17th December, 1831, and died on the 21st of +August 1834.] + +At Khyrabad there is a handsome set of buildings, consisting of a +mausoleum over his father, a mosque, an _imambara_, and a _kudum +rusool_, or shrine with the print of the prophet's foot, erected by +Mucka Durzee, a tailor in the service of the King, who made a large +fortune out of his master's favours, and who still lives, and +provides for their repair and suitable endowment. These buildings +are, like all others of the same kind, infested by a host of +professional religious mendicants of both sexes and all ages, who +make the air resound with their clamours for alms. Not only are such +buildings so infested, but all the towns around them. I could not +help observing to the native gentlemen who attended me, "that when +men planted groves and avenues, and built reservoirs, bridges, +caravansaries, and wells, they did not give rise to any such sources +of annoyance to travellers; that they enjoyed the water, shade, and +accommodation, without cost or vexation, and went on their way +blessing the donor." "That," said an old Rusaldar, "is certainly +taking a new and just view of the case; but still it is a surprising +thing to see a man in this humble sphere of life raising and +maintaining so splendid a pile of buildings."* + +[* Mucka the tailor, to whom these buildings belong, is the person +mentioned in the account of the death of the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, and the confinement of Ghalib Jung.] + +The town of Khyrabad has still a good many inhabitants; but the +number is fast decreasing. It was the residence of the families of a +good many public officers in our service and that of Oude; and the +local authorities of the district used to reside here. They do so no +longer; and the families of public officers have almost all gone to +reside at other places. Life and property have become exceedingly +insecure, and attacks by gang-robbers so frequent that no man thinks +his house and family safe for a single night. Government officers are +entirely occupied in the collection of revenue, and they disregard +altogether the sufferings and risks to which the people of towns are +exposed. The ground around the place is low, and the climate is +inferior to that of Seetapoor. Salt and saltpetre are 'made from the +soil immediately round the town. + +I have mentioned that Moomtaz-od Dowla might now have been King of +Oude had his father not died before his father. The Mohammedan law +excludes for ever the children of any person who dies before the +person to whom he or she is the next heir from all right in the +inheritance. Under the operation of this law, the sons of the eldest +son of the reigning King are excluded from the succession if he dies +before his father, and the crown devolves on the second son, or on +the brother of the King, if he leaves no other son. The sons of all +the sons who die, while their father lives, are _mahjoob-ol-irs_, +that is, excluded from inheritance. In the same manner, if the next +brother of the King dies before him, his sons are excluded from the +succession, which devolves on the third brother, and so on through +all the brothers. For instance, on the death, without any recognised +issue, of Nuseer-od Been Hyder, son of Ghazee-od Deen, he was +succeeded on the throne by Mahommed Allee Shah, the third brother of +Ghazee-od Deen, though four sons of the second brother, Shums-od +Dowla, still lived. On the death of Mahommed Allee Shah, he was +succeeded by his second son, Amjud Allee Shah, though Moomtaz-od +Dowla, the son of his eldest son, Asgur Allee Khan, still lived. +Shums-od Dowla died before his elder brother, Ghazee-od Deen; and +Asgur Allee Khan before his father, Mahommed Allee Shah: and the sons +of both became, in consequence, _mahjoob-ol-irs_, excluded from +succession. The same rule guides the succession among the Delhi +sovereigns. This exclusion extends to all kinds of property, as well +as to sovereignty. + +Moomtaz-od Dowla is married to Zeenut-on Nissa, the daughter of +Mulika Zumanee, one of the consorts of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, late +King of Oude; and he has, I fear, more cause to regret his union with +her than his exclusion from the throne. Zeenut-on Nissa enjoys a +pension of ten thousand rupees a-month, in her own right, under the +guarantee of the British Government. I may here, as an episode not +devoid of interest, give a brief account of her mother, who, for some +years, during the reign of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, presided over the +palace at Lucknow. Before I do so I may mention that the King, +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, had been married to a grand-daughter of the +Emperor of Delhi, a very beautiful young woman, of exemplary +character, who still survives, and retains the respect of the royal +family and people of Lucknow. Finding the Court too profligate for +her, she retired into private life soon after the marriage, and has +remained there ever since upon a small stipend from the King. + +Mulika Zumanee, queen of the age, was a daughter of a Hindoo of the +Koormee caste, who borrowed from his neighbour, Futteh Morad, the sum +of sixty rupees, to purchase cloth. He soon after died, leaving a +widow, and a daughter named Dolaree, then five years of age. They +were both seized and confined for the debt by Futteh Morad; but, on +the mother's consenting to leave her daughter in bondage for the +debt, she was released. Futteh Morad's sister, Kuramut-on Nissa, +adopted Dolaree, who was a prepossessing child, and brought her up as +her daughter; but finding, as she grew up, that she was too intimate +with Roostum, the son by a former husband of her brother's second +wife, she insisted on their being married, and they were so. Futteh +Morad soon after died, and his first wife turned the second, with her +first son, Roostum, and his wife, Dolaree, and the two sons which she +had borne to Futteh Morad--Futteh Allee Khan and Warus Allee Khan-- +out of her house. They went to Futteh Morad's aunt, Bebee Mulatee, a +learned woman, who resided as governess in the house of Nawab +Mohubbet Khan, at Roostumnugger, near Lucknow, and taught his +daughters to read the Koran. Finding Dolaree to be not the most +faithful of wives to Roostum, she would not admit them into the +Nawab's house, but she assisted them with food and raiment; and +Roostum entered the service--as a groom--of a trooper in the King's +cavalry, called Abas Kolee Beg. Dolaree had given birth to a boy, who +was named Mahommed Allee; and she now gave birth to a daughter; but +she had cohabited with a blacksmith and an elephant-driver in the +neighbourhood, and it became a much "vexed question" whether the son +and daughter resembled most Roostum, the blacksmith, or the elephant- +driver; all, however, were agreed upon the point of Dolaree's +backslidings. Mahommed Allee, _alias_ Kywan Ja, was three years of +age, and the daughter, _Zeenut-on Nissa_, one year and half, when +some belted attendants from the palace came to Roostumnugger in +search of a wet-nurse for the young prince, Moona Jan, who had been +born the night before; and Bebee Mulatee, whose reputation for +learning had readied the royal family, sent off Dolaree as one of the +candidates for employment. Her appearance pleased the queen, the +Padshah Begum, the quality of her milk was pronounced by the royal +physicians to be first rate, and she was chosen, as wet-nurse for the +new-born prince. + +Moona Jan's father (then heir-apparent to the throne of Oude) no +sooner saw Dolaree than, to the astonishment of the Queen and her +Court, he fell desperately in love with her, though she seemed very +plain and very vulgar to all other eyes; and he could neither repose +himself, nor permit anybody else in the palace to repose, till he +obtained the King's and Queen's consent to his making her his wife, +which he did in 1826. She soon acquired an entire ascendancy over his +weak mind, and, anxious to surround herself in her exalted station by +people on whom she could entirely rely, she invited the learned Bebee +Mulatee and her daughter, Jumeel-on Nissa, and her son, Kasim Beg, to +the palace, and placed them in high and confidential posts. She +invited at the same time Futteh Allee and Warus Allee, the sons of +Futteh Morad by his second wife; and persuaded the King that they +were all people of high lineage, who had been reduced, by unmerited +misfortunes, to accept employments so humble. All were raised to the +rank of Nawabs, and placed in situations of high trust and +emoluments. Kuramut-on Nissa, too, the sister of Futteh Morad, was +invited; but when Dolaree's husband--the humble Roostum--ventured to +approach the Court, he was seized and imprisoned in a fort in the +Bangur district till the death of Nuseer-od Deen, when he was +released. He came to Lucknow, but died soon after. + +Soon after the death of Ghazee-od Deen had placed the heir-apparent, +her husband, on the throne, 20th of October, 1827, she fortified +herself still further by high alliances: and her son, Mahommed Allee, +was affianced to the daughter of Rokun-od Dowla, brother of the late +King; and her daughter, Zeenut-on Nissa, to Moomtaz-od Dowla, the +prince of whom I am writing. These two marriages were celebrated at a +cost of about thirty lacs of rupees; Dolaree was declared the first +consort of the King, under the title of "Mulika Zamanee," queen of +the age, and received an estate in land yielding six lacs of rupees +a-year for pin-money. Not satisfied with this, she prevailed upon the +King to declare her son, Mahommed Allee, _alias_ Kywan Ja, to be his +_own and eldest son_, and heir-apparent to the throne; and to demand +his recognition as such from the British Government, through its +representative, the Resident. His Majesty, with great solemnity, +assured the Resident, on many occasions during November and December, +1827, _that Kywan Ja was his eldest son_; and told him that had he +not been so, his uncle would never have consented to bestow his +daughter upon him in marriage, nor should he himself have consented +to expend twenty lacs of rupees in the ceremonies. The Resident told +him that the universal impression at Lucknow was, that the boy was +three years of age when his mother was first introduced to his +Majesty. But this had no effect; and, to remove all further doubts +and discussions on the subject, he wrote a letter himself to the +Governor-General, earnestly protesting that Kywan Ja was his _eldest +son and heir-apparent to the throne_; and as such he was sent from +Lucknow to Cawnpoor to meet and escort over Lord Combermere in +December, 1827. + +On the birth of Moonna Jan, the then King, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, +declared to the Resident that the boy was not his grandson, and that +his son, Nuseer-od Deen, pretended that he was his son merely to +please his imperious mother, the Padshah Begum, and to annoy his +father, with whom they were both on bad terms. Ghazee-od Deen had, +however, before his death declared that he believed Moonna Jan to be +his grandson.* In February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, +first through the minister, and then in person, assured the Resident +that neither of the boys was his son, and requested that he would +report the same to his Government, and assure the Governor-General +"that both reports, as to these boys being sons of his, were false, +and arose from the same cause, _bribery_ and _ambition_, that Mulika +Zumanee had paid many lacs of rupees to influential people about him +to persuade him to call her son his, and declare him heir-apparent to +the throne; and that Fazl Allee and Sookcheyn had done the same to +induce others to persuade him to acknowledge Moonna Jan to be his +son. But, said his Majesty, I know positively that he is not my son, +and my father knew the same." + +[* I believe that Ghazee-od Deen's first repudiation of Moonna Jan +arose entirely from a desire to revenge himself upon his termagant +wife, whose furious temper left him no peace. She was, from his +birth, very fond of the boy; and to question his legitimacy was to +wound her in her tenderest point. This was the "raw" which her +husband established, and which his son and successor afterwards +worked upon.] + +The wary minister then, to clench the matter, remarked that his +Majesty had mentioned to him that he had ceased to cohabit with +Moonna Jan's mother for twenty-four months before the boy was born; +and the King assured the Resident that this was quite true. Hakeem +Mehndee was as anxious as Aga Meer had been to keep the King +estranged from his imperious mother, and the only sure way was to +make him persist in repudiating the boy or postponing his claim to +the succession. + +Mulika Zumanee's influence over the king had, however, been eclipsed, +first, by Miss Walters, Mokuddera Ouleea, whose history has already +been given; secondly, by the beautiful Taj Mahal; and, thirdly, by +the Kuduseea Begum. She entered the palace as a waiting-woman to +Mulika Zumanee, and, on the 17th of December, 1831, the King married +her; and from that day till her death, on the 21st of August, 1834, +she reigned supreme in the palace and in the King's affections. + +On the King's paying a visit of ceremony to Mulika Zumanee one +evening, he asked for water, and it was brought to him in a gold cup, +on a silver tray, by the Kuduseea Begum, then one of the women in +waiting. Her face was partially unveiled; and the King, after +drinking, threw the last few drops from the cup over her veil in +play. In return, she threw the few drops that had been spilled on the +salver upon the King's robe, or vest. He pretended to be angry, and +asked her, with a frown, how she could dare to besprinkle her +sovereign; she replied--"When children play together there is no +distinction between the prince and the peasant." The King was charmed +with her half-veiled beauty and spirit, and he paid a second visit +the next day, and again asked for water. He did the same as the first +day, and she returned the compliment in the same way. He came a third +time and asked for water, but Mulika Zumanee had become alarmed, and +it was presented by another and less dangerous person. A few days +after, however, the Queen was constrained to allow her fair attendant +to attend the King, and receive from him formal proposals of +marriage, which she accepted. + +She was handsome and generous; but there was no discrimination in her +bounty, and she is said to have received from the King nearly two +millions of money out of the reserved treasury for pin-money alone. +Of this she saved forty-four lacs of rupees. The King never touched +this money, and it formed, in a separate apartment, the greater part +of the seventy lacs found in his reserved treasury on his death, out +of the ten krores or ten millions sterling, which he found there when +he ascended the throne in 1827. + +She is said to have been the only one of his wives who ever had any +real affection for the King. She was haughty and imperious in her +temper; and the only female, who had any influence over her, was a +Mogulanee, who taught her to read and write. She assisted her +mistress very diligently in spending her pin-money, and made the +fortunes of sundry of her relations. Altercations between the +Kuduseea Begum and the King were not uncommon; but, on the 21st of +August, 1834, the King became unusually excited, and told her that he +had raised her from bondage to the throne, and could as easily cast +her back into the same vile condition. Her proud spirit could not +brook this, and she instantly swallowed arsenic. The King relented, +and every remedy was tried, but in vain. The King watched over her +agonies till she was about to expire, when he fled in a frantic state +and took refuge in the apartments of the race-stand, about three +miles from the palace, till the funeral ceremonies were over. It is +said, that in her anxiety to give birth to an heir to the throne, she +got the husband, from whom she had been divorced, smuggled into her +apartments in the palace in a female dress more than once; and that +this was reported to the King, and became the real cause of the +dispute. + +The Mogulanee attendant, who had accumulated twenty lacs of rupees, +was seized and commanded to disgorge. She offered five lacs to Court +favourites on condition that they saw her safely over the river +Ganges into British territory. The most grave of them were +commissioned to wait upon his Majesty, and entreat him most earnestly +to banish her forthwith from his territories, as she was known, in +the first place, to be one of the most _potent sorceresses_ in India; +and, in the next, to have been exceedingly attached to her late +mistress: that they had strong grounds to believe that it was her +intention to send his Majesty's spirit after hers, that they might be +united in the next world us they had been in this. The King got +angry, and said, that he had no dread of sorceresses, and would make +the old lady disgorge her twenty lacs. That very night, however, in +his sleep, he saw the Kuduseea Begum enter his room, approach his +bed, look upon him with a countenance still more kind and bright than +in life, and then return slowly with her face still towards him, and +beckoning him with her hand to follow! As soon as he awoke he became +greatly agitated and alarmed, and ordered the old sorceress to be +sent forthwith across the Ganges to Cawnpoor. She paid her five lacs, +and took off about fifteen; but what became of her afterwards I have +not heard. + +One of the first cases that I had to decide, after taking charge of +my office, was that of a claim to five Government notes of twenty +thousand rupees each, left by Sultan Mahal, one of the late King, +Amjud Allee Shah's, widows. The claimants were the reigning King, and +the mother, brother, and sister of the deceased widow. She was the +daughter of a greengrocer, and, in February 1846, at the age of +sixteen, she went to the palace with vegetables. The King saw and +fell in love with her; and she forthwith became one of his wives, +under the name of "Sultan Mahal." In November, 1846, the King +invested eighteen lacs and thirty thousand rupees in Government notes +as a provision for his wives and other female relations. The notes +were to be made out in their names respectively; and the interest was +to be paid to them and their heirs. Of this sum, Sultan Mahal was to +have one hundred thousand; and, on the 21st of November, she drew the +interest, in anticipation, up to the 30th of December of that year. +The five notes for twenty thousand each, in her name, were received +in the Resident's Treasury on the 20th of April, 1847. On the 28th of +August, she sent an application for the Notes to the Resident, but +died the next day. The King, her husband, had died on the 18th +February, 1847. + +Nine days after, on the 6th of September, the new King, Wajid Allee +Shah, sent an application to have these five notes transferred to one +of his own wives; urging, that, as his father and the Sultan Mahal +had both died, he alone ought to be considered as the heir. It was +decided, that the mother, sister, and brother were the rightful heirs +to the Sultan Mahal; and the amount was distributed among them +according to Mahommedan law. The question was, however, submitted to +Government at his Majesty's request; and the decision of the Resident +was upheld on the ground that the notes were in the lady's name, and +she had actually drawn interest on them; and, as she died intestate, +they became the property of her heirs. + +By a deed of engagement with the British Government, dated the 1st of +March, 1820, the King contributed to the five per cent loan the sum +of sixty-two lacs and forty thousand rupees, the interest of which, +at five per cent, our Government pledged itself to pay, in +perpetuity, to four females of the King's family. To Mulika Zumanee, +ten thousand a-month; to her daughter, Zeenut-on Nissa, four +thousand; to Mokuddera Ouleea (Miss Walters), six thousand; and to +Taj Mahal, six thousand: total, twenty-six thousand rupees a-month. +On the death of Mulika Zamanee, which took place on the 22nd +December, 1843, her daughter succeeded to her pension of six thousand +a-month. + +The other portion of her pension--four thousand rupees a-month--went +to her grandson, Wuzeer Mirza, the son of Kywan Ja, who had died on +the 16th of May, 1838, before his mother.* Of this four thousand a- +month, one thousand are given to Zeenut-on Nissa for the boy's +subsistence and education, and three thousand a-month are invested in +Government securities, to be paid to him when he comes of age. But, +besides the six thousand rupees a-month which she inherits from her +mother, Zeenut-on Nissa enjoys the pension of four thousand rupees a- +month, which was assigned to her by the King in the same deed; so +that she now draws eleven thousand rupees a-month, independent of her +husband's income.** By this deed the stipends are to descend to the +heirs of the pensioners, if they have any; and if they have none, +they can bequeath their pensions to whom they please. Should they +have no heirs, and leave no will, the stipends are to go to the +moojtahids and moojawurs, or presiding priests of the shrine of +kurbala, in Turkish Arabia, for distribution among the needy +pilgrims. + +[* Wuzeer Mirza is not the son of Rokun-od Dowla's daughter. Kywan +Ja's marriage with that lady was never consummated.] + +[** She takes after her mother, and makes her worthy husband very +miserable. She is ill-tempered, haughty, and profligate.] + +An European lady, who visited the zunana of the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, on the anniversary of his coronation, on the 18th of October, +1828, writes thus to a female friend:--"But the present King's wives +were superbly dressed, and looked like creatures of the Arabian +Tales. Indeed, one (Taj Mahal) was so beautiful, that I could think +of nothing but Lalla Rookh in her bridal attire. I never saw any one +so lovely, either black or white. Her features were perfect, and such +eyes and eye-lashes I never, beheld before. She is the favourite +Queen at present, and has only been married a month or two, her age, +about fourteen; and such a little creature, with the smallest hands +and feet, and the most timid, modest look imaginable. You would have +been charmed with her, she was so graceful and fawn-like. Her dress +was of gold and scarlet brocade, and her hair was literally strewed +with pearls, which hung down upon her neck in long single strings, +terminating in large pearls, which mixed with and hung as low as her +hair, which was curled on each side her head in long ringlets, like +Charles the Second's beauties. On her forehead she wore a small gold +circlet, from which depended and hung, half way down, large pearls +interspersed with emeralds. Above this was a paradise plume, from +which strings of pearls were carried over the head, as we turn our +hair. Her earrings were immense gold rings, with pearls and emeralds +suspended all round in large strings, the pearls increasing in size. +She had a nose ring also with large round pearls and emeralds; and +her necklaces, &c., were too numerous to be described. She wore long +sleeves, open at the elbow; and her dress was a full petticoat with a +tight body attached, and open only at the throat. She had several +persons to bear her train when she walked; and her women stood behind +her couch to arrange her head-dress, when, in moving, her pearls got +entangled in the immense robe of scarlet and gold she had thrown +around her. This beautiful creature is the envy of all the other +wives, and the favourite at present of both the King and his mother, +both of whom have given her titles--See _Mrs. Park's Wandering_, vol. +i., page 87. Taj Mahal still lives and enjoys a pension of six +thousand rupees a-month, under the guarantee of the British +Government. She became very profligate after the King's death; and +after she had given birth to one child, it was deemed necessary to +place a guard over her to prevent her dishonouring the memory of the +King, her husband, any further by giving birth to more." + +Of Miss Walters, alias Mokuddera Ouleea, the same lady writes:--"The +other newly-made Queen is nearly European, but not a whit fairer than +Taj Mahal. She is, in my opinion, plain; but she is considered by the +native ladies very handsome, and she was the King's favourite before +he saw Taj Mahal. She was more splendidly dressed than even Taj +Mahal. Her head-dress was a coronet of diamonds, with a fine crescent +and plume of the same. She is the daughter of a European merchant, +and is accomplished for an inhabitant of a zunana, as she writes and +speaks Persian fluently, as well as Hindoostanee; and it is said that +she is teaching the King English, though when we spoke to her in +English, she said she had forgotten it, and could not reply. She was, +I fancy, afraid of the Queen Dowager, as she evidently understood us; +and when asked if she liked being in the zunana, she shook her head +and looked quite melancholy. Jealousy of the new favourite, however, +appeared to be the cause of her discontent, as, though they sat on +the same couch, they never addressed each other." + +Of Mulika Zumanee, the same lady says:--"The mother of the King's +children, Mulika Zumanee, did not visit us at the Queen Dowager's; +but we went to see her at her own palace. She is, after all, the +person of the most political consequence, being the mother of the +heir-apparent; and she has great power over her royal husband, whose +ears she boxes occasionally." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder's death--His repudiation of his son, Moonna Jan, +leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od Dowlah--Contest for +the succession between these two persons--The Resident supports the +uncle; and the Padshah Begum supports the son--The ministers supposed +to have poisoned the King--Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth +by his successor--Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which Oude +was divided into two equal shares--One transferred to the British +Government, one reserved by Oude--Estimated value of each at the time +of treaty--Present value of each--The sovereign often warned that +unless he governs as he ought, the British Government cannot support +him, but must interpose and take the administration upon itself--All +such warnings have been utterly disregarded--No security to life or +property in any part of Oude--Fifty years of experience has proved, +that we cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its +people--The alternative left appears to be to take the management +upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the sovereign and +royal family of Oude--Probable effects of such a change on the +feelings and interests of the people of Oude. + + +When in February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, assured the +Resident that Moonna Jan was not his son. Lord William Bentinck was +Governor-General of India. A more thoroughly honest man never, I +believe, presided over the government of any country. The question of +right to succession was long maturely and most anxiously considered, +after these repeated and formal repudiations on the part of the King, +Nuseer-od Deen Hyder; and Government would willingly have deferred a +final decision on so important a question longer, but it was deemed +unsafe any longer from the debauched habits of the King, the chance +of his sudden death, and the risk of a tumult in such a city, to +leave the representative of the paramount power unprepared to +proclaim its will in favour of the rightful heir, the moment that a +demise took place. Under these considerations, instructions were sent +to the Resident, on the 15th of December, 1833, in case of the King's +death without a son, or pregnant consort, to declare the eldest +surviving brother of the late King, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, heir to the +throne, and have him placed upon it. According to the law already +noticed (which applies as well to sovereignty as to property) the +sons of Shums-od Dowlah, the second son of Saadut Allee Khan, who had +died shortly before his eldest and reigning brother, Ghazee-od Deen, +were excluded from all claims to the succession, and the right +devolved upon the third son of Saadut Allee, Nuseer-od Dowlah. +Ghazee-od Deen had only one son, the reigning sovereign, Nuseer-od +Deen Hyder. + +This prince had impaired his constitution by drinking and other +vicious indulgences, in which he had been encouraged in early life by +his designing or inconsiderate adoptive mother, the Padshah Begum; +but for some time before his death, he used frequently to declare to +his most intimate companions that he felt sure he should die of +poison, and that at no distant period. He for some time before his +death had a small well in the palace, over which he kept his own lock +and key; and he kept the same over the jar, in which he drew the +water from it for his own drinking. The keys were suspended by a gold +chain around his neck. The persons who gave him his drink, except +when taking it out of English sealed bottles, were two sisters, +Dhuneea and Dulwee. The latter and youngest is now the wife of Wasee +Allee Khan. The eldest, Dhuneea, still resides at Lucknow. The +general impression at Lucknow and over all Oude was, that the British +Government would, take upon itself the management of the country on +the death, without issue, of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder; and the King +himself latterly seemed rather pleased than otherwise at the thought +that he should be the last of the Oude kings. He had repudiated his +own son, and was unwilling that any other member of the family should +fill his place. The minister and the other public officers and Court +favourites, who had made large fortunes, wished it, as it was +understood by some, that by such a measure they would be secured from +all scrutiny into their accounts, and enabled to keep securely all +that they had accumulated. + +About half-past eleven, on the night of the 7th July, 1837, the +Durbar Wakeel, Gholam Yaheea,* came to the Resident and reported that +the King had been taken suddenly ill, and appeared to be either dead +or in a dying state, from the symptoms described to him by his +Majesty's attendants. The Resident, Colonel Low, ordered his two +Assistants, Captains Paton and Shakespear, the Head Moonshee and Head +Clerk, to be in attendance, and wrote to request the Brigadier, +commanding the troops in Oude, to hold one thousand men in readiness +to march to the Residency at a moment's notice. The Residency is +situated in the city near the Furra Buksh Palace, in which the King +resided. The Resident intended that five companies of this force +should be sent in advance of the main body and guns, for the purpose +of placing, sentries over the palace gates, treasuries, and other +places containing valuables within the walls. But this intention was +not unfortunately made known to the Brigadier. Captain Magness, who +commanded a corps of infantry with six guns, and a squadron of horse, +had been ordered by the minister at half-past eight o'clock, to +proceed with them to a place near the southern entrance of the +palace, and there to wait for further instructions, and he did so. +This was three hours before the minister made any report to the +Resident of the King's illness, and Captain Magness was told by the +people in attendance that the King was either dead or dying. + +[* Gholam Yaheea Khan was the maternal uncle of Shurf-od Dowlah, who +was, afterwards, some time minister under Mahommed Allee Shah.] + +Having given these orders, the Resident proceeded to the palace, +attended by Captain Paton, the first Assistant, and Dr. Stevenson, +the Residency Surgeon. They found the King lying dead upon his bed, +but his body was still warm, and Dr. Stevenson opened a vein in one +arm. Blood flowed freely from it, but no other sign of life could be +discovered. His features were placid and betrayed no sign of his +having suffered any pain; and the servants in attendance declared +that the only sign of suffering they had heard or seen was a slight +shriek, to which the King gave utterance before he expired; that +after that shriek he neither moved, spoke, nor showed any sign +whatever of life. His Majesty had been unwell for three weeks, but no +one had any apprehension of danger from his symptoms. He had called +for some sherbet a short time before his death, and it was given to +him by Dhuneea, the eldest of the two sisters. + +The Resident took with him a guard of sipahees from his escort, and +Captain Paton distributed them as double sentries at the inner doors +of the palace, and outside the chief buildings and store-rooms, with +orders to allow no one but the ministers and treasurers to pass. +Captain Madness had placed one sentry before at each of these places, +and he now added a second, making a party of four sipahees at each +post. Captain Paton at the same time, in conjunction with the +officers of the Court, placed seals on all the jewels and other +valuables belonging to the King and his establishments; and as the +night was very dark, placed torch-bearers at all places where they +appeared to be required. + +Having made these arrangements the Resident returned with Dr. +Stevenson to the Residency, leaving Captain Paton at the palace; and +wrote to the Brigadier to request that he would send off the five +companies in advance to the palace direct, and bring down all his +disposable troops, including artillery, to the city. The distance +from the palace to the cantonments, round by the old stone bridge, +was about four miles and half. The iron bridge, which shortens the +distance by a mile and half, had not then been thrown over the +Goomtee river, which flows between them. The Resident then had drawn +up, for the consent of the new king, a Persian paper, declaring that +he was prepared to sign any new treaty for the better government of +the country that the British Government might think proper to propose +to him. + +It was now one o'clock in the morning of the 8th of July, and Captain +Shakespear, attended by the Meer Moonshee, Iltufat Hoseyn, and the +Durbar Wakeel, proceeded to the house of the new sovereign, Nuseer-od +Dowlah, who then resided where the present King now resides, a +distance of about a mile from the Residency. The visit was altogether +unexpected; and, as the new sovereign had been for some time ill, +some delay took place in arranging for the reception of the mission. +After explaining the object of his visit. Captain Shakespear +presented the paper, which the King perused with great attention, and +then signed without hesitation. Captain Shakespear returned with it +to the Resident, who repaired again to the palace, and sent Captain +Paton, the first Assistant, to the Residency, to proceed thence with +Captain Shakespear and the Durbar Wakeel, to the house of the new +sovereign, and escort him to the palace, where he would be in +readiness to receive him. He arrived about three o'clock in the +morning, and being infirm from age, and exceedingly reduced from +recent illness, he was, after a short conversation with the Resident, +left in a small adjoining room, to repose for a few hours preparatory +to his being placed on the throne and crowned in due form. His eldest +surviving son, afterwards Amjud Allee Shah, his sons, the present +King, Wajid Allee Shah, and Mirza Jawad Khan, the King's foster +brother, Hummeed-od Dowlah, and his confidential servant, Rufeek-od +Dowla, were left in the room with him; and the Resident and his +Assistants sat in the verandah facing the river Goomtee, which flows +under the walls, conversing on the ceremonies to be observed at the +approaching coronation, and the persons to be invited to assist at +it, when they were suddenly interrupted by the intelligence that the +Padshah Begum, the adoptive mother of the late King, with a large +armed force, and the young pretender, Moonna Jan, were coming on to +seize upon the throne, and might soon be expected at the principal +entrance to the palace to the north-west. + +When the Resident was about to proceed to the palace, the first time +about midnight, he was assured by the minister, Roshun-od Dowla, that +every possible precaution had been taken by him to prevent the +Padshah Begum from attempting any such enterprise, or from leaving +her residence with the young pretender; that he had placed strong +bodies of troops in every street or road by which she could come. +But, to make more sure, and prevent her leaving her residence at the +Almas gardens, five miles from the palace, the Resident sent off one +of his chobdars, Khoda Buksh, with two troopers and a verbal message, +enjoining her to remain quietly at her palace. These men found her +with her equipage in the midst of a large mass of armed followers, +ready to set out for the palace. They delivered their message from +the Resident, but were sent back with her Wakeel, Mirza Allee, to +request that she might be permitted to look upon the dead body of the +late King, since she had not been permitted to see him for so long a +period before his death. But they reached the Resident with this +message, only ten minutes before the Begum's troops were thundering +for admittance at the gate. The Resident gave the chobdar a note for +the officer in command of the five companies, supposed to be in +advance on their way down from cantonments; but before he could get +with this note five hundred yards from the palace, he met the Begum +and her disorderly band filling the road and pressing on as fast as +they could. Unable to proceed, he returned to the palace with all +haste, and gave the Resident the first notice of their near approach. +Captain Magness had placed two of his six guns at each of the three +entrances to the south and west, but was now ordered to collect all, +and proceed to the north-western entrance, towards which the Begum +was advancing. Before he could get to that entrance she had passed +in, and he returned to the south-western entrance for further orders. + +On passing the mausoleum of Asuf-od Dowlah, where the Kotwal or head +police officer of the city resided, she summoned him, with all his +available police, to attend his sovereign to the throne of his +ancestors. He promised obedience, but, with all his police, stood +aloof, thinking that her side might not be the safe one to take in +such an emergency. A little further on she passed Hussun Bagh, the +residence of the chief consort of the late King and niece of the +emperor of Delhi, and summoned and brought her on, to give some +countenance to her audacious enterprise. The Resident admonished the +minister for his negligence and falsehood in the assurance he had +given him; and directed Rajah Bukhtawur Sing, with his squadron of +one hundred and fifty horse, and Mozuffer-od Dowlah, the father of +Ajum-od Dowlah, and Khadim Hoseyn, the son-in-law of Sobhan Allee +Khan, the deputy minister, with all the armed men they could muster, +to arrest the progress of the pretender; but nothing whatever was +done, and the excited mass came on, and augmented as it came in noise +and numbers. All whom the Resident sent to check them, out of fear or +favour, avoided collision, and sought safety either in their homes or +among the pretender's bands. + +Captain Paton, as soon as he heard the pretender's' men approach, +rushed to the gate to the north-west, towards which the throng was +approaching rapidly. He had only four belted attendants with him, and +the gate was guarded only by a small party of useless sipahees, under +the control of three or four black slaves. By the time he had roused +the sleepy guard and closed the gates, the pretender's armed mass +came up, and with foul abuse, imprecations, and with threats of +instant death to all who opposed them, demanded admittance. Captain +Paton told them, that the Resident had been directed by the British +Government to place Nuseer-od Dowlah, the uncle of the late King, on +the throne as the rightful heir; that he was now in the palace, and +all who opposed him would be treated as rebels; that the gates were +all closed by order of the Resident, and all who attempted to force +them would be put to death. All was in vain. They told him with fury +that the Padshah Begum, and the son of the late King, and rightful +heir to the throne, were among them, and must be instantly admitted. +Captain Paton despatched a messenger to the Resident to say, that he +could hold the gate no longer without troops: but before he could get +a reply, the insurgents brought up an elephant to force in the gate +with his head. The first failed in the attempt, and drew back with a +frightful roar. A second, urged on by a furious driver, broke in the +gate, one-half fell with a crash to the ground, and the elephant +plunged in after it. Captain Paton was standing with his back against +this half, and must have been killed; but Mukun, one of his +chuprassies, seeing the gate giving way, caught him by the arm and +dragged him behind the other half. The other three chuprassies ran +off in a fright and hid themselves. Two of them were Surubdawun Sing +and Juggurnath, two brothers, who will be mentioned elsewhere in this +diary.* + +[* See Juggurnath chuprassie in Chapter V., Vol. II.] + +The furious and confused mass rushed in through the half-opened gate, +and beat Captain Paton to the ground with their bludgeons, the hilts +of their swords, and the butt-ends of their muskets. Mukun, +chuprassie, his only remaining attendant, was beaten down at the same +time and severely bruised, but he soon got up, covered with blood, +made his way out through the crowd, and ran to meet the five +companies of the 35th Regiment, then not far distant, under Colonel +Monteath. As soon as he heard from Mukun the state in which he had +left his master, he sent on a party of thirty sipahees under Captain +Cowley, with orders to make all possible haste to the rescue. They +arrived in time to save his life from the fury of the assailants, but +found him insensible from his wounds. + +In a few minutes every court-yard within the palace walls was filled +with the armed and disorderly mass. The Resident, Captain Shakespear, +and their few attendants, tried to stop them by every impediment they +could throw in their way, but in vain. The assailants rushed past or +over them, brandishing their swords and firelocks, with loud +shoutings and flaming torches, and soon filled all the apartments of +the palace, save those occupied by the ladies and their female +attendants, and the dead body of the late King. The Resident and his +Assistant, and the Meer Moonshee, were soon separated from the new +sovereign and his small party, who lay for some time concealed in the +small room in which he had been left to repose, while they were +confined to the northern verandah overlooking the river, and the long +room leading into it. The armed and furious throng filled all the +other rooms of the palace, the court-yard, eighty yards long, leading +to the baraduree (or summer-house) and all the four great halls of +that building, in one of which the throne stood. + +The Resident felt that he was helpless in his present position, and +unable to do anything whatever to prevent the temporary triumph of +the insurgents, and the consequent tumult, pillage, and loss of life +that must follow; and that it would be better to try any change than +to remain in that helpless state. He thought that he might, if he +could once reach the Begum, be able to persuade her of the +impossibility of her ultimately succeeding in her attempt to keep the +pretender on the throne; and if not, that it would be of advantage to +get so much nearer to the place where the British troops most soon +arrive, and be drawn up in a garden to the south of the baraduree, +and to gain time for their arrival by a personal and open conference +with the Begum, during which he thought her followers would not be +likely to proceed to violence against his person, and those of his +attendants. He therefore persuaded one of the rebel sentries placed +over him to apprize the Begum that he wished to speak to her. She +sent to him Mirza Allee, one of her Wakeels; and with him Captain +Shakespear, and the Meer Moonshee, he forced his way through the +dense crowd, and got safely into the baraduree. + +They found all the four halls, small apartments, and verandahs, +leading into them, filled with armed men in a state of great +excitement, and in the act of placing the pretender, Moonna Jan, on +the throne. The Begum sat in a covered palankeen at the foot of the +throne; and as the Resident entered, the band struck up "_God save +the King_," answered by a salute of blunderbusses within, and a +double royal salute from the guns in the "_jullooknana_," or northern +court-yard of the palace through which the Begun had passed in. Other +guns, which had been collected in the confusion to salute somebody +(though those who commanded and served them knew not whom), continued +the salute through the streets without. A party of dancing-girls, +belonging to the late King, or brought up by the Begum, began to +dance and sing as loud as they could at the end of the long hall in +front of the throne, at the same time that the crowd within and +without shouted their congratulations at the top of their voices, and +every man who had a sword, spear, musket, or matchlock, flourished it +in the air amidst a thousand torches. A scene more strange and wild +it would be difficult to conceive. + +In the midst of all this the Resident and his Assistants remained +cool under all kinds of foul abuse and threats from a multitude so +excited, that they seemed more like demons than human beings, and +resolved to force them to commit some act or make use of some +expression that might seem to justify their murder. They fired +muskets close to their ears, pointed others loaded and cocked close +to their breasts and faces, flourished swords close to their noses, +called them all kinds of opprobrious names, but all in vain. The +Resident, in the midst of all this confusion, pointed out to the +Begum the impossibility of her ultimately succeeding in her attempt +to secure the throne for the pretender, since he was acting under the +orders of his Government, who had declared the right to be another's; +and if he and all his Assistants were killed, his Government would +soon send others to carry out their orders. "I am," she said, "in my +right place, and so is the young King, my grandson, and so are you. +Why do you talk to me or to anybody else of leaving the throne and +the baraduree?" But some of her furious followers, afraid that she +might yield, seized him by his neckcloth, dragged him towards the +throne, on which the boy sat, and commanded him to present his +offerings of congratulation on the threat of instant death. They had, +they said, placed him on the throne of his ancestors by order of the +Begum, and would maintain him there. Had he or either of his +Assistants lost their temper or presence of mind, and attempted to +resent any of the affronts offered to them, they must have been all +instantly put to death, and a general massacre of all their supposed +adherents, and the pillage of the palace and city, would have +followed. + +The Begum's Wakeel, Mirza Allee, seeing the life of the Resident and +those of his Assistants and attendants in such imminent peril, since +he so resolutely refused to give any sign whatever of recognition to +the pretender, and aware of the consequences that would inevitably +follow their murder, seized him by the arm, and in a loud voice +shouted out that it was the Begum's order that he should conduct him +out into the garden to the south. He pushed on with him through the +crowd, followed by all his small party, and with great difficulty and +danger they at last reached the garden, where Colonel Monteath had +just brought in and drawn up his five companies in a line facing the +baraduree. Finding the entrance to the north-west occupied by the +Begum's party. Colonel Monteath marched along the street to the west +of the palace, and entered the baraduree garden by the south-west +gate. As the Resident went out. Colonel Roberts, who commanded a +brigade in the Oude service, went in, and presented to the pretender +his offering of gold mohurs, and then went off and hid himself, to +wait the result of the contest. Captain Magness drew up his men and +guns on the left of Colonel Monteath's, and was told to prepare for +action. He told the Resident that he did not feel quite sure of his +men in such a crisis, and the line of British sipahees was made to +cover his rear, to secure them. The King and minister had commanded +him to act precisely as directed by the Resident, and he himself knew +this to be his only safe course, but the hearts of his men were with +Moonna Jan and the Begum. + +The Begum, as soon as the Resident left her, deeming all safe, went +over to the female apartments, where her adopted son, the late king, +lay dead; and after gazing for a minute upon his corpse, returned to +the foot of the throne, on which the pretender had now been seated +for more than three hours. It was manifest that nothing but force +could now remove the boy and his supporters, but the Begum tried to +gain more time in the hope of support from a popular insurrection +from without, which might take off the British troops from the +garden; and she sent evasive messages to the Resident by her wakeels, +urging him to come once more to her, since it was impossible for her +to make her way to him without danger of collision between the troops +of the two States. He refused to put himself again in her power, and +commanded her to come down with the boy to him and surrender; and +promised that if she did so, and directed all her armed followers to +quit the palace and city of Lucknow, all that had passed should be +forgiven, and the large pension of fifteen thousand rupees a-month, +promised by the late King, secured to her for life. All was in vain, +and the Begum was gaining her object. Robberies of State property in +the eastern and more retired parts of the palace-buildings had +commenced. Gold, jewels, shawls, &c., to a large amount were being +carried off. Much of such property lay about in places not guarded by +Captain Paton in the morning, or known to the minister, or other +respectable servants of the State, all holding out temptation to +pillage. Acts of plunder and ill-treatment to unoffending and +respectable persons in the city were every moment reported, and six +or eight houses had been already pillaged, and attempts had been made +on others by small parties, who were every moment increasing in +numbers and ferocity. + +Several parties of the King's troops had openly deserted their posts +and joined the pretender's followers in the baraduree, and dense +masses of armed men were crowding in upon the British troops, whose +officer became anxious, and urged the Resident to action, lest they +should no longer have room to use their arms. At one time these armed +crowds got within two yards of the British front; and on Colonel +Monteath's telling them to retire a few paces and leave him a clear +front, they did so in a sullen and insolent manner, and one of them +actually attempted to seize one of the sipahees by his whiskers, and +an affray was with difficulty prevented. + +Mostufa Khan, Kundaharee, who had command of a regiment of a thousand +horse in the late King's service, was with many others commanded by +the Begum to attend the young King on the throne; and he did so some +time after Brigadier Johnstone reached the garden, in front of the +baraduree, though he knew that Nuseer-od Dowlah had been declared the +rightful heir to the throne, and was actually in the palace. He said +that "he was the servant of the throne; that the young King was +actually seated upon it, and that he would support him there, happen +what might." He presented his offerings of gold to the young King, +and was forthwith appointed to supersede all the other wakeels in the +Begum's negotiations with the Resident. He merely repeated what the +other wakeels had said, urging the Resident to go up to the Begum, +since she could not come down to him. The Resident repeated to him +what he had told the Begum herself, and taking out his watch, told +him that unless his orders were obeyed in less than one-quarter of an +hour, the guns should open upon the throne-room; that when once they +opened, neither she nor her followers could expect favour, or even +mercy; and unless he, Mostapha Khan, separated himself from her +party, he should be hung as a traitor if taken alive. + +Owing to the height of some houses and walls about the left part of +the position of the British troops, the guns could not be +conveniently brought to bear upon the south-western corner of the +baraduree and throne-room, and two of the guns had to be taken round +by a road one-third of a mile, to be placed in a better position. On +seeing this the crowd shouted out, "The cravens are already running +away!" and became more insolent and furious than ever. + +The minister and Durbar Wakeel had been swept away by the crowd, who +rushed into the palace, and separated from the Resident and his +party, and as they passed through the balcony overlooking the river, +the wakeel threw off his turban, and leaped over from a height of +about twenty feet. The ground was soft, but he sprained both his +ankles. He was taken up by some boatmen, who had put-to near the +bank, and concealed in their boat till the affair was over. The new +sovereign remained still unnoticed, and apparently unknown, having +long led a secluded life; but his son, grandsons, and the rest of his +attendants were at last discovered, very roughly treated by the +insurgents, and would, it is said, have been put to death, had not +Rajah Bukhtawur Sing and some others, who thought it safe to be on +friendly terms with the ruffians, persuaded them that they would be +useful hostages in case of a reverse. The minister had had all his +clothes, save his trousers, torn from him, and his arms and legs +pinioned preparatory to execution, and the princes had been treated +with little more ceremony. All had given themselves up for lost. + +The Begum remained firm to her purpose, her hopes from without +increasing with the increasing noise, tumult, and reports of pillage +in the city. The quarter of an hour had passed, and the Resident, +turning to the Brigadier, told him, that the work was now in his +hands, just an hour and twenty minutes after he had brought his +troops into the garden. The guns from the British, and Captain +Magness' parks opened at the same instant upon the throne-room and +the other halls of the baraduree with grape; and after six or seven +rounds, a party of the 35th Regiment, under Major Marshall, was +ordered to storm the halls. With muskets loaded and bayonets fixed +they rushed first through a narrow covered passage; then up a steep +flight of steps, and then into the throne-room, firing upon the +affrighted crowd as they advanced, and following them up with the +bayonet as they rushed out over the two flights of steps on the north +side, and through the courtyard which separates the baraduree from +the palace. Other parties of sipahees ascended at the same time over +ladders collected at the suggestion of Doctor Stevenson, and placed +on the southern front of the baraduree; and the halls were soon +cleared of the insurgents, who left from forty to fifty men killed +and wounded on the floors of the four halls.* In this assault Mostufa +Khan, Kundaharee, was killed. Moonna Jan was found concealed in a +small recess under the throne, and the Begum in a small adjoining +room, to which she had been carried as soon as the guns opened. They +were taken into custody, and sent to the Residency, with Imam Buksh, +a bihishtee, or water-carrier, a notorious villain, who had been her +chief instigator in all this affair, and appointed Commander-in-Chief +to the young King. Many who had been wounded got out of the halls, +and some even reached their homes, but the killed and wounded are +supposed to have amounted altogether to about one hundred and twenty. +The Begum and the boy were accommodated in the Residency, and their +_Commander-in-Chief_ was made over to the King's Courts for trial. He +is still in prison at Lucknow. No one was killed on our side, but +three or four of our sipahees were wounded in the assault. + +[* As they entered the hall at the end opposite the throne, they saw +their own figures reflected in the large mirror, which stands behind +the throne; and, taking them to be their enemy preparing to charge, +they poured their first volley into the mirror, by which many lives +were saved at the expense of the glass.] + +The Delhi princess, the chief consort of the deceased King, a modest, +beautiful, and amiable young woman, who had been forced to join the +Begum, in order to give some countenance to the daring enterprise, +was, as soon as the guns opened, carried by her two female attendants +in her litter to a small side-room, facing the palace at the east end +of the throne-room. One of these females had her arm shattered by +grape shot, but the other tied some clothes together, and let the +princess and her wounded attendant down from a height of about +twenty-four feet into a court-yard, whence they were conveyed to her +palace by some of her attendants, and all three escaped. The sipahees +occupied both of the flights of steps in the northern face of the +baraduree. She was afraid, to trust herself to them, and saw no other +way of escape than that described. + +It was nine o'clock before the palace could be cleared of the +insurgents; and the Resident was very anxious that the new Sovereign +should be crowned, as soon and as publicly as possible, in order to +restore tranquillity to the city, which had become greatly disturbed +from the number of loose and desperate characters that always abound +in it, and are at all times ready to make the most of any tumult that +may arise from whatever cause. The new Sovereign had become greatly +agitated and alarmed at the danger to which he and his family had +been so long exposed, and at the fearful scene which they witnessed +at the close; and the Resident exerted himself to soothe and prepare +him for the long and tedious ceremonies of the coronation, while the +killed and wounded were being removed and the throne-room and the +other halls of the baraduree cleaned out and properly arranged and +furnished. When all was ready the Resident conducted him from the +palace through the court-yard to the baraduree, accompanied by the +brigadier and all the principal officers of the British force and the +Court, seated him on the throne, placed the crown on his head, under +a royal salute, repeated from every battery in the city, and +proclaimed him King of Oude, in presence of all the aristocracy and +principal persons of Lucknow, who had flocked to the place on hearing +that the danger had passed away. + +From the time that the Resident discovered that the King was dead, +till the arrival of the five companies under Colonel Monteath, the +whole of the British force in this vast city, containing a population +of nearly a million persons, amounted to only two companies and a +half of sipahees under native officers. One of the companies guarded +the Resident's Treasury, one constituted the honorary guard of the +Resident, and the half company guarded the gaol. A part of the +honorary guard, with as many sipahees as could be safely spared from +the Treasury and gaol, were taken by Captain Paton to the palace, and +distributed as already mentioned. They all stood nobly to their posts +during the long and trying scene, and no attempt was made to +concentrate them for the purpose of arresting the tumultuous advance +of the Begum's forces. Collectively they would have been too few for +the purpose, and it was deemed unsafe to remove them from their +respective charges at such a time. The Resident relied upon the +minister's repeated assurances that he had taken all necessary +precautions to prevent her approach; upon the two companies, called +the Khas companies, under the command of Mujd-od Dowlah; and the +squadron of one hundred and fifty horse, under Rajah Bukhtawur Sing, +whom he had himself ordered to guard the passage by which they +entered. Of all these men not one was employed for the purpose. They +and their Commanders all stood aloof, and left the British soldiers +to their fate. + +The minister was a fool, under the tutelage of his deputy, Sobhan +Allee Khan, a great knave, who disappeared as soon as he heard that +the Begum was approaching with his son-in-law, Khadim Hoseyn. +Mozuffer Allee Khan, a person in high office and confidence under the +late King, did the same. The minister and the Durbar Wakeel were the +only officers of the State of Oude who stood by the new King and the +British Resident. The minister afterwards declared that a strong +detachment of troops had been placed outside the gate through which +the Begum ultimately forced her way, as well as at the other passages +leading to the palace and baraduree; and Captain Shakespear, on his +way to the new Sovereign, ascertained that guards had actually been +posted outside all the other gates leading to the palace and +baraduree. From this, the supineness and seeming apathy of many of +the palace guards and servants, and the perversion of the orders sent +by him before and during the tumult, the minister concluded that +there must have been many about him interested in promoting the +enterprise of the Begum; and that the approach to the gate through +which she forced her way must have been purposely left unguarded. +There is now little doubt, that from the time that it became known, +that the contest was between Moonna Jan and Nuseer-od Dowlah, a +person but little known except as a prudent and parsimonious old man, +a large portion not only of the civil and military establishments, +but of the population of the city, felt anxious for the success of +the Begum's enterprise; for both had, under the harsh treatment of +the last two sovereigns, become objects of sympathy. + +A good many of the members of the royal family, who were brought up +from childhood with the deceased King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, and near +his person to the last, declare that Moonna Jan was his son; but that +the King was ashamed and afraid to acknowledge him after he had so +frequently and so formally declared to the British Government that he +was not his son, and that he had ceased to cohabit with the boy's +mother for two years before his birth. But all such persons admit +that Moonna Jan was a boy of ungovernable temper, and the worst +possible dispositions; and that he must soon have forfeited the crown +by his cruelty, bigotry, and injustice, had he been placed upon it by +the British Government. I saw him in January 1838, at Chunar, and a +more unpromising boy I have rarely seen. + +The ministry dreaded being called to account for their malversations +as much from the Begum, on account of their successful efforts to +keep the King alienated from her and his son, as from Nuseer-od +Dowlah, on account of his parsimony, prudence, and great experience +in business during the reign of his able father, Saadut Allee Khan. +But they would have a better chance of escape from the Begum and the +boy than from the vigilant old man, who afterwards made them all +disgorge their ill-gotten wealth; and, in consequence, they made no +effort to obstruct her enterprise. The military and civil +establishments were all in favour of the boy, who would probably be +as regardless of their number and discipline as his father had been, +while the old man would assuredly reduce the one, and endeavour, by +rigorous measures, to improve the other. Hardly any one at Lucknow at +present doubts that the minister and his associates caused the King +to be poisoned, and employed Duljeet and the two sisters; Dhunneea +and Dulwee, for the purpose, in expectation that the British +Government would take upon itself the Oude administration, as the +only possible means of improving it. + +The respectable and peaceable portion of the city, though their +sympathies were with the boy, had too much in property, and the +honour of their families, at stake to aid in any movement in his +favour, since it would involve a tumult, and for a time, at least, +insure the supremacy of the mob. Their security and that of their +families depended upon the success of the British troops; and they +were all prepared to acquiesce in any cause which the British +Government might adopt for the sake of order. They would rather that +it should adopt that of the Begum and the boy than that of Nuseer-od +Dowlah; but in either case were resolved to remain neuter, and let +the representative of the British Government take his own course. + +It is a fact not unworthy of remark, that more than three millions +sterling, or three crores of rupees, in our Government securities, +are held by persons who reside and spend the interest arising from +them in the city of Lucknow; and that the fall in their value in +exchange during the times that we have been engaged in our most +serious wars has been less in Lucknow than in Calcutta, the capital +of British India; so much greater assurance do the people feel of our +resources being always equal to our exigencies. At such times the +merchants of Lucknow commission their agents in Calcutta to purchase +up Government securities at the rate to which they fall in Calcutta, +for sale at Lucknow, where they seldom fall at all. About three +crores and half of rupees, or three millions and half sterling, have +been at different times contributed to our loans by the sovereigns of +Oude as a provision for the different members of their respective +families and dependents; and the interest is now paid to them and +their descendants, at the rates which prevailed at the time of the +several loans (four, five, and six per cent.) to the amount of +fourteen lacs thirty-five thousand and four hundred and ten rupees a- +year. + +The Begum's haughty and violent temper, and inveterate disposition to +meddle in public affairs, were the real cause of her continual +disquietude and ultimate disgrace and ruin. The minister of the day +dreaded the ascendancy of so imperious and furious a character, +should she ever become reconciled to the King. During the whole reign +of Ghazee-od Deen, her husband, from the 12th of July 1814, to the +20th of October 1827, her own frequent ebullitions, which often +disfigured the King's robes and vests, and left even the hair on his +head and chin unsafe, and Aga Meer's sagacious suggestions, satisfied +him that his own personal safety and peace of mind, and the welfare +of the State, depended upon his keeping as much as possible aloof +from her. He was fond of his son, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, but during +his minority he always took the part of his adoptive mother, the +Padshah Begum; and, in consequence, remained almost as much as she +was alienated from the King, his father. His natural mother died soon +after his birth; and people suspected that the Padshah Begum had her +put to death that she might have no rival in his affections; and she +had an entire ascendancy over him, acquired by every species of +enervating indulgences; and he remained all his life utterly without +character, ignorant of the rudiments of public affairs, and +altogether incapable of taking any useful part in them. + +She retained this ascendancy over him for some time after he became +King, first from habit and affection, and latterly from the fears +with which she continued to inspire him, that she could, by her +disclosures, whenever she pleased, prevail upon the British +Government to set him aside in favour of some other member of the +royal family, as the Buhoo Begum of Fyzabad had set aside Wuzeer +Allee. She made him dismiss his father's minister, Aga Meer, with +disgrace, and confer the seals on Fuzl Allee, the nephew of her +favourite waiting-woman, Fyzon Nissa; but when the shrewd and +sagacious Hakeem Mehndee became minister three years after, he soon +persuaded the young King, that all fears of his adoptive mother's +disclosures or wishes were idle, and that nothing which she could do +or say would induce the British Government to disturb his possession +of the sovereignty of Oude. He is said to have been the first person +who ventured to hint to him the murder of his natural mother by the +Padshah Begum; and he was, or pretended to be, violently shocked and +grieved. He then built a splendid tomb or cenotaph for her; and +endowed it with the means for maintaining pious men to read the Koran +in it, and attendants of all kinds to keep it in a condition suitable +for the mother of a King. He shuddered, or pretended to shudder, at +the mention of the name of the Padshah Begum, as the most atrocious +of murderesses. The minister of the day always made it a point to +bring the reigning favourite of the seraglio over to his views, by +giving her a due share of the profits and patronage of his office; +and it was for this reason, that the high-born chief consort, whose +influence over the King could not be so purchased, was soon made to +retire from the palace, and, ever after, to live separated from her +husband. + +The Padshah Begum had only one child, a daughter, who was united in +marriage to Mehndee Allee Khan, by whom she had three children, +Mohsen-od Dowlah, who was married to the daughter of Nuseer-od +Dowlah, the new King; and two daughters who were married to Mirza +Abool Kasim, and Mirza Aboo Torab. They lost their mother while yet +children, and the Padshah Begum brought them up and became much +attached to them. They had all from childhood been brought up with +Nuseer-od Deen, and were all much attached to him and to each other. +The ministers, fearing that this attachment might possibly lead to a +reconciliation between the King and his adoptive mother, and to their +ruin, left him and her no peace till, to save them, she forbade them +her house, and sent the girls to their husbands, and the boy to his +father-in-law, Nuseer-od Dowlah, whose succession to the throne of +Oude has been here described. All objects of mutual interest and +affection were in this manner carefully excluded from attendance on +either, till they showed themselves to be entirely subservient to the +minister of the day.* + +[* The mother always declared, and her two daughters and son all +declare, Moonna Jan to have been the son of Nuseer-od Deen, and +exactly like him in person, voice, and temper. But he was indulged by +the Padshah Begum in each habits of atrocious cruelties to other +children, that he soon became detested by all around him but herself +and the boy's natural mother, Afzul-mahal.] + +Thus alienated from her son, all her affections were transferred to +her grandson, Moonna Jan, and there is too much reason to believe, +that in both cases she purposely did her best to prevent their ever +becoming men of business, in order that she might have the guidance +of public affairs in her own hands when they should be called to the +throne. + +The Resident accommodated the Begum, the boy, and her two female +attendants in apartments at the Residency, and had a guard placed +over them. The new King told him, "that the Begum was the most wicked +and unscrupulous woman he had ever known, and that he could expect no +peace at Lucknow while she remained." He promised to consult his +Government as to her disposal, and on returning to the Residency he +increased that guard to two companies of Native Infantry, and all +remained quiet when he made his report to Government on the 9th. But +towards the close of that day, the city became again agitated. +Reports prevailed, that Government was to be consulted as to whether +they preferred the rights of Moonna Jan to the throne or those of +Nuseer-od Dowlah; that the Begum's adherents were ready at her call +to fall upon the Resident and his party, and put them all to death, +or to attack the apartments in which she was confined, rescue her and +the boy from prison, and place him again on the throne. The Court +favourites of the late King, and all the public military and civil +establishments in the city, dreaded the rigid economy and strict +supervision of the new King, who had conducted the duties of the +ministry for some time, under his able and vigilant father, Saadut +Allee Khan; and all that numerous class who benefit by the lavish +expenditure of a thoughtless and profligate Court were equally +anxious to have the Government in the hands of an extravagant woman +and thoughtless boy, and ready to join and incur some risk in +supporting their cause. + +Under all these circumstances the Resident determined to send the +Begum and her boy out of Oude as soon as possible. At midnight on the +11th, a detachment of three companies of Infantry, under Major Lane +of the 2nd Regiment, marched from Cawnpore and arrived at Newulgunge, +midway to Lucknow, a distance of twenty-two miles, in the morning of +the 12th, with one troop of cavalry. Another troop proceeded to Onow, +the first stage from Cawnpore, and a third to Rahmutgunge, the second +stage, to relieve the first on their return. At each of these stages, +relays of sixty palankeen-bearers and six torch-bearers were placed +by the Post-Master at Cawnpore. As the bridge over the Ganges at +Cawnpore had been washed away by the flood, a company of Native +Infantry was placed on the Oude side of that river, to hold boats in +readiness, and assist in escorting over the party when they came. +About the same time, at midnight, the Begum, her boy, and two of her +female attendants were placed in palankeens and sent off from the +Residency under the escort of a regiment of Infantry, and a detail of +artillery, attended by the Second Assistant, Captain Shakespear. + +They marched without resting through one of the hottest days of the +year, and the party reached Cawnpore in safety about half-past nine +o'clock in the evening of the 12th, and were securely lodged in +apartments prepared for them at the custom-house. So well had things +been arranged between the Resident and Brigadier commanding the +troops in Oude, and the Major-General commanding the Division at +Cawnpore, that very few persons at Lucknow knew that the Begum and +her party had left the Residency when she passed the Ganges at +Cawnpore. The three companies under Major Lane, who had marched +twenty-two miles in the morning, kept pace with the palankeens all +the way back, making a march of forty-four miles, between midnight of +the 11th, and half-past nine in the evening of the 12th, in so hot a +day. + +The Begum and Moonna Jan were sent off with their attendants to the +fort of Chunar, where they were lodged as state prisoners. As it +became safe, the restrictions to which they were at first subjected +became by degrees relaxed, and they were permitted to enjoy all the +freedom and comforts compatible with their safe keeping. Both died at +Chunar, Moonna Jan some time before the Begum. He left three sons by +two slave-girls at Chunar, and they still reside there, supported by +a small stipend of three hundred rupees a-month from the Oude +Government, under the protection of the commandant of the garrison, +and the guardianship of Afzul mahal, the mother of the late Moonna +Jan. + +All these circumstances, as they occurred, were reported by the +Resident to the Government of India, who took time to deliberate, and +did not reply till the 19th of July 1837, when they signified their +approval of all that the Resident had done, with the exception of the +written declaration to which he had obtained the consent and +signature of the new King. They did not think that it would be +considered dignified or becoming the paramount power, to exact such a +declaration, binding himself to absolute submission, from the +sovereign of a country so much under their control, on ascending a +throne to which he was called as of right; and were of opinion that +his character as a prudent man of business, well trained to public +affairs, during the time he acted as minister under his father, +rendered such a declaration unnecessary. It was therefore annulled; +and the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, addressed a letter to his +Majesty expressing, in kind terms, his congratulations on his +accession to the throne, and his hopes of a better administration of +the Government of Oude under his auspicious guidance. This letter, +despatched by express, the Resident received on the 25th of July. + +The Resident concluded, on good grounds, that the Government deemed a +new and more stringent treaty indispensable for the better government +of the country, and that advantage should be taken of the occasion to +prepare the new King for it. Government desired, that the +negotiations for a new treaty should be based "upon reason and right, +and not upon demand and submission." Had the declaration been allowed +to stand good, there would have been _right_ as well as _reason_ in +the treaty of 1837, which was soon after concluded. + +The Resident intimated the receipt of these letters to the King, and +on the 28th, he waited on his Majesty, to present the Governor- +General's letter. He found him sitting up in his bed in a small +apartment in the baraduree, in his dishabille, having spent a +restless night from rheumatic pains; but he was cheerful and in good +spirits, and requested the Resident to present his respectful +compliments to the Governor-General, and grateful thanks for his +consideration and congratulations. All his relations, the chief +officers of the Government, and other persons of distinction about +the Court, were assembled to hear the letters read, and make their +offerings on this recognition of his authority by the paramount +power. "The King assured the Resident, that the arrival of this +recognition, and its public announcement, would greatly strengthen +his hands in the exercise of public duties, for during the last few +days bad reports had been industriously circulated by evil-disposed +persons to the effect, that the delay in the recognition of his +succession to the throne by the paramount power in India, had arisen +from discussions between the members of the Government in Calcutta, +as to the amount of money to be taken on the occasion from the new +King, as the price of his sudden elevation; and that no letter was to +be presented by the Resident until the money was paid, or security +given for its punctual payment; that the Governor-General himself +wanted _two crores_ of rupees, but some members of the Government +would be satisfied with _a crore and half_ each, and others even with +_one crore_ each, provided that these sums were paid forthwith." In +relating this story, which the Resident had heard from many others +within the last few days, the King observed, "that he was too well +acquainted with the character for honour and justice of the +Honourable Company's Government, to give the slightest credit to such +scandal, the more especially since no demand of the kind had been +made on the accession of either of the last two Kings, who were known +to be rich, while he was equally well known to be poor; but that +nothing but the arrival of this despatch confirming him on the +throne, could convince many, even well-disposed persons, of the utter +groundlessness of such wicked rumours; that many poor but respectable +persons, who had been weak enough to believe such rumours, would feel +much relieved when they heard the salutes which were now being fired, +for they had apprehended, that they might be severe sufferers by +being compelled to contribute their own property, in order to enable +him to make up the _peshkush_, or tribute, required by the British +Government, since the late King had squandered the ten crores, which +he found in the treasury on the death of his father." + +It is certain, that a great portion of the population of Lucknow +expected that some such demand would be made by the British +Government from the new sovereign, since his right to the throne +could be disputed, not only by Moonna Jan, the supposed son of the +late King, but by the undoubted sons of Shums-od Dowlah, the elder +brother of the present King, whose rights were barred only by that +peculiar feature of the Mahommedan law elsewhere adverted to in this +Diary. Every day of delay, in promulgating the final orders of the +Supreme Government, tended to add to this number; and by the time +that these final orders came, by far the greater portion of the city +were of the same opinion. The fears of the people tended to add to +their numbers, and give strength to the opinion, for all knew, that +there was but little left in the reserved treasury, that the expenses +greatly exceeded the annual revenue, and that the troops and +establishments were all greatly in arrear; and all believed that a +general contribution would have to be levied to meet the demand when +it came.* + +[* Nuseer-od Dowlah reigned under the title of Mahommed Allee Shah, +from the 8th of July, 1837, to the 16th of May, 1842. Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, his predecessor, had reigned from the 20th of October, 1827, +to the 7th of July, 1837. He, Nuseer-od Deen, found in the treasury, +when he ascended the throne, ten crores of rupees, or ten millions +sterling. He left in the treasury, when he died, only seventy lacs of +rupees, including the fifty-three lacs left by the Koduseea Begum. +Mahommed Allee Shah left in the treasury thirty-five lacs of rupees, +one hundred and twenty-four thousand gold mohurs, and twenty-four +lacs in our Government securities. Amjud Allee Shah reigned from the +16th of May, 1842, to the 13th of February, 1847; and left in the +treasury ninety-two lacs of rupees, one hundred and twenty-four +thousand gold mohurs, and the twenty-four lacs in our Government +securities. His son, Wajid Allee Shah, has reigned from the 13th of +February, 1847.] + +The assertion, on the part of the late King, that he had ceased to +cohabit with Afzul mahal, the mother of Moonna Jan, for two years, or +even for six months before his birth, is now known to have been +utterly false, and known at the time to be so by his mother, the +Padshah Begum; with whom they both lived. Afzul-mahal, though of +humble birth and pretensions, maintained a fair reputation among +those who knew her best in a profligate palace, and has continued to +maintain the same up to the present day in adversity. In prison and +up to the hour of her death, which took place some time after that of +Moonna Jan himself, the old Begum declared that she had seen the boy +born, and had never lost sight of him; and that the story of his not +being the son of Nuseer-od Deen, was got up to prevent her ever +becoming reconciled to the King through the means of his son; and her +extraordinary affection for him never diminished while he lived. When +she retired from the palace of Nuseer-od Deen to her new residence of +Almas Bagh, she kept fast hold of the boy, and would never let him +out of her sight till they entered the prison at Chunar, when they +were obliged to occupy separate apartments. Up to his death she +watched over him with the tenderest care; and always declared to the +European officers placed over her, that the boy's father and mother +always resided with her up to the time of his birth. The boy was +remarkably like Nuseer-od Deen in form and features, as well as in +temper and disposition. + +Afzul-mahal was a person of great good sense and prudence, and in all +things trusted by the old Begum, who before her death executed a +formal will, leaving to her the charge of Moonna Jan's three +children, and all the establishments; and since the death of the old +lady she has executed the trust conscientiously, and with great +economy; and with much difficulty managed to maintain all in +respectability upon the small stipend of three hundred rupees a- +month, allowed for their support by the King of Oude. In this, she +has been very much impeded and annoyed by the two slave-girls, the +mothers of Moonna Jan's children, who have been always striving to +get this stipend into their own hands, that they may share it with +their paramours. At the death of the old lady most of her female +companions and attendants refused to return to Lucknow, and remained +at Chunar with Afzul-mahal and the children; and all have to be +subsisted out of this small stipend. The slave-girls urge, that they +might have had separate pensions, had they obeyed the orders to +return to Lucknow on the death of the Begum, and that they ought not +now to share in the stipend of the children. Five or six of the +females were ladies of rank, and one of them, who died lately, was a +widow of Saadut Allee Khan. + +This pension may be discontinued when the boys become of age, or +appropriated by them and their mothers for their own exclusive use, +and the Government of Oude should be required to assign pensions for +life to Afzul mahal, and the other females who are now supported from +it. + +The salary of the prime minister, during the five years that Roshun- +od Dowlah held the office, was twenty-five thousand rupees a-month, +or three lacs a-year, and over and above this, he had five per cent. +upon the actual revenue, which made above six lacs a-year. His son, +as Commander-in-Chief, drew five thousand rupees a-month, though he +did no duty--his first wife drew five thousand rupees a-month, and +his second wife drew three thousand rupees a-month, total eighty- +eight thousand rupees a-month, or ten lacs and fifty-six thousand +rupees a-year. These were the avowed allowances which the family +received from the public treasury. The perquisites of office gave +them some five lacs of rupees a-year more, making full fifteen lacs +a-year. + +Roshun-od Dowlah held office for only three months, under the new +sovereign, Mahommed Allee Shah. He was then superseded by Hakeem +Mahndee, thrown into prison, and made to pay twenty lacs to the +treasury, and two lacs in gratuities to Court favourites. After +paying these sums, he was permitted to go and reside at Cawnpore; but +his houses in the city, valued at three lacs, were afterwards +confiscated by the present King, on the ground of unpaid balances. He +took into keeping Dulwee, the younger of the two sisters; but she was +afterwards seduced away from him by one of his creatures, a +consummate knave, Wasee Allee, whose wife she now is. Dhunneea, the +eldest sister, is still residing at Lucknow. Roshun-od Dowlah's first +wife took off with her more than three lacs of rupees in our +Government securities, and his son, the Commander-in-Chief, took off +eight lacs of rupees in the same securities. Roshun-od Dowlah carried +off a large sum himself. She and his son afterwards left him, and now +reside in comfort upon the interest of these securities at Futtehgur, +while he lives at Cawnpore in poor circumstances. + +Sobhan Allee, his deputy, was made to pay to the treasury seven lacs +of rupees, and in gratuities to court favourites five lacs more. +Roshun-od Dowlah was one of the principal members of the old +aristocracy of Lucknow, and connected remotely with the royal family; +and he got off more easily in consequence, compared with his means, +than his deputy, who had no such advantages, and was known to have +been the minister's guide in all things, though he would never +consent to hold any ostensible and responsible office. + +Duljeet, a creature of Roshun-od Dowlah's, and prime favourite of the +late King, carried off, while the King lay dead, money and jewels to +the value of one lac of rupees, and concealed them in a vault at +Constantia. His associates, not satisfied with what he gave them, +betrayed him. The money and jewels were discovered and brought back, +and he was made to pay another lac of rupees to the treasury as a +fine. Dhunneea, the eldest of the two sisters, was made to disgorge +two lacs of rupees. Many other favourites of the late King were fined +in the same way. + +The King had, in the case of Ghalib Jung, already described in this +Diary, declared his resolution of looking more closely into his +accounts in future, and punishing all transgressors in the same way; +and Roshun-od Dowlah often expressed to the Resident his +apprehensions that his turn to suffer must soon come. Sobhan Allee +Khan had much stronger grounds to fear, since he had made himself +utterly detested by the people generally, and had neither friends nor +connexions in the royal family or aristocracy of Lucknow. Under the +strong and general impression that the British Government was +determined to interpose, and take upon itself the administration of +the country, and that the King himself wished the independent +sovereignty of Oude to terminate with his reign, they most earnestly +desired his early death as their only chance of escape. The British +Government would not, they knew, make them refund any of their ill- +gotten wealth without full judicial proof of their peculations, and +this proof they knew could never be obtained. Indeed they were +satisfied that our Government, aware of the difficulty of finding +such proof, and occupied in forming and working a new system, would +not trouble themselves to seek for it; and that they should all be +left to reside where they chose, and enjoy freely the fruits of their +malversation. + +The Resident had kept the instructions of the 15th of December, 1832, +from the supreme Government, a profound secret, lest they might lead +to intrigue and disturbance, and, above all, to the poisoning of many +innocent persons who might be considered to have a claim of right to +the throne; and all were surprised and confounded when it was +announced that the paramount power had already decided in favour of +Nuseer-od Dowlah, whose claims had never been thought of by the +people, or apprehended by the ministers. The instant they heard this +decision, they dreaded the scrutiny of the sagacious and parsimonious +old man, and the enmity of the favourites by whom he had been +surrounded in private life. These men, whom they had, in their pride +and power, despised and insulted, would now have their revenge; and +they wished for the success of the old woman and the boy, from whom +they might have a better chance of escape, till they could get their +wealth and their families out of the country. + +I may here mention a similar repudiation of a supposed eldest son by +the late King. Mostafa Allee was brought up in the palace as his +eldest son, and on all occasions treated as such. Mahommed Allee +Shah, the late King's father, was always very fond of him, but +shortly before his death he became angry with him for some outrages +committed in the palace, and put him under restraint. The young man +requested the late King, his supposed father, to mediate with his +grandfather for his release. He refused to do so, and the young man +drew his sword, and threatened to kill him. He was kept under more +strict restraint till the grandfather died, and his father ascended +the throne, on the 16th of May, 1842. The King then requested the +Resident to assure the Governor-General that Mostafa Allee was not +his son--that he was a year and a-half old when his mother entered +the palace. The Resident reported accordingly on the 26th of that +month. The Governor-General required the statement to be made under +the King's own sign and seal, and it was transmitted on the 6th of +June, 1842. The present King was then declared heir-apparent to the +throne, and Mostafa Allee has ever since been in strict confinement +under him. The general impression, however, is that he was the eldest +son of the late King, and repudiated solely on account of his violent +temper and turbulent conduct. That he was treated as such during the +life of Mahommed Allee Shah, and that the late King dared not +repudiate him while his father lived, is certain. + +By the treaty of 1801 we bound ourselves to defend the territories of +the sovereign of Oude from all foreign and domestic enemies; and to +defray the cost of maintaining the troops required for this purpose, +and paying some pensions at Furruckabad and Benares, the sovereign of +Oude ceded to our Government the under-mentioned districts, then +yielding the revenues specified opposite their respective names.* + + +* Districts ceded by Oude to the British Government by the treaty of +1801. + +Etawa, Korah, Kurra - - - - - 55,48,577 11 9 +Rehur and others - - - - - 5,33,374 0 6 +Furruckabad - - - - - - 4,50,001 0 6 +Khyreegurh, and Kunchunpore - - - 2,10,001 0 0 +Azimgurh, Mounal, and Benjun - - - 6,95,624 7 6 +Goruckpore - - - 5,09,853 8 0 +Botwul - - - - 40,001 0 0 5,49,854 8 0 +Allahabad and others- - - - - 9,34,963 1 3 +Bareilly, Moradabad, Bijnore, Budown, + Pilibheet, and Shahjehanpore - - 43,13,457 11 3 +Nawabgunge, Rehlee, &c. - - - - 1,19,242 12 0 +Mohowl and others, with exception of + Jaulluk Arwu - - - - - 1,68,378 4 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,35,23,474 8 3 + + + Deduct + + +Nawabgunge - - - 1,19,242 12 0 +Khyreegurh - - - 2,10,001 0 0 3,29,243 12 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,31,94,230 12 3 + + + + + + + + + + Add + +Handeea or Kewae - - - - - 1,52,905 0 0 + __________________ + Total - - 1,33,47,135 12 3 + + + +Present Revenues of the Territories we hold from Oude under the +treaty of 1801, according to the Revised Statistical Return of the +Districts of the North-West Provinces for 1846-47, prepared in 1848, +A.D. + +_____________________________________________________________________ + |Land Revenue | Abkaree |Stamp for | Total for + ______ | 1846-47. | for | 1846-47. | 1846-47. + | | 1846-47. | | +__________________ _|_____________|__________|__________|____________ + | | | | +Rohilcund .. .. .. | 64,44,341 | 2,47,854 | 2,04,576 | 68,96,771 +Allahabad, including| | | | + Handeea _alias_ | 21,29,551 | 1,41,409 | 61,802 | 23,32,762 + Kewae | | | | +Furruckabad .. .. | 13,57,544 | 88,061 | 49,698 | 14,95,303 +Mynpooree .. .. .. | 12,33,901 | 24,822 | 20,484 | 12,79,207 +Etawa .. .. .. .. | 12,80,596 | 19,647 | 10,355 | 13,10,598 +Goruckpore.. .. .. | 20,80,296 | 2,10,045 | 96,549 | 23,86,890 +Azimgurh, including | | | | + Mahoul .. .. .. | 14,89,887 | 81,257 | 53,925 | 16,25,069 +Cawnpore .. .. .. | 21,51,155 | 1,26,155 | 57,406 | 23,34,700 +Futtehpore.. .. .. | 14,25,431 | 60,370 | 21,063 | 15,06,864 + |_____________|__________|__________|____________ + Total .. .. |1,95,92,686 | 9,99,620 | 5,75,858 | 2,11,68,164 +____________________|_____________|__________|__________|____________ + +** The lands are the same with the exception of Khyreegurh, +Nawabgunge ceded since, and Handeea received; but the names are +altered. + + +Khyreegurh and Kunchunpore were re-ceded to the Oude sovereign in the +treaty of the 11th of May, 1816, with the Turae lands, taken from +Nepaul, between Khyreegurh and Goruckpore, in liquidation of the loan +of one crore of rupees. In the same treaty, Handeea (_alias_ Kewae) +was ceded by Oude to the British Government, in lieu of Nawabgunge, +which was made over to the Oude sovereign by the British Government. +Handeea, or Kewae, now in the Allahabad district, yielded land +revenue, for 1846-47, rupees one lac, fifty-two thousand, and nine +hundred and five. + +The British Government retained the power to station the British +troops in such parts of the Oude territories as might appear to it +most expedient; and the Oude sovereign bound himself to dismiss all +his troops, save four battalions of infantry, one battalion of +Nujeebs and Mewaties, two thousand horsemen, and three hundred +golundages, or artillerymen, with such numbers of armed peons as +might be deemed necessary for the purpose of collecting the revenue, +and a few horsemen and nujeebs to attend the persons of the amils. It +is declared that the territories ceded, being in lieu of all former +subsidies and of all expenses on account of the Honourable Company's +defensive establishments with his Excellency the sovereign of Oude, +no demand whatever shall be made upon his territory on account of +expenses which the Honourable Company may incur by assembling forces +to repel the attack, or menaced attack, of a foreign enemy; on +account of the detachment attached to his person; on account of +troops which may be occasionally furnished for suppressing rebellions +or disorders in his territories; on account of any future charge of +military stations; or on account of failures in the resources of the +ceded districts, arising from unfavourable seasons, the calamities of +war, or any other cause whatever. + +The Honourable Company guarantees to him and to his heirs and +successors, the possession of the territories which remain to him +after the above cessions, together with the exercise of his and their +authority within the said dominions; and the sovereign of Oude +engages to establish, in his reserved dominions, such a system of +administration, to be carried into effect by his own officers, as +shall be conducive to the prosperity of his subjects, and calculated +to secure the lives and property of the inhabitants; and to advise +with, and act in conformity to the counsel of, the officers of the +British Government. + +In the time of Asuf-od Dowlah, who died on the 21st September, 1797, +the military force of Oude amounted to eighty thousand men of all +arms, and in the direct pay of Government. Saadut Allee Khan, his +brother and successor, on the conclusion of the above treaty, and the +transfer of half his territory, reduced the number to thirty +thousand. + +Relying entirely upon the efficiency of British troops to defend him +against external and internal enemies, and to suppress rebellion and +disorder, he laboured assiduously to reduce his expenditure within +the income arising from the reserved half of his dominions. He +resumed almost all the rent-free lands which had been granted with a +lavish hand by his predecessor, and paid off and discharged all +superfluous civil and military establishments, and, by his prudence +and economy, he so reduced his expenditure within the income, that on +his death on the 12th of July, 1814, he left fourteen millions +sterling, or fourteen crores of rupees, in a treasury which he found +empty when he entered upon the government in 1797. In this sum were +included the confiscations of the estates of some favourites of his +predecessors, Asuf-od Dowlah and Wuzeer Allee, who had grown rich +upon bribery and frauds of all kinds. He never confiscated the +estates of any good and faithful servants, who left lawful heirs to +their property. + +He had been freely aided by British troops, according to the +stipulations of the treaty of 1801; but the British Government had +been made sensible, on several occasions, of the difficulty of +fulfilling its engagements with the sovereign with a due regard to +the rights and interests of his subjects. Saadnt Allee Khan was a man +of great general ability, had mixed much in the society of British +officers in different parts of India, had been well trained to habits +of business, understood thoroughly the character, institutions, and +requirements of his people, and, above all, was a sound judge of the +relative merits and capacities of the men from whom he had to select +his officers, and a vigilant supervisor of their actions. This +discernment and discrimination of character, and vigilant +supervision, served him through life; and the men who served him ably +and honestly always felt confident in his protection and support. He +had a thorough knowledge of the rights and duties of his officers and +subjects, and a strong will to secure the one and enforce the other. +To do so he knew that he must, with a strong hand, keep down the +large landed aristocracy, who were then, as they are now, very prone +to grasp at the possessions of their weaker neighbours, either by +force or in collusion with local authorities. In attempting this with +the aid of British troops, some acts of oppression were, no doubt, +committed; and, as the sympathies of British officers were more with +the landed aristocracy, while his were more with the humbler classes +of landholders and cultivators who required to be protected from +them, frequent misunderstandings arose, acts of just severity were +made to appear to be acts of wanton oppression, and such as were +really oppressive were exaggerated into unheard-of atrocities. + +Our relations with the state of Oude, from the treaty of 1801 to the +death of Saadut Allee, were conducted by able men; but they had a +very difficult task to perform in conducting them to the satisfaction +of both parties to that treaty; and when the Government devolved upon +less able and well-disposed sovereigns, ministers, and public +officers, our Government and its representative became less and less +willing to comply with their requisitions for the aid of British +troops in the collection of the revenue, and the suppression of +rebellion and disorder. Our Government demanded, that the British +Resident should be fully informed of the cause which led to the +resistance complained of to legitimate authority; and be fully +satisfied of the justice and necessity of such aid before he afforded +it; and the sovereigns of Oude admitted the justice of this demand on +the part of the paramount power. But the Resident could never hear +fully and fairly both sides of the question, and the officers +commanding the troops were seldom disposed to do so; and neither was +competent to pass a sound judgment upon the justice and necessity of +complying with the requisitions made for the aid of the British +troops. + +But when, under an imbecile and debauched sovereign, like Ghazee-od +Deen, and an unscrupulous minister, creatures and favourites began to +share so largely in the revenues of the country, this sort of +scrutiny on the part of the Resident and officers commanding troops, +employed in aid of the King's officers, became exceedingly +distasteful; and the minister gradually increased the military force +of Oude at his disposal, that he might do without it. During the last +few years of Ghazee-od Deen's reign, the Oude forces of all arms +amounted to about sixty thousand men. During the first few years of +his successor's, Nuseer-od Deen's, reign, these forces were augmented +by the ministers for the sake of the profit and patronage they gave +them; and in the year 1837, the forces of all arms, paid from the +treasury, amounted to more than sixty thousand men. A memorandum +given to the British Resident by the minister on the 8th of April +1837, showed the men of all descriptions, belonging to the Oude army, +to amount to sixty-seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-six. The +artillery, cavalry, and infantry, composing what they call the +regular army, amounted to twenty thousand, all badly paid, clothed, +armed, accoutred, and disciplined; and for the most part placed under +idle, incompetent, and corrupt commanders. The rest were nujeebs +employed in the provinces under local officers of the revenue and +police, and obliged to provide their own clothes, arms, +accoutrements, and ammunition. They were altogether without +discipline. + +Government, on the 26th November, 1824, informs the Resident, "that +our troops are to be actively and energetically employed in the Oude +territory in cases of real internal commotion and disorder." And +again on the 22nd of July, 1825; Government condemns the Resident for +his disregard of the orders of the 26th of November, 1824, regarding +the employment of British troops in Oude, and states, "that it is +sincerely disposed to maintain the rights of the King of Oude to the +fullest extent, as guaranteed to him by the treaty with his father, +on the 20th of November, 1801; but observes, that upon the maturest +consideration of articles 3rd, 5th, and 6th of that treaty, and of +Lord Wellesley's memorandum in 1802, of the final results of +discussions between him and Saadut Allee, whilst Government admits +that, according to article the 3rd of the treaty, we were bound to +defend his Majesty's present territories 'against all foreign and +domestic enemies,' and that, in pursuance of the 4th article, the +Company's troops are to be employed, without expense to his Majesty, +not only 'to repel the attack, or menaced attack, of a foreign +enemy,' but also for suppressing rebellion and disorder in his +Majesty's territories; and that, in a strict adherence to the 6th +article, the King of Oude is entitled to exercise complete sovereign +authority within his own dominions, by a system of administration +conducive to the prosperity of his subjects, to be carried into +effect by his own officers, with the advice and counsel of the +officers of the British Government (in conformity to which his +Majesty is expressly engaged to act); yet the Governor-General in +council considered it to be indispensable and inherent in the nature +of our obligations, under the treaty referred to, that whenever the +King of Oude requires the aid of British troops, to quell any +disturbance, or to enforce any demand for revenue or otherwise, the +British Government is clearly entitled, as well as morally obliged, +to satisfy itself by whatever means it may deem necessary, that the +aid of its troops is required in support of right and justice, and +not to effectuate injustice and extortion. + +"This principle, which has often been declared and acted upon daring +successive Governments, must still be firmly asserted, and resolutely +adhered to; and the Resident must consider it to be a positive and +indispensable obligation of his public duty, to refuse the aid of +British troops until he shall have satisfied himself, on good and +sufficient grounds (to be reported in each case as soon as +practicable, and when the exigency of the case may admit of it, +before the troops are actually employed), that they are not to be +employed but in support of just and legitimate demands." + +On the 13th of July, 1827, Government, in reply to the Resident's +letter of the 30th May idem, expresses "its surprise that, under the +circumstances therein stated, he should have suffered so long a +period to elapse without adopting the most active and decided +measures against a subject of Oude, whose conduct is that of a public +robber and rebel against the authority of his Government; and whom +the King has plainly stated that he is unable to reduce to subjection +without the aid of British troops." + +On the 20th of January, 1831, the Governor-General, Lord William +Bentinck, held a conference with the King of Oude, and told his +Majesty, in presence of his minister, that the state of things in +Oude, and maladministration in all departments, were such as to +warrant and require the authoritative interference of the British +Government for their correction; that he declined to make himself a +party to the nomination of the minister, or to have it understood +that the measure was a joint resolution of the two governments, so +that both should be responsible for its success in effecting +reformation; that the act was his Majesty's own, and the +responsibility must be his; that his Lordship hoped that a better +system would be established by his minister's agency, but if he +failed, and the same abuses and misrule continued, the King must be +prepared to abide the consequences; that the Governor-General +intended to make a strong representation to the authorities in +England on the state of misrule prevailing, and to solicit their +sanction to the adoption of specific measures, even to the length of +assuming the direct administration of the country, if the evils were +not corrected in the interim. + +In the letter from Government dated the 25th of August, 1831, +referring to this advice, the Resident is told that by treaty we are +bound to give the aid of troops to quell internal resistance, as well +as to keep off external enemies, but by the same treaty the Oude +Government is bound to establish a good system of administration, and +to conform to our advice in this respect; that, finding it impossible +to procure the establishment of such an improved system, and seeing +that our troops were liable to be made the instruments of violence, +and vindictive and party proceedings, it was determined to withhold +the aid of troops except after investigation into the cause which +might lead to the application for them; that, by recent orders from +the Court of Directors, the Government would be authorised in +withholding them altogether, in the hope that the necessities of the +Oude Government might compel a reform such as we might deem +satisfactory; that matters had not, however, been brought to such an +issue, for the Oude Government having been deprived of the services +of British troops to execute its purposes, has entertained a body +stated at sixty thousand men, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, +whereof forty-five thousand are stationed in the interior for the +special purpose of reducing refractory zumeendars without British +aid. Government urges the necessity of reducing this number, and +states that if British troops be employed to enforce submission, it +seems impossible to avoid becoming parties to the terms of +submission, and guarantees of their observance afterwards on both +sides, in which case we should become mixed up in every detail of the +administration; it is therefore required that each case shall be +investigated and submitted for the specific orders of the Governor- +General. + +On the 15th of August, 1832, the Governor-General addressed a letter +to his Majesty, the King of Oude, in the last sentence of which he +says, "I do not use this strong language of remonstrance without +manifest necessity. On former occasions the language of expostulation +has been frequently used towards you with reference to the abuses of +your Government, and as yet nothing serious has befallen you. I +beseech you, however, not to suffer yourself to be deceived into a +false security. I might adduce sufficient proof that such security +would be fallacious, but I am unwilling to wound your Majesty's +feelings, while the sincere friendship which I entertain for you +prevents my withholding from you that advice which I deem essential +to the preservation of your own dignity, and the prosperity of your +kingdom." + +The Resident is told that the allusion in the concluding sentence of +his Lordship's letter refers to Mysore; that the King had probably +heard of our actual assumption of the government of that country, and +the Resident must avail himself of this topic to impress upon-his +mind the consequences which a similar state of things may entail upon +himself. + +On the 11th of September, 1837, a subsidiary-treaty was concluded +with the new sovereign, Mahommed Allee Shah, on the ground that +though a larger force was kept up by the King of Oude than was +authorised by the treaty of 1801, still it was found inadequate to +the duties that devolved upon it, and it was therefore expedient to +relax the restrictions as to the amount of military force to be +maintained by the King of Oude, on condition that an adequate portion +of the increased forces should be placed under British discipline and +control. It was stipulated accordingly that the King might employ +such a military establishment as he might deem necessary for the +government of his dominion: that it should consist of not less than +two regiments of cavalry, five of infantry, and two companies of +artillery; that the Government of Oude should fix the sum of sixteen +lacs of rupees a-year for the expenses of the force, including their +pay, arms, equipments, public buildings, &c.; that the expenditure on +account of this force of all descriptions should never exceed sixteen +lacs; that the organization of this force should not commence till +eighteen months after the 1st of September, 1837; that the King +should take into his service an efficient number of British officers +for the due discipline and efficiency of this force; that this force +should be fixed at such stations in Oude as might seem to both +Governments, from time to time, to be best, and employed on all +occasions on which its services might be deemed necessary by the King +of Oude, with the concurrence of the Resident, but not in the +ordinary collections of the revenue; that the King should exert +himself, in concert with the Resident, to remedy the existing defects +in his administration; and should he neglect to attend to the advice +and counsel of the British Government, or its representative, and +should gross and systematic oppression, anarchy, and misrule, at any +time hereafter prevail within the Oude territories, such as seriously +to endanger the public tranquillity, the British Government would +have the right to appoint its own officers to the management of all +portions of the Oude territory in which such misrule might have +occurred for so long a period as it might deem necessary, the surplus +receipts in such case, after defraying all charges, to be paid into +the King's treasury, and a true and faithful account rendered to his +Majesty of the receipts and expenditure of the territories so +assumed; that should the Governor-General of India in Council be +compelled to resort to the exercise of this authority, he would +endeavour, as far as possible, to maintain (with such improvements as +they might admit of) the native institutions and forms of +administration within the assumed territories, so as to facilitate +the restoration of those territories to the sovereign of Oude when +the proper period of such restoration should arrive. + +This treaty was ratified by the Governor-General in Council on the +18th of September, 1837, but the Honourable the Court of Directors, +with that anxious regard for strict justice which, after long and +varied experience, I have always found to characterise their views +and orders, disapproved of that part of the above treaty which +imposed on the Oude state the expense of the auxiliary force; and on +the 8th of July, 1839, the King was informed, amidst great +rejoicings, that he was relieved from this burthen of sixteen lacs of +rupees a-year, which the British Government took upon itself. Only +part of this auxiliary force had been raised when these orders came, +and only two regiments of infantry out of that part were retained, +one stationed at Soltanpore, and the other at Seetapore. + +Up to 1835, the British forces in Oude amounted to two companies of +artillery, with fourteen guns, and six regiments of infantry. Early +in that year (1835), four guns, with a proportion of artillerymen, +and one regiment of Native Infantry, were withdrawn, leaving the +British force in Oude one company and a-half of artillery, with ten +guns, and five regiments of Native Infantry. In 1837, when two +infantry regiments of the auxiliary force had been raised, four guns +more, with a detail of artillery, and two regiments more of Native +Infantry were withdrawn from the two stations of Soltanpore and +Seetapore, leaving the force paid by the British Government one +company of artillery, with six guns, stationed at Lucknow, three +regiments of Native Infantry at Lucknow, one regiment of the Oude +auxiliary force stationed at Soltanpore, and the other at Seetapore. +There had been artillery and guns at Pertabgur, Soltanpore, Secrora +and Seetapore, and a regiment of regular cavalry at Pertabgur. In +1815 this regiment of cavalry was withdrawn for the Nepaul war, and +subsequently it was retained for the Mahratta war. It was sent back +to Pertabgur in 1820, but finally withdrawn in 1821. The British +Government now maintains no cavalry in any part of the King of Oude's +dominions, and no artillery or guns at any place but Lucknow.* + +[* There is a small detachment of thirty sowars from an irregular +corps attached to the Resident.] + +In fairness there should be guns at Seetapore and Soltanpore, and a +corps of regular or irregular cavalry at Lucknow, or some other more +convenient station. The stations of Secrora and Pertabgur were done +away with by general orders 28th January, 1835, when one regiment of +Native Infantry was withdrawn altogether from Oude, and one added to +the two theretofore stationed at Lucknow. In consequence of these +arrangements, the British force in Oude is much less than it was when +the treaty of the 11th of September, 1837, was made, and assuredly +less than it should be with a due regard to our engagements and the +Oude requirements. Our Government instead of taking upon itself the +additional burthen of sixteen lacs of rupees a-year to render the +Oude Government more efficient, has relieved itself of a good deal of +that which it bore before the new treaty was entered into, and this +is certainly not what the Court of Directors contemplated, or the +Oude Government expected. + +Our exigencies became great with the Affghan war, and have continued +to be so from those wars which grew out of it with Gwalior, Scinde, +and the Punjab; but they have all now passed away, and those of our +humble ally should be no longer forgotten or disregarded. Though we +seldom give him the use of troops in support of the authority of his +local officers, still the prestige of having them at hand, in support +of a just cause, is unquestionably of great advantage to him and to +his people, and this advantage we cannot withhold from him with a due +regard to the obligations of solemn treaties. + +But in considering the rights which the sovereign of Oude has +acquired by solemn treaties to our support, we must not forget those +which the five millions of people subject to his rule have acquired +by the same treaties to the protection of our Government, and it is a +grave question, that must soon be solved, whether we can any longer +support the present sovereign and system of government in Oude, +without subjecting ourselves to the reproach of shamefully neglecting +the duties we owe to these millions. + +The present King ascended the throne on the death of his father, on +the 13th of February, 1847. In a letter dated the 24th of July of +that year, the Resident is told "that it will be his Majesty's duty +to establish such an administration, to be carried out by his own +officers, as shall insure the prosperity of the people; that any +neglect of this essential principle will be an infringement of +treaty; and that the Governor-General must, in the performance of his +duty, require the King to fulfil his obligations to his subjects-- +that his Majesty must understand that, as a sovereign, he has duties +to perform to, as well as claims to exact from, the people committed +to his care." + +In the month of November in that year, the Governor-General. Lord +Hardinge, visited Lucknow; and in a conference held with the King, he +caused a memorandum which he had drawn up for the occasion to be read +and carefully explained to his Majesty. It stated, "that in all our +engagements the utmost care had always been taken, not only to uphold +the authority of native rulers, but also to secure the just rights of +the people subject to their rule; that the same principle is +maintained in the treaty of 1801 with Oude, in the sixth paragraph of +which the engagement is entered into 'for the establishment of such a +system of government as shall be conducive to the prosperity of the +King's subjects, and calculated to secure to them their lives and +properties;' that in the memorandum of 1802, signed by the Governor- +General, the King engages to establish judicial tribunals for the +free and pure administration of justice to all his subjects; and that +it is recorded in the sovereign's own hand in that document, 'let the +Company's officers assist in enforcing obedience to these tribunals;' +that it is, therefore, evident that in all these stipulations the +same principle prevailed--namely, that while we engage to maintain +the prince in the full exercise of his powers, we also provide for +the protection of his people. + +"That, in the more recent treaty of 1837, it is stated that the +solemn and paramount obligation provided by treaty for the prosperity +of his Majesty's subjects, and the security of the lives and property +of the inhabitants, has been notoriously neglected by several +successive rulers in Oude, thereby exposing the British Government to +the reproach of having imperfectly fulfilled its obligations towards +the Oude people; that his Lordship alludes to the treaty of 1837, as +confirming the original treaty of 1801, and not only giving the +British Government the right to interfere, but declaring it to be the +intention of the Government to interfere, if necessary, for the +purpose of securing good government in Oude; that the King can, +therefore, have no doubt that the Governor-General is not only +justified, but bound by his duty, to take care that the stipulations +provided by treaty shall be fairly and substantially carried into +effect; that if the Governor-General permits the continuation of any +flagrant system of mismanagement which by treaty he is empowered to +correct, he becomes the participator in abuses which it is his duty +to redress; and in this case no ruler of Oude can expect the +Governor-General to incur a responsibility so repugnant to the +principles of the British Government, and so odious to the feelings +of the British people. + +"That, in the discussion of this important subject, advice and +remonstrance have been frequently tried, and have failed; that the +Governor-General hopes that the King will exercise a sounder judgment +than those who have preceded him, and that he will not be compelled +to exchange friendly advice for imperative and absolute interference; +that when the Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, had a +conference with the former King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, on this +subject, on the 20th of January, 1831, he deemed it right frankly to +inform him that if the warning which he then gave was disregarded by +his Majesty, it was his intention to submit to the home authorities +his advice that the British Government should assume the direct +management of the Oude dominions; that the Honourable the Court of +Directors coincided in his Lordship's views and, in order that no +doubt may remain on the King's mind as to the sentiments of the home +authorities on this point, he, Lord Hardinge, here inserts an extract +from the despatch of that Court, for his information; that it is as +follows:-- 'We have, after the most serious consideration, come to +the determination of granting to you the discretionary power which +you have requested, from us for placing the Oude territories under +the direct management of officers of the British Government; and you +are hereby empowered, if no real and satisfactory improvement shall +have taken place in the administration of that country, and if your +Government shall still adhere to the opinion expressed in the minute +of the Governor-General, to carry the proposed measure into effect, +at such period and in such manner as shall appear to you most +desirable;' that this resolution was communicated to the Resident and +to the King, and advantage was taken of it to press upon his Majesty +the necessity of an immediate reform of his administration; that the +above extract will enable the King to form a clear judgment of the +position in which the sovereigns of Oude are placed by treaty; that +the Governor-General is required, when gross and systematic abuses +prevail, to apply such a remedy as the exigency of the case may +appear to require--that he has no option in the performance of that +duty. + +"That by wisely taking timely measures for the reformation of abuses, +as one of the first acts of his reign, his Majesty will, with honour +to his own character, rescue his people from their present miserable +condition; but if he procrastinates he will incur the risk of forcing +the British Government to interfere, by assuming the government of +Oude; that the former course would redound to his Majesty's credit +and dignity, while the latter would give the British Government +concern in the case of a prince whom, as our ally, we sincerely +desire to honour and uphold; that for these reasons, and on account +of the King's inexperience, the Governor-General is not disposed to +act immediately on the power vested in him by the Honourable Court's +despatch above quoted, still less is he disposed to hold him +responsible for the misrule of his predecessors, nor does he expect +that so inveterate a system of misgovernment can suddenly be +eradicated; that the resolution, and the preliminary measures 'to +effect this purpose,' can and ought at once to be adopted by the +King; that if his Majesty cordially enters into the plan suggested by +the Governor-General for the improvement of his administration, he +may have the satisfaction, within the period specified of two years, +of checking and eradicating the worst abuses, and, at the same time, +of maintaining his own sovereignty and the native institutions of his +kingdom unimpaired; but if he does not, if he takes a vacillating +course, and fail by refusing to act on the Governor-General's advice, +he is aware of the other alternative and of the consequences. It +must, then, be manifest to the whole world that, whatever may happen, +the King has received a friendly and timely warning." + +On the 24th of December in that year, 1847, Government, in reply to +the Resident's letter of the 30th November, states that it does not +consider the King's reply in any respect satisfactory; that the +Resident is to remind his Majesty that under paragraph the 23rd of +the memorandum read out to him by the Governor-General's direction, +the Resident has been required to submit periodical reports of the +state of his dominions, and that his Majesty must be fully aware of +the responsibility he incurs if he neglects, during the interval +allowed him, to introduce the requisite reforms in his +administration. + +More than two years have elapsed since this caution was given, and +the King has done nothing to improve his administration, abstained +from no personal indulgence, given no attention whatever to public +affairs. He had before that time tried to imitate his father, attend +a little to public affairs, and see occasionally the members of the +royal family and aristocracy, at least of the city, and heads of +departments; but the effort was painful, and soon ceased altogether +to be made. He had from boyhood mixed in no other society than that +in which he now mixes exclusively, and he will never submit to the +restraints of any other. The King has utterly disregarded alike the +Governor-General's advice and admonitions, the duties and +responsibilities of his high office, and the sufferings of the many +millions subject to his rule. His time and attention are devoted +entirely to the pursuit of personal gratifications; he associates +with none but such as those who contribute to such gratifications-- +women, singers, and eunuchs; and he never, I believe, reads or hears +read any petition from his suffering subjects, any report from his +local officers civil or military, or presidents of his fiscal and +judicial courts, or functionaries of any hind. He seems to take no +interest whatever in public affairs, and to care nothing whatever +about them. + +The King had natural capacity equal to that of any of those who have +preceded him in the sovereignty of Oude since the death of Saadut +Allee in 1814, but he is the only one who has systematically declined +to devote any of that capacity, or any of his time, to the conduct of +public affairs; to see and occasionally commune with the heads of +departments, the members of the royal family, and native gentlemen of +the capital; to read or have read to him the reports of his local +functionaries, and petitions or redress of wrongs from his suffering +subjects.* + +[*This systematic disregard of his high duties and responsibilities +still continues to be manifested by the King of Oude; and is +observed, with feelings of indignation and abhorrence, by his well- +disposed subjects of all classes and grades, who are thereby left to +the mercy of men without any feeling of security in their tenure of +office, any scruples of conscience, or feelings of humanity, or of +honour. So inveterate is the system of misgovernment--so deeply are +all those, now employed in the administration, interested in +maintaining its worst abuses--and so fruitless is it to expect the +King to remove them, or employ better men, or to be ever able to +inspire any men, whom he may appoint, with a disposition to serve him +more honestly, and to respect the rights of others, or consider the +reputation and permanent interests of their own master, that the +impression has become strong and general, that our Government can no +longer support the present Government of Oude, without seriously +neglecting its duty towards the people.--1851, W. H. S.] + +In the reports of the Resident on the state of affairs in Oude, and +the replies of Government, much importance has been always attached +to the change from the contract, or _ijara_ system, to that of the +_amanee_, or trust management system; and since the time of Lord +Hardinge's visit many more districts have been put under the latter +system; but this has not tended, in the smallest degree, to the +benefit of the people of these districts. The same abuses prevail +under the one system as under the other. The troops employed in the +districts under the one are the same as those employed in the +districts under the other, and they prey just as much upon the +people. There is the same system of rack-rent in the one as in the +other, and the same uncertainty in the rate of the Government demand. +The manager under the _amanut_ system demands the same secret +gratuities and _nuzuranas_ for himself and his patrons at Court from +the landholders, as the contractor; and if they refuse to pay them +they are besieged, attacked, and cut up, and their estates desolated +in the same manner. The _amanut_ manager knows that his tenure of +office depends as much upon the amount which he pays to his +sovereign, and to his patrons at Court, as that of the contractor, +and he exacts and extorts as much as he can in the same manner. +Unless he pays his patrons the same he knows that he shall soon be +removed, or driven to resign by the want of means to enforce the +payment of the revenues justly due. + +The objections which are urged against the employment of British +troops in support of the authority of revenue contractors, are +equally applicable to their employment in support of that of amanee +managers. Their employment is just as liable to abuse under the one +as under the other. It is not a whit easier to ascertain whether a +demand for balance of revenue from, or a charge of contumacy against, +a landholder is just or unjust in the one than in the other. In +neither is the demand set forth in public documents understood by +either party to be the real demand. Both parties are equally +interested in preventing a portion of the _real_ demand from +appearing in the public accounts; and the quarrel is almost always +about the rate of this concealed portion--the collector trying to +augment, and the landlord trying to reduce it. + +In a letter to the Resident, dated the 29th of March, 1823, +Government observes: "As some palliation of the mischief of our +forces being constantly employed in what might be too often termed +the cause of injustice and extortion, the Government in 1811 +distinctly declared our right of previously investigating, and of +arbitrating the demands which its troops might be called upon to +support as also its resolution to exercise that right on all future +occasions. The execution of the important duty in question seems to +be almost invariably delegated by the Resident to the officers +commanding at the different stations, who, after receiving general +powers to attend to the requisitions of the amils, become the sole +judges of the individual cases, in which aid is to be afforded or +withheld; and the discretion again unavoidably descends from them, in +many instances, to the officers commanding parties detached from the +main body. It is obvious that an inquiry of this description can +afford but a partial check to, and a feeble security against, +injustice and oppression where specific engagements rarely exist, and +where the point at issue is frequently the demand for augmenting +rates of revenue, founded on alleged assets sufficient to meet that +increase. + +"Neither is the aid thus afforded at all effectual for the purposes +of the Government of Oude, whether present or future, as is clear +from the annual repetition of the same scenes of resistance and +compulsion. As fast as disorders are suppressed in one quarter they +spring up in another. Forts that are this year dismantled are +restored again the next; the compulsion exercised upon particular +individuals in one season has no effect in producing more regularity +on their parts, or on that of others in the ensuing season, until the +same process has been again gone through; whilst the contempt and +odium attaching to a system of collecting the revenues, by the +habitual intervention of the troops of another State, infallibly tend +to aggravate the evil, by destroying all remains of confidence in his +Majesty, or respect for his authority." + +The aid of British troops in the collection of the revenues of Oude +has long ceased to be afforded; but when they have been afforded for +the suppression of leaders of atrocious bands of robbers, who preyed +upon the people, and seized upon the lands of their weaker +neighbours, and they have been driven from their forts and +strongholds, the privilege of building them up again, or re-occupying +and garrisoning them with the same bands of robbers, to be employed +in the same way, is purchased from the local authorities, or the +patrons of these leaders at Court, during the same or the succeeding +season. The same things continue to be done every season where no +British troops are employed. Such privileges are purchased with as +much facility as those for the supply of essence or spices in the +palace; unless the Resident should interpose authoritatively to +prevent it, which he very rarely does. Indeed it is seldom that a +Resident knows or cares anything about the matter. + +I may say generally, that in Oude the larger landholders do not pay +more than one-third of their net rents to the Government, while some +of them do not pay one-fifth or one-tenth. In the half of the +territory made over to us in 1801, the great landholders who still +retain their estates pay to our Government at least two-thirds of +their net rents. In Oude these great landholders have, at present, +about two hundred and fifty mud forts, mounting about five hundred +guns, and containing on an average four hundred armed men, or a total +of one hundred thousand, trained and maintained to fight against +other, or against the Government authorities; and to pillage the +peaceful and industrious around whenever so employed. In the half of +the territory ceded to us in 1801, this class of armed retainers has +disappeared altogether. Hence from the Oude half we have some fifty +thousand native officers and sipahees in our native army, while from +our half we have not perhaps five thousand. + +One thing is clear, that we cannot restore to the Oude Government the +territory we acquired from it by the treaty of 1801, and the people +who occupy it; and that we cannot withdraw our support from that +Government altogether without doing so. It is no less clear that all +our efforts to make the Government of Oude, under the support which +we are bound by that treaty to give it, fulfil the duties to its +people to which it was pledged by that treaty, have failed during the +fifty years that have elapsed since it was made. + +The only alternative left, appears to be for the paramount power to +take upon itself the administration, and give to the sovereign, the +royal family, and its stipendiary dependents, all the surplus +revenues in pensions, opening as much as possible all employments in +the civil administration to the educated classes of Oude. The +military and police establishments would consist almost exclusively +of Oude men. Under such a system more of these classes would be +employed than at present, for few of the officers employed in the +administration are of these classes--the greater part of them are +adventurers from all parts of India, without character or education. +The number of such officers would be multiplied fourfold, and the +means of paying them would be taken from the favourites and parasites +of the Court who now do nothing but mischief. + +Such a change would be popular among the members of the royal family +itself, who now get their pensions after long intervals--often after +two and even three years, and with shameful reductions in behalf of +those favourites and parasites whom they detest and despise, but whom +the minister, for his own personal purposes, is obliged to conciliate +by such perquisites. It would be popular among the educated classes, +as opening to them offices now filled by knaves and vagabonds from +all parts of India, It would be no less so to the well-disposed +portion of the agricultural classes, who would be sure of protection +to life, property, and character, without the expensive trains of +armed followers which they now keep up. But to secure this, we should +require to provide them with a more simple system of civil judicature +than that which we have at work in our old territories. + +The change would be popular, with few exceptions, among all the +mercantile and manufacturing classes. It would give vast employment +to all the labouring classes throughout the country, in the +construction of good roads, bridges, wells, tanks, temples, suraes, +military and civil buildings, and other public works; but above all, +in that of private dwellings, and other edifices for use and +ornament, in which all men would be proud to lay out their wealth to +perpetuate their names, when secured in the possession by an honest +and efficient Government; but more especially those who would be no +longer able to employ their means in maintaining armed bands, to +resist the local authorities and disturb the peace of the country. On +the whole, I think that at least nine-tenths of the people of Oude +would hail the change as a great blessing; always providing, that our +system of administration should be rendered as simple as possible to +meet the wants and wishes of a simple people. + +Though the Resident has never been able to secure any substantial and +permanent improvement in the administration, he often interposes +successfully in individual cases, to relieve suffering, and secure +redress for wrongs; and the people see that he interferes in no +others. Their only regret is, that he does not interpose more often, +and that his efforts, when he does, should be so often thwarted or +disregarded. The British character is, in consequence, respected in +the remotest village and jungle in Oude; and there is, I believe, no +part of India where an European officer is received, among the people +of all classes, with more kindness and courtesy than in Oude. There +is, certainly, no city or town in any other native State in India +where he is treated in the crowded streets with more respect. This +must of course be accounted for in great measure from the greater +part of the members of the royal family, and the relatives and +dependents of the several persons who have held the highest offices +of the State since 1814, either receiving their incomes from the +British Government in treaty pensions, or in interest on our +Government securities, or being guaranteed in those which they +receive from the Oude Government by ours. A great many of the +families of the middle classes depend entirely upon the interest +which they receive from us on our Government securities. There is, +indeed, hardly a respectable family in Lucknow that is not more or +less dependent upon our Government for protection, and proud to have +it considered that they are so. The works and institutions which +would soon be created out of revenues, now absorbed by worthless +Court favourites, would soon embellish the face of the country, +improve the character, condition, and habits of the people, stimulate +their industry in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce; and render +our connection with the Oude Government honourable to our name in the +estimation of all India. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Baree-Biswa district--Force with the Nazim, Lal Bahader--Town of +Peernuggur--Dacoitee by Lal and Dhokul Partuks--Gangs of robbers +easily formed out of the loose characters which abound in Oude--The +lands tilled in spite of all disorders--Delta between the Chouka and +Ghagra rivers--Seed sown and produce yielded on land--Rent and stock +--Nawab Allee, the holder of the Mahmoodabad estate--Mode of +augmenting his estate--Insecurity of marriage processions--Belt of +jungle, fourteen miles west from the Lucknow cantonments--Gungabuksh +Rawat--His attack on Dewa--The family inveterate robbers--Bhurs, once +a civilized and ruling people in Oude--Extirpated systematically in +the fourteenth century--Depredations of Passees--Infanticide--How +maintained--Want of influential middle class of merchants and +manufacturers--Suttee--Troops with the Amil--Seizure of a marriage +procession by Imambuksh, a gang leader--Perquisites and allowances of +Passee watchmen over corn-fields--Their fidelity to trusts--Ahbun +Sing, of Kyampoor, murders his father--Rajah Singjoo of Soorujpoor-- +Seodeen, another leader of the same tribe--Principal gang-leaders of +the Dureeabad Rodowlee district--Jugurnath Chuprassie--Bhooree Khan-- +How these gangs escape punishment--Twenty-four belts of jungle +preserved by landholders always, or occasionally, refractory in Oude +--Cover eight hundred and eighty-six square miles of good land--How +such atrocious characters find followers, and landholders of high +degree to screen, shelter, and aid them. + + +_February_ 14, 1850.--Peernuggur, ten miles south-east, over a plain +of the same soil, but with more than the usual proportion of oosur. +Trees and groves as usual, but not quite so fine or numerous. The +Nazim of Khyrabad took leave of me on his boundary as we crossed it +about midway, and entered the district of "Baree Biswa," which is +held in farm by Lal Bahader,* a Hindoo, who there met us. This fiscal +officer has under him the "Jafiree," and "Tagfore" Regiments of +nujeebs, and eight pieces of cannon. The commandants of both corps +are in attendance at Court, and one of them, Imdad Hoseyn, never +leaves it. The other does condescend sometimes to come out to look at +his regiment when _not on service_. The draft-bullocks for the guns +have, the Nazim tells me, had a little grain within the last month, +but still not more than a quarter of the amount for which the King is +charged. Peernuggur is now a place of little note upon the banks of +the little river Sae, which here flows under a bridge built by Asuf- +od Dowlah some sixty years ago. + +[* This man was in prison at Lucknow as a defaulter, but made his +escape in October, 1851, by drugging the sentry placed over him, and +got safe into British territory.] + +Gang-robberies are here as frequent as in Khyrabad, and the +respectable inhabitants are going off in the same manner. One which +took place in July last year is characteristic of the state of +society in Oude, and may be mentioned here. Twelve sipahees of the +59th Regiment Native Infantry, then stationed at Bareilly, lodged +here for the night, in a surae, on their way home on furlough. Dal +Partuk, a Brahmin by caste, and a man of strength and resolution, +resided here and cultivated a small patch of land. He had two pair of +bullocks, which used to be continually trespassing upon other men's +fields and gardens, and embroiling him with the people, till one +night they disappeared. Dal Partuk called upon his neighbours, who +had suffered from their trespasses, to restore them or pay the value, +and threatened to rob, plunder, and burn down the town if they did +not. + +A great number of pausees reside in and around the town, and he knew +that he could collect a gang of them for any enterprise of this sort +at the shortest notice. The people were not disposed to pay the value +of his lost bullocks, and they could not be found. While he was +meditating his revenge, his relation, Dhokul Partuk, was by a +trifling accident driven to take the field as a robber. An oil- +vender, a female, from a neighbouring village, had presumed to come +to Peernuggur, and offer oil for sale. The oil-venders of the town, +dreading the consequences of such competition, went forthwith to the +little garrison and prayed for _protection_. One of the sipahees went +off to the silversmith to whom the oil-vender had sold twopence-worth +of oil, and, finding the oil-vender still with him, proceeded at once +to seize both, and take them off to the garrison as criminals. Dhokul +Partuk, who lived close by, and had his sword by his side, went up +and remonstrated with the sipahee, who, taking him to be another +silversmith, struck him across the face with his stick. Dhokul drew +his sword, and made a cut at the sipahee, which would have severed +his head from his body had he not fallen backwards. As it was, he got +a severe cut in the chest, and ran off to his companions. Dhokul went +out of the town with his drawn sword, and no one dared to pursue him. +At night he returned, took off his family to a distant village, +became a leader of a band of pausee bowmen, and invited his kinsman, +Dal Partuk, to follow his example. + +Together, they made an attack at night upon the town, and burnt down +one quarter of the houses. Dal Partuk offered to come to terms and +live in the town again, if the people would pay the value of his lost +bullocks, and give him a small income of five rupees a-month. This +they refused to do, and the plunder and burning went on. At last they +made this attack upon the party in the surae, which happened to be so +full that several of the sipahees and others were cooking outside the +walls. None of the travellers had arms to defend themselves, and +those inside closed the doors as soon as they heard the alarm. The +pausees, with their bows and arrows, killed two of the sipahees who +were outside, and while the gang was trying to force open the doors +of the surae, the people of the town, headed by a party of eight +pausee bowmen of their own, attacked and drove them back. These +bowmen followed the gang for some distance, and killed several of +them with their arrows. The sipahees who escaped proceeded in all +haste to the Resident, and the Frontier Police has since succeeded in +arresting several of the gang; but the two leaders have hitherto been +screened by Goorbuksh Sing and other great landholders in their +interest. The eight pausees who exerted themselves so successfully in +defence of the town and surae were expecting an attack from the +pausees of a neighbouring village, and ready for action when the +alarm was given. + +These parties of pausee bowmen have each under their charge a certain +number of villages, whose crops and other property they are pledged +to defend for the payment of a certain sum, or a certain portion of +land rent-free. In one of these, under the Peernuggur party, three +bullocks had been stolen by the pausees of a neighbouring town. They +were traced to them, and, as they would neither restore them nor pay +their value, the Peernuggur party attacked them one night in their +sleep, and killed the leader and four of his followers, to deter +others of the tribe from trespassing on property under their charge. +They expect, they told us, to be attacked in return some night, and +are obliged to be always prepared, but have not the slightest +apprehension of ever being called to account for such things by the +officers of Government. Nor would Dal and Dhokul Partuk have any such +apprehension, had not the Resident taken up the question of the +murder of the Honourable Company's sipahees as an international one. +After plundering and burning down a dozen villages, and murdering a +score or two of people, they would have come back and reoccupied +their houses in the town without any fear of being molested or +_questioned_ by Government officers. Nor would the people of the town +object to their residing among them again, provided they pledged +themselves to abstain in future from molesting them. Goorbuksh Sing, +only a few days ago, offered the contractor, Hoseyn Allee, the sum of +five thousand, rupees if he would satisfy the Resident that Dal +Partuk had nothing whatever to do with the Peernuggur dacoitee, and +thereby induce him to discontinue the pursuit.* + +[* Dhokul Partuk and Dal Partuk were at last secured. Dhokul died in +the king's gaol, but Dal Partuk is still in prison under trial.] + +The people of towns and villages, having no protection whatever from +the Government, are obliged to keep up, at their own cost, this +police of pausee bowmen, who are bound only to protect those who pay +them. As their families increase beyond the means derived from this, +their only legitimate employment, their members thieve in the +neighbouring or distant villages, rob on the highroads, or join the +gangs of those who are robbers by profession, or take the trade in +consequence of disputes and misunderstandings with Government +authorities or their neighbours. In Oude--and indeed in all other +parts of India, under a Government so weak and indifferent to the +sufferings of its subjects--all men who consider arms to be their +proper profession think themselves justified in using them to extort +the means of subsistence from those who have property when they have +none, and can no longer find what they consider to be suitable +employment. All Rajpoots are of this class, and the greater part of +the landholders in Oude are Rajpoots. But a great part of the +Mahommedan rural population are of the same class, and no small +portion of the Brahmin inhabitants, like the two Partuks above named, +consider arms to be their proper profession; and all find the ready +means of forming gangs of robbers out of these pausee bowmen and the +many loose characters to whom the disorders of the country give rise. + +A great many of the officers and sipahees of the King's nujeeb and +other regiments are every month discharged for mutiny, +insubordination, abuse of authority, or neglect of duty, or merely to +make room for men more subservient to Court favourites, or because +they cannot or will not pay the demanded gratuity to a new and +useless commandant appointed by Court favour. The plunder of villages +has been the daily occupation of these men during the whole period of +their service, and they become the worst of this class of loose +characters, ready to join any band of freebooters. Such bands are +always sure to find a patron among the landholders ready to receive +and protect them, for a due share of their booty, against any force +that the King's officers may send after them; and, if they prefer it +as less costly, they can always find a manager of a district ready to +do the same, on condition that they abstain from plundering within +his jurisdiction. The greater part of the land is, however, +cultivated, and well cultivated under all this confusion and +consequent insecurity. Tillage is the one thing needful to all, and +the persons from whom trespasses on the crops are most apprehended +are the reckless and disorderly trains of Government officials. + +_February_ 16, 1850.--Biswa, eighteen miles east, over a plain of +excellent soil, partly doomut, but chiefly mutteear, well studded +with trees and groves, scantily cultivated for the half of the way, +but fully and beautifully for the second half. The wheat beginning to +change colour as it approaches maturity, and waving in the gentle +morning breeze; intervening fields covered with mixed crops of peas, +gram, ulsee, teora, surson, mustard, all in flower, and glittering +like so many rich parterres; patches here and there of the dark-green +_arahur_ and yellow sugar-cane rising in bold relief; mango-groves, +majestic single trees, and clusters of the graceful bamboo studding +the whole surface, and closing the distant horizon in one seemingly- +continued line of fence--the eye never tires of such a scene, but +would like now and then to rest upon some architectural work of +ornament or utility to aid the imagination in peopling it. + +The road for the last six miles passes through the estate of Nawab +Allee, a Mahommedan landholder, who is a strong man and a good +manager and paymaster. His rent-roll is about four hundred thousand +rupees a-year, and he pays Government about one hundred and fifty +thousand. His hereditary possession was a small one, and his estate +has grown to the present size in the usual way. He has lent money in +mortgage and foreclosed; he has given security for revenue due to +Government by other landholders, who have failed to pay, and had +their estates made over to him; he has given security for the +appearance, when called for, of others, and, on their failing to +appear (perchance at his own instigation), had their lands made over +to him by the Government authorities, on condition of making good the +Government demand upon them; he has offered a higher rate of revenue +for lands than present holders could make them yield, and, after +getting possession, brought the demand down to a low rate in +collusion with Government officers. Some three-fourths of the +magnificent estate which he now holds he has obtained in these and +other ways by fraud, violence, or collusion within the last few +years. He is too powerful and wealthy to admit of any one's getting +his lands out of his hands after they have once passed into them, no +matter how. + +The Chowka river flows from the forest towards the Ghagra, about ten +miles to the east from Biswa, and I am told that the richest sheet of +cultivation in Oude is within the delta formed by these two rivers.* +At the apex of this delta stands the fort of Bhitolee, which I have +often mentioned as belonging to Rajah Goorbuksh Sing, and being under +siege by the contractor of the Khyrabad district when we passed the +Ghagra in December. Biswa is a large town, well situated on a good +soil and open plain, and its vicinity would be well suited for a +cantonment or seat for civil establishments. Much of the cloth called +sullum used to be made here for export to Europe, but the demand has +ceased, and with it the manufacture. + +[* This delta contains the following noble estates; 1, Dhorehra; 2, +Eesanuggur; 3, Chehlary; 4, Rampore; 5, Bhitolee; 6, Mullahpore; 7, +Seonta; 8, Nigaseen; and 9, Bhera Jugdeopore. The Turae forest forms +the base of this delta, and the estates of Dhorehra, Eesanuggur, and +Bhera Jugdeopore lie along its border. They have been much injured by +the King's troops within the last three years. Bhitolee is at the +apex.] + +_February_ 17 _and_ 18, 1850.--Detained at Biswa by rain. + +_February_ 19, 1850.--Yesterday evening came to Kaharpore, ten miles, +over a plain of the same fine soil, mutteear of the best quality, +running here and there into doomutteea and even bhoor. Cultivation +good, and the plain covered with rich spring crops, except where the +ground is being prepared to receive the autumn seed in June next. It +is considered good husbandry to-plough, cross-plough, and prepare the +lands thus early. The spring crops are considered to be more +promising than they have been at any other season for the last twenty +years. The farmers and cultivators calculate upon an average return +of ten and twelve fold, and say that, in other parts of Oude where +the lands are richer, there will be one of fifteen or twenty of +wheat, gram, &c. The pucka-beega, two thousand seven hundred and +fifty-six square yards, requires one maund of seed of forty seers, of +eighty rupees of the King's and Company's coinage the seer.* The +country, as usual, studded with trees, single, and in clusters and +groves, intermingled with bamboos, which are, however, for the most +part, of the smaller or hill kind. + +[* The pucka-beega in Oude is about the same as that which prevails +over our North-Western Provinces, two thousand seven hundred and +fifty-six and a quarter square yards, or something more than one-half +of our English statute acre, which is four thousand eight hundred and +forty square yards. This pucka-beega takes of seed-wheat one maund, +or eighty pounds; and yields on an average, under good tillage, eight +returns of the seed, or eight maunds, or six hundred and forty +pounds, which, at one rupee the maund, yields eight rupees, or +sixteen shillings. The stock required in Oude in irrigated lands is +about twenty rupees the pucka-beega. The rent on an average two +rupees. In England an acre, on an average, requires two and three- +quarter bushels of seed wheat, or one hundred and seventy-six pounds, +or two maunds and sixteen seers, and yields twenty-four bushels, or +one thousand five hundred and thirty-six pounds. This at forty +shillings the quarter (512 lbs.) would yield six pounds sterling. The +stock required in England is estimated at ten pounds Sterling per +acre, or ten times the annual rent. It is difficult to estimate the +rate of rent on land in England, since the reputed owner is said to +be "only the ninth and last recipient of rent."] + +On reaching camp, I met, for the first time, the great landholder, +Nawab Allee, of Mahmoodabad. In appearance, he is a quiet gentlemanly +man, of middle age and stature. He keeps his lands in the finest +possible state of tillage, however objectionable the means by which +he acquires them. His family have held the estates of Mahmoodabad and +Belehree for many generations as zumeendars, or proprietors; but they +have augmented them greatly, absorbing into them the estates of their +weaker neighbours.* + +[* Akram Allee and Muzhur Allee inherited the estate in two +divisions. Akram Allee got Mahmoodabad, and had two sons, Surufraz +Allee, who died without issue, before his father; and Mosahib Allee, +who succeeded to the estate, but died without issue. Muzhur Allee got +the estate of Belehree, and had two sons, Abud Allee, and Nawab +Allee. Abud Allee succeeded to the estate of Belehree, and Nawab +Allee to that of Mahmoodabad by adoption.] + +Akram Allee held Mahmoodabad, and was succeeded in the possession by +his son, Mosahib Allee, who died about forty years ago, leaving the +estate to his widow, who held it for twenty-eight years up to A.D. +1838, when she died. She had, the year before, adopted her nephew, +Nawab Allee, and he succeeded to the estate. The Belehree estate is +held by his elder brother, Abud Allee, who is augmenting it in the +same way, but not at the same rate. I may mention a few recent cases, +as illustrative of the manner in which such things are done in Oude. + +Mithun Sing, of an ancient Rajpoot family, held the estate of Semree, +which had been held by his ancestors for many centuries. It consisted +of twelve fine villages, paid to Government 4000 rupees a year, and +yielded him a rent roll of 20,000. Nawab Allee coveted very much this +estate, which bordered on his own. Three years ago, he instigated the +Nazim to demand an increase of 5000 rupees a-year from the estate; +and at the same time invited Mithun Sing to his house, and persuaded +him to resist the demand, to the last. He took to the jungles, and in +the contest between him and the Nazim all the crops of the season +were destroyed, and all the cultivators driven from the lands. When +the season of tillage returned in June, and Mithun Sing had been +reduced to the last stage of poverty, Nawab Allee consented to become +the mediator, got a lease from the Chuckladar for Mithun Sing at 4500 +rupees a-year, and stood surety for the punctual payment of the +demand. Poor Mithun Sing could pay nothing, and Nawab Allee got +possession of the estate in liquidation of the balance due to him; +and assigned to Mithun Sing five hundred pucka-beegas of land for his +subsistence. He still resides on the estate, and supports his family +by the tillage of these few beegas. + +Amdhun Chowdheree held a share in the estate of Biswa, consisting of +sixty-five villages; paying to Government 12,000 rupees a-year, and +yielding a rent-roll of 65,000. His elder brother's widow resided on +the estate, supported by Amdhun, who managed its affairs for the +family. Nawab Allee got up a quarrel between her and her brother-in- +law; and she assumed the right to authorize Nawab Allee to seize upon +the whole estate. Amdhun appealed to his clan, but Nawab Allee, in +collusion with the Nazim, was too strong for him, and got possession +by taking a strong force, and driving out all who presumed to resist +him. The estate had been held by the family for many centuries. + +Mohun Sing held the estate of Mundhuna, which had been in his family +for many generations. He was, by the usual process, five years ago, +constrained to accept the security of Nawab Allee for the punctual +payment of the revenue; and his estate was absorbed in the usual way, +the year after. He is now, like a boa-constrictor, swallowing up +Chowdheree Pertab Sing, who holds a large share in the hereditary +estate of Biswa, which has been in the possession of the family for a +great many generations. This share consisted of thirty-six villages, +and paid a revenue to Government of fourteen thousand. Last year, +Nawab Allee instigated the Nazim to demand ten thousand more. The +Nazim, to prevent all disputes, assigned the twenty-four thousand to +Mirza Hoseyn Beg, the commandant of a troop of cavalry, employed +under him, in liquidation of their arrears of pay. The commandant +gave him a receipt for the amount, which the Nazim sent to the +treasury, and got credit for the amount in his accounts. But poor +Pertab Sing could not pay, and was imprisoned by the cavalry, who +kept possession of his person, and took upon them the collection of +his rents. Nawab Allee came in and paid what was due; and gave +security for the punctual payment of the revenue for the ensuing +year. The estate was made over to him; and he put on score after +score of _dustuk_ bearers, who soon reduced Pertab Sing to utter +beggary. Ten thousand rupees were due to Nawab Allee, and he had +nothing left to sell; and under such circumstances no man else would +lend him anything. + +The dustuk bearers are servants of the creditor, who are sent to +attend the debtor, extort from him their wages and subsistence, and +see that he does not move, eat, or drink till he pays them. During +this time the creditor saves all the wages of these attendants; and +they commonly exact double wages from the debtor, so that he is soon +reduced to terms. In this stage we found the poor Chowdheree on +reaching Biswa. I had him released, and so admonished Nawab Allee, +that he has some little chance of saving his estate. + +Bisram Sing held the estate of Kooa Danda, which had been in the +possession of his family of Ahbun Rajpoots for many centuries. It +consisted of thirty-five villages, paid a revenue of six thousand +rupees a-year, and yielded a rent-roll of eighteen thousand and five +hundred. Nawab Allee coveted it as being on his border, and in good +order. As soon as his friend; Allee Buksh, was appointed Nazim of the +district, he prevailed upon him to report to the Durbar that Bisram +Sing was a refractory subject, and plunderer; and to request +permission to put him down by force of arms. This was in 1844, while +Bisram Sing was living quietly on his estate. On receiving the order, +which came as a matter of course, the Nazim united his force with +that of Nawab Allee, and attacked the house of Bisram Sing, which had +only twenty-two men to defend it against two thousand. Six of the +twenty-two were killed, eight wounded, and eight only escaped; and +Nawab Allee took possession of the estate. + +Bisram Sing was at Lucknow at the time, trying to rebut the false +charges of the Nazim; but his influence was unhappily too strong for +him, and he got no redress. Soon after Nirput Sing, a sipahee in the +9th Regiment Native Infantry, presented a petition to the Resident, +stating that he was the brother of Bisram Sing, and equally +interested in the estate; and a special officer, Busharut Allee, was +ordered by the Durbar to investigate and decide the case. He decided +in favour of Nirput, the sipahee, and Bisram Sing. Another special +officer was sent out to restore Bisram to possession. Nawab Allee +then pleaded the non-existence of any relationship between Nirput and +Bisram; and a third special officer has been sent out to ascertain +this fact. + +Belehree, held by Abud Allee, consists of forty villages, pays a +revenue of twelve thousand rupees a-year, and yields a rent-roll of +forty thousand. Abud Allee holds also the estate of Pyntee, in the +same district, consisting of eighty villages, paying a revenue of +thirty-five thousand, and yielding a rent-roll of one hundred and +forty thousand. It had been held by his relative Kazim Allee, who was +succeeded in the possession by Nizam Allee, the husband of his only +daughter. Nizam Allee was in A.D. 1841 killed by a servant, who was +cut down and killed in return by his attendants. Nizam Allee's widow +held till 1843, when she made over the estate to Abud Allee, by whom +she is supported. + +Nawab Allee has always money at command to purchase influence at +Court when required; and he has also a brave and well-armed force, +with which to aid the governor of the district, when he makes it +worth his while to do so, in crushing a refractory landholder. These +are the sources of his power, and he is not at all scrupulous in the +use of it--it is not the fashion to be so in Oude. + +_February_ 20th, 1850.--Came on sixteen miles to Futtehpore, in the +estate of Nawab Allee, passing Mahmoodabad half way. Near that place +we passed through a grove of mango and other trees called the "Lak +Peree," or the grove of a hundred thousand trees planted by his +ancestors forty years ago. The soil is the same, the country level, +studded with the same rich foliage, and covered with the same fine +crops. As we were passing through his estate, and were to encamp in +it again to-day, Nawab Allee attended me on horseback; and I +endeavoured to impress upon him and the Nazim the necessity of +respecting the rights of others, and more particularly those of the +old Chowdheree Pertab Sing. "Why is it," I asked, "that this +beautiful scene is not embellished by any architectural beauties? +Sheikh Sadee, the poet, so deservedly beloved by you all, old and +young, Hindoos and Mahommedans, says, 'The man who leaves behind him +in any place, a bridge, a well, a church, or a caravansera, never +dies.' Here not even a respectable dwelling-house is to be seen, much +less a bridge, a church, or a caravansera." "Here, sir," said old +Bukhtawur, "men must always be ready for a run to the jungles. Unless +they are so, they can preserve nothing from the grasp of the +contractors of the present day, who have no respect for property or +person--for their own character, or for that of their sovereign. The +moment that a man runs to save himself, family, and property, they +rob and pull down his house, and those of all connected with him. +When a man has nothing but mud walls, with invisible mud covers, they +give him no anxiety; he knows that he can build them up again in a +few days, or even a few hours, when he comes back from the jungles; +and he cares little about what is done to them during his absence. +Had he an expensive house of burnt brick and mortar, he could never +feel quite free. He might be tempted to defend it, and lose some +valuable lives; or he might be obliged to submit to unjust terms. +Were he to lay out his money in expensive mosques, temples, and +tombs, they would restrain him in the same way; and he is content to +live without them, and have his loins always girded for fight or +flight." + +"True," said Nawab Allee, "very true; we can plant groves and make +wells, but we cannot venture to erect costly buildings of any kind. +You saw the Nazim of Khyrabad, only a few days ago, bringing all his +troops down upon Rampore, because the landlord, Goman Sing, would not +consent to the increase he demanded of ten thousand, upon seventeen +thousand rupees a-year, which he had hitherto paid. Goman Sing took +to the jungles; and in ten days his fine crops would all have been +destroyed, and his houses levelled with the ground, had you not +interposed, and admonished both. The one at last consented to take, +and the other to pay an increase of five thousand. Only three years +ago, Goman Sing's father was killed by the Nazim in a similar +struggle; and landholders must always be prepared for them." + +_February_ 21st, 1850.--Bureearpore, ten miles south-east, over a +plain of the same fine soil, well cultivated, and carpeted with the +same fine crops and rich foliage. Midway we entered the district of +Ramnuggur Dhumeree, held by Rajah Gorbuksh Sing under the security of +Seoraj-od Deen, the person who attempted in vain to arrest the charge +of the two regiments upon the Khyrabad Nazim by holding up the +_sacred Koran_ over his head. He met me on his boundary, and Nawab +Allee and the Nazim of Baree Biswa took their leave. Nawab Allee's +brother, Abud Allee, came to pay his respects to me yesterday +evening. He is a respectable person in appearance, and a man of good +sense. The landscape was, I think, on the whole richer than any other +that I have seen in Oude; but I am told that it is still richer at a +distance from the road, where the poppy is grown in abundance, and +opium of the best quality made.* + +[* Opium sells in Oude at from three to eight rupees the seer, +according to its quality. In our neighbouring districts it sells at +fourteen rupees the seer, in the shops licensed by Government. +Government, in our districts, get opium from the cultivators and +manufacturers at three rupees and half the seer. The temptation to +smuggle is great, but the risk is great also, for the police in our +districts is vigilant in this matter.] + +Still lamenting the want of all architectural ornament to the scene, +and signs of manufacturing and commercial industry, to show that +people had property, and were able to display and enjoy it, and +gradations of rank, I asked whether people invested their wealth in +the loans of our Government. "Sir," said Bukhtawur Sing, "the people +who reside in the country know nothing about your Government paper; +it is only the people of the capital that hold it or understand its +value. The landholders and peasantry would never be able to keep it +in safety, or understand when and how to draw the interest." + +"Do they spend more in marriage and other ceremonies than the people +of other parts of India, or do they make greater displays on such +occasions?" + +"Quite the reverse, sir," said Seoraj-od Deen; "they dare not make +any display at all. Only the other day, Gunga Buksh, the refractory +landholder of Kasimgunge, attacked a marriage-procession in the +village of ------, carried off the bridegroom, and imprisoned him till +he paid the large random demanded from him. In February last year +Imam Buksh Behraleen, of Oseyree, having quarrelled with the Amil, +attacked and carried off a whole marriage party to the jungles. They +gave up all the property they had, and offered to sign bonds for +more, to be paid by their friends for their ransom; but he told them +that money would not do; that their families were people of +influence, and must make the King's officers restore him to his +estate upon his own terms, or he would keep them till they all died. +They exerted themselves, and Imam Buksh got back his estate upon his +own terms; but he still continues to rob and plunder. These crimes +are to them diversions from which there is no making them desist." + +"There are a dozen gang leaders of this class at present in the belt +of jungle which extends westward from our right up to within fourteen +miles of the Lucknow cantonments; and the plunder of villages, murder +of travellers, and carrying off of brides and bridegrooms from +marriage processions, are things of every-day occurrence. There are +also in these parts a number of pansee bowmen, who not only join in +the enterprises of such gangs as in other districts, but form gangs +of their own, under leaders of their own caste, to rob travellers and +plunder villages. + +"Gunga Buksh of Kasimgunge has his fort in this belt of jungle, and +he and his friends and relations take good care that no man cuts any +of it down, or cultivates the land. With the gangs which he and his +relatives keep up in this jungle, he has driven out the greater part +of the Syud proprietors of the surrounding villages, and taken +possession of their lands. After driving out the King's troops from +the town of Dewa, and exacting ransoms from many of the inhabitants, +whom he seized and carried off in several attacks, he, in October +last, brought down upon it all the ruffians he could collect, killed +no less than twenty-nine persons--chiefly Syuds and land proprietors +--and took possession of the town and estate. The chief proprietor, +Bakur Allee, was killed among the rest; and Gunga Buksh burnt his +body, and suspended his head to a post in his own village of Luseya. +He dug down his house and those of all his relations who had been +killed with him, and now holds quiet possession of his estate." + +This was all true. The Resident, on the application of Haffiz-od +Deen, a native judicial officer of Moradabad district--one of the +family which had lost so many members in this atrocious attack--urged +strongly on the Durbar the necessity of punishing Gunga Buksh and his +gang. The Ghunghor Regiment of Infantry, with a squadron of cavalry, +and six guns, was sent out in October 1849, for the purpose, under a +native officer. On the force moving out, the friends of Gunga Buksh +at Court caused the commandant to be sent for on some pretext or +other; and he has been detained at the capital ever since. The force +has, in consequence, remained idle, and Gunga Buksh has been left +quietly to enjoy the, fruits of his enterprise. The Amil having no +troops to support his authority, or even to defend his person in such +a position, has also remained at Court. No revenue has been +collected, and the people are left altogether exposed to the +depredations of these merciless robbers. The belt of jungle is nine +miles long and four miles wide; and the west end of it is within only +fourteen miles of the Lucknow cantonments, where we have three +regiments of infantry, and a company of artillery. + +_February_ 22nd, 1850.--A brief history of the rise of this family +may tend to illustrate the state of things in Oude. Khumma Rawut, of +the pansee tribe, the great-grandfather of this Gunga Buksh, served +Kazee Mahommed, the great-grandfather of this Bakur Allee, as a +village watchman, for many years up to his death. He had some +influence over his master, and making the most of this and of the +clan feeling which subsisted among the pansees of the district, he +was able to command the services of a formidable gang when the old +Kazee died. He left a young family, and Khumma got possession of five +or six villages out of the estate which the old Kazee left to his +sons. The sons were too weak: to resist the pansees, and when Khumma +died he left them to his five sons:-- 1. Kundee Sing; 2. Bukhta Sing; +3. Alum Sing; 4. Lalsahae; 5. Misree Sing. As the family increased in +numbers it has gone on adding to its possessions in the same manner, +by attacking and plundering villages, murdering or driving off the +old proprietors of the lands, and taking possession of them for +themselves. Each branch of the family, as it separates from the +parent stock, builds for itself a fort in one or other of the +villages which belong to its share of the acquired lands. In this +fort the head of each branch of the family resides with his armed +followers, and sallies forth to plunder the country and acquire new +possessions. In small enterprises each branch acts by itself; in +larger ones two or more branches unite, and divide the lands and +booty they acquire by amicable arrangement. + +They seize all the respectable persons whom they find in the villages +which they attack and plunder, keep them in prison, and inflict all +manner of tortures upon them, till they have paid, or pledged +themselves to pay, all that they have or can borrow from their +friends, as their ransom. If they refuse to pay, or to pledge +themselves to pay the sum demanded, they murder them. If they pay +part, and pledge themselves to pay the rest within a certain time, +they are released; and if they fail to fulfil their engagements, they +and their families are murdered in a second attack. After the last +attack above described upon Dewa, Gunga Buksh seized seven fine +villages belonging to the family of Bakur Allee Khan, which they had +held for many generations. He, Gunga Buksh, now holds no less than +twenty-seven villages, all seized in the same manner, after the +plunder and murder of their old proprietors. The whole of this +family, descendants of Khumma Rawut, hold no less than two hundred +villages and hamlets, all taken in the same manner from the old +proprietors, with the acquiescence or connivance of the local +authorities, who were either too weak or too corrupt to punish them, +and restore the villages to their proper owners.* + +[* Kundee Sing had two sons, 1. Cheytun Sing; 2. Ajeet Sing. Cheytun +Sing had two sons, 1. Sophul Sing; 2. Thakurpurshad. Sophul Sing had +two sons, 1. Keerut Sing; 2. Jote Sing. Ajeet Sing had two sons, 1. +Bhugwunt Sing; 2. Rutun Sing. Thakur Purshad, Bhugwunt Sing, and +Rutun Sing, reside in a fort which they have built in Bhetae, four +miles from Dewa, in the north-west border of the belt of jungle. They +hold forty villages, besides hamlets, which they have taken from the +old proprietors of the Dewa and Korsee estates. Thakur Purshad has +another fort called Buldeogur, near that of Atursae, two coss south +of Dewa; and Bhugwunt Sing has the small fort of Munmutpore, close to +Bhetae. Bukta Sing had only one son, Bisram Sing, who had only one +son, Gunga Buksh, who built the fort of Kasimgunge, on the north- +eastern border of the same belt of jungle, two miles south of Dewa, +and on the death of his father, he went to reside in it with his +family and gang. He holds twenty-seven fine villages, with hamlets. +Twenty of these he seized upon from six to twelve years ago; and the +other seven he got after the attack upon Dewa, in October last. He +has also a fort called Atursae, two coss south from Dewa; a mile west +from Buldeogur. Alum Sing's descendants have remained peaceable +cultivators of the soil in Dewa, and are, consequently, of too little +note for a place in the genealogical table of the family. + +Lalsahae had three sons, 1. Dheer Sing; 2. Bustee Sing; 3. Gokul +Sing, all dead. Dheer Sing had two sons, Omed Sing and Jowahir Sing. +Omed Sing had three sons, Dirgpaul Sing, Maheput Sing, and Gungadhur, +who was murdered by Thakur Pershad, his cousin. Jowahir Sing had one +son, Priteepaul Sing. Bustee Sing had two sons, Girwur Sing and +Soulee Sing. Girwur Sing had two sons, Dhokul Sing and Shunker Sing. +This branch of the family hold the forts of Ramgura and Paharpore, on +the border of the jungle six miles south-west from Dewa, and twelve +villages besides hamlets taken in the same manner from the old +proprietors. Gokul Sing had two sons, Dulloo Sing and Soophul Sing. +Dulloo Sing has one son. They reside with the families of Dheer Sing +and Bustee Sing. + +Misree Sing, the fifth son of Khumma, had three sons, 1. Boneead +Sing; 2. Dureeao Sing; 3. name forgotten--all three are dead. Bonead +Sing had two sons, 1. Anoop Sing; 2. Goorbuksh Sing. Dureeao Sing had +two sons, 1. Anokee Sing; 2. name forgotten. The third son of Misree +Sing had three sons, 1. Mulung Sing; 2. Anunt Sing; 3. name +forgotten--all three still live. + +This branch of the family resides in Satarpore, one mile west from +Kasimgunge, in this belt of Jungle, and two miles from Dewa, in a +fortified house built by them. They have got a small fort, called +Pouree, near this place. They form part of Gunga Buksh's gang, and +share with him in the booty acquired.] + +To record all the atrocities committed by the different members of +this family in the process of absorbing the estates of their +neighbours, and the property of men of substance in the countries +around, would be a tedious and unprofitable task; and I shall content +myself with mentioning a few that are most prominent in the +recollection of the people of the district. About ten years ago, +Gunga Buksh and his gang attacked the house of Lalla Shunker Lal, a +respectable merchant of Dewa, plundered it, killed the tutor of his +three sons, and carried them and their father off to his fort, where +he tortured them till they paid him a ransom of nine thousand rupees. +On their release they left Dewa, and have ever since resided in +Lucknow. Two years after they attacked the village of Saleempore, two +miles east from Dewa, killed Nyam Allee, the zumeendar, and seized +upon his estate. About six years ago Munnoo, the son of Gunga Buksh, +with a gang of near two thousand men, attacked the King's force in +the town of Dewa, killed four sipahees, two artillery-men, and two +troopers, and plundered the place. About six months ago this gang +attacked the house of Ewuz Mahommed, in Dewa, plundered it, levelled +it with the ground, and took off all the timbers to their fort of +Kasimgunge. Soon after he made the attack in which he killed twenty- +nine persons in Dewa, as above described. + +Thakur Purshad, about fourteen years ago, attacked the village of +Molookpore, two miles east from Dewa, plundered it, took possession +of the land, seized and carried off the proprietor, Sheikh Khoda +Buksh, and put him to death in his fort of Bhetae. Three years after +he attacked the house of Gholam Mostafa, in Dewa, killed him, and +seized upon all the lands he held. Three years ago he attacked the +house of Janoo, a shopkeeper, plundered it, and confined and tortured +him till he paid a ransom of two hundred and fifty rupees. Three +months after he seized and carried off to his fort Roopun, another +shopkeeper, and confined and tortured him till he paid a ransom of +three hundred rupees. Last year he seized and took off Jhow Dhobee +from Dewa, and extorted forty rupees from him. Six months ago he +attacked a marriage-procession in Dewa, plundered it, took off the +bridegroom, Omed Allee, and confined and tortured him till he paid +eleven hundred and fifteen rupees. These men all levy black mail from +the country around; and it is those only who cannot or will not pay +it, or whose lands they intend to appropriate, that they attack. They +created the jungle above described, of nine miles long by four wide, +for their own evil purposes, and preserve it with so much vigilance, +that no man dares to cut a stick, graze a bullock, or browse a camel +in it without their special sanction; indeed, they are so much +dreaded, that no man or woman beyond their own family or followers +dares enter the jungle. + +Omed Sing, fifteen years ago, invited to his house the four +proprietors of the village of Owree, Gholam Kadir, Allee Buksh, +Durvesh Allee, and Moiz-od Deen, residents of Dewa, and put them to +death because they could not, by torture, be made to transfer their +lands to him. He then seized their village, and built the fort of +Rumgura Paharpore upon it. Omed Sing, Jowahir Sing, Dhokul Sing, and +Soophul Sing all reside in this fort with the son of Dulloo Sing. +This family of pansees, or, as they call themselves, Rawuts, form at +present one of the most formidable gangs of robbers in Oude, and one +of the most difficult to put down from their union and inveterate +habit of plunder. They can always, at short notice and little cost, +collect bands of hundreds of the same tribe and habit to join them in +plunder and resistance to lawful authority. + +On the 25th of February, 1838, Rajah Dursun Sing, then in charge of +the district, wrote to the Durbar to say, "that Gunga Buksh of Dewa +was the worst robber in the district, would pay no revenue, and +instigated others to withhold theirs; that numerous complaints had +been made against him to the Durbar by the people, and that he had +been urged by Government to do his best to punish him; that he had +long tried all he could to do so, but had not sufficient troops; that +his evil deeds increased, however, so much, that he at last +determined to run all risks, and on the 27th of that month, on +Friday, he left Amaneegunge, and marched forty-eight miles without +resting; and on Saturday, before daybreak, reached the fort of +Kasimgunge, and invested it on all sides; that he found the fort +large and strong, and surrounded with dense jungle; that he had only +three guns with him, but, as the enemy were taken by surprise, he +took all their outworks one after another; that the besieged got a +crowd of their adherents to attack his force in the rear on Saturday +night, that they might get off in the confusion, but his troops were +ready to intercept them at all points; and, in attempting to cut his +way through, Gunga Baksh was seized with all his followers, but the +women and children were permitted to go their way; that a good many +of the enemy had been killed, and he, Dursun Sing, had had one +golundaz and five sipahees killed and ten persons wounded." + +The King sent Dursun Sing a dress of honour with the title of Rajah +on the 3rd of March, 1838, and ordered him to have the fort levelled +with the ground. Dursun Sing, in reply, states that he had men +employed in pulling down the fort; and, in reply to an order to send +in a list of the property taken from the besieged, he states, on the +12th of March, 1838, that none whatever had been secured. Gunga Buksh +soon bribed his way out of prison at Lucknow, returned to Kasimgunge, +rebuilt his fort, and made it stronger than ever; and continued to +plunder the country, and increase his landed possessions by the +murder of the old proprietors. He became enlisted into the tribe of +Rajpoots, and his sister was married to the Powar Rajah of _Etonda_, +seven coss north from Lucknow. Jode Sing, the present Rajah of that +place, is her son; and he is associated with Gunga Buksh in his +depredations. _Sahuj Ram_, of Pokhura, of the Ametheea tribe of +Rajpoots, in the Hydergurh purgunna, on the right bank of the Goomtee +river, married a daughter of Gunga Buksh's, and has a strong fort, +called Raunee, thirty miles east from Lucknow. He is said to have +been present at the murder of the twenty-nine persons at Dewa in +October last, and to have had with him four hundred armed men and two +guns. He and all his followers are notorious and inveterate robbers, +like Gunga Buksh himself. The descendants of Khumma, the village +watchman, have already built ten forts upon the lands which they have +seized, and there are no less than seventy of these forts or +strongholds within a circuit of ninety miles round Bhetae and +Khasimgunge, the centre being not more than eighteen miles from the +Lucknow cantonments. + +The Minister having informed the Resident that, without some aid from +British troops, it was impossible for him to put down or punish these +atrocious murderers and robbers, who had so many mud-forts well +garrisoned by their gangs, he, on the 26th of March, 1850, ordered a +wing of the 2nd Battalion of Oude Local Infantry under Captain +Boileau to join the force, consisting of, 1. A wing of the 2nd Oude +Local Infantry; 2. Captain Barlow's regiment, with two nine-pounders +and one eight-inch howitzer; 3. Nawab Allee's auxiliaries, two +thousand men and three small guns; 4. Sufshikum Khan, the Amil of the +district, with one thousand men and five guns; 5. Seoraj-od Deen, the +Amil of Ramnuggur, with one hundred and fifty men and two guns; 6. +Ghalib Jung, with one thousand foot soldiers, forty camel jinjals +(tumbooraks), seven guns, and one hundred troopers, in an attack upon +Kasimgunge. The different parts of this force had been so disposed as +to concentrate upon and invest the fort at daybreak on the morning of +that day. The surprise was complete. + +Shells were thrown into the fort from Captain Barlow's guns, but +Captain Boileau did not consider the force sufficient to take the +fort and secure, the garrison, and wrote to request a reinforcement. +The distance from Kasimgunge to the cantonments was twenty miles. A +wing of the 10th Regiment Native Infantry, with two guns, was sent +off under Captain Wilson; but the garrison had evacuated the fort and +fled on the night of the 26th, and the wing was ordered to proceed +direct to the fort of Bhetae, four miles nearer to the cantonments, +which was to be invested by the same force on the morning of the +28th. + +Captain Wilson had with him Lieutenant Elderton, as adjutant of the +wing, and Ensigns Trenchard and Wish, with a native officer in charge +of the two guns. They reached Bhetae at 7 A.M., were joined by the +Bhetae force at 8 A.M., and the two forts of Bhetae and Munmutpore +were forthwith invested. Munmutpore stood about three hundred yards +to the west of Bhetae; and both forts were held by Thakur Purshad and +Bhugwunt Sing, members of the same family of pansee robbers, and +their gangs. Captain Wilson was the chief in command; and he, with +his own and Captain Boileau's wing, took up his position on the north +side of Bhetae, and placed Captain Barlow on the west side of +Munmutpore. There was a deep dry ditch all round outside the outer +wall, and a thick fence of bamboos inside. Between this fence and the +citadel in both forts was a still deeper ditch. Between the fence of +bamboos and the inner ditch was a small intricate passage, +intersected by huts and trenches. + +The wall of the citadel was about twenty feet high, and the upper +part formed a parapet eight feet high, filled with loopholes for +matchlocks. Between Bhetae and Munmutpore, midway, was a large +bastion filled with matchlock-men, to keep open the communication and +prevent an enemy from taking up any position between the two forts. +The investing force was distributed all round, with orders to attack +the nearest and weakest points as soon as Captain Wilson should +commence his upon the main point, the northern face. + +On the afternoon of the 29th, about half-past three, a small party of +the garrison came out of the gate on the northern face, and appeared +disposed to attack Captain Wilson's two nine-pounders, and a third +gun, which had all three been advanced on to within a short distance +of the gate. During this time Captain Barlow was throwing shells into +both forts from his position to the west of Munmutpore. The subahdar- +major had command of the advanced party in charge of Captain Wilson's +three guns. He charged and drove back into the fort the small party +which threatened his guns, and Captain Wilson hastily assembled all +his and Captain Boileau's force, and followed to support the +subahdar-major. Finding his officers and men all excited and anxious +to push on into the fort, Captain Wilson unfortunately yielded to the +impulse, and entered the outer gate with one of his two nine- +pounders, in the hope of taking the place by a _coup-de-main_. + +The garrison all retired into the citadel as he entered, and kept up +a distressing fire upon the assailants as they went along the narrow +passage between the bamboo fence and the ditch in search of a way +into the citadel. Several rounds were fired from the gun, in the hope +of making a breach in the wall, but the balls penetrated and lodged +midway in the wall, without bringing down any part of it; and +musketry was altogether useless against a thick parapet with +loopholes, so slender on the outside and so wide within. The huts, +which might have sheltered officers and men, were set fire to by +accident, and tended to increase the confusion. The entrance to the +citadel was over a narrow mud causeway, which the garrison had not +had time to remove; but it was hidden from the assailants by a +projection which they could not attain, and the men began to fall +fast before the fire from the loopholes of the parapet. + +On hearing the firing on Captain Wilson's side, the officers +commanding the troops on the other three sides, commenced their +attack on the nearest and seemingly weakest points, as before +directed. Captain Barlow lost some men in an unsuccessful attempt to +enter the fort of Munmutpore on the west side; but the auxiliary +force of Nawab Allee effected an entrance on the east side of that +fort. They were, however, arrested by the second ditch within, in the +same manner as Captain Wilson's force had been, and a good many men +were shot down in the same manner, in attempting to get over it. The +force under Sufshikum Khan, on the east side of Bhetae, effected an +entrance, but was arrested by the second ditch in the same manner, +and lost many men. The enemy in Bhetae had eleven men killed and +nineteen wounded, a good many of them from the shells thrown in by +Captain Barlow. The loss of the enemy in Munmutpore was never +ascertained. + +After Captain Wilson had been engaged within the wall about three- +quarters of an hour, and the ammunition of the gun had become +exhausted. Lieutenant Elderton, who had behaved with great gallantry +during the whole scene, and was standing in advance with Captain +Boileau, received a shot in the neck, and fell dead by his side. +Having lost so many men and officers in fruitless efforts to +penetrate into the citadel, and seeing no prospect of carrying the +place by remaining longer under the fire from the parapet, Captains +Wilson and Boileau drew off their parties; but the bullocks which +drew the gun had been all killed or wounded, and they were obliged to +leave it behind with the bodies of the killed. The men attempted to +draw off the gun; but so many were shot down from above that it was +deemed prudent to abandon it. About midnight both garrisons vacated +the forts, and retired unmolested through the jungle to the eastward, +where Ghalib Jung's troops had been posted. There is good ground to +believe that he connived at their escape, and purposely held back +from the attack as a traitor in connivance with some influential +persons in the Durbar. + +The 10th Native Infantry had one European officer, Lieutenant +Elderton, ten sipahees, and one calashee, killed; five native +officers and twenty-two privates, wounded. + +The 2nd Oude Local Infantry, six sipahees, and one calashee, killed; +and seven native officers and thirteen privates, wounded. + +The artillery had one native officer and nine privates wounded. + +This reverse arose from the commandant's yielding to the impetuosity +of his officers and sipahees, and attempting to take by a rush a +strong fort whose defences he had never examined and knew nothing +whatever about, as he had never before seen any place of the kind, or +had one described to him. He and all his men had courage in +abundance, but they wanted prudence. + +Gunga Buksh and his son, Runjeet Sing, were afterwards taken, +convicted before the highest tribunal in Oude, of the murder of the +twenty-seven persons in Dewa, in October, 1849, and executed on the +18th of September, 1850. Thakur Purshad and his cousin, Bhugwunt +Sing, remained at large, and at the head of their gang of robbers +continued to plunder the country, and levy blackmail from landholders +and village communities till the 1st of February 1851, though pressed +by a force of one thousand infantry, fifty troopers, and some ten +guns. On the morning of that day, Captain Hearsey, commanding a +detachment of the Oude Frontier Police, who had been ordered to co- +operate with this force in putting down this gang, took advantage of +a dense fog, fell upon them, and with the loss of one non- +commissioned officer killed, and three non-commissioned officers and +three sipahees wounded, killed one of the chief leaders, Bhugwunt +Sing, and twenty-two of their followers, wounded many more, and took +eight prisoners, among them the son of the leader Bhugwunt Sing. The +other two leaders, Thakur Purshad and Keerut Sing, were bathing at +the time in the river Goomtee, and escaped by swimming across. + +Rajah Bukhtawur Sing declares, that the taking of daughters from +families of this caste by Rajpoots is one of the punishments +inflicted upon them for the murder of their own. They will not +condescend to give daughters in marriage to such persons; and they +take daughters from them merely to get their money, and assistance on +emergency in resisting the Government, and murdering and plundering +its subjects. + +This part of Oude, comprising the districts of Dureeabad Rudowlee, +Ramnuggur Dhumeree, Dewa Jahangeerabad, Jugdispoor, and Hydergur, has +more mud forts than any other, though they abound in all parts; and +the greater part of them are garrisoned in the same way by gangs of +robbers. It is worth remarking, that the children in the villages +hereabout play at fortification as a favourite amusement, each +striving to excel the others in the ingenuity of his defences. They +all seem to feel that they must some day have to take a part in +defending such places against the King's troops; and their parents +seem to encourage the feeling. The real mud forts are concealed from +sight in beautiful clusters of bamboos or other evergreen jungle, so +that the passer-by can see nothing of them. Some of them are +exceedingly strong, against troops unprovided with mortars and +shells. The garrison is easily shelled out by a small force, or +starved out by a large one; but one should never attempt to breach +them with round shot, or take them by an escalade or a rush. + +It is still more worthy of remark, that these great landholders, who +have recently acquired their possessions by the plunder and murder of +their weaker neighbours, and who continue their system of pillage, in +order to acquire the means to maintain their gangs, and add to these +possessions, are those who are most favoured at Court, and most +conciliated by the local rulers; because they are more able and more +willing than others to pay for the favours of the one, and set at +defiance the authority of the other. They often get their estates +transferred from the jurisdiction of the local governors to that of +the person in charge of the Hozoor Tuhseel at Lucknow. Almost all the +estates of this family of Rawuts have been so transferred. + +Local governors cannot help seeing or hearing of the atrocities they +commit, and feeling some _sympathy_ with the sufferers; or at least +some apprehension, that they may lose revenue by their murder, and +the absorption of their estate; but the officer in charge of the +Hozoor Tuhseel sees or hears little of what they do, and cares +nothing about the sufferers as long as their despoilers pay him +liberally. If the local governor reports their atrocities to +Government, this person represents it as arising solely from enmity; +and describes the sufferers as lawless characters, whom it is +meritorious to punish. If the Court attempts to punish or coerce such +characters, he gives them information, and does all he can to +frustrate the attempt. If they are taken and imprisoned, he soon gets +them released; and if their forts and strongholds have been taken and +pulled down, he sells them the privilege of rebuilding or repairing +them. It is exceedingly difficult at all times, and often altogether +impossible, to get one of these robber landholders punished, or +effectually put down, so many and so formidable are the obstacles +thrown in the way by the Court favourite, who has charge of the +Hozoor Tuhseel, and their other friends at the capital. Those who +suffer from their crimes have seldom any chance of redress. Having +lost their all, they are no longer in a condition to pay for it; and +without payment nothing can be got from the Court of Lucknow. + +_February_ 23, 1850.--Badoosura, ten miles south-east over a plain +covered with rich crops and fine foliage; soil muteear generally, but +in some parts doomut; tillage excellent. Passed over some more sites +of Bhur towns. The Oude territory abounds with these sites, but +nothing seems to be known of the history of the people to whom they +belonged. They seem to have been systematically extirpated by the +Mahommedan conquerors in the early part of the fourteenth century. +All their towns seem to have been built of burnt brick, while none of +the towns of the present day are so. There are numerous wells still +in use, which were formed by them of the finest burnt brick and +cement; and the people tell me that others of the same kind are +frequently discovered in ploughing over fields. I have heard of no +arms, coins, or utensils peculiar to them having been discovered, +though copper sunuds, or deeds of grant from the Rajahs of Kunoje, to +other people in Oude, six hundred years ago, have been found. The +Bhurs must have formed town and village communities in this country +at a very remote period, and have been a civilized people, though +they have not left a name, date, or legend inscribed upon any +monument. Brick ruins of forts, houses, and wells, are the only +relics to be found of these people. Some few of the caste are still +found in the humblest grade of society as cultivators, police +officers, &c., in Oude and other districts north of the Ganges. Up to +the end of the thirteenth century their sovereignty certainly +extended over what are now called the Byswara and Banoda districts; +and Sultanpore, under some other name, appears to have been their +capital. It was taken and destroyed early in the fourteenth century +by Allah-od Deen, Sultan of Delhi, or by one of his generals, and +named Sultanpore. Chandour was another great town of these Bhurs. I +am not aware of any temples having been found to indicate their +creed.* + +[* The Bhur Goojurs must, I conclude, have been of the same race.] + +The landholders, who have become leaders of gang-robbers, are more +numerous here than in any other part of Oude that I have seen, save +Bangur: but they are not here, as there, so strongly federated. The +Amil is so weak, that, in despair, he connives at their atrocities +and usurpations as the only means of collecting the Government +revenue, and filling his own pockets. The pausee bowmen are here much +more formidable than they are even in Bangur. There they thieve, and +join the gangs of the refractory landholders; but here they have +powerful leaders of their own tribe, and form formidable independent +gangs. They sometimes attack and plunder villages, and spare neither +age nor sex. They have some small strongholds in which they assemble +from different villages over pitchers of spirits, made from the fruit +of the mhowa tree, and purchased for them by their leaders; and, +having determined upon what villages to attack, proceed at once to +work before they get sober. Every town and village through which we +pass has suffered more or less from their atrocities, and the people +are in a continual state of dread. + +In 1843, the pausees, who resided in the village of Chindwara, in the +Dewa district, ran off to avoid being held responsible for the +robbery of a merchant in the neighbourhood. They were pacified and +brought back; but the landholder was sorely pressed by the Government +collector to pay up his balance of revenue, and he, in turn, pressed +the pausees to pay up the balances due by them for rents. They ran +off again, but their families were retained by the landholder. The +pausees gathered together all of their clan that they could muster +from the surrounding villages, attacked the landholder's house, +killed his mother, wife, four of his nephews, the wife of one of his +nephews, two of the King's sipahees who attempted to defend them, and +several of the landholder, Yakoob Husun's, servants, and plundered +him of everything he had. The landlord himself happened to be absent +on business, and was the only one of the family who escaped. In all +twenty-nine persons were murdered by the pausees on that occasion. +They were all permitted to come back and settle in the village, as if +nothing had happened; the village was made over to another, and +Yakoob Husun has ever since been supplicating in vain for redress at +the King's gate. + +About three miles from Badoosura, we passed from the Ramnuggur +district into that of Dureeabad Rodowlee; but the above description +is applicable to both, though in a somewhat less degree to Ramnuggur +than to Dureeabad. It is equally applicable to the Dewa district, +which we left on our right yesterday, midway between our road and +Lucknow. There Gunga Buksh Chowdheree and his relatives have large +gangs engaged in plundering towns, and seizing upon the lands of +their weaker and more scrupulous neighbours. In the Dureeabad +district, the leaders of gangs are chiefly of the Behraleea tribe of +Rajpoots, so called after the district of Behralee, in which they +reside. + +I this morning asked Nowsing, a landholder of the Rykwar Rajpoot +clan, who came to me, in sorrow, to demand redress for grievous +wrongs, whether he did not think that all the evils they suffered +arose from murdering their female infants. "No, sir, I do not." "But +the greater part of the Rajpoot families do still murder them, do +they not?" "Yes, sir, they still destroy them; and we believe that +the father who preserves a daughter will never live to see her +suitably married, or that the family into which she does marry will +perish or be ruined." "Do you recollect any instances of this?" "Yes, +sir, my uncle, Dureeao, preserved a daughter, but died before he +could see her married; and my father was obliged to go to the cost of +getting her married into a Chouhan family at Mynpooree, in the +British territory. My grandfather, Nathoo, and his brother, +Rughonath, preserved each a daughter, and married them into the same +Chouhan families of Mynpooree. These families all became ruined; and +their lands were sold by auction; and the three women returned upon +us, one having two sons and a daughter, and another two sons. We +maintained them for some years with difficulty, but this year, seeing +the disorder that prevailed around us, they all went back to the +families of their husbands. It is the general belief among us, sir, +that those who preserve their daughters never prosper, and that the +families into which we marry them are equally unfortunate." + +"Then you think that it is a duty imposed upon you from above to +destroy your infant daughters, and that the neglect and disregard of +that duty bring misfortunes upon you?" "We think it must be so, sir, +with regard to our own families or clan." + +I am satisfied that these notions were honestly expressed, however +strange they may appear to others. Habit has brutalized them, or +rendered them worse than brutes in regard to their female offspring. +They derive profit, or save expense and some mortification, by +destroying them, and readily believe anything that can tend to excuse +the atrocity to themselves or to others. The facility with which men +and women persuade themselves of a religious sanction for what they +wish to do, however cruel and iniquitous, is not, unhappily, peculiar +to any class or to any creed. These Rajpoots know that the crime is +detestable, not only to the few Christians they meet, but to all +Mahommedans, and to every other class of Hindoos among whom they live +and move. But the Rajpoots, among whom alone this crime prevails, are +the dominant class in Oude; and they can disregard the feelings and +opinions of the people around them with impunity. The greater part of +the land is held by them, and in the greater part of the towns and +villages their authority is paramount. + +Industry is confined almost exclusively to agriculture. They have +neither merchants nor manufacturers to form, or aid in forming, a +respectable and influential middle class; and the public officers of +the state they look upon as their natural and irreconcileable +enemies. When the aristocracy of Europe buried their daughters alive +in nunneries, the state of society was much the same as it now is in +Oude. The King has prohibited both infanticide and suttee. The latter +being essentially a public exhibition, the local authorities have +continued, in great measure, to put down; but the former was +certainly never more common than it is at present, for the Rajpoot +landholders were never before more strong and numerous. That suttees +were formerly very numerous in Oude is manifest from the numerous +suttee tombs we see in the vicinity of every town and almost every +village; but the Rajpoots never felt much interested in them; they +were not necessary either to their pride or purse.* + +[* Suttee, infanticide, suicide, the maiming of any one, or making +any one an eunuch, were all prohibited by the King of Oude, on the +15th of May, 1833, as reported to Government by the Resident on the +6th November, 1834. These prohibitions were reported to the Resident, +by the King, on the 14th of June, 1833.] + +_February 24th_, 1850.--Dureeabad, ten miles south-east, over a plain +of good soil--doomut and mutteear--covered with the same rich crops +and fine foliage. There is at present no other district in Oude +abounding so much in gang robbery and other crime as this of +Dureeabad Rodoulee, in which the Amil, Girdhara Sing, is notoriously +conniving at these crimes from a consciousness of utter inability to +contend with the landholders who commit them, or employ men to commit +them. Yet he has at his disposal a force that ought to be sufficient +to keep in order a district five times as large. He has the Jannissar +battalion of nujeebs, under Seetla Buksh at present; the Zoolfukar +Sufderee battalion of nujeebs, under Bhow-od Dowlah, who never leaves +Court; and the Judeed, or new regiment, consisting of a thousand men. +He has nine guns, and a squadron of horse. Of the guns, five are on +the ground, utterly useless; four will bear firing a few rounds. For +these four he has bullocks, but they are not yet in condition. Of the +seer and half of corn, drawn for each bullock per diem, only half a +seer is given. Of the corps, more than one-half of the men are at +Lucknow, in attendance upon Court favourites; and of the half present +not one-third are fit for the work of soldiers. + +The Amil rode by my side, and I asked him about the case of the +marriage-procession. "Sir," said he, "what you heard from Seoraj-od +Deen is all true. Imam Buksh had a strong fort in his estate of +Ouseyree, five miles to our right, where he had a formidable gang, +that committed numerous dacoitees and highway robberies in the +country around. I was ordered to attack him with all my force. He got +intimation, and assembled his friends to the number of five thousand. +I had not half the number. We fought till he lost seventy men, and I +had thirty killed and fifteen wounded. He then fled to the jungles, +and I levelled his fort with the ground. He continued, however, to +plunder, and at last seized the bridegroom and all the marriage +party, and took them to his bivouac in the jungles. The family was +very respectable, and made application to me, and I was obliged to +restore him to his estate, where he has lived ever since in peace. I +attacked him in November 1848, and he took off the marriage party in +February following." "But," said a poor hackery driver, who was +running along by my side, and had yesterday presented me a petition, +"you forgot to get back my two carts and bullocks which he still +keeps, and uses for his own purpose, though I have been importuning +you ever since." "And what did he do to you when he got you into the +jungles?" "He tied up and flogged all who seemed respectable, and +worth something--such as merchants and shopkeepers--and poked them +with red-hot ramrods till they paid all they could get, and promised +to use all the influence and wealth of their families to force the +Amil to restore him to his estate on his own terms." "And were the +parties married after their release?" "Yes, sir, we were released in +April, after the Amil had been made to consent to his terms; and they +were married in May; but I could not get back my two carts." "And on +what terms did you restore this Imam Buksh to his estate?" "I granted +him a lease, sir," said the Amil, "at the same rate of five thousand +rupees a-year which he had paid before."* + +[* This Imam Buksh, in April, 1850, went in disguise to the annual +fair held at Bahraetch, in honour of the old saint. He was recognized +by some of Captain Bunbury's soldiers, who attempted to seize him. He +was armed with sword, spear, and shield, and defended himself as long +as he could. Seeing no chance of escape, he plunged both sword and +spear into his own belly, and died, though Captain Bunbury came up, +had his wounds sewn up, and did all he could to save him.] + +Stopping to talk with the peasantry of a village who had come out to +the roadside to pay their respects and see the procession, I asked +them how, amidst such crimes and disorders, they could preserve their +crops so well. "Sir," said they, "we find it very difficult and +expensive to do so, and shall find it still more so when the crops +are cut and stacked, or have been threshed and stored; then these +gangs of robbers have it all their own way, and burn and plunder all +over the country; we are obliged to spend all we have in maintaining +watchmen for our fields." "But the pausee bowmen have an allowance +for this duty, have they not?" "Yes, sir, they have all an allowance. +Every cultivator, when he cuts his crop, leaves a certain portion +standing for the pausee who has guarded it, and this we call his +_Bisar_. Over and above this he has a portion of land from the +proprietor or holder of the village, which he tills himself or gets +tilled by others." "And they are strong and faithful watchmen, are +they not?" "Yes, sir, they are; and though they will thieve and join +gangs of robbers in any enterprise, they will never betray their +trust. They consider it a _point of honour_ not to trespass on fields +or property under the guardianship of members of their own class with +whom they are on good terms, or to suffer any persons whatever to +trespass on what is under their own care. The money which we send to +the treasuries is commonly intrusted to pausees, and their fidelity +and courage may be relied upon. The gang robbers do little injury to +our fields while the crops are green, for they take animals of hardly +any kind with them in their enterprises; and having to move to and +from their points of attack as quickly as possible, they could carry +little of our crops with them; they are, too, afraid of the arrows of +the pausee bowmen at night, if they venture to trespass upon our +fields." "And are these pausee bowmen paid at the rate you mention +all over the country?" "No, sir; they are in some parts paid in what +is called the beega arhaeya, or two seers and half of grain from +every beega. From a pucka beega they get pucka two and half seers; +and from a kutcha beega, a kutcha two and half seers."* "Your crops, +my friends, are finer than I have ever before seen them in Oude." +"Yes, sir, they are very fine; but how we shall gather them God only +knows, with such gangs of desperate robbers all around us. The alarm +is sounded every night, and we have no rest. The Government +authorities are too weak to protect us, or too indifferent to our +sufferings; and we cannot afford to provide the means to protect +ourselves." + +[* The kutcha measure bears the same relation to the pucka in weight +as in land measurement.] + +As we went on, I asked the Amil what had become of Ahburun Sing, of +Kyampore, the landholder who murdered his father to get possession of +his estate, as mentioned in the early part of this Diary. "Ahburun +Sing, sir, is still in possession of his estate of Kyampore, and +manages it exceedingly well." "I thought he had taken to the jungles +with his gang, like the rest of his class after such a crime, in +order to reduce you to terms?" "It was his father, sir, Aman Sing, +that was doing this. He was the terror of the country; neither road +nor village was safe from him. He murdered many people, and plundered +and burnt down many villages; and all my efforts to put him down were +vain. At last I came to an understanding with his eldest son, who +remained at home in the management of the estate, and was on bad +terms with his father. He had confidential persons always about his +father for his own safety; and when he was one night off his guard, +he went at the head of a small band of resolute men, and seized him. +He kept him in prison for six months, and told me that while so much +plunder was going on around, he did not feel secure of keeping his +father a single night; that many of his old followers wanted him back +as their leader, and would certainly rescue him if he was not +disposed of; that he could not put him to death, lest he should be +detested by his clan as a parricide; but if I would make a feigned +attack on the fort, he would kill him, and make it appear that he had +lost his life in the defence of it. I moved with all the force I had +against the fort, discharged many guns against the walls, made a +feigned attempt at escalade; and in the midst of the confusion _Aman +Sing was killed_. As soon as this was done, I returned with my force; +the son remained in possession of the estate, and all the surrounding +country was delighted to hear that so atrocious a character had been +got rid of." + +This was all true, and the Amil did not seem to think that any one +who listened to him could suppose that he had done anything +dishonourable in all this: he seemed to think that all must feel as +he did, seeing his utter inability to cope with these baronial +robbers in any other way, and the evils they every day inflicted upon +the people. This Aman Sing was the most formidable of these robbers +in this district, and the high road from Lucknow to Fyzabad was for +some time closed by his gang. Of those whom he robbed, he used to +murder all who appeared likely to be able to get a hearing at Court +or at the Residency. + +The Behraleea Rajpoots, of the Soorujpore Behreyla purgunna, are now +the most formidable and inveterate robbers and plunderers in the +district. The Rajah of this estate, Singjoo, was for some years the +most formidable robber in Oude. He had taken a dislike to the family +of a sipahee of the Governor-General's bodyguard; and, in an evil +hour, he buried the sipahee's father, and some members of his family, +alive. Strong remonstrances were made through the Resident, and Man +Sing, the son of Dursan Sing, who has been already mentioned in this +diary, had orders to seize him. In March, 1845, he made a march of +forty miles at the head of five hundred active and brave men; and, on +the night of the 20th of that month, reached the gate of the fort of +Soorujpore, broke it open, entered, killed and wounded fifty of the +Rajah's men, and lost five of his own. + +The Rajah escaped and took shelter in the fort of Goura. After taking +possession of the fort, eight guns, and some elephants, and releasing +two hundred unhappy prisoners, Man Sing followed the Rajah to Goura, +where he was joined by Captain Magness and his corps. The gate of +this fort was giving way before Man Sing's pickaxemen, when Singjoo +surrendered. He was taken to Lucknow, and there died in gaol. The +village, in which his father had been buried alive, Hukkamee, was +given to the sipahee, and is still held by the family;* but they are +a good deal worried in the possession by the widow of the old Rajah, +who still lives at Soorujpore, and would be as formidable as her late +husband was if she could. + +[* In the interval, during which Singjoo held this village, he had +added to its boundaries a good deal of land belonging to himself and +others, under the impression that he was secure in the hereditary +possession. The sipahee's family seized upon all these lands, while +they paid Government only the old rate of revenue. The widow of +Singjoo has been ever since trying to recover them, in the usual way, +by night attacks, and a good many lives have been lost on both sides, +but most on the side of the sipahee's family. December 4th, 1851.] + +Seodeen, another leader of the same tribe, had been seized in the +same manner by Man Sing's father, Dursun Sing, in October, 1830; and +soon after three of his nephews were seized, and all four died in +gaol at Lucknow; but Chunda and Indul, the brothers of these three +men, are still among the most formidable robbers of the district. +Hardly a night passes without their plundering some village or other, +though Chunda continues to hold his estate, which yields 2250 rupees +a-year, under the security of Seetla Buksh, the commandant of the +Jannissaree battalion, for the payment of four hundred and fifty +rupees a-year. The other robbers of the Dureeabad Rodowlee district, +most formidable, are-- + +1. Imambuksh, above described, as having seized the marriage party. +In October last he attacked the town of Syud Mahomedpore, killed +three of the Syud proprietors, and plundered it of all he could find. +In the interval between his being driven out of his stronghold and +restored, he attacked and plundered no less than twelve villages, in +the same purgunna of Bussooree Mowae. In one of them, Myrmow, +belonging to Ameer Chowdheree, he killed no less than twelve of the +inhabitants. He still keeps up his gang, and plunders, though +restored to his estate on his own terms.* + +[* The death of this robber, Imam Buksh, has been already described +in a note.] + +2. Junuck Sing, Behraleea, and his brother, Jeskurun, only twenty +days ago, attacked, plundered, and burnt down the town of Meeangunge, +through which we passed this morning, and carried off all the +inhabitants from whom they thought they could extort any ransom. Only +two days ago, they attacked and plundered the village of Bhojpore, +belonging to Soorujbulee Canoongo, one of the most respectable men in +the district; and cut off the hands of six persons, one of whom died +from loss of blood. The next day they attacked and plundered Gorawa, +a village belonging to the same person, and burnt it down. Two of the +inhabitants were severely wounded, and many bullocks perished in the +flames. Within the last year they have taken off more than two +thousand head of cattle from the purgunna of Soorujpore Behreyla, in +which these villages are situated. Their chief associates in the +crimes they commit every day are Chunda and Indul, their clansmen +above named. + +3. Daood Khan, zumeendar of Sundona, in Mowae Bussooree. He has +murdered several of his co-sharers in the estate, and taken their +lands--frightened out others, and taken theirs, and at the head of +his band of ruffians he robs on the highway, and plunders villages. + +4. Benee Sing Kana, Rajpoot of Deeh, in the Mohlara purgunna. He is +blind of one eye, and has a small but formidable gang. In November, +1850, the native collector of Mohlara, sent a detachment of one +hundred men, accompanied by Seonath Sing, a co-sharer of Benee Sing, +in the village of Deeh, and Oree Sing, a sipahee, in Captain Orr's +Frontier Police, to attack his small gang in their stronghold at +Atgowa, in the Rodowlee purgunna. They reached the place at the dawn +of day, and forthwith commenced the attack. Benee Sing and his men +made a stoat defence. Rajah Man Sing came up, and great numbers of +the armed peasantry joined in the attack. They took the place about +nine o'clock; but Benee Sing, with fourteen of his stoutest men, +defended his house as a citadel till morning, when the house was set +fire to by the assailants. One of the fourteen was burnt and +disabled, when Benee Sing and the remaining thirteen rushed out, +sword in hand, to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Benee Sing +and twelve of the thirteen were killed; and the thirteenth at last +threw down his arms, and called for quarter. He got it, and was +saved. Six of his men had before been killed in defending the place. +Man Sing had three men wounded and one killed; three more of the +assailants were killed, and seven wounded. The head of the "one-eyed +robber" was sent in to the king, and was received with much joy. + +5. Jeskurun Behraleea, zumeendar of Kiteya, in Soorujpore. + +6. Rughbur Behraleea, of Kiteya, an associate of Imam Buksh and +Chunda. Four months ago his gang seized two carts laden with valuable +property belonging to Seodeen subahdar, of the Honourable Company's +service. Through the interposition of the Resident they were restored +fifteen days ago. + +7. Jugurnath _Chuprassee_, a bhala soltan Rajpoot. This is one of the +most formidable of the leaders of banditti in this and the adjoining +district of Jugdeespore. He and his elder brother, Surubdowun Sing, +were chuprassees on the establishment of Captain Paton, when he was +the First Assistant at Lucknow, and had charge of the Post-office, in +addition to his other duties. A post-office runner was one night +robbed on the road, and Jugurnath was sent out to inquire into the +circumstances. The Amil of the district gave him a large bribe to +misrepresent the case to his master; and as he refused to share this +bribe with his fellow-servants, they made known his manifold +transgressions to Captain Paton, who forthwith dismissed him. +Surubdowun Sing was soon after dismissed for some other offence, and +they both retired to their estate of Oskamow, in the Jugdeespore +district. + +This estate comprised fifteen villages. They obtained the leases of +these villages by degrees, through the influence which their position +at the Residency gave them. As soon as they got the lease of a +village, they proceeded to turn out all the old proprietors and +cultivators, in order the better to secure possession in perpetuity; +and those among them of the military class, fought "to the death," to +retain or recover possession of their rights. To defend what they had +iniquitously acquired, Jugurnath and his brothers collected together +bands of the most desperate ruffians in the country, and located them +in the several villages, so as to be able to concentrate and support +each other at a concerted signal. The ousted proprietors attacked +only those who presumed to reside in or cultivate the lands of which +they had been robbed; but Jugurnath and his brethren were less +scrupulous; and as they could afford to pay such bands in no other +way, they gave them free licence to plunder all the villages around, +and all travellers on the highway. Their position and influence at +the Residency enabled them to deter the local authorities from +exposing their iniquities; and they went on till all the villages +became waste, and converted into dens of robbers. + +They were, in all, six brothers, and they found their new trade so +profitable and exciting, that they all became leaders of banditti, by +profession, long before the dismissal of the two brothers from the +Residency, though no one, I believe, ventured to prefer charges +against them to the Resident or the Durbar. Soon after their +dismissal, however, Jugurnath one night attacked and murdered his +eldest brother, Surubdowun Sing, in order to get the whole estate to +himself, and put his widow and daughter into prison. His other four +brothers became alarmed, separated from him, and set up each his +separate gang. But Jugurnath contrived soon after, in a dark night, +to shoot the third brother, Himmut, dead, with one ball through the +chest. Purmode Sing, the youngest brother, was soon after shot dead +by some villager, whose cattle he was driving off in a night attack. +Bhugwunt Sing the fourth, and Byjonath, still survive, and have gangs +of their own, afraid to trust themselves with Jugurnath, who has +built two forts, Oskamow and Futtehpore, in the Jugdeespore district, +and a third in two small villages, which he has lately seized upon +and made waste, in the Rodowlee district, in order that he may have a +stronghold to fly to when pressed by the governors of other +districts. + +They pay no rent or revenue to Government for any of the villages +they hold. The king's officers are afraid to demand any from them. +They have plundered a great many villages, and are every month +plundering others. They have murdered a great many persons of both +sexes and all ages, and tortured more into paying ransoms in +proportion to their supposed means. Jugurnath is still the terror of +the surrounding country, and a reward of five hundred rupees has been +offered for his apprehension.* + +[* See note to Chapter VI., Vol. II., on the capture of Maheput Sing. +A reward of one thousand rupees has since been offered for +Jugurnath's arrest. See in Chapter IV., Vol. II:, an account of his +desertion of his master, Captain Paton. He is still at large, and +plundering. December 4th, 1851.] + +8. Moorut Sing, of _Kiteya_, which has eleven small villages +depending upon it, all occupied by Rajpoot robbers. Nowgowa, in +Mohlara, in Rodowlee, on the left bank of the Goomtee river, twenty +miles below Lucknow, has, in the same manner, twelve villages +depending upon it, all occupied by Rajpoots, who rob, or shelter +robbers, when pursued from the east. On the opposite bank is the +village of Kholee, in the Hydergurh purgunna, held by Surfraz +Chowdheree, and occupied by Brahmans and Musulmans, who shelter +robbers in the same way. When they are pressed in Nowgowa they take +shelter in Kholee, and when pressed in Kholee they take shelter in +Nowgowa. All the robbers above named find shelter in these villages +when pursued, and share their plunder with the inhabitants. + +8. Bhooree Khan. The great-grandfather of Bhooree Khan, Rostam Khan. +was the leader of a large gang of Musulman freebooters. The estate of +Deogon, containing thirty-seven villages, belonged to a family of Bys +Rajpoots. Rostam Khan and his gang seized upon them all, and turned +out the Rajpoot proprietors, and by force made three of them +Musulmans, Kanhur, Bhooree, Geesee; and all their descendants are of +the same creed. + +Imam Buksh, the father of Bhoree Khan, built a fort in Deogon, which +the _family_ still held. In 1829, Rajah Dursun Sing took the mortgage +of the estate for twenty-eight thousand one hundred and ten rupees, +to enable Imam Buksh to liquidate a balance of revenue due to +Government. When the time of payment came, in 1832, Imam Buksh could +pay nothing; and he transferred the estate to Dursun Sing, on a deed +of sale or bynama. He continued to manage the estate for Dursun Sing +in farm; but, falling in balance, he was put into confinement, where +he remained till he died, three years after, in the year 1842. +Bhooree Khan was then a boy, but he continued to receive the usual +perquisites from the estate while Dursan Sing held it. In the year +1846, the governor of the district, Wajid Allee Khan, took the estate +from Dursun Sing's family, and made it over to Bhooree Khan for a +present of five thousand rupees. He ceased to pay the Government +demand, collected a gang, and became a leader of banditti. He +plundered all the people around, and all travellers on the road, +seized and confined all who seemed likely to be able to pay ransom, +and tortured and maimed them till they did pay; and those who could +not or would not pay, he put to cruel deaths. The thirty-six villages +on his estate became deserted by all save his followers, and those +whom he could make subservient to his purposes, as robbers and +murderers. + +Ousan Opudeea resided at the village of Etapore, in the estate of +Deogon, and possessed and cultivated lands in that and other villages +around, for which he paid an annual rent of five hundred and ninety- +nine rupees. In 1846, Bhooree Khan demanded from Ousan an increase of +one hundred and fifty rupees, which he paid. The year after 1847, he +demanded a further increase of the same amount, which he paid. He was +then summoned to appear before Bhooree Khan, and was on his way when +told that he would be seized with all his family, and tortured. He, +in consequence, took his family to the village of Patkhoree. Bhooree +Khan followed with a gang of several hundred men, and two guns, +attacked, plundered, and burnt down his house, and fifteen bullocks +and buffaloes perished in the flames. One hundred and fifty head of +cattle belonging to the village were taken off by the gang. Dwarka, +one of Ousan's sons, was killed in defending the house; and the other +two, Davey, aged sixteen, and Seochurun, aged seventeen, were seized, +bound, and taken off to the jungle, with Ramdeen, Ousan's nephew, and +many others of the respectable inhabitants of the village. After +exacting a ransom from all the rest, he let them go; but retained the +two sons of Ousan, and demanded twelve hundred rupees for their +ransom. Ousan had lost all his property in the attack, and could +raise no more than seven hundred rupees among his relatives and +friends. This would not satisfy Bhooree Khan, who, after torturing +and starving the boys for twelve months, and taking the seven hundred +rupees, took them to the jungle of Gaemow, with fetters on their +legs, and bamboo collars round their necks. He there had them tied to +trees, and after firing at them as targets, for some time, with bows +and arrows, he had them cut to pieces with swords, and then seized +upon all the lands which their father held. + +In 1848, Bhooree Khan attacked and plundered the house of Peer Khan, +in Khanseepoor in Deogon, and bound and carried him off with his two +brothers, Ameer Khan and Jehangeer Khan. He had them beaten with +sticks, and caused small iron spikes to be driven up under their +nails, and their eyelids to be sewn up with needle and thread, and +their beards to be burned, till he extorted from them a ransom of +eight hundred rupees. + +While they were thus confined and being tortured, they saw four +travellers brought in by the gang, and tortured and beaten to death, +because they could not pay the ransom demanded from them. + +Bhoree Khan, in this month of August 1848, attacked the house of +Sirdar Khan, an invalid naek of the 36th Regiment of Bengal Native +Infantry, and, after robbing it, burnt it to the ground, and bound +and carried off to his fort in Deogon, Sirdar Khan himself and his +three sons, Khoda Buksh, Allah Buksh, and Allee Buksh; the first +fourteen years of age, the second eight, and the third seven years. +He tortured all three, and demanded a ransom of nineteen hundred +rupees. This sum was borrowed and paid by Jehangeer Khan, the brother +of the naek, and the naek was released. Bhooree Khan would not, +however, release either of the sons till he got five hundred rupees +more; but Sirdar Khan was unable to procure this further sum, and, in +April 1849, Bhooree Khan had two of the boys, Khoda Buksh and Alla +Buksh, tied to trees and shot to death with arrows, for the amusement +of his gang. They were then hacked with swords, and their bodies were +thrown into a ditch, whence he would not permit their friends to +remove them for burial. Sirdar Khan became for a time deranged on +hearing of the sufferings of his sons, and wandered about the +country. Bhooree Khan, with his gang, again attacked the village, and +burned it all down, and drove off all the cattle, including all that +Sirdar Khan possessed. He recovered, and changed his residence to the +village of Deokalee. Bhooree Khan still retained the third son, Allee +Buksh, alias Pulleen, and he is still in prison.* + +[* The Resident effected the release of the third son, Allee Buksh, +in January, 1851, through the aid of Captain Orr, of the Frontier +Police.] + +Sirdar Khan's ancestors were the Rajpoot proprietors of the estate of +Deogon, and were forcibly converted to Mahommedanism by Bhooree +Khan's ancestors when they seized upon the estate. Sirdar Khan +cultivated eighteen beegahs of land in the village of Salteemow, in +Deogon, for which he had long paid thirty-six rupees a year rent. +Bhooree Khan demanded sixty-five a-year before the attack, and this +sum Sirdar Khan paid, but it had no effect in softening the robber +leader. + +In the year 1847, soon after he took possession of the estate, +Bhooree Khan sent a gang under the command of his cousin, Mungul +Khan, to attack the house of Dulla, the most opulent and respectable +merchant of the district, who resided in the town of Mukdoompore. +Dulla had two sons, Nychint and Pursun Sing. After plundering the +house, the gang seized Dulla, his son Nychint, Golbay the son of +Pursun Sing, and Ajoodheea the son of Nychint. Pursun Sing, the other +son of the old merchant, had gone off to the Governor of the +district, Rajah Incha Sing. to adjust his annual accounts. The +females of the family got out through the back-door of the female +apartments, and escaped to the village of Etwara, in the Jugdeespore +district, where they had a residence. All the valuables had been +buried in a pit in the house, some ten feet deep, and the females had +no time to take them up. + +The old man, his son Nychint, and his two sons, were sent off to +Bhooree Khan, who, on learning that the valuables had not been found, +came with fifty more armed men, accompanied by Baboo Mudar Buksh, the +tallookdar of Silha in Jugdispore, his own agent Muheput, and a +Brahmin prisoner named Cheyn, who knew Dulla, and the wealth he +possessed. He brought with him the merchant's son Nychint, and +commanded him to point out the place in which the valuables lay +concealed. He would not do so, and Bhooree Khan then drove four tent- +pins into the ground in the courtyard, placed Nychint on his face, +and tied his hands and feet to these pegs. He then had him burnt into +the bones with red-hot ramrods, but the young man still persisted in +his refusal. He had then oil boiled in a large brass pot which they +found in the house, and poured it over him till all the skin of his +body came off. He became insensible for a time, and when he recovered +his senses he pointed out the spot. Gold and silver ornaments and +clothes of great value, and brass utensils belonging to the family, +or held as pledges for money due to the old man, were taken up, with +one hundred and fifty matchlocks and the same number of swords. They +found also many pits, containing several thousand maunds of grain. +The valuables, and as much of the grain as he could find carriage +for, Bhooree Khan and his gang carried off, and the rest of the grain +he gave to any one who would take it. The value of the whole plunder +was estimated at one hundred and fifty thousand rupees. + +Nychint was unbound, but died that night, and the body was made over +to the Brahmin, Cheyn, who had now become a Mussulman. He took it to +the jungle, where he had it burnt with the usual ceremonies. Bhooree +Khan still detained Ajodheea, the son of Nychint, and Golbay, the son +of Pursun Sing, and demanded a further ransom for them, but he +released Dulla, who came home and died of grief and of the tortures +inflicted upon him in less than a month after. Cheyn, Dabey Sookul, +and Forsut, all Brahmins of Mukdoompoor, were witnesses to the +tortures inflicted upon Nychint, and to the plunder of the house. He +kept Dulla's grandsons for a year more, with occasional tortures, but +the surviving son, Pursun Sing, had nothing more to give, and no one +would give or lend him anything. Golbay, his son, at last contrived +to get a letter conveyed to him, stating that he was now less +carefully guarded than he had been; that he and his cousin, Ajodheea, +were sent to take their meals with a bearer, who lived in a hamlet on +the border of the jungle, where they were guarded by only four pausee +bowmen, and if his father could come with fifty armed men, and +surprise them at a certain hour, he might rescue them. He assembled +fifty men from surrounding villages, and at the appointed time, +before daybreak, he surprised the guard, and rescued his son and +nephew. + +Gunga Purshad, son of Chob Sing, canoongo of Silha, in Deogon, left +the place when Bhooree Khan took to plundering, and went off, in +1847, with his family to reside at Budulgur, a village held by Allee +Buksh, a mile distant. A month after he had settled in that place, +Bhooree Khan came with his gang, surrounded his house at night, +plundered it, and seized and took off his brother, Bhowanee Purshad, +two younger brothers, and his, Gunga Purshad's, daughter and son, +with Gowree Lall and Gunesh Purshad, his relations, who had come on a +visit to congratulate him on the prudence of his change of residence. +Gunga Purshad was absent at the time on business. All the prisoners +were taken to the jungles and tortured with red-hot iron ramrods, and +put into heavy fetters. He demanded a ransom of nine hundred and +fifty rupees for all. Gunga Purshad sold all he had except some cows +and bullocks, and collected four hundred rupees, and his relation's +clubbed together and raised one hundred more. The five hundred were +sent to Bhooree Khan, and he took them and released all but Bhowanee +Purshad. His two younger brothers collected the cows and bullocks, +and went with them to Mukdoompoor, in the hope of being allowed to +till their lands; but Bhooree Khan and his gang came, seized and sold +all the cows and bullocks they had saved, plundered them of +everything, and took their lands from them. They all fled once more, +and went to reside at Putgowa. At Mukdoompoor, Bhooree Khan had +Bhowanee Purshad flogged so severely that he fell down insensible, +and he then had red-hot iron spikes thrust into his eyes, and a few +days after he died in confinement of his sufferings. The value of the +property taken from the family, besides the five hundred rupees' +ransom, was one thousand rupees. He, about the same time, seized and +carried off from Mukdoompoor Gunga Sookul, a Brahmin, tortured him to +death, and threw his body into the river. + +About the same time, August 1847, he seized and carried off Cheyn, a +Brahmin of Mukdoompoor, son of Bhowanee Buksh. He had come to him to +pay the year's rent for the lands he held in that village. After +paying his own rents and those of others who were afraid to put +themselves into Bhooree Khan's power, and had sent by Cheyn all that +was due, he demanded from him a ransom of four hundred rupees. He +could give no more, and was put under a guard and tortured in the +usual way. As he persisted in declaring his inability to pay more, a +necklace of cow's bones was put round his neck, and one of the bones +was thrust into his mouth, and the blood of a cow was thrown over +him, from which he became for ever an outcast from his religion. He +expected to be put to death, but a friend conveyed to him the sum of +ten rupees, which he gave to the robbers employed to torture him, and +they spared his life. His son had taken shelter in the village of +Pallee, whence he sent a pausee bowman, named Bhowaneedeen, to +inquire after _him_, and offered him ninety rupees if he would rescue +his father. The pausee pledged himself to Bhooree Khan to pay the +money punctually, and Cheyn was released. But Bhooree Khan had cut +down all the crops upon the lands, and taken them away, and cut down +also the five mango-trees which stood upon his land and had been +planted by his ancestors. During his confinement, Cheyn saw Bhooree +Khan torture and murder many men, and dishonour many respectable +women, whom he had seized in the same way. + +In the same month, August 1847, Bhooree Khan seized Sudhae, the son +of Tubbur Khan, of Salteemow, in Deogon, and his (Sudhae's) two sons, +Surufraz and Meerun Buksh, and took them to the jungle. Sadhae had +paid him the eighty rupees rent due for the land he tilled, but +Bhooree Khan demanded one hundred rupees more; and when he could not +pay he made him over to the Jumogdar, to whom he had become pledged +for the payment of a certain sum. The Jumogdar had him beaten till he +saw that nothing could be beaten out of him, when he let him go to +save the cost of keeping him. Bhooree Khan became very angry, and, +with his gang, attacked and plundered the house of Sudhae's brother, +Badul Khan, in Salteemow, with whom Sudhae lived. The two brothers +and their families expected this attack, and escaped unhurt, and +fled, but they lost all their property. + +Bhooree Khan then ordered one of his followers, Mirdae, to take +Surufraz to a tank outside the village and cut off his nose. He took +out at the same time Bukhtawur, a Brahmin, and cut off his nose +first. Mirdae then ordered a Chumar, of Deogon, to cut off the nose +of Surafraz, and standing over him with a sword, told him to cut it +off deep into the bone. Surufraz prayed hard for mercy, first to +Bhooree Khan and then to Mirdae; but his prayers were equally +disregarded by both. The Chumar cut off his nose with a rude +instrument into the bone, and with it-all his upper lip. He was then +let go; but he fell down, after going a little distance, from pain +and the loss of blood, and was there found by his uncle, Badul Khan, +who had gone in search of him. He was taken home, but died the same +night. His brother, Meerun Buksh, was soon after released for a +ransom of fifty rupees. + +Golzar Khan, sipahee of the Dull Regiment, in the King of Oude's +service, tilled some lands in the village of Mukdoompore, for which +he paid rent to Bhooree Khan. In 1847 he first extorted from him +double the rent agreed upon, then seized all the crops, and plundered +his house, and lastly seized the sipahee's sister, and had her +forcibly married to his servant and relative, Mungul Khan. + +In 1846 Bhooree Khan attacked the house of Allah Buksh of Gaemow, in +Deogon, plundered it, killed his brother, Meerun Buksh, cut off the +hands of his relative, Peer Buksh, and wounded three other relatives +who happened at the time to be on a visit with his family. The +articles of property that were taken off by Bhooree Khan and his gang +consisted of five horses and mares, fifteen matchlocks, four maunds +of brass utensils, three hundred and twenty-five maunds of grain, +five swords, four boxes of clothes, fifteen cows and bullocks, five +hundred and forty rupees in money. The houses of all the rest of the +village community were plundered in the same manner. They cut down +all the mango and mhowa trees belonging to the family, as well as all +those belonging to other people of the village. + +In 1847 he attacked the house of Akber Khan, in the village of +Kanderpore, in Deogon; and after plundering it, he bound and carried +off his son, Rumzam, a lad of fifteen years of age; and the year +after, 1848, he again attacked his house, and seized and took off his +brother, Wuzeer Khan. He has them still in confinement under torture, +because Akber Khan cannot get the sum demanded for their ransom; and +all applications for their release to the Government authorities have +been disregarded.* + +[* The Resident could not effect the release of these two persons, +the son and brother of Akber Khan, till January, 1851.] + +In the month of August, 1848, Pransook, a Rajpoot, and Lullut Sing, +his cousin, of Booboopore, in Rodowlee, went to purchase a supply of +bhoosa for their cattle to Mukdoompore, in the Deogon estate, and +were there seized by Aman Sing, an agent of Bhooree Khan, who +pretended that they had given shelter to some of the cultivators who +had fled from Deogon, and demanded their surrender. They protested +that they had never seen any such cultivators, and knew nothing +whatever about them. They were bound and taken off to Deogon to +Bhooree Khan, who had them both put into the stocks. After having +been in the stocks for five days, they were again taken to Bhooree +Khan, who ordered them to produce the cultivators, or pay a ransom of +one hundred and five rupees. They were then taken back to prison, and +confined for eighteen days more; and having no food supplied them, +they were obliged to sell all the clothes they wore to procure a +scanty supply. + +To frighten them, Bhooree Khan one day ordered his followers to make +outcasts in their presence of two respectable men whom he had in +prison, Deena Sing, a Chowan Rajpoot of Jooreeum, and a Brahmin of +Poorwa, a small hamlet near Deogon, while he sat on the roof of his +house to look on. One of his Musulman followers forced open Deena +Sing's mouth, and spit into it; and the others tied the bones of a +neelgae round the neck of the Brahmin, by which both of them were +deprived of their caste. They then told Pransook and Lullut Sin that +they would be served in the same manner unless they paid the ransom +demanded. They became alarmed, and sent to their friends to request +them earnestly to borrow all they could, and send it for their +ransom. Their cousin, Sheobuksh Sing Jemadar, an invalid pensioner +from the 2nd Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, collected one +hundred and eighteen rupees, and sent them. Bhooree Khan took one +hundred and five for himself, and his servants took thirteen, and +they were released; but they were made to swear on the tomb of the +saint Shah Sender that they would not complain of the treatment they +had received, and had their swords and shields taken from them. They +had been confined twenty-seven days. + +In 1846 Davey Sookul, a Brahmin, cultivated land in Mukdoompore, for +which he paid an annual rent of seventy-one rupees. In consequence of +murders and robberies perpetrated by Bhooree Khan and his gang, he +went off with his family to reside at Budulgur, under the protection +of Rajah Allee Buksh, a mile distant. He had witnessed the murder of +Bhowanee Purshad and the torture of many other persons. One morning +his brother, Gunga Purshad, returned to Mukdoompore to gather some +mangoes from trees there planted by their ancestors. He was there +seized by Bhooree Khan and his gang, who were lying in wait for him. +They demanded a ransom of three hundred rupees, which Davey Sookul +could not raise. He kept Gunga Purshad in prison for four months, and +had him tortured every day. Finding that the money was not +forthcoming, Bhooree Khan had a firebrand thrust into one of his +eyes, and then had him flogged with bunches of sticks till he died. +Khoda Buksh, of Kurteepore, one of the followers of Bhooree Khan, +went and reported this to his brother and widow, who wept over the +tale of his sufferings. His brother, Boodhoo Sookul, a sipahee of the +45th Regiment, presented a petition to the Resident, describing these +atrocities, and praying redress, but none was afforded. + +Bukhtawur, son of Kaushee, a Brahmin, tilled lands in Deogon, for +which he paid an annual rent of sixty-eight rupees. In 1847 Bhooree +Khan demanded double that sum; and when he could not pay, he seized +and sold all the stock on the land, and seized and took off to the +jungles Bukhtawur and his two brothers, Heeralall and Jankee, and +seized upon all their lands, and all the property they had to the +value of five hundred rupees. He kept them in prison for six months, +and then had Bukhtawur's nose cut off by a Chumar, because he could +not pay him the ransom demanded. The nose of Surufraz was cut off at +the same time, as above described, and he died in consequence. +Bukhtawur's two brothers made their escape three months afterwards. + +In 1848 he attacked the house of Choupae Tewaree, a Brahmin of +Ottergow, and after plundering it he took off the son of Choupae, +then thirteen years of age, and his, the son's, wife, and his young +son and his wife, and tortured all, till Choupae borrowed and begged +all he could, and paid the ransom demanded. + +Purotee Aheer tilled sixteen beegahs of land in Deogon, for which he +paid an annual rent of thirty-two rupees a-year. As soon as Bhooree +Khan got the estate from Maun Sing, in November, 1846, he demanded +double the sum, and exacted it. He, in 1848, demanded two hundred and +fifty, seized Purotee, sold all his cows and bullocks, sixteen in +number, and other property, and then released him. Purotee then sent +off secretly all his family to Duheepore, two miles distant; but +Bhooree Khan sent off his servants, Bundheen and Bugolal pausees, to +trace them. They seized his two daughters, one fourteen and the other +ten years of age, and his son Nihal's wife, and his son, then only +four years of age. Bhooree Khan ravished the two girls, and then +released them, with Nahal's wife and her little son. Purotee saw the +noses of Bukhtawar and Surafraz cut off while he was in confinement, +and saw Bhooree Khan put them on a plate, which he placed in a recess +in the wall. It was in March, 1848, when he went to pray that his +daughters might be released after they had been ravished. The family +went to reside in the village of Mohlee, in Khundara, but have all +been turned out of their caste in consequence of the dishonour of his +daughters. + +In the same year he attacked the house of Foorsut Aheer of Dehpal ka +Poorwa, made him prisoner, and tortured him till he paid eight +hundred rupees. After this he made his escape; but Bhooree Khan +seized and sold all his bullocks, cows, and buffaloes, and stores of +grain. + +In 1845 Bhoore Khan and his gang attacked the house of Buldee Sing, +subahdar in the Honourable Company's service, in the village of +Ghurwae, and, after plundering him of all the property they could +find, they seized him and his wife, and took them to the jungles, +where they tortured them till they gave all they could borrow or beg +to the amount of many thousand rupees. + +About the same time he seized and carried off Eesuree Purshad, a +Brahmin, who had fled from Palpore, in Deogon, and gone for shelter +to the Bazaar of Ottergow; and after cutting off his nose, he put him +on an ass with a young pig tied to his neck, and paraded him through +the bazaar, with a drummer before him, to render him an outcast. + +In the same year, 1848, he seized Rampurshad Tewaree, and his son +Runghoor, cultivators of Deogon, and demanded from them four times +the rent due for the land they tilled; and when they could not pay, +be sold all their cattle, grain, and other property, and had iron +spikes driven up under their nails. Unable to extort money by this +means, he caused Sotun Bhurbhoonja, or grain-parcher, to ------ in +his father's face, and then released him. + +In 1848 he demanded from Junga Salor, a cultivator of Bhudalmow, in +Deogon, double rent for the land he tilled; and when he could not +pay, seized and took off his wife, and cohabited with her four or +five days, and then made some of the followers do the same before he +released her. + +In the same year, 1848, he and his gang attacked the village of +Byrampore, in the Kisnee purgunna, and seized Omrow Sing, a Bys +Rajpoot, and Boodhea, a Goojur, and all the respectable inhabitants +they could get hold of, with their families. After torturing the rest +for eight days, and extorting from them all they could pay, he let +them go; but detained Omrow Sing, and had him flogged every day till +he reduced him to a dying state, when he let him go. He was taken off +to his home; but he died as soon as he entered the house and saw his +family. The wife of Boodheea, the Goojur, he confined and violated. +Bukhtawur deposes that he saw all this while he was in confinement. + +He, in 1848, seized and carried off to his stronghold Kaseeram, a +Brahmin, of Deogon, and cut off his nose, and tortured him with hot +irons till he got from him all that he and his relations could be +made to pay, and then let him go. + +In the same year and month be attacked and plundered the village of +Puttee, in the Jugdeespore purgunna, carried off all the shopkeepers +of the place, and tortured them till they paid him altogether three +thousand rupees. + +In the same year he attacked the village of Koteea, in the Rodowlee +district, carried off one of the shopkeepers, and drove iron pins up +under his nails till he paid a ransom of one hundred and fifty +rupees. He drove off and sold all the cattle of the village. + +In the same year he attacked and plundered the village of Budulgur, +in the Jugdeespore purgunna, in the same way. + +In the same year he attacked and plundered the village of Khorasa, in +Rodowlee, carried off Sopae, the Putwaree, with his mother and wife, +and tortured them till they paid a ransom of two hundred rupees. He +murdered about the same time the son of Buksh Khan, the holder of the +village of Gaepore, and two members of the family of Poorae, a +carpenter of Almasgunge, in Deogon. + +After plundering the house of Sungum Doobee, a respectable Brahmin of +Mukdoompore, he seized him and his nephew, took them off to his fort, +and, because they could not pay the ransom he demanded, he caused +melting lead to be poured into their ears and noses till they died. +About the same time he, with his own hands, for some slight offence, +cut the throat of his table-attendant, Kbyratee, of Kunhurpore. + +About the same time he seized two travellers; and, because they could +not pay the ransom demanded, he suspended one of them to a tree in +the village of Sathnee, on the bank of the Goomtee river, and the +other to a tree in the village of Mukdoompore. He had their arms +first broken with bludgeons, and then their feet cut off, and at last +they were beaten over the head till they died. + +[Bhooree Khan, in March, 1850, went with a gang of three hundred men +to assist Gunga Buksh and his family in the defence of Kasimgunge and +Bhetae; but he was too late. On his way back, in the beginning of +April, he left his gang in a grove, six miles from Lucknow, and +entered the city alone in a disguise to visit a celebrated dancing- +girl of his acquaintance, named Bunnee. He had been with her two +days, and on the 15th of April he went to see the magnificent tomb of +Mahommed Allee Shah, of which he had heard much. While sauntering +about this place he was recognised by three or four persons belonging +to another dancing-girl of his acquaintance, named the Chhotee Gohur, +or "little Gem," whom he had formerly visited. They seized him. As +soon as Bunnee heard of this she sent ten or twelve of her own men, +and rescued him from the followers of the "Little Gem." They took him +to Bunnee, who made a virtue of necessity, and went off with him +forthwith to the Minister, who rewarded her with a pair of shawls, +and made suitable presents to her followers. + +It is said that he was pointed out to the followers of the "Chhotee +Gohur" by Peer Khan, of Khanseepore, in Deogon, whom Bhooree Khan had +some time before plundered and tortured for a ransom, as already +stated. Bhooree Khan was sentenced to transportation beyond seas for +life, and sent off in October, 1851.] + +After reading such narratives, an Englishman will naturally ask what +are the means by which such atrocious gangs are enabled to escape the +hands of justice. He will recollect the history of the MIDDLE AGES, +and think of strong baronial castles, rugged hills, deep ravines, and +endless black forests. They have no such things in Oude.* The whole +country is a level plain, intersected by rivers, which, with one +exception, flow near the surface, and have either no ravines at all, +or very small ones. The little river Goomtee winds exceedingly, and +cuts into the soil in some places to the depth of fifty feet. In such +places there are deep ravines; and the landholders along the border +improve these natural difficulties by planting and preserving trees +and underwood in which to hide themselves and their followers when in +arms against their Government. Any man who cuts a stick in these +jungles, or takes his camels or cattle into them to browse or graze +without the previous sanction of the landholder, does so at the peril +of his life. But landholders in the open plains and on the banks of +rivers, without any ravines at all, have the same jungles. + +[* The Terae forest, which borders Oude to the north, is too +unhealthy to be occupied by any but those who have been born and bred +in it. The gangs I am treating of are composed of men born and bred +in the plains, and they cannot live in the Terae forest.] + +In the midst of this jungle, the landholders have generally one or +more mud forts surrounded by a ditch and a dense fence of living +bamboos, through which cannon-shot cannot penetrate, and man can +enter only by narrow and intricate pathways. They are always too +green to be set fire to; and being within range of the matchlocks +from the parapet, they cannot be cut down by a besieging force. Out +of such places the garrison can be easily driven by shells thrown +over such fences, but an Oude force has seldom either the means or +the skill for such purposes. When driven out by shells or any other +means, the garrison retires at night, with little risk, through the +bamboo fence and surrounding jungle and brushwood, by paths known +only to themselves. They are never provided with the means of +subsistence for a long siege; and when the Oude forces sent against +them are not prepared with the means to shell them out, they sit down +quietly, and starve or weary them out. This is commonly a very long +process, for the force is seldom large enough to surround the place +at a safe distance from the walls and bamboo fence, so as to prevent +all access to provision of all kinds, which the garrison is sure to +get from their friends and allies in the neighbourhood, the garrison +generally having the sympathy of all the large landholders around, +and the besieging force being generally considered the common and +irreconcilable enemy of all. + +As soon as the garrison escapes, it goes systematically and +diligently to work in plundering indiscriminately all the village +communities over the most fertile parts of the surrounding country, +which do not belong to baronial proprietors like themselves till it +has made the Government authorities agree to its terms, or reduced +the country to a waste. The leaders of the gang may sometimes +condescend to quicken the process by appropriating a portion of their +plunder to bribing some influential person at Court, who gets an +injunction issued to the local authorities to make some arrangement +for terminating the pillage and consequent loss of revenue, or he +will be superseded or forfeit his contract. The rebel then returns +with his followers, repairs all the mischief done to his fort, +improves its defences, and stipulates for a remission of his revenue +for a year or more, on account of the injury sustained by his crops +or granaries. The unlucky Amil, whose zeal and energy have caused the +necessity for this reduction, is probably thrown into gaol till "he +pays the uttermost farthing," or bribes influential persons at Court +to get him released on the ground of his poverty. + +I may here mention the jungles in Oude which have been created and +are still preserved by landholders, almost solely for the above +purposes. They are all upon the finest soil, and in the finest +climate; and the lands they occupy might almost all be immediately +brought into tillage, and studded by numerous happy village +communities. + +I may, however, before I begin to describe them, mention the fact +that many influential persons at Court, as well as the landholders +themselves, are opposed to such a salutary measure. If brought under +tillage and occupied by happy village communities, all the revenue +would or might flow in legitimate channels into the King's treasury; +whereas in their present state they manage to fill their own purses +by gratuities from the refractory landholders who occupy them, or +from the local authorities, who require permission from Court to +coerce them into obedience. Of these gratuities such a salutary +measure would deprive them; and it is, in consequence, exceedingly +difficult to get a jungle cut down, however near it may be to the +city where wood is so dear, and has to be brought from jungles five +or ten times the distance. + +_In the Sultanpore District_. + +_1st_.--The Jungle of Paperghat, about one hundred miles south-east +from Lucknow, on the bank of the Goomtee river, ten miles long, and +three wide, or thirty square miles. + +In this jungle Dirgpaul Sing, tallookdar of Nanneemow, has a fort; +and Rostum Sing, tallookdar of Dera, has another. + +_2nd_.--The Dostpore Jungle, one hundred and twenty miles south-east +from Lucknow, on the bank of the Mujhoee river, twelve, miles long, +and three broad, or thirty-six square miles. + +_3rd_.--The Khapra Dehee Jungle, one hundred miles south-east from +Lucknow, on the plain, about ten miles long, and six miles broad, or +sixty square miles. + +_4th_.--The Jugdeespore Jungle, on the bank of the Goomtee river, +fifty miles south-east from Lucknow, sixteen miles long, and three +miles broad, forty-eight square miles. + +Allee Buksh Khan, tallookdar, has the fort of Tanda in this jungle, +on the bank of the Kandoo rivulet, which flows through it into the +Goomtee. The fort of Bechoogur in this jungle is held by another +tallookdar. + +_5th_.--Gurh Ameytee, seventy miles from Lucknow, south-east, on the +bank of the Sae river, nine miles long and three broad, or twenty +seven square miles. + +Rajah Madhoe Sing has a fort in this jungle, and is one of the very +worst, but most plausible men in Oude. + +_6th_.--Daoodpoor Jungle, seventy miles south-east from Lucknow, on +the plain, four miles long and three broad, or twelve square miles. + +The Beebee or Lady Sagura has her fort and residence in this jungle. + +_7th_.--Duleeppore Jungle, one hundred and ten miles east from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Sae river, ten miles long, and three +miles wide, thirty square miles. + +Seetla Buksh, who is always in rebellion, has a fort in this jungle. + +_8th_.--The Matona Jungle, fifty miles south-east from Lucknow, on +the bank of the Goomtee river, twelve miles long and three wide-- +square miles, thirty-six. + +Allee Buksh Khan, a notoriously refractory tallookdar, has a fort in +this jungle. + +_In the Uldeemow District_. + +_9th_.--Mugurdhee Jungle, one hundred and forty miles east from +Lucknow, on the bank of Ghogra river, eight miles long and three +broad--square miles, twenty-four. + +_10th_.--Putona Jungle, one hundred and twenty miles east from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Tonus river, eight miles long and four +miles broad--square miles, thirty-two. + +_11th_.--Mudungur Jungle, one hundred and twenty miles east from +Lucknow, on the bank of the Tonus river, six miles long, and three +miles broad--square miles, eighteen. + +Amreys Sing and Odreys Sing, sons of Surubdowun Sing (who was killed +by the King's troops thirty years ago), hold the fort of Mudungur in +this jungle. + +_12th_.--Bundeepore Jungle, east from Lucknow one hundred and forty +miles, on the plain, seven miles long and one broad--seven square +miles. + +_13th_.--Chunderdeeh, south-east from Lucknow one hundred and ten +miles, on the bank of the Goomtee river, seven miles long, and three +miles wide--square miles, twenty-one. + +_In the Dureeabad District_. + +_14th_.--Soorujpore Behreyla Jungle, east from Lucknow forty miles, +on the bank of the Kuleeanee river, sixteen miles long, and four +miles broad--square miles, sixty-four. + +Chundee Sing has a fort in this jungle, and the family have been +robbers for several generations. The widow of the late notorious +robber, Rajah Singjoo, the head of the family, has a still stronger +one. + +_15th_.--Guneshpore Jungle, sixty miles south-east from Lucknow, on +the bank of the Goomtee river, six miles long and two broad--twelve +square miles. + +Maheput Sing, an atrocious robber, holds his fort of Bhowaneegur in +this jungle. + +_In the Dewa Jahangeerabad District._ + +_16th_.--The Kasimgunge and Bhetae Jungle, eighteen miles north-east +from Lucknow, sixteen miles long, and four miles wide--square miles, +sixty-four, on the bank of the little river Reyt. + +Gunga Buksh holds the forts of Kasimgunge and Atursae in this jungle; +Thakur Purshad those of Bhetae and Buldeogur; and Bhugwunt Sing that +of Munmutpore. Other members of the same family hold those of Ramgura +Paharpore. The whole family are hereditary and inveterate robbers. + +_In the Bangur District_. + +_17th_.--Tundeeawun Jungle, on the plain, west from Lucknow, seventy- +two miles, twelve miles long and six broad--square miles, seventy- +two. + +_In the Salone District._ + +_18th_.--The Naen Jungle, eighty miles south from Lucknow, on the +bank of the Sae river, sixteen miles long and three wide--square +miles, forty-eight. + +Jugurnath Buksh, the tallookdar, holds the fort of Jankeebund, in +this jungle; and others are held in the same jungle by members of his +family. + +_19th_.--The Kutaree Jungle, on the bank of the Kandoo river, south- +east from Lucknow sixty miles, eight miles long and three broad-- +square miles, twenty-four. + +Surnam Sing, the tallookdar, has a fort in this jungle. + +_In the Byswara District_. + +_20th_.--The Sunkurpore Jungle, south of Lucknow seventy miles, on +the plain, ten miles long and three wide--square miles, thirty. + +Benee Madhoe, the tallookdar, has three forts in this jungle. + +_In the Hydergur District_. + +_21st_.--The Kolee Jungle, fifty miles south-east from Lucknow, on +the bank of the Goomtee river, three miles long and one and a half +wide--square miles, four and a half. + +The rebels and robbers in this jungle trust to the natural defences +of the ravines and jungles. + +_22nd_.--Kurseea Kuraea Jungle, south-east from Lucknow fifty miles, +on the bank of the Goomtee river, three miles long and one wide-- +square miles, three. + +The landholders trust in the same way to natural defences. + +_In the Khyrabad and Mahomdee Districts_. + +_23rd_.--Gokurnath Jungle, north-west from Lucknow one hundred miles, +extending out from the Terae forest, and running south-east in a belt +thirty miles long and five wide--square miles, one hundred and fifty. + +Husun Rajah, the tallookdar of Julalpore, has a fort in this jungle. +Sheobuksh Sing, the tallookdar of Lahurpore, holds here the fort of +Katesura; and Omrow Sing, the tallookdar of Oel, holds two forts in +this jungle. + +_In the Baree and Muchreyta Districts_. + +_24th_.--The Suraen Jungle, north-west from Lucknow thirty-four +miles, along the banks of the Suraen river, twelve miles long and +three miles wide--square miles, thirty-six. + +In this jungle Jowahir Sing holds the fort of Basae Deeh; Khorrum +Sing, that of Seogur; Thakur Rutun Sing, that of Jyrampore. They are +all landholders of the Baree district, and their forts are on the +_north_ bank of the Saraen river. Juswunt Sing holds the fort of +Dhorhara; Dul Sing, that of Gundhoreea; Rutun Sing holds two forts, +Alogee and Pupnamow.--They are all landholders of the Muchreyta +district, and their four forts are on the _south_ bank of the Saraen +river. + +This gives twenty-four belts of jungle beyond the Terae forest, and +in the fine climate of Oude, covering a space of eight hundred and +eighty-six square miles, at a rough computation.* In these jungles +the landholders find shooting, fishing, and security for themselves +and families, grazing ground for their horses and cattle, and fuel +and grass for their followers; and they can hardly understand how +landholders of the same rank, in other countries, can contrive to +live happily without them. The man who, by violence, fraud, and +collusion, absorbs the estates of his weaker neighbours, and creates +a large one for himself, in any part of Oude, however richly +cultivated and thickly peopled, provides himself with one or two mud +forts, and turns the country around them into a jungle, which he +considers to be indispensable as well to his comfort as to his +security. + +[* The surface of the Oude territory, including the Terae forest, is +supposed to contain twenty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty- +nine square miles. The Terae forest includes, perhaps, from four to +five thousand miles; but within that space there is a great deal of +land well tilled and peopled.] + +The atrocities described in the above narrative were committed by +Bhooree Khan, in the process of converting his estate of Dewa into a +jungle, and building strongholds for his gang as it increased and +became more and more formidable. Having converted Deogon into a +jungle, and built his strongholds, he would, by the usual process of +violence, fraud, and collusion with local authorities, have absorbed +the small surrounding estates of his weaker neighbours, and formed a +very large one for himself. The same process, no doubt, went on in +England successively under the Saxons, Danes, and Normans; and in +every country in Europe, under successive invaders and conquerors, or +as long as the baronial proprietors of the soil were too strong to be +coerced by their Sovereign as they are in Oude. + +An Englishman may further ask how it is that a wretch guilty of such +cruelties to men who never wronged him, to innocent and unoffending +females and children, can find, in a society where slavery is +unknown, men to assist him in inflicting them, and landholders of +high rank and large possessions to screen and shelter him when +pursued by his Government. He must, for the solution of this +question, also go back to the MIDDLE AGES, in England and the other +nations of Europe, when the baronial proprietors of the soil, too +strong for their sovereigns, committed the same cruelties, found the +same willing instruments in their retainers, and members of the same +class of landed proprietors, to screen, shelter, and encourage them +in their iniquities. + +They acquiesce in the atrocities committed by one who is in armed +resistance to the Government to-day, and aid him in his enterprises +openly or secretly, because they know that they may be in the same +condition, and require the same aid from him to-morrow--that the more +sturdy the resistance made by one, the less likely will the +Government officers be to rouse the resistance of others. They do not +sympathise with those who suffer from his depredations, or aid the +Government officers in protecting them, because they know that they +could not support the means required to enable them to contend +successfully with their Sovereign, and reduce him to terms, without +plundering and occasionally murdering the innocent of all ages and +both sexes, and that they may have to raise the same means in a +similar contest to-morrow. They are satisfied, therefore, if they can +save their own tenants from pillage and slaughter. They find, +moreover, that the sufferings of others enable them to get +cultivators and useful tenants of all kinds upon their own estates, +on more easy terms, and to induce the smaller allodial or khalsa +proprietors around, to yield up their lands to them, and become their +tenants with less difficulty. It was in the same manner that the +great feudal barons aggrandised themselves in England, and all the +other countries of Europe, in the MIDDLE AGES. + +In Oude all these great landholders look upon the Sovereign and his +officers--except when they happen to be in collusion with them for +the purpose of robbing or coercing others--as their natural enemies, +and will never trust themselves in their power without undoubted +pledges of personal security. The great feudal tenants of the Crown +in England, and the other nations of Europe, did the same, except +when they were in collusion with them for the purpose of robbing +others of their rights; or fought under their banners for the purpose +of robbing or destroying the subjects and servants of some other +Sovereign whom he chose to call his enemy. + +Only one of these sources of union between the Sovereign and his +great landholders is in operation in Oude. Some of them are every +year in collusion with the governors of districts for the purpose of +coercing and robbing others; but the Sovereign can never unite them +under his banners for the purpose of invading and plundering any +other country, and thereby securing for himself and them present +_glory_, wealth, and high-sounding titles, and the admiration and +applause of future generations. The strong arm of the British +Government is interposed between them and all surrounding countries; +and there is no safety-valve for their unquiet spirits in foreign +conquests. They can no longer do as Ram did two thousand seven +hundred years ago--lead an army from Ajodheea to Ceylone. They must +either give up fighting, or fight among themselves, as they appear to +have been doing ever since Ram's time; and there are at present no +signs of a disposition to send out another "Sakya Guntama" from +Lucknow, or Kapila vastee to preach peace and good-will to "all the +nations of the earth." They would much rather send out fifty thousand +more brave soldiers to fight "all the nations of the east," under the +banners of the Honourable East India Company. + +An English statesman may further ask how it is that so much disorder +can prevail in a small territory like Oude without the gangs, to +which it must give rise, passing over the border to depredate upon +the bordering districts of its neighbours. The conterminous districts +on three sides belong to the British Government, and that on the +fourth or north belongs to Nepaul. The leaders of these gangs know, +that if the British Government chose to interpose and aid the Oude +Government with its troops, it could crush them in a few days; and +that it would do so if they ventured to rob and murder within its +territory. They know, also, that it would do the same if they +ventured to cross the northern border, and rob and murder within the +Nepaul territory. They therefore confine their depredations to the +Oude territory, seeing that, as long as they do so, the British +Government remains quiet. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Adventures of Maheput Sing of Bhowaneepoor--Advantages of a good road +from Lucknow to Fyzabad--Excellent condition of the artillery +bullocks with the Frontier Police--Get all that Government allows for +them--Bred in the Tarae--Dacoits of Soorujpoor Bareyla--The Amil +connives at all their depredations, and thrives in consequence--The +Amil of the adjoining districts does not, and ruined in consequence-- +His weakness--Seetaram, a capitalist--His account of a singular +_Suttee_--Bukhtawar Sing's notions of _Suttee_, and of the reason why +Rajpoot widows seldom become _Suttees_--Why local authorities carry +about prisoners with them--Condition of prisoners--No taxes on mango- +trees--Cow-dung cheaper than wood for fuel--Shrine of "Shaikh Salar" +at Sutrik--Bridge over the small river Rete--Recollection of the +ascent of a balloon at Lucknow--End of the pilgrimage. + + +Poorae Chowdheree, of Kuchohee, held a share in the lands of the +village of Bhanpoor in Radowlee. He mortgaged it in 1830, to a co- +sharer, who transferred the mortgage to _Meherban Sing_, of +Guneshpoor. Poorae disliked the arrangement, and made all the +cultivators desert the village of Bhanpoor, and leave the lands +waste. Meherban attacked the village of Kuchohee in consequence, +killed Porae, and seized upon all the lands of Bhanpoor for himself. +Rajah Ram, one of the ousted co-sharers in these lands, attacked and +killed Meherban in 1832, and seized upon all the lands of Bhanpoor. + +After the death of his first wife, Meherban had attacked the house of +Bhowanee Sing, Rajpoot, of Teur, carried off his daughter, who had +been affianced to another, and forcibly made her his wife. By her he +had one daughter and one son, named _Maheput Sing_, who now inherited +from his father a fifteenth part of one of the six and half shares +into which the lands of Guneshpoor were divided. He, by degrees, +murdered, or drove out of the village, all his co-sharers, save +Gunbha Sing and Chungha Sing, joint proprietors of a small part of +one of the shares, known by the name of the Kunnee Puttee. From the +year 1843, Maheput Sing became a robber by profession, and the leader +of a formidable gang; and in three years, by a long series of +successful enterprises, he acquired the means of converting his +residence, on the border of the town of Guneshpoor, into a strong +fort, among the deep ravines of the Goomtee river. This fort he +called _Bhowaneegur_, after Bhowanee, the patroness of the trade of +murder and robbery, which he had adopted. + +I shall now mention, more circumstantially, a few of the many +atrocities committed by him and his gang, during the last few years +of his career, as illustrative of the state of society in Oude. +Bulbhudder Sing, a subadar of the 45th Regiment of Bengal Native +Infantry, resided at Rampoor Sobeha, in the Dureeabad district. By +degrees he purchased thirteen-sixteenths of the lands of these two +small villages, which adjoin each other, out of the savings from his +pay, and those of his nephew, Mugun Sing, havildar of the 43rd +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry. On his being transferred to the +invalid establishment, the subadar resided with his family in +Rampoor, and in May, 1846, his nephew, Mugun Sing, came home on +furlough to visit him. Gujraj, an associate of Maheput Sing's, held +the other three-sixteenths of the lands of these two villages; and by +the murder of the subadar and all his family, he thought he should be +able to secure for himself the possession of the whole estate in +perpetuity. The family consisted of the subadar and his wife,--Mugun +Sing, the son of his deceased brother, Man Sing, and his wife; and +his son Bijonath and his wife,--Dwarka Sing, son of Ojagur Sing, +another deceased brother of the subadar,--Mahta Deen, the son of +Chundun Sing, another deceased brother of the subadar, and his wife +and young son, Surubjeet Sing, seven years of age,--Kulotee Sing, son +of Gobrae, another deceased brother of the subadar,--Bag Sing, a +relative,--Bechun Sing, a servant,--Seo Deen, the gardener,--Jeeawun +Sing, the barber, and the widow of Salwunt Sing, another son of Mugun +Sing, havildar. + +When the family were all assembled, Maheput Sing, with Gujraj and +other associates, and a gang of one hundred and fifty armed +followers, proceeded to the village at midnight, and carefully +reconnoitred the premises. It was, after consultation, determined to +defer the attack till daybreak, as the subadar and his nephews were +known to be brave and well-armed men, who kept watch till towards +morning, and would make a desperate resistance, unless taken by +surprise. They remained concealed within the enclosure of Gujraj's +house, till just before daylight, when they quietly surrounded the +subadar's house. As day dawned the subadar got up, opened the door +and walked out, as usual, to breathe the fresh air, thinking all +safe. He was immediately shot down, and on Mugun Sing's rushing out +to assist his uncle, he received a shot in the eye, and fell dead on +his body. The robbers then rushed in, cut down Jeeawun, the barber, +while attempting to shut the door, and wounded Kulotee Sing,* Bag +Sing, and others of the party. Finding that they could no longer +stand against the numbers, rushing in at the doors and windows, the +defenders climbed from the inside to the flat roof of the house, over +the apartments of the men, fired down upon the robbers, who were +still inside, and shot one of them. The robbers, finding they could +not otherwise dislodge them, set fire to that part of the house, and +the men were obliged to leap off to save themselves. In doing this, +Bag Sing hurt his spine, and Seo Deen sprained his ankle, and both +lay where they fell, pretending to be dead, till night. The others +all went off in search of succour. + +[* Kulotee Sing was murdered, a few days afterwards, by Maheput and +Gujraj, as he was superintending the cultivation of his lands.] + +The robbers found the boy, Surubjeet, lying sick on his bed, attended +by his mother. They seized him and dashed his head against the +ground; and when he still showed signs of life, Gujraj cut him to +pieces with his sword. They then seized and stripped the females +naked, and sprinkled boiling oil over their bodies, till they pointed +out all the property concealed in the house. Seventeen hundred rupees +were found buried in the floor; and the rest of the property in +clothes, gold and silver ornaments, and brass utensils, amounted to +about ten thousand rupees. + +About noon, while the robbers were still in the house, the Amil of +Mohlara came with a large force and one gun, and surrounded them; but +stood at a safe distance, whence he kept up for some time a fire from +his gun and his matchlocks, which had no effect whatever. The robbers +fired in return from the house, merely to show that they were not to +be frightened from their booty in that way. This went on till after +dark in the evening, when the robbers all retired to the jungles with +their booty, unmolested by the Amil. + +Byjonath, who had brought the Amil to the spot, urged him on as much +as he could to save the property and females, and avenge the death of +those who had fallen, and he killed one man and seized another, the +son of one of the leaders; but he was obliged to give him up to the +Amil as an hostage, for the recovery of the property, and a witness +to the robbery. The Amil kept him for six months, and then let him go +on the largest ransom he could get for him from his father. The +circumstances were all represented, through the Resident, to the +Durbar, and redress prayed for, but none was ever obtained.* + +[* When the Resident visited this place, in his tour, in January, +1850, Dwarka Sing and other members of the family described all the +circumstances of this attack, and they were taken down; and have been +confirmed since by a judicial investigation.] + +In May 1846, Maheput attacked the house of Seobuksh, a gardener, and +after plundering it, he seized and carried off to the jungle the +gardener's brother, Puroutee, and tortured him to death with hot +irons, because he could not raise the sum demanded for his ransom. + +In August 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Meherban Tewaree, subadar of the Gwalior Contingent, in the village +of Hareehurpoor, in the district of Rodowlee. It was about ten at +night, and the whole family were asleep. The subadar lay on his cot +below, near the door, his brother, Angud Tewaree, slept on the upper +story. Some placed ladders and entered the upper story through a +window; Maheput, with others, broke open the door, near which the +subadar slept below. The brother got a sword-cut in the hand, and +called out from the upper story as loud as he could for help; but +their neighbours were all too much alarmed to come to their aid. +Maheput seized and bound the subadar with his own waistband, and +commanded his brother to come down, saying, that he need not call for +help, as the villagers all knew him too well to molest him; and if he +did not come down instantly he would set fire to the house. Seeing no +chance of help, he came down, and was bound with his own waistband in +the same manner. When the subadar remonstrated against this +treatment, Maheput struck him over the face. They then plundered the +house of all the property it contained, to the value of six hundred +and fifty rupees; and took the subadar and his brother to the +jungles; and, in the morning, demanded a ransom of one thousand +rupees. At last they came down to four hundred rupees and the horse, +which the subadar kept for his own riding. The subadar consented, and +his brother was released to get the money and horse. He borrowed the +money and sent it with the horse through Bhowanee Deen Tewaree, +landholder of Ladeeka Poorwa, and the subadar was released. He +presented three petitions, through the Resident, and orders were sent +from the Durbar to the local authorities, Hurdut Sing and Monna Lal, +but they were both in league with the robbers, and tried to get the +subadar made away with, to save further trouble, and he sought +security with his regiment.* + +[* Meherban Tewaree, subadar, was present, as a witness at the +subsequent trial of Maheput and Gujraj, who were sentenced to +transportation beyond seas for life.] + +In January 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the village of +Bahapoor, in the Rodowlee district; and after plundering all the +houses, seized and carried off among others Seetul, the spirit- +dealer, and the two sons of Reehta, the widow of Bhosoo, one twenty- +two years of age, and the other eighteen. They tortured them with +red-hot irons, and tied bamboos round their necks every day for +fifteen days. Maheput then shot the eldest son, and cut his body to +pieces with his sword. The younger son, at night, made his escape +while they were asleep, and returned to tell the tale of his +brother's murder to his mother. Seetul, the Kalwar, got his uncle to +lend him twenty-eight rupees, for which he was released. + +In April 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Ramoutar, Brahmin, of the Brahmin village of Guneshpoor, in Rodowlee; +plundered it of properly valued at one hundred rupees, and then bound +Ramoutar, his father and two sons, and took them off to the jungles; +and there tortured them all for seven days. He then had the two boys, +one nine years old and the other five, suspended to a tree and +flogged; and Ramoutar himself tied to a thorny tree and beaten till +the blood flowed down and drenched his waistband, because he could +pay nothing, and would not sign a bond to pay two thousand rupees. +His sufferings and the sight of those of his two sons made him at +last sign one for one thousand rupees. He was flogged again till his +friends brought four hundred out of the thousand, and Cheyt Sing, +Thakoor, a respectable landholder of Koleea, in Rodowlee, consented +to give security for the payment of two hundred and forty-two rupees +more. Ramoutar and his family were then released, after they had been +confined and tortured for thirty-six days, and they went off and +resided at Bookcheyna in Khundasa. A year after his house was there +attacked by Maheput Sing and his gang, and plundered of all it +contained; and his brother Seetul, and his youngest son were seized +and taken off to his fort at Bhowaneegur, and there tortured and +starved for six months. Ramoutar then borrowed one hundred and sixty +rupees, and obtained the release of his brother Seetul, and a year +after he was able to raise forty-seven rupees more, with which he +ransomed his son. + +In May 1847, Maheput Sing attacked the house of Seolal Tewaree of +Torsompoor, in Rodowlee, at midnight; and after plundering it and +stripping his mother and wife, and the wife of his brother, Jurbundun +Sing, of all the clothes and ornaments they had, he bound and carried +off to the jungle the two brothers, Seolal and Jurbundun. They were +flogged, and had hot irons applied to their bodies every day for +twenty days, and had only a little flour to eat and water to drink, +once in three days. After twenty days they contrived to make their +escape one dark and stormy night, and got home; but three days after +he again attacked their house and burnt it to the ground, with all +they possessed. He, at the same time, burnt down the house of their +uncle, in the same village, and that of one of their ploughmen; and +two cows and one bullock were burnt to death in the flames. + +In July 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of Chubbee +Lal, Brahmin, in the village of Bunnee, in the Rodowlee district, and +after plundering it of property to the value of five hundred rupees, +he bound and took the old Brahmin off to the jungles, and demanded +from him a ransom of eight thousand rupees. This sum the old man +could not pay, and he was flogged with thorns, and had red-hot irons +applied to his body every day. Maheput then sent a letter to the old +man's son, Dwarka, desiring him to send the eight thousand rupees if +he wished his father to live. The house having been plundered, the +family had nothing left, and could persuade no one to lend them. On +receiving a reply to this effect, Maheput had the old man's body +plastered all over with moist gunpowder, and made him stand in the +sun till it was dry. He then set fire to the powder, and the poor man +was burnt all over. He then cut off both his hands at the wrists, and +his nose, and sent them to his family, and in this condition be +afterwards sent the poor man to his home upon a cot. The son met his +father at the door, but the old man died as soon as his son had +embraced him. + +Maheput carried off Pem, the son of Teeka, at the same time, and +tortured him till his family paid the ransom demanded. He was witness +to the tortures of the old Brahmin. + +In August 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the house of Bichook, a +Brahmin, in the village of Torsompoor, in Rodowlee, at midnight, +while he was sleeping, and bound and carried him off to the jungle. +The next day, when he was about to have him tortured for a ransom, +one of his followers interceded for him, and he was released. But a +month after, Maheput and his gang again attacked his house, and after +plundering it of all it contained, they burnt it to the ground. +Bichook had run off on hearing their approach, and he escaped to +Syudpoor. + +In November, 1846, Maheput Sing attacked the house of Sook Allee, in +Guneshpoor, at midnight, with a gang of one hundred men; and, after +plundering it of all the property it contained, to the amount of four +hundred rupees, he burnt it to the ground, and bound and carried off +Sook Allee to the house of his friend, Byjonath Bilwar, a landholder +in the village of Kholee, eight miles distant. He there demanded a +ransom of five hundred rupees; and on his declaring that he neither +had nor could borrow such a sum, he had him tortured with hot irons, +and flogged in the usual way. He kept him for two months at Kholee, +and then took him to Tukra, in the Soorajpoor purgunnah, where he +kept him for another month, torturing, and giving him half a meal +every other day. At the end of three months, Akber Sing and Bhowanee +Deen, Rajpoot landholders of Odemow, contrived to borrow two hundred +rupees for Sook Allee, and he was released on the payment of this +sum. The marks of the hot irons, applied to his body by Maheput Sing, +with his own hands, are still visible, and will remain so as long as +he lives.* + +[* I saw these marks on the sufferer.] + +About the same time--the latter end of 1846--Maheput Sing sent to +Sheik Sobratee, of the same place, a message through a pausee, named +Bhowanee Deen, demanding twenty-five rupees. This sum was sent; but +six weeks had not elapsed, before Sheik Sobratee received another +demand for the same amount, through the same person. He had no money, +but promised to send the sum in ten days. At midnight, on the fourth +day after this, Maheput and his gang attacked his house, and +plundered it of all they could find, female ornaments, and clothes, +and brass utensils. Sobratee was that night sleeping at the house of +his friend Peree, the wood-dealer, in the same town. Maheput tried to +make his mother and wife point out where he was, by torturing them, +but they either would not or could not do so. After some search, +however, they discovered him, and bound and took him off, with +handcuffs, and an iron collar round his neck, to the Kurseea jungle, +in the Hydergur pergunnah. His son, a boy, had escaped. After +torturing him in the usual way for eight days, they sent a message to +his mother by Maheput's servant, Salar, to say, that unless she sent +a ransom of five hundred rupees, her son's nose and hands should be +cut off and sent to her as those of _Chubbee Lal_, Brahmin, of +Bunnee, had been. She prevailed upon Baroonath Gotum to lend the +money; and Maheput sent Sobratee to him, accompanied by one of his +armed retainers, with orders to make him over to the Gotum, if he +pledged himself in due form to pay. He did so, and Sobratee was made +over to him, and the next day sent home to his wife and mother. Some +months after, however, when he had completed his fort of Bhowneegur, +Maheput sent to demand two hundred rupees more from Sobratee, and +when he found he could not pay, he had his house pulled, down, and +took away all the materials to his fort. What he did not require he +caused to be burnt. He got from Sobratee, in ransom and plunder, more +than three thousand rupees; and he has been ever since reduced to +great poverty and distress. + +In November 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang seized and carried off +Khosal, a confectioner, of Talgon, in Rodowlee, who had gone to his +sister at Buhapoor, near Guneshpoor, to attend a marriage--took him +to the jungle, and tortured and starved him in the usual way for five +weeks. He had him burnt with red-hot irons, flogged and ducked in a +tank every day, and demanded a ransom of two hundred rupees. At last, +his brother, Davey Deen, borrowed thirty-three rupees from Rambuksh, +a merchant of Odermow, and offered to pay it for his ransom. Maheput +sent Khosal, with his agent, Bhowanee Deen, to Rambuksh, and he +released him on getting the money. He still bears on his body the +marks of the stripes and burnings.* + +[* These marks I have seen.] + +In December 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the house of Motee +Lal Misser, a Brahmin, in the village of------, and after robbing it +of all that it contained, he seized and carried off his nephew, Ram +Deen, a boy of seven years of age, and tortured him for a month in +the jungle. He then cut off his left ear and the forefinger of his +right hand, and sent them to the uncle in a letter, stating, that if +he did not send him one thousand rupees, he would send the boy's head +in the same manner. The boy's father had died, and his uncle, with +great difficulty, prevailed upon his friends and neighbours to lend +him two hundred and twenty rupees, which he sent to Maheput, and his +nephew was released. The boy declares to me that Maheput cut off his +ear and finger with his own hands.* + +[* This boy was present, as a witness, at the trial of Maheput.] + +In June 1848, Forsut Pandee, of Resalpandee-ka-Poorwa, in Rodowlee, +accompanied Girwar Sing, a Rajpoot of Bowra, in Rodowlee, to +Guneshpoor, on some business. They were smoking and talking together +at the house of Mungul Sing, Thakoor, a large landholder of that +place, when five of Maheput's armed men came up, and told Forsut +Pandee to attend them to their master. Girwar Sing remonstrated and +declared that his honour had been pledged for Forsut Pandee's +personal safety. Mungul Sing, Thakoor, however, told him, that he +must offer no opposition, as they seized all travellers who came that +way, and it was dangerous to oppose them. He was taken to Maheput +Sing, in his fort at Bhowaneegur, situated half a mile from +Guneshpoor. Maheput told him that he had heard of his having a good +flint gun, and a shawl in his house, and that he must have them. +Forsut Pandee swore on the Ganges that he had no such things. He then +had him tied up to a tree and flogged him with his own hands with +thorny bushes, the scars of which are still visible. He then demanded +a ransom of three hundred rupees, and had him flogged and tortured +every day for a month, while he gave him to eat only half a pound of +flour every two or three days. The prisoner's brother, Bhoree Pandee, +sold all the clothes and ornaments of his family, utensils, and +furniture, and their hereditary mango and mhowa grove, and raised two +hundred and six rupees, which he sent to Maheput, through Baldan +Sing, a landholder of Bharatpoor, two miles from Guneshpoor. On the +receipt of this Forsut Pandee was released. + +In October 1848, Maheput Sing sent ten of his gang to seize a +cultivator, by name Khosal, who was engaged in cultivating his land +in a hamlet, one mile south of the town of Syudpoor. They seized and +bound him and took him off to their leader, Maheput, who had him +tortured for a month in the usual way. He had him tied up to a ladder +and flogged. He had red-hot irons applied to different parts of his +body--he put dry combustibles on the open palms of his hands and set +fire to them, so that he has lost the use of his fingers for life. +For the whole month he gave him only ten pounds of flour to eat; but +his friends contrived to convey a little more to him occasionally, +which he ate by stealth. He was reduced, by hunger and torture, to +the last stage, when his family, by the sale of all they had in the +world, and the compassion of their friends, raised the sum of one +hundred and twenty-six rupees, which they sent to Maheput, by Thakoor +Persaud, a landholder of the village of Somba, and obtained his +release. The tortures have rendered him a cripple, and the family are +reduced to a state of great wretchedness.* + +[* This man was a witness at the trial of Maheput, and I saw the +signs of his sufferings.] + +The village of Guneshpoor yielded a revenue to Government of twenty- +one thousand rupees a-year, and was divided into six and half shares +each, held by a different person. One belonged to Omrow Sing, +Rajpoot, the father of Hunmunt Sing, a corporal in the 44th Regiment +Bengal Native Infantry, and descended to Omrow Sing's eldest son, +Davey Sing. One share was held, jointly, by Maheput Sing and Chotee +Sing, when, in October 1848, Maheput assembled a gang of about two +hundred men, and attacked the house of Davey Sing, while his brother +Hunmunt Sing was at home on recruiting service. There were in the +house the corporal and his three brothers, and all mounted, with +their friends, to the top of the house, with their swords and spears, +but without fire-arms. The robbers, unable to ascend from the +outside, broke open the doors, but the brothers descended and +defended the passage so resolutely, that the gang was obliged to +retire and watch for a better opportunity. + +Three months after, in January 1849, Maheput attacked the house +again, with a gang of five hundred men and good scaling-ladders. Some +ascended to the top on the ladders, while others broke open the doors +and forced their way in. The brothers and the other male members of +the family defended themselves resolutely. One of the brothers, +Esuree Sing, his uncle, Runjeet Sing, sipahee of the 11th Regiment +Bengal Native Infantry, his cousin, Beetul Sing, sipahee of the 8th +Regiment Bombay Native Infantry, were all killed, and hacked to +pieces by Maheput and his gang. No person came to the assistance of +the family, and the robbers retired with their booty, consisting of +five hundred and ten rupees in money, four muskets, and four swords, +and twelve hundred maunds of corn, and all the clothes, ornaments, +and utensils that could be found. They burnt down the house, and +dispossessed the family of their share in the estate, and plundered +all the cultivators. Davey Sine the eldest brother, went to reside at +Bhanpoor, in the neighbourhood. While he was engaged in cutting a +field of pulse, in the morning, about seven o'clock, in the month of +March following, Maheput Sing, with a gang of two hundred men, +attacked his house, killed his two brothers, Gordut and Hurdut Sing, +and their servant, Omed, and shot down his nephew, Gorbuksh Sing. +Ramsahae, the nephew of Maheput Sing, ran up to despatch him with his +sword, but Gorbuksh rose, cut him down, and killed him with his sword +before he himself expired. + +The corporal, Hunmunt Sing, of the 44th Native Infantry, described +all these things in several petitions to the Resident, and prayed +redress, but no redress was ever obtained. Saligram and other +relatives of the corporal had been plundered and wounded by Maheput +Sing and his gang, and he describes many other atrocities committed +by the same gang. His petition of the 27th September 1849, was sent +to the King by the Resident, who was told, that the Amil of the +district of Dureeabad, Girdhara Lal, had been ordered to seize +Maheput Sing and his gang. This Amil was always in league with them. + +In December 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of a +female, named Arganee, the widow of Sheik Rozae, in the village of +Pertab Pahae. It was midnight, and she was sleeping with her two +grandchildren, the sons of her son, who was a sipahee in the 66th +Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry. They bound her hands: and leaving +her young grandchildren alone, took her off to the jungle eight miles +distant. There Maheput demanded from her the seven hundred rupees +which she was said to have accumulated; and when she pleaded poverty, +and said that the sipahee's pay was their only means of subsistence, +he had her stripped naked and flogged in the usual way. For a month +he had her stripped and flogged in the same manner every day. She +then signed a bond to pay one hundred rupees on a certain day, and +was released. She sold all she had, and borrowed all she could, and +on the fourth day sent him fifty, and the other fifty on the +fifteenth day; but he afterwards had the poor widow's house pulled +down and all the wood-work carried to his fort of Bhowaneegur. + +In April 1849, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of +Seodeen Misser, sipahee of the 63rd Regiment Bengal Native Infantry; +and after plundering it, seized and carried off to the jungle his +brother and that brother's two sons--one seven years of age and the +other five--and his sister. He sold the two boys as slaves for two +hundred rupees to a person named Davey Sookul, of Guneshpoor; and +tortured the brother and sister till the sipahee and his friends sold +all they had in the world for their ransom, when he released them. + +In the month of May 1849, Maheput Sing and his gang at midnight +attacked the house of Eseree Sing, a Rajpoot of the Chouhan tribe, in +the village of Salpoor, in Dureeabad; and after stripping his mother +and all the other females of the family of their clothes and +ornaments, plundering the house of all it contained, rupees, twenty- +five in money, two handsome matchlocks, two swords, two spears, and +two shields, and brass utensils, weighing one hundred and sixty +pounds, he bound Eseree Sing himself, and took him off with his +sister, four years of age, and his daughter, only three, to a jungle, +four miles distant. He there released Eseree Sing himself, but took +on the girls, and made over his daughter to Akber, one of his +followers, and his sister to Bechoo, another of his gang, to be +united to them in marriage. It was at their instigation, and for that +purpose chiefly, that he made the attack.* + +[* Akber and Bechoo are now in prison, with Maheput, at Lucknow.] + + +In August 1849, Maheput and his gang attacked the houses of Seetul, +Gorbuksh, and Sook Lal, Brahmins, of Guneshpoor; and after plundering +them, he carried off Gorbuksh and his son, Ram Deen, and Bhowanee, +the son of Seetul, and Sook Lal, and murdered them. He carried off +and tortured, in a shocking manner, Benee, of the same place, till he +paid a ransom; and Ongud, son of Khunmun, an invalid Khalasie, of the +26th Regiment Native Infantry. + +In September 1849, Maheput attacked and plundered the house of Ongud +Sing, sipahee of the 24th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, and +confined the sipahee for some time. His petition was sent to the King +on the 11th November 1849. + +On the 15th of December 1849, Monowur Khan, havildar of the 62nd +Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, complained that Maheput Sing had +seized him as he was walking on the high road, and extorted eleven +rupees from him. His petition was sent to the King, with a request, +that all local authorities might be urged to aid in his arrest; and +orders were again sent to the Frontier Police. + +On the 24th December 1849, Madho Sing, sipahee of the 11th Regiment +Bengal Native Infantry, complained that Maheput Sing had attacked and +plundered his house twice, burnt it down, and cut down all the trees +which the family had planted for generations, and turned them all out +of the village--that in the second attack he had murdered his +daughter, a girl of only nine years of age. His petition was sent to +the King, who, on the 13th of February 1850, replied that he had +proclaimed Maheput as a robber and murderer, and offered a reward of +three thousand rupees for his arrest. + +On the 16th of March 1850, Goverdhun complained, that Maheput had +attacked and plundered his house, and carried off his father to the +jungles, and extorted from him a ransom of one hundred and ten +rupees. His petition was sent to the King, who, on the 27th March, +replied, that he had given frequent and urgent orders for the arrest +of Maheput Sing. + +Gunga Deen, a trooper of the Governor-General's body-guard, +complained to the Resident, on the 9th of August 1844, that Maheput +Sing had attacked and killed with his own hand his agent, Thakoor +Sing, while he was taking seven hundred and seventy-four rupees to +the revenue-collector. On the 11th of September 1849, he again +complained to the Resident, that Maheput Sing had plundered +Bhurteemow and other villages, in Dureeabad, of property to the value +of six thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine rupees, and murdered +five men, besides Thakoor Sing, his servant, and had committed +numerous robberies in other villages during the year 1848. Among them +one in Bhurteemow, in which he killed Ramjeet and four other men-- +that he had soon after committed a robbery in which no less than +twenty-two persons were killed and wounded, and property to the value +of two thousand rupees was carried off. The King was frequently +pressed most earnestly to arrest this atrocious robber; and on the +9th of December 1849, the Frontier Police was, at the Kings request, +directed to do all in their power to seize him. + +In July 1847, Maheput Sing and his gang attacked the house of Mungul +Sookul, a corporal of the 24th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, at +midnight, robbed it of property to the value of five hundred rupees, +and so rent the ears of his little son, by the violence with which he +tore the gold rings from them, that the boy was not likely to live. +The commanding officer of the regiment sent the corporal's petition +for redress, through the Resident, to the Durbar; and orders were +sent to the local authorities to afford it, but they were unable or +unwilling to do anything. + +Gunga Aheer, of Buroulee, in the district of Rodowlee, had been for +three years a sipahee in the 48th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, +under the name of Mata Deen. Continued sickness rendered him unfit +for duty, and he obtained his discharge, and came home to his family. +In March 1850, having been long without employment, and reduced, with +his family, to great distress, he went to his relation, Ramdhun, of +the Intelligence Department, in the service of the King of Oude, and +then; on duty at Dureeabad, with the Amil. A reward of three thousand +rupees having been offered by the King for the arrest of Maheput +Sing, the Amil ordered Ramdhun to try his best to trace him out, and +he took Gunga Aheer with him to assist, on a promise of securing for +him good service if they succeeded. They went to a jungle, about two +miles from Guneshpoor, and near the foot of Bhowaneegur. While they +were resting at a temple in the jungle, sacred to Davey, Maheput came +up, with twenty followers, to offer sacrifice; and as soon as they +recognized the Harkara, Ramdhun, they seized both, and took them off +in the evening to a jungle, four miles distant. In the hope of +frightening Maheput, the Harkara pretended to be in the service of +the Resident at Lucknow; but as the reward for his arrest had been +offered on the requisition of the Resident, on the application of +injured sipahees of the British army, this did not avail him. Their +hands were tied behind their backs, and as soon as it became dark, +they took Ramdhun off to a distance of twenty paces from where +Maheput Sing sat, and made him stand in a circle of men with drawn +swords. One man advanced, and at one cut with his sword, severed his +right arm from his body, and it fell to the ground. Another cut into +the side, under the stump, while a third cut him across the left side +of the neck with a back cut, he all the time calling out for mercy, +but in vain. On receiving the cut across the neck he fell dead, and +the body was flung into the river Goomtee. Maheput sat looking on +without saying a word. + +They then amused themselves for some time by flogging Gunga Aheer +with thorn bushes, while he in agony cried for mercy. The next day, +by Maheput's orders, they laid him upon a bed of thorns and beat him +again, while he screamed from pain, and they laughed at his cries. +One of the followers told Maheput, that they had been cautioned by +the outlaw, Jugurnath, the chuprassie, not to murder Ramdhun and his +companion, or the English would some day avenge them; but he laughed +and said that spies must be punished, to deter others from pursuing +them. One of his followers then sat on Gunga's chest while another +held his arms, and a third his legs, while a fourth cut off his nose, +and one of his hands at the wrist, and the fingers of the other hand. +He became senseless, and Maheput and his followers all left him in +this state. In the evening a servant of Seochurn Chowdheree, of +Bhowaneepoor, on his way to the jungle, saw him and reported his +condition to his master, who sent people and had him taken to him on +a litter. He had his wounds dressed by a village surgeon, and the +next day sent him home to his wife and mother. The landlord of the +village reported the case to Captain Orr, of the Frontier Police, at +Fyzabad, who had Gunga taken off to the hospital at Lucknow, where he +remained under the care of the Residency surgeon till he recovered. +This poor man had to support his mother, wife, and daughter by his +labour. His mother came in with him, and attended him in hospital, +while his wife and child remained at their village. + +While in hospital recovering, Maheput Sing was brought before him, by +the Frontier Police, to be recognized. As soon as he saw him all the +terrible scene of Ramdhun's murder and his own torture came so +vividly before him, that he trembled from head to foot, like a man in +an ague fit, and was for some time unable to speak. At last, when he +saw the fetters on Maheput's legs, and the handcuffs on his wrists, +and armed Government servants around him, he recovered his senses; +and by degrees, recorded what he had witnessed and suffered at his +hands. + +On the 25th March 1850, Rajah Maun Sing, under orders from the +Durbar, with all the force he could muster, invested the fort of +Bhowaneegur, while the force under Captains Weston, Thomas, Bunbury, +and Magness, attacked the three forts belonging to Rajah Prethee Put, +of Paska. Maheput Sing left the fort on the 27th, with eleven +followers, to collect reinforcements and harass the besiegers, and +the garrison was commanded by his nephew. + +On the 28th, Maun Sing had three men killed and several wounded, from +the fire of the garrison, and wrote for reinforcements to Captain +Weston, who was at Dureeabad, twelve miles distant. As soon as he got +the letter, he mounted his horse, and leaving the force to follow, +rode with his Assistant, Captain Orr, to the place, which is half a +mile from Guneshpoor south, and two hundred yards from the left bank +of the Goomtee river north. They were attended by a few sowars, under +Seo Sing, and they reached the place before daybreak, on the 29th; +and as soon as day appeared, proceeded with Captain Magness, who had +galloped on in advance of his regiment to reconnoitre the fort, and +were fired upon by the garrison wherever they were seen. Maun Sing's +people had retired after the loss of a few men, to the distance of a +mile, and lay scattered over the jungle. + +The Infantry came up before sunset, and the guns before it grew dark, +and all were placed in position, and a fire opened upon the fort till +it grew too dark to point the guns. The garrison soon after attempted +to escape by the west side, and were fired upon by the parties posted +on that quarter. Captain Weston, hearing the fire, collected all the +men he could, and getting with difficulty into the fort, found it +empty. In the attempt to cut their way through, the garrison had two +men killed and fifteen wounded and taken, and five managed to escape, +under cover of the night, into the thick jungle. Bikhai, one of the +most atrocious of Maheput's followers, was killed; but he killed two +of the besiegers, and wounded two more before he fell. Akber Sing, +the most atrocious of all the gang, had his arm taken off by a +cannon-shot, and was seized. Maheput's nephew, the commandant of the +garrison, was taken, with one of Maheput's secretaries and advisers. + +Of Maun Sing's party, four were killed and thirteen wounded, and +Captain Magness had one havildar severely wounded. The fort was +levelled, and the jungle around cut down. The force then proceeded +and took possession of the forts of Futtehpoor, Oskamow, Sorrea, +Dyeepoor, and Etonja, all belonging to Jugurnath Chuprassie, another +leader of banditti of that district They were only a few miles +distant from Bhowaneegur, and were deserted by his gangs on their +seeing a British force and hearing the guns open upon Bhowaneegur. +Two hundred head of stolen cattle were found in the forts of +Jugurnath, and restored to their proper owners. Parties were sent in +pursuit of Maheput Sing, and two of his followers were secured; but +he himself escaped for the time. The forts were all destroyed. +Captain Orr, the Assistant Superintendent, in charge of the Frontier +Police at Fyzabad, had been long in pursuit of Maheput Sing, and his +parties, knowing all his haunts and associates, gave him no rest. His +subadar, Seetul Sing, became acquainted with Prethee Paul, tallookdar +of Ramnuggur, who had been deprived of his estate for defalcation, +and become associated with Maheput Sing. The subadar persuaded this +landholder that it would be to his advantage to aid in the arrest of +so atrocious a robber and murderer; and when Maheput next came to him +to seek some repose from his pursuers, and consult about future +plans, he sent intimation to Seetul Sing, whose detachment of +sipahees was at no great distance. On receiving the intimation, the +subadar marched forthwith, and reached the place at the dawn of day, +on the morning of the 1st of July 1850. Maheput Sing had just left +the house to perform his ablutions, but on seeing them, he suspected +their designs and re-entered the house. The subadar's party saw him, +immediately surrounded the house, and demanded his surrender, Maheput +Sing begged Prethee Paul to join him in defending the house or +cutting their way through; but Prethee Paul told him that he had +ruined himself by his atrocities, and must now submit to his fate, +since he could not involve himself and all his family in ruin merely +to assist him. Prethee Paul then took him by the arm, brought him +out, and made him over to Seetul Sing, who had threatened to set fire +to the house, forthwith unless he did so. He was then secured and +taken off, well guarded, and in all possible haste, to Captain Orr, +lest his gang might collect and attempt a rescue. Captain Orr sent +him off, under a strong guard and well fettered, to Lucknow, to +Captain Weston, the Superintendent of the Frontier Police. + +Prethee Paul, the tallookdar, for the good service, got back his +estate from the Oude sovereign, and an addition of five hundred +rupees a-year to his nankar or personal allowance. Gunga Aheer is now +a pensioner on the Residency fund, and his family has been provided +for. Maheput Sing and his associate Gujraj were sentenced to +transportation beyond seas, and sent off in October 1851. + +It is remarked by the people, that few of these baronial robbers ever +die natural deaths--that they either kill each other, or are killed +sooner or later by the servants of Government. More atrocious crimes +than those which they every month commit it is difficult to conceive. +In the Bangor district, through which we passed last month, this +class of landholders are certainly as strong and as much disposed to +withhold the just dues of Government, and to resist its officers and +troops, as they are here, but they do not plunder and burn down each +other's villages, and murder and rob each other's tenants so often as +they do here. The coalition has introduced among them a kind of +_balance of power_, which makes them respect each other's rights, and +the rights of each other's tenants, for the chiefs are dependent upon +the attachment and fidelity of their respective tenants. The above +list contains only a part of the leaders of gangs, by which the +districts of Dureeabad, Rodowlee, Sidhore, Pertabgunge, Deva, and +Jehangeerabad, are infested. We have seen no manufacture of any +exportable commodity in Oude, nor have we seen traffic on any road in +Oude, save that leading from Cawnpore to Lucknow. + +In consequence of some bad seasons, a good deal of the grain required +at the Capital, and in the districts to the north-cast, comes from +Cawnpore over this road. Were the road from Fyzabad to Lucknow good +and safe, a good deal of land produce would, in ordinary seasons, +come over it from the Goruckpoor district, and those intervening +between Lucknow and Fyzabad. It would, however, be useless to make +the road till the gangs which infest it are put down. A good and +secure road from Lucknow through Sultanpoor to Benares, would be of +still greater advantage. + +_February 25_, 1850.--Halted at Dureeabad. I here saw the draft- +bullocks attached to the guns, with Captain Orr's companies of +Frontier Police. They are of the best kind, and in excellent +condition. They have the same allowance of a seer and half of grain +a-day, which is drawn for every bullock attached to his Majesty's +artillery. The difference is that they get all that is paid for in +their name, while the others get one-third; and really got none when +on detached duty till lately. On Fridays, Captain Orr's bullocks get +only half; and this is, I believe, the rule with all the others that +get any at all. His bullocks are bred in the Nanpara, Nigasun, +Dhorehra, and other districts in the Oude Tarae, and are of an +excellent quality for work. They cost from 40 to 75 rupees a-pair. In +these districts of the Tarae forest, the cows are allowed to go +almost wild in large grass preserves, where they are defended from +tigers; and the calves are taken from them, when a year old, to be +taken care of at home, till sold for the dairy or for work. Captain +Orr's bullocks have no grazing-ground, nor are they sent out at all +to graze--they get nothing but bhoosa (chaff) and corn. Of bhoosa +they get as much as they can eat, when on detached duty, as they take +it from the peasantry without payment; but when at Lucknow, they are +limited to a very small quantity, as Government has to pay for it. On +the 15th of May, 1833, the King prohibited any one from taking bhoosa +without paying for it, either for private or public cattle; and +directed that bhoosa, for all the Artillery bullocks, should be +purchased at the harvests, and charged for in the public accounts; +but the order was disregarded like that against the murder of female +children. + +_February 26_, 1850--Sidhore, sixteen miles, W.S.W. The country, a +plain, covered as usual with spring crops and fine foliage; but +intersected midway by the little river Kuleeanee, which causes +undulations on each side. The soil chiefly doomut and light, but +fertile. It abounds more in white ants than such light soil generally +does. We passed through the estate of Soorujpoor Behreylee, in which +so many of the baronial robbers above described reside, and through +many villages beyond it, which they had lately robbed and burnt down, +as far as such villages can be burnt. The mud-walls and coverings are +as good as bomb-proofs against the fire, to which they are always +exposed from these robbers. Only twenty days ago, Chundee Behraleea +and his party attacked the village of Siswae, through which we passed +a few miles from this--plundered it, and killed three persons, and +six others perished in the flames. They served several others in the +neighbourhood in the same manner; and have, within the same time, +attacked and plundered the town of Sidhore itself several times. + +The boundary which separates the Dureeabad from the Sidhore district +we passed some four miles back; and the greater part of the villages +lately attacked are situated in the latter, which is under a separate +Amil, Aga Ahmud, who is, in consequence, unable to collect his +revenue. The Amil of Dureeabad, Girdhara Sing,* on the contrary, +acquiesces in all the atrocities committed by these robbers, and is, +in consequence, able to collect his revenue, and secure the favour of +the Court. Some of the villages of the estate, held by the widow of +Singjoo, late Rajah of Soorujpoor, are under the jurisdiction of the +Sidhore Amil; and, as she would pay no revenue, the Amil took a force +a few days ago to her twelve villages of Sonowlee, within the +Dureeabad district, and seized and carried off some three hundred of +her tenants, men, women, and children, as hostages for the payment of +the balance due, and confined them pell-mell, in a fort. The clamour +of the rest of the population as I passed was terrible, all declaring +that they had paid their rents to the _Ranee_, and that she alone +ought to be held responsible. She, however, resided at Soorujpoor, +within the jurisdiction, and under the protection of the Amil of +Dureeabad. + +[* Girdhara Sing's patron is Chundee Sahaee, the minister's deputy, +whose influence is paramount at present.] + +The Behraleea gangs have lately plundered the five villages of +Sadutpoor, Luloopoor, Bilkhundee, and Subahpoor, belonging to +Soorujbulee, the head Canoongo, or Chowdheree of Dureeabad, who had +never offended them. Both the Amils were with me for the latter part +of the road; and the dispute between them ran very high. It was +clear, however, that Girdhara Sing was strong in his league with the +robbers, and conscious of being able to maintain his ground at Court; +and Aga Ahmud was weak in his efforts to put them down, and conscious +of his being unable much longer to pay what was required, and keep +his post. He has with him two Companies of Nujeebs and two of +Telingas, and eight guns. The guns are useless and without +ammunition, or stores of any kind; and the Nujeebs and Telingas +cannot be depended upon. The best pay master has certainly the best +chance. It is humiliating and distressing to see a whole people +suffering such wrongs as are every day inflicted upon the village +communities and town's people of Dureeabad, Rodowlee, Sidhore, and +Dewa, by these merciless freebooters; and impossible not to feel +indignant at a Government that regards them with so much +indifference.* + +[* Poor Aga Ahmud was put into gaol, for defalcation, at the end of +the season; but Girdhara Sing was received with great favour by the +Court. The government of the district, for the next season, was +confirmed, and the usual dress of honour was conferred upon him, but +the Resident deemed it to be his duty to interpose and insist upon +his not being sent out. The government of the district was, in +consequence, taken from him, and made over to Rajah Maun Sing.] + +A respectable young agricultural capitalist from Biswa, Seetaram, +rode along by my side this morning, and I asked him, "over whom these +suttee tombs, near Biswa, and other towns were for the most part +raised."--"Sir," said he, "they are chiefly over the widows of +Brahmins, bankers, merchants, Hindoo public officers, tradesmen, and +shopkeepers." "Are there many such tombs in Oude, over the widows of +Rajpoot landholders?"--"I have not seen any, sir, and have rarely +heard of the widow of a Rajpoot landholder burning herself." "No, +sir," said Bukhtawar Sing, "how should such women be worthy to become +suttees? They dare not become suttees, sir, with the murder of so +many innocent children on their heads. Sir, we Brahmins and other +respectable Hindoos feel honoured in having daughters; and never feel +secure of a happy life hereafter till we see them respectably +married. This, sir, is a duty the Deity demands from us, and the +neglect of which we do not believe he can ever excuse. When the +bridegroom comes sir, to fetch our daughter, the priest reads over +the marriage-service, and the parents of the girl wash her feet and +those of her bridegroom; and, as they sit together after the +ceremonies, put into her arms a tray of gold and silver jewels, and +rich clothes, such as their condition in life enables them to +provide; and then invoke the blessing of God upon their union; and +then, and not till then, do they feel that they have done their duty +to their child. What can men and women, who murder their daughters as +soon as they are born, ever hope for in this life or in a future +state? What can widows, conscious of such crimes, expect from +ascending the funeral pile, with the bodies of their deceased +husbands who have caused them to commit such crimes?" "And you think +that there really is merit in such sacrifices on the part of widows, +who have done their duties in this life?"--"Assuredly I do, sir; if +there were none, why should God render them go insensible to the pain +of burning? I have seen many widows burn themselves in my time, and +watched them from the time they first declared their intention to +their death; and they all seemed to me to feel nothing whatever from +the flames: nothing, sir, but support from above could sustain them +through such trials. Depend upon it, sir, that no widow of a Rajpoot +murderer of his own offspring would ever be so supported; they knew +very well that they would not be so; and, therefore, very wisely +never ventured to expose themselves to the trial: faithful wives and +good mothers only could so venture. The Rajpoots, sir, and their +wives were pleased at the prohibition, because others could no longer +do what they dared not do!" "What do you think, Seetarum?"--"I think, +sir, that this crime of infanticide had its origin solely in family +pride, which will make people do almost anything. These proud +Rajpoots did not like to put it into any man's power to call them +_salahs_ or _sussoors_,* (brothers-in-law or fathers-in-law). + +[* These are terms of abuse all over India. To call a man sussoor or +salah, in abuse, is to say to him, I have dishonoured your daughter +or your sister!] + +"I remember an instance of a woman burning herself at Lasoora, six +miles from Biswa, when I was fifteen years of age, and I am now +twenty-five. She certainly seemed to suffer no pain. One forenoon she +told her husband that in a former birth she had promised him that +when he should be born a _maha brahman_ at Biswa, she would unite +herself in marriage to him, and live with him as his wife for twelve +years; that these twelve years had now expired, and that she had that +night received intimation from Heaven that her real husband, _Rajah +Kirpah Shunker_, of Muthura, had died without having been married in +this birth; that she was in reality his wife, and had already burnt +herself five times with his body, and would now mix her ashes with +his for the sixth time, and he must forthwith send her to the village +of Lasoora, where she would become a suttee. The husband was +astounded, for they had always lived together on the best possible +terms, and out of the four children they had had two still survived. +He and all their relations did all they could to dissuade her, but +she disregarded them, and ran off to the Sewala (temple) in Biswa, +which was built by my father. Thence she sent a Brahmin, by name +Gokurn, to call me and my elder brother, Morlee Munohur, then +seventeen years of age. We went, and she told us that she had been +our mother in a former birth, and wished to see us once more before +she died; she blessed us, and prayed that we might have each five +sons, and then told us to arrange for her funeral pile at Lasoora, as +all her former five suttees had been performed at that place. + +"We thought she was delirious, and no one supposed that she would +really burn herself. She, however, left the temple and proceeded +towards Lasoora on foot, followed by a party of women and children, +and by her husband, who continued to implore her to return home with +him. He had a litter with him to take her, but she would not listen +to him or to any one else. We reached Lasoora about an hour and a +half before sunset, and she ordered the people to collect a large +pile of wood for her, and told them that she would light it with a +flame from her own mouth. They seemed to regard her as an inspired +person, and did so. She mounted the pile, and it soon took fire, how +I know not! Many people said they saw the flame come from her month, +and all seemed to believe that it did so. The flames ascended, for it +was in the month of March, and the wood was dry, and she seemed to be +quite happy as she sat in the midst of them, and was burnt to death. +Her husband told us, that she had lost one son some years before, and +another only four days before she burnt herself, and that she had +been much afflicted at his death. Whether there really had been such +a person as Rajah Kirpah Shunker, no one ever thought it necessary to +inquire. Her suttee tomb still stands at Lasoora among many others. +Our mother was alive, though our father had been dead many years, and +she used to say that the poor woman must have become deranged at the +death of her child. The people all believed that she told the truth, +and the husband was obliged to yield, though he seemed much +afflicted. Her two sons still live, and reside at Biswa." * + +[* Moorlee Monowur, a very respectable agricultural capitalist, tells +me, that all that his younger brother, Seetaram, told me, about the +suttee, if strictly true, and can be proved by a reference to the +poor woman's husband and sons, who still survive, and to the people +of Bilwa and Lasoora.] + +I asked the Amil, "How he fed, clothed, and lodged his prisoners?" He +said, "We always take them with us in our marches, secured in stocks +or fetters. We cannot leave them behind, because we have no gaols or +other places to keep them in, and require all our troops to move with +us. As to food and clothing, they are obliged to provide themselves, +or get their families or friends to provide them, for Government will +not let us charge anything for their subsistence and clothing in the +accounts." + +"I understand that you and all other public servants who have charge +of prisoners not only make them provide themselves with food and +clothing, but make them pay for lamp-oil, whether they have a lamp +burning at night or not?"--"When they require a lamp they must of +course pay for it, sir; prisoners are always a source of much anxiety +to us, for if we send them to Lucknow, they are almost sure to be let +out soon, on occasions of thanksgiving, or on payment of gratuities, +and enabled to punish all who have assisted us in the arrest; and +with hosts of robbers around us, we are always in danger of an +attempt to rescue them, which may cost us many lives." "If the gaol +darogahs at Lucknow had not the power to sell his prisoners, sir," +said Bukhtawar Sing, "how should he be able to pay so much as he does +for his place? He is obliged to pay five hundred rupees or more for +his place, and is not sure of holding it a month after he has bought +it, so many are the candidates for a place so profitable!" "But he +gets a share of the subsistence money, paid for the prisoners from +the Treasury, does he not?"--"Yes, sir; of the four pice a-day paid +for them by the King, he takes two, and sends them to beg through the +city for what more they require." "If they get more than what he +thinks they require from the public or their friends, he takes the +surplus from them, I am told?"--"It is very true, sir, I believe. +Fellows, sir, who have no substantial friends, and cannot and will +not beg, soon sink under this scanty supply of food." + +_February 27_, 1850--Sutrick, sixteen miles west, over a plain of +muteear soil, tolerably well cultivated, and very well studded with +trees of the finest kinds, single, in clusters and in groves. The +mango-trees are in blossom, and promise well. The trees are said to +bear only one season out of three, but some bear in one season, and +others in another, so that the market is always supplied, though in +some seasons more abundantly than in others. A cloudy sky and +easterly wind, while the trees are in blossom, are said to be very +injurious. A large landholder told me that they never took a tax upon +any of the trees, not even the mhowa-trees, but the owner could not, +except upon particular occasions, dispose of one to be cut down, +without the permission of the zumeendar upon whose lands it stood. He +might cut down one without his permission for building or repairing +his house, or for fuel, on any occasion of marriage in his family, +but not otherwise. A good many fine trees were, he said, destroyed by +the local officers of Government. Having no tents, they collected the +roofs of houses from a neighbouring village in hot or bad weather, +cut away the branches to make rafters, and left the trunks as pillars +to support the roofs, and under this treatment they soon died. He +told me that cow-dung was cheaper for fuel than wood in this +district, and consequently more commonly used in cooking; but that +they gathered cow-dung for fuel only during four months in the year, +November, December, January, and February; all that fell during the +other eight months was religiously left, or stored for manure. In the +pits in which they stored it, they often threw some of the inferior +green crops of autumn, such as kodo and kotkee; but the manure most +esteemed among them was _pigs' dung_--this, he said, was commonly +stored and sold by those who kept pigs. The best muteear and doomut +soils, which prevail in this district, are rented at two rupees a +kutcha beegah, without reference to the crop which the cultivator +might take from them; and they yielded, under good tillage, from ten +to fifteen returns of the seed in wheat, barley, gram, &c. There are +two and half or three kutcha beegahs in a pucka beegah; and a pucka +beegah is from 2750 to 2760 square yards. + +Sutrick is celebrated for the shrine of Shouk Salar, alias _Borda +Baba_, the father of Syud Salar, whose shrine is at Bahraetch. This +person, it is said, was the husband of the sister of Mahmood, of +Ghuznee. He is supposed to have died a natural death at this place, +while leading the armies of his sovereign against the Hindoos. His +son had royal blood in his veins, and his shrine is held to be the +most sacred of the two. A large fair is held here in March, on the +same days that this fair takes place at Bahraetch. All our Hindoo +camp followers paid as much reverence to the shrine as they passed as +the Mahommedans. It is a place without trade or manufactures; but a +good many respectable Mahommedan families reside in it, and have +built several small but neat mosques of burnt bricks. There is little +thoroughfare in the wretched road that passes through it. + +The Hindoos worship any sign of manifested might or power, though +exerted against themselves, as they consider all might and power to +be conferred by the Deity for some useful purpose, however much that +purpose may be concealed from us. "These invaders, however merciless +and destructive to the Hindoo race, say they must have been sent on +their mission by God for some great and useful purpose, or they could +not possibly have succeeded as they did: had their proceedings not +been sanctioned by Him, he could at any moment have destroyed them +all, or have interposed to arrest their progress." These, however, +are the speculations of only the thinking portion. At the bottom of +the respect shown to such Mahommedan shrines, by the mass of Hindoos, +there is always a strong ground-work of _hope_ or _fear_: the soul or +spirit of the savage old man, who had been so well supported on +earth, must still, they think, have some influence at the Court of +Heaven to secure them good or work them evil, and they invoke or +propitiate him accordingly. They would do the same to the tomb of +Alexander, Jungez Khan, Tymour, or Nadir Shah, without any perplexing +inquiries as to their creed or liturgy. + +_February 28_, 1850.--Chinahut, eleven miles west, over a plain +intersected by several small streams, the largest of which is the +Rete, near Sutrick. There is a good deal of kunkur-lime in the ground +over which we have passed today; but the tillage is good where the +land is at all level, and the crops are fine. The plain is cut up +here and there by some ravines, but they are small and shallow, and +render but a small portion of the surface unfit for tillage. The +banks of the small streams are, for the most part, cultivated up to +the water's edge. + +We passed the Rete over a nice bridge, built by Rajah Bukhtawar Sing +twenty-five years ago, at a cost of twenty-five thousand rupees, out +of his own purse. He told me that one morning, in the rains, he came +to the bank of this river, on his way to Lucknow from Jeytpoor, a +town which we passed yesterday, and found it so swollen that he was +obliged to purchase some large earthen jars, and form a raft upon +them to take over himself and followers. While preparing his raft, +which took a whole day, he heard that from five to ten persons were +drowned, in attempting to cross this little river, every year, and +that people were often detained upon the bank for four or five days +together. He resolved to save people from all this evil; and as soon +as he got home set about building this bridge, and got it ready +before the next rains. It is a substantial work, with three good +arches. About two miles on this side of the bridge he pointed out to +me the single tree, near a mango-grove, where some eighteen or twenty +years ago he overtook a large balloon, which the King, Nuseer-od Deen +Hyder, had got made in the Dilkosha Park at Lucknow. It was made, he +tells me, by a tall and slender young English gentleman, who visited +Lucknow, with his uncle, for the special purpose of constructing and +ascending in this machine. "When it was all ready, sir, the young man +got into a small boat that was suspended under it, taking with him a +gun and some artificial fish. We asked him what he intended to do +with a gun in the clouds; and he told us, that in the sky he was in +danger of meeting large birds that might hurt the balloon, and the +gun was necessary to frighten them off. As the balloon began to +ascend the old gentleman's eyes filled with tears, and I asked him +why. He told me, that this young man's father had fallen into the +sea, and been drowned; and he was always afraid, when the son went +up, that he might never see him alive again. + +"The King was sitting at the window in the upper story of the +Dilkosha house, with some English gentlemen, when the balloon passed +up close by, and the gentleman took off his hat and bowed gracefully +as he passed, at which the King seemed much pleased. I commanded a +regiment of Dragoons, and the King told me to take a party of my +boldest and best-mounted men and follow the balloon. I selected +seventeen, and we were all ready in our saddles. The balloon went +straight up, and we lost sight of the man and the boat in which he +sat. The machine, though it was sixty feet long, including boat and +all, and twelve feet wide, seemed at last to be no larger than a +small water-jug. Below we had no wind, but we soon saw the balloon +driven by an upper current to the eastward, along the Fyzabad road. +We followed as fast as the horses could carry us, crossed the Goomtee +river over the old stone bridge, and passed many travellers on the +road staring at the extraordinary machine, for they had heard nothing +about it, and we had no time to tell them. When we had gone about +seventeen miles, the balloon began to descend. It was in the month of +March, and the weather was hot, and I had lost three horses before it +came to the ground. The young man then began to let go his fish, and +they came fluttering down, while the oil-cloths about the balloon +made a noise like the growling of a wild beast. Seeing the enormous +machine going at this rate, followed by us at full speed, the people +along the road, who are always numerous in the morning, became so +panic-struck that a great many fell down senseless upon their faces, +and some of them could not be got to rise for some hours afterwards. + +"We were not far from it when it approached the ground, and swept +along on the border of this grove, on our left. Fortunately for the +young man, it did not strike any trees. He was dressed all in black, +and a very tall, handsome young man he was. As soon as he found +himself near enough to the ground, he jumped out, holding one rope in +his hand, and tried to stop the balloon, calling out to the people on +the road, as loud as he could, _puckaro, puckaro!_--seize, seize! We +were then within two hundred yards of it, and at full speed; and, +instead of helping the young man, the people on the road, thinking +the order was to seize them, fell down flat on their faces, unable to +look upon the balloon, or utter a word. They all thought that it was +some terrible demon from above come to seize and devour them. When we +had headed it a little, we all sprang from our saddles, joined the +young man at the ropes, and lashed them round anything we could find, +as we were being dragged along. The young man took out his penknife, +and gave the balloon a gash in the side, to let out the _smoke_ that +inflated it, and it collapsed and stopped. The first thing, sir, that +the young man did was to call for fire, take a cigar from his +waistcoat pocket, and begin to smoke, while we went to the assistance +of the panic-struck travellers, many of whom were still lying +senseless on the ground. We got water, and threw it in their faces; +and when they were able to sit up, we mounted the young man upon one +of our horses, and took him back slowly to Lucknow. He told me that +it was so very cold above, that it gave him a severe headache, and +that he found a cigar a good thing to remove it. The King was very +glad when we brought him back, and he gave him several thousand +rupees over and above the cost of making the balloon, and providing +him and his uncle during their stay. They soon after left Lucknow for +Lahore, and what became of them I know not." + +Passing a Mahommedan village, I asked some of the landholders, who +walked along by the side of my elephant, to talk of their grievances, +whether they ever used pigs' dung for manure. They seemed very much +surprised and shocked, and asked how I could suppose that Mahommedans +could use such a thing. "Come," said Bukhtawar Sing, "do not attempt +to deceive the Resident. He has been all over India, and knows very +well that Mahommedans do not keep or eat pigs; but he knows, also, +that there is no good cultivator in Oude who does not use the dung of +pigs for manure; and you know that there is no other manure, save' +pigeons' dung, that is so good." "We often purchase _manure_ from +those who prepare it," said the landholders, "and do not ask +questions about what it may be composed of; but the greater part of +the manure we use is the cow-dung which falls in the season of the +rains, and is stored exclusively for that purpose. In the dry months, +sir, the dung of cows, bullocks, buffaloes, &c., is gathered, formed +into cakes, and stacked for fuel; but in the rains it is all thrown +into pits and stored for manure." + +Chinahut is the point from which we set out on the 2nd of December, +and here I was met by the prime minister, Nawab Allee Nakee Khan, and +the chancellor of the exchequer, Maharajah Balkrishun, to whom I +explained my views as to the measures which ought to be adopted to +save the peaceful and industrious portion of his Majesty's subjects +from the evils which now so grievously oppress them. + +Here closes my pilgrimage of three months in Oude; and I can safely +say that I have learnt more of the state of the country, and the +condition and requirements of the people, than I could possibly have +learnt in a long life passed exclusively at the capital of Lucknow. +Any general remarks that I may have to make on what I have seen and +heard during the pilgrimage I must defer to a future period. + +At four in the afternoon, I left Chinahut, and returned to Lucknow. +At the old race-stand, about three miles from the Residency, I was +met by the heir-apparent, and drove with him, in his carriage, to the +Furra Buksh Palace, where we alighted for a few minutes, to go +through the usual tedious ceremonies of an Oriental Court. On the way +we were met by Mr. Hamilton, the chaplain, and his lady. Dr. and Mrs. +Bell, and Captain Bird, the First Assistant, and his brother and +guest. After the ceremony, I took leave of the Prince, and reached +the Resident at six o'clock. My wife and children had left me at +Peernuggur, to return, for medical advice, to the Residency, where I +had the happiness to find them well, and glad to see me. Having +broken my left thigh hone, near the hip joint, in a fall from my +horse, in April, 1849, I was unable to mount a horse during the tour, +and went in a tonjohn the first half of the stage, and on an elephant +the last half, that I might see as much as possible of the country +over which we were passing. The pace of a good elephant is about that +of a good walker, and I had generally some of the landholders and +cultivators riding or walking by my side to talk with. + +END OF THE TOUR. + + + + +PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE + +RELATING TO THE ANNEXATION OF THE KINGDOM OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA. + + + __________________________ + + + + Camp, Nawabgunge, 5th December, 1849. + +My Dear Bird, + +I had heard from Mahomed Khan what you mention regarding the +imposition practised on the King by the singers; but from his having +conferred a khilaut on the knaves, they supposed that he had, as +usual, pardoned all. If you have grounds to believe that the King is +prepared to punish them, or to acquiesce in their punishment, pray +ask an audience and ascertain his Majesty's wishes. When we last +went, I was in hopes that he would tell me that he wished to be +relieved of their presence, and did all I could to encourage him to +do so. If the King wishes to have them removed, encourage him to give +immediate orders to the minister to confine them; and offer any +assistance that may be required to take them across the Ganges, or +put them into safe custody. When it is done, it must be done +promptly. + +As to the Taj Mahal, I went on an order by Richmond, "that the King +should put a Mahaldarnee upon her if he wished." I was told that such +was Richmond's order, and I give mine in consequence. I will refer to +the Dufter for his order. But you must at once insist upon all +sipahees being withdrawn from her house. This order was given by me +and should be enforced by you. I said that the Mahaldarnee might +remain, but it must be alone, without sipahees, &c. + +On emergency, act of course on your own discretion I only wish that +the King may be induced to consent to the removal of all the singers, +and meddling eunuchs also. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Bird, +First Assistant. + +Sadik Allee should be secured, and punished with the rest. + + + + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + __________________________ + + + Camp, Bahraetch, 10th December, 1849. + +My Dear Bird, + +The conduct of the singers which exasperated the King had no +reference to public matters with which he was pledged not to permit +them to interfere; and my only request was, that you should offer +your aid in removing them should his Majesty indicate any wish for +it. The King said he would himself punish them for their conduct by +banishment across the Ganges, and he must be left to do so: it was +not from any demand made by us, but from resentment for a personal +affront, or an affront to his understanding. We cannot call upon the +King to do what he said he would do under such circumstances, but +must leave it to himself. The removal of two out of a dozen fellows +of this description will be of no use--their places will soon be +filled by others. Any attempt on your part to supply their places by +better men will only tend to indispose the King towards them; and it +is no part of our duty to dictate to his Majesty with whom he shall +associate in his private hours. + +I have had abundant proof that, to reduce the influence of the +present favourites, has no tendency to throw the power into better +hands--no authority of any kind taken from them has, by the minister, +been confided to better men; the creatures of one are not a whit +better than the creatures of the other. If his Majesty were to rouse +himself, and apply his own mind to business, we might hope for some +good, and I see little chance of this. + +You are not to order that the King fulfil his promise, because, as I +have said, it was no pledge made on the requisition of our Government +on the Resident. If he does not fulfil it, it is only one proof more +added to a hundred of his exceeding weakness. There are at least a +dozen worse men now influencing all that the King and minister do +than Kotab Alee and Gholam Ruza. The last order given regarding Taj +Mahal by me was, that she should admit a Mahaldarnee from the King, +but that no sipahees should be forced upon her. I wrote to the King +to this effect, and my order must be enforced. I am told by the +moonshee, that when the King expressed a wish to have such guardians +upon many, Richmond replied that he might have one upon Taj Mahal, +who had given such proof of profligacy. It was not a judicial +decision, to be referred to as a guide under all circumstances, but a +mere arrangement which might any day require to be altered. Taj Mahal +is so profligate and insolent a woman, that if she refuses to obey my +order, and receive the King's Mahaldarnee, I shall withdraw the +Residents. + +After what the Governor-General had told the King in November, 1847, +regarding what our Government would feel itself bound to do, unless +his Majesty conducted the duties of a sovereign better than he had +hitherto done; and after the experience we have since had of his +entire neglect of those duties, you should not, I think, have said +what you mention having said to him, that our Government had no wish +to deprive him of one iota of the power he had. It was a declaration +not called for by the circumstances, or necessary on the occasion, +and should have been avoided, as it is calculated to impair the +impression of his responsibility for the exercise of his power. No +sovereign ever showed a greater disregard for the duties and +responsibilities of his high office than he has done hitherto, and as +our Government holds itself answerable to the people of Oude for a +better administration, he should not be encouraged in the notion that +he may always show the same disregard with impunity--that is, +continue to retain every iota of his power whether he exercised it +properly or not. No man, I believe, ever felt more anxious for the +welfare of the King, his family, and country, than I do; but unless +he exercises his fearful power better, I should be glad, for the sake +of all, to see the whole, or part of it, in better hands. + +The minister has his Motroussil with me, and I have daily +communications of what is done or proposed to be done, and you may be +sure that I lose no occasion of admonition. I did not mention +anything you said regarding your interview with the King in your +letter to Mahomed Khan; but in a few hours after your letter came he +got the whole from the minister, and reported it to me. He wants us +to undertake the work of turning out the King's favourites, that he +may get all the power they lose, without offending his master by any +appearance of moving in the matter. + +We go hence to-morrow; hope to be at Gonda on the 14th, and Fyzabad +on the 18th. I have requested the post-master to send all our letters +to Fyzabad by the regular dawk from Thursday next, the 13th. From +Fyzabad I will arrange for their coming to my camp. + + Yours sincerely, + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Bird, + &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Camp, Ghunghole, 12th December, 1849. + +My Dear Bird, + +I got your letter of the 9th instant last night, at our last ground. +In what you have done, you have not, I think, acted discreetly. You +asked me whether, in any case of emergency, you should act on your +discretion, and I told you in reply that you might do so; but surely, +whether the King should have a dozen singers or only ten could not be +considered one of such pressing emergency as not to admit of your +waiting for instructions from me, or, at least, for a reply to your +letter. The King has told you truly, that the matter in which the +offenders had transgressed had reference to his house, and not to his +Government or ours. This is a distinction which you appear to have +lost sight of from the first. If I demand reparation from another for +wrong or insults suffered from his servants, and he promises to +punish them by dismissal from his service but afterwards relents and +detains them, I consider it due to myself and my character to insist +upon the fulfilment of his promise; but if I voluntarily visit any +friend who has at last become sensible of the impositions of his +servants which had long been manifest to all his neighbours, with a +view to encourage him in his laudable resolution to dismiss them from +his service, and to offer my aid in effecting the object should he +require it, and he promises me not to swerve from it, but afterwards +relents and retains the impostors, I pity his weakness, but I do not +consider it due to myself, or to my character, to insist upon his +fulfilling his promise. By considering two cases so very distinct, +the same, you have placed yourself in a disagreeable situation, for I +cannot support you; that is, I can neither demand that the +requisitions made by you be complied with, nor can I tell the King +that I approve of them. Had you waited for my reply, which was sent +off from Bahraetch on the 10th, you would have saved yourself all +this annoyance and mortification. It has arisen from an overweening +confidence in your personal influence over his Majesty; the fact is, +I believe that no European gentleman ever has had or ever will have +any personal influence over him, and I very much doubt whether any +real native gentleman will ever have any. He never has felt any +pleasure in their society, and I fear never will. He has hitherto +felt easy only in the society of such persons as those with whom he +now exclusively associates, and to hope that he will ever feel easy +with persons of a better class is vain. I am perfectly satisfied, in +spite of the oath he has taken in the name of his God, and on the +head of his minister, that he made to you the promise you mention; +and I am no less satisfied that the minister wished for the removal +of the singers, provided it should be effected through us without his +appearing to his master to move in the matter, and that he wished +their removal solely with a view to acquire for himself the authority +they had possessed. You should not have any more audiences with the +King without previous reference to me; nothing is likely to occur to +require it. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Bird, + &c. &c. + + __________________________ + + + Camp, Fyzabad, 18th December, 1819. + +My Dear Bird, + +I send you the letter which you wish to refer to. As you quote my +first letter, pray let me see it. I kept no copy, but have a distinct +recollection of what I intended to say in it regarding this affair of +the singers. It shall be sent back to you. The term "indiscreet" had +reference only to your second visit, and demand from the King of the +fulfilment of his promise. I had no fault whatever to find with your +first visit. The term "private" must have had reference, not to the +promise or to the person to whom it was made, but to the offence with +which the singers stood charged. It was an affront offered to the +King's understanding that he took affront at, and whether he had made +a promise to resent it as such to me, or to you could make no +difference. If he did not fulfil it, we should pity this further +instance of his weakness, but could have no right to insist upon his +doing so. Even had the offence been an interference in public +affairs, and breach of the King's engagements, I should not have +demanded their banishment without a reference to the Governor- +General, because the delay of waiting for instructions involved no +danger or serious inconvenience; that is, I should not have demanded +it when the King was so strongly opposed to it. I must distinctly +deny that you demanded the King's fulfilment of his promise in +conformity to any instructions received from me, or in accordance +with my views of what was right or expedient in this matter. Your +second visit and demand were neither in conformity to the one nor in +accordance with the other. You must have put a construction upon what +I wrote which it cannot fairly bear. By "requisitions" I mean your +requirements that the two men should be banished by the King, +according to his promise. No notice has been made to me of your visit +by the Court, and I have therefore had no occasion to say anything +whatever about it in my communications to the Court, nor shall I have +any I suppose. In your letter of the 4th instant, you say, with +regard to the Taj Mahal's case, "Not knowing whether you do or do not +wish me to act in any sudden emergency during your absence, I +suppose, therefore, that had you had any such wish you would have +instructed me on the subject." In reply, I requested that you would +so act on your own discretion in any such sudden case of emergency. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Bird, + &c. &c. + __________________________ + + + Camp, Mahomdee, 2nd February, 1850. + +My Dear Sir Erskine, + +Had it not been too late for you to join my camp conveniently, I +should have asked you to run out and see a little of the country and +people of Oude, after you had seen so much of those of the Honourable +Company's dominions. A few years of tolerable government would make +it the finest country in India, for there is no part of India with so +many advantages from nature. I have seen no soil finer; the whole +plain of which it is composed is capable of tillage; it is everywhere +intersected by rivers, flowing from the snowy chain of the Himmalaya, +which keep the moisture near the surface at all times, without +cutting up any of the land on their borders into deep ravines; it is +studded with the finest groves and single trees, as much as the lover +of the picturesque could wish; it has the boldest and most +industrious peasantry in India, and a landed aristocracy too strong +for the weak and wretched Government; it is, for the most part, well +cultivated; yet with all this, one feels, in travelling over it, as +if he was moving among a people suffering under incurable physical +diseases, from the atrocious crimes every day perpetrated with +impunity, and the numbers of suffering and innocent people who +approach him, in the hope of redress, and are sent away in despair. + +I think your conclusion regarding the source of the signs you saw of +beneficial interference in the north-west provinces a fair one. A +Lieutenant-Governor is able to see all parts of the country under his +charge every year, or nearly all; and while he is sufficiently +"monarch of all he surveys" to feel an interest in, and to provide +for the general good, he has a sufficient knowledge of the internal +management of particular districts to control the proceedings of the +local officers. He is also well seconded in a very efficient Board of +Revenue. But I must not indulge in these matters any further, till I +have the pleasure of meeting you where we can talk freely about them. + +I trust that all at Lucknow will be conducted to your satisfaction +and that of Mrs. Erskine. I have this morning received a note from +Mr. Erskine, who left you, it appears, before the little heir- +apparent returned your visit. I expect to complete my tour and return +to Lucknow on the 20th, when I shall have seen all that I required to +see, to understand the working of the existing system, and the +probable effects of any suggested changes. + +With kind regards to Mrs. Erskine, + + Believe me, + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir Erskine Perry. + +P.S.--I must not omit to thank you for the expression of your +favourable opinion of the "Rambles." There is one thing of which I +can assure you, that the conversations mentioned in it are genuine, +and give the real thoughts and opinions of the people on the subjects +they embrace. + W. H. S. + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 26th April, 1850. +My Dear Elliot, + +I did not send Weston's letters with the other papers, because they +were not written in an official form. He was the senior officer with +the force, and had authority from the Durbar to call upon all local, +civil, and military authorities to co-operate in the work; but he did +not take upon himself the command, or write in official form. He +inspired all with harmony and energy, and brought the whole strength +of the little force to bear upon the right points at the right time. + +The head of Prethee Put of Paska was cut off by Captain Magness's +sipahees after his death, to be sent to the King as a trophy, but +Captain Weston would not let it come in. The body was offered to his +family and friends for interment, but none of the family or tribe +(Kolhun's Rajpoots) would have anything to do with the funeral +ceremonies of a man who had murdered his eldest brother and the head +of his tribe. The body was, with the head, put into a sheet, taken to +the river Ghagra, and committed to the stream, to flow to the Ganges, +as the best interment for a Hindoo. These sipahees knew nothing of +the man's history; but the people who saw the affair from the Dhundee +Fort mentioned that the body was thrown into the river at the precise +place where he had thrown in that of his eldest brother, after +murdering him in the boat with his own hands, as stated in the +extract from my Diary; and all believe that this retribution arises +from an interposition from above. The eldest son of the murdered +brother will, I hope, be put into possession of the estate. + +The Governor-General may like to peruse these letters, and I send +them. They give, perhaps, a fuller and better account of what was +done, and the manner in which it was done, than more studied +compositions, in an official form, would have given. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 8th July, 1850. + +My Dear Sir James, + +I feel that my Indian career, which has now lasted forty years, must +be drawing to a close, and I am anxious for the settlement in life of +my only son, now between seventeen and eighteen years of age. Having +no personal claims upon any member of the Home Government of India, I +solicit the insertion of his name on his Grace the Duke of +Wellington's list of candidates for a commission in the Dragoons; and +he is now preparing for his examination under the care of Mr. +Yeatman, at Westow Hill, Norwood, Surrey, near London. But he is +ambitious to obtain an appointment to Bengal, where his father has +served so long, and may, possibly, have friends and recollections +that might be useful to him in the early part of his career. It falls +to the lot of few to have the opportunities that I have had to carry +out the benevolent views of Government in measures of great and +general benefit to the people, and to secure their gratitude and +affection to their rulers. All the measures which I have been +employed to carry out have tended to display the benevolent +solicitude of the Government of India for the welfare of the people +committed to its charge; the object of all has been the greater +security of life and property throughout the country, the greater +confidence of the people in the wisdom and efficiency of our rule, +and their greater feeling of interest in this stability. These +measures, as far as they have been confided to my care, have all +succeeded; but, as I have stated (p. 79) in a printed report, a copy +of which will be sent to you, they have neither flattered the +vainglory of any particular nation, nor enlisted on their side the +self-love of any influential class or powerful individual, and they +have, in consequence, been attended with little _eclat_. They have, +however, tended to secure to the Government the gratitude and +affection of the people of India, and are measures of which that +Government may justly feel proud. The stability of our Government in +India must depend less upon our military victories than upon the +confidence and affection with which our civil and political +administration may inspire the great mass of the people. The general +belief is, that our object is their substantial good, and that we are +instruments in the hands of Divine Providence to effect that object. +In our military glory they can feel no sympathy, and in our +territorial acquisitions little interest; but they can and do +appreciate every measure which tends to improve the security of life, +property, and industry through the land--to restore the bond of good +feeling between the Government and governed, where it has for a time +been severed or impaired by accident--to provide the people with +works tending to improve their comfort and convenience--to mitigate +sufferings from calamities of season, and to encourage all to exert +themselves honestly in their proper sphere. In carrying out the views +of Government in such measures, and such only, has my life in India +been spent; and for doing so to the best of my humble ability I have, +I believe, done much to make its rule revered throughout India. It is +by such measures that the respect and confidence of the great mass of +the people have been secured, so as to enable Europeans, male and +female, to pass from one end of the country to the other with the +assurance, not only that they will suffer no personal injury, but no +mark of disrespect. Should anything occur to deprive us of this +confidence and respect among the great mass of the people, the +recollection of our victories, and assurance of our superior military +organization will avail us but little; and it is as one who has +zealously and successfully aided Government in securing them, that I +now venture to address you, in the hope that you will--if you can do +so consistently with your public duties and pledges to others--open +to my son the same career of usefulness by conferring upon him a +nomination to the civil service of India. He is now five months above +seventeen years of age; and by the time he is eighteen, he will, I +hope, under Mr. Yeatman's judicious care, be able to pass his +examination for Haileybury, should he, through your means, obtain +this the utmost object of his ambition. Over and above the desire to +follow his father's footsteps in India, he is anxious to avoid the +necessity of encroaching so much upon the small means I have to +provide for his four sisters, by entering so expensive a branch of +the public service as the Dragoons. I know the great nature of the +favour I ask from you. It is the first favour that I have ever asked +from any member of the Home Government of India; and I solicit it +from you solely on the ground of service rendered to the Government +and people of India. I am told that I must address my application to +an individual; and I address it to you, under the impression that you +are the member with whom such ground is likely to meet with most +consideration;--not that I think any member of the Honourable Court +would disregard it; for I believe, after long and varied experience +in public affairs, and much thought and reading, that no body +intrusted with the Government of a distant possession ever performed +their duties with more earnest solicitude for its welfare than the +Court of Directors of the Honourable East India Company; but because +your public career has inspired me with more confidence than that of +any other member of the Court as now constituted. If you cannot grant +me the favour I ask, you will, I know, pardon the liberty I have +taken in asking it. + + And believe me, with great respect, + Yours faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 20th September, 1850. + +My Dear Sir Charles, + +The papers give us reason to hope that it is your intention to visit +Lucknow on your way down from the hills, and if you can make it +convenient to come, I shall be rejoiced to have the opportunity of +showing you all that is worth seeing, and be able to afford all who +come with you, ladies and gentlemen, accommodation. + +The only road to Lucknow for carriages is from Cawnpore, and if you +come that way, I will have carriages sent for you. If you come by any +other road, I will have elephants sent to whatever place you may +mention, and tents if required. It has been usual, when the +Commander-in-chief visits Lucknow, for Government to intimate the +intention to the King through the Resident in Oude, that preparation +may be made for his reception in due form. + +I mention this that you may make known your wish or intention to the +Governor-General, in time for me to prepare the King and his Court. + +From Cawnpore to this is only a drive of six hours, the distance +being fifty miles, and the road good. All officers, &c., will be glad +to have an opportunity of paying their respects to their +distinguished Chief. + + Believe me, + Yours very faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To his Excellency +Sir Charles Napier, G.C.B., + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 7th November, 1850. + +My Dear Allan, + +In the "Englishman" of the 28th, and the "Hurkara" of the 29th, there +are some strictures on Oude affairs. The editors of both papers are, +I believe, sturdy, honest men; but their correspondents are not +acquainted with the merits of the particular case referred to, or +with Oude affairs generally. I vouch for the truth of everything +stated in the enclosed paper, and shall feel obliged if you will give +it to the one most likely, in your opinion, to make a fair use of it. +There can be no harm in putting an editor in possession of the real +truth in a question involving not only individual but national +honour; for he must be anxious to make his paper the vehicle of truth +on all such questions. + +I do not like to address either of the editors, because Government +expect all their servants will abstain from doing so in their own +vindication, and will leave their honour in their keeping. I have +done so since 1843, and should now do so were I alone concerned in +this affair. You may mention my name as authority for what is stated, +but pray let it be mentioned confidentially. Government has been +informed of the truth, and it is well that the public should be so. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN + +To J. Allan, Esq. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 17th November, 1850. + +My Dear Sir James, + +I thank you for your very kind letter of the 7th ultimo: my son is +preparing for his examination, and expects his commission in some +regiment of cavalry very soon. He has not only become reconciled to +it, but would, I believe, now prefer remaining at home as a cavalry +officer to coming to India in any capacity. As I have only one son, +and he has four sisters to look after, I should be unwilling to have +him sent out to India as a cadet, were he anxious to be so. A good +regiment is an excellent school for a young man, but no school could +be worse than a bad regiment; and among so many, there must always be +some bad. I have seen some of the sons of my old friends utterly +ruined in character and constitution by being posted to such +regiments when too young to think for themselves. I feel, however, as +grateful to you for your very kind offer as I should be, were I to +avail myself of it. + +If I return to England, I shall take advantage of the earliest +opportunity to pay my respects and become personally acquainted with +you; but I have no intention to leave India as long as I feel that I +can perform efficiently the duties intrusted to me. + +I had a few days ago, in referring to Government an important +question that must some day come before you, occasion to mention an +important and interesting fact. During the last collision with the +Seiks, I found that the Government securities kept up their value +here, while in Calcutta they fell a good deal; and the merchants here +employed agents in Calcutta to purchase largely for sale here. Paper +to the value of more than three millions sterling, or three crores of +rupees, is held by people residing in the city of Lucknow, and the +people had never the slightest doubt that we should be ultimately +triumphant. The question was whether heirs and executors of persons +domiciled here and leaving property in Government securities, should +apply to Her Majesty's Supreme Court in Calcutta, for probates to +wills and letters of administration, or whether an act should be +passed to render the decision of the highest Court at Lucknow, +countersigned, by the Resident, as valid as the certificate of a +judge in our own provinces, as far as such property in Government +securities might be concerned. A provision of this sort had been +omitted in Act 20 of 1841, which was considered applicable to all +British India, of which the kingdom of Oude was held to form a part. + +We have now a fair prospect of long peace, during which I hope our +finances will improve. The lavish life-pensions granted after wars in +Central and Southern India will be lapsing with the death of the +present incumbents, many of whom are becoming old and infirm, and our +means of transit and irrigation will increase with the new works +which are being formed, and we shall always have it in our power to +augment our revenue from indirect taxation, as wealth and industry +increase. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir James, + Very faithfully and obligedly yours, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 2nd March, 1851. + +My Lord, + +The mail of the 24th January has just come in, and I find my only son +Henry Arthur gazetted for the 16th Dragoons. He told me by the last +mail that he was to be so if he passed his examination on the 10th of +that month, which he hoped to do; but I deferred writing to thank you +for your kind exertions in his behalf till his name should appear in +the "Gazette." I pray your Lordship to accept my most grateful +acknowledgments for this act of kindness, added as it has been to the +many others which I have received at your hands. It is not the less +valuable that it is the only favour I have received from England +since I left it more than forty years ago, though, I believe, few +have done more to benefit the people of its eastern dominions, and to +secure for it their esteem and affection. + +I trust that my son will never do anything to make your Lordship +regret the favour conferred upon me and him on this occasion. He is, +I believe, in disposition, manners, and education a little gentleman; +and in time he will, I hope, become a good officer. + +If I might take the liberty, I would pray your Lordship to offer, in +such terms as may appear to you suitable, my grateful acknowledgments +for the consideration I have received, to his Grace the Duke of +Wellington, and to Lord Fitzroy Somerset. My London Agents, Messrs. +Denay, Clark, and Co., of Austin Friars, have been instructed to pay +for my son's commission and outfit, and to provide him with the funds +indispensably necessary in addition to his pay. + +We shall now look with much interest to the Parliamentary discussions +on Indian affairs, for we must expect some important changes on the +renewal of the Charter. Whatever these changes may be for the home or +local Government, I trust the benefit of the people of India will be +considered the main point, and not the triumph of a party. The +statesman who shall link India more closely with New Zealand will be +a benefactor to both England and India, and that colony also. It +might, with advantage to itself, take those children of Indian +officers who cannot find employment of any kind in India, and ought +not to be thrown back upon the mother-country. With this view, it +might be useful to transfer our orphan institutions to that island, +to direct that way our invalid and pensioned officers, who, while +subsisting upon their pensions or stipends, would be able to +establish their children in a climate suitable to the preservation of +their race, which that of India certainly is not. + +India is at present tranquil, and likely to remain so. We have no +native chiefs, or combination of native chiefs, to create uneasiness; +and if we continue to satisfy the great body of the people that we +are anxious, to the best of our ability, to promote their happiness +and welfare, and are the most impartial arbitrators that they could +have, we shall have nothing to fear. The moment that this mass is +impressed with the belief that we wish to govern India only for +ourselves, or as the French govern Algiers, from that moment we must +lose our vantage ground and decline. We may war against the native +chiefs of India, but we cannot war against the people--we need not +fear what may be called political dangers, but we must guard +carefully against those of a social character which would unite +against us the members of all classes and all creeds. + +But I must no longer indulge in speculations of this sort, in which +you can now feel little interest amidst the important changes which +are now taking place in the institutions and relations of European +nations. With grateful recollections of kindness received, and great +respect, + I remain, + Your Lordship's obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Right Hon. +the Earl of Ellenborough. + +P.S.--Since writing the above, I have received your Lordship's letter +of the 18th of January, and have been much gratified with the +favourable opinion you entertain of the commandant and officers. It +is the best assurance I could have of my boy being safe. Nothing +could be more auspicious than the opening of the lad's career, and I +trust he will profit by the advantage. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 18th March, 1851. + +My Dear Sir Erskine, + +I have read over with much interest the two small works you have done +me the favour to send me, the one on Buddhism, and the other on Law +Reform; but I have not ventured upon the Seventh Report of the Board +of Education yet, because I have had a good deal to do and think +about; and a good deal of it is in small print, very trying for my +eyes, which are none of the strongest. I shall, however, soon read +it. + +I concur in all your views about the necessity of throwing overboard +the whole system of special pleading, and have been amused with Sir +J. P. Grant's horror of your proposed innovations. It is not less +than that which he expressed at the little Macaulay Code, intended to +blow up the whole pyramid raised by "the wisdom of our ancestors," in +which so many illustrious characters he entombed. He was, indeed, as +you say, "a great _laudator temporis acti_;" but the number of those +like him at all times in England and its distant possessions is +fearful. One likes to look to America in this as in all things +tending to advancement; but there the "damned spot" stares us in the +face, blights our hopes, and crushes our sympathies--hideous slavery +--hideous alike in the recollection of the past, the contemplation of +the present, and the anticipation of the future. I wish two things-- +1. That you would write a work on the subject less "sketchy and +perfunctory," as you call it, so that any one not versed in English +law and procedure might be able to understand it and appreciate it +thoroughly. 2nd. That you would, when relieved from your present +office, come out as our law member of council, to press your views on +our Government with effect. With these law reforms, as with +railroads, there were less impediments in India than in England; but +there is one thing that I would observe. In our own Indian Courts our +judges would--for a time at least--want the aid of honest _masters_ +to condense and report upon cases under trial. Such men would be made +in time; and in considering such things, we must recollect that +almost the only persons in India who can send agents into all parts +of it, with a perfect assurance of honest dealing, are the native +merchants and bankers. But I won't dwell on this subject. I can't +find amongst the numerous Buddhists here, one who knows anything +about "Kapila vasta," which you place near to Lucknow. I should like +to visit the birth-place of a man who did so much for mankind as +Sakeen Gantama. + +He would hardly have done as I have, placed my only son in the 16th +Lancers. However, I may console myself, for he may be in it a long +time without doing much mischief, for I do hope that the people of +the nations of modern Europe are too strong and too wise to let their +sovereigns and ministers play such fantastic tricks as they were +"wont to play," when George the 3rd, and Edward the 3rd, and Henry +the 5th were kings. Property, good sense, and good business have +greatly increased and spread, and are every day producing good +fruits. + + Believe me, + Yours very trusting, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir Erskine Perry, + &c. &c. + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 31st March, 1851. +My Dear Sir, + +I grieve to say that I can do nothing whatever for the son of my late +friend Colonel Ouseley, and have been obliged to write to him to that +effect, as to many other sons of old and valued friends whom I should +be glad to aid if I could. + +Tens of thousands of the most happy families I have seen in India owe +all they have to the able and judicious management of the late +Colonel Ouseley when in the civil charge of the districts of +Houshengabad and Baitool, in the Saugor territories; and no man's +memory is more dear to the people of those districts than his now is. +The family of a man who had done so much to make his government +beloved and respected over so large a field should never want if I +could prevent it; but I have no situations whatever in my gift, nor +have I any influence over any persons who have such situations to +bestow. + + Believe me, + Yours truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Harrington. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th November 1851. + +My Lord, + +Lucknow affairs are now in a state to require the assumption of the +entire management of the country; and the principal question for your +Lordship's consideration is, whether this shall be done by a new +treaty or by simple proclamation. Treaties not only justify but +enjoin the measure; our pledges to the people demand it; and all +India are, I believe, satisfied of its justice, provided we leave the +revenues for the maintenance of the royal family in suitable dignity, +and for the benefit of the people. + +We may disencumber our Government of the pay of two regiments of Oude +Local Infantry, and incorporate them with the Oude force to be +raised, and of that of the officers of the residency, altogether +about two lacs and a-half of rupees; and when things are settled down +a little, the brigade now here--of three infantry regiments and a +company of artillery, costing some four lacs more--may be dispensed +with, perhaps. + +If I may be permitted to give an opinion as to the best mode of the +two, I should say proclamation, as the more dignified. + +I have prepared all the information I believe your Lordship will +require, and am ready to wait upon you with it when and where it may +seem most convenient. + +The treasury is exhausted, and fifty lacs are required to pay the +stipendiaries of the royal family and establishments; and assuredly +all the members of that family, save the King's own household, are +wishing for some great measure to place them under the guarantee of +the British Government. The people all now wish for it, at least all +the well-disposed, for there is not a man of integrity or humanity +left in any office. The King's understanding has become altogether +emasculated; and though he would not willingly do harm to any one, he +is unable to protect any one. He would now, I believe, willingly get +rid of his minister; and, having exhausted the treasury, the minister +would not much dislike to get rid of him. I shall do my best to +prevent his being released from the responsibility of his misdoings +till I meet your Lordship. I should like, if possible, to meet your +Lordship where there is likely to be the least crowd of expectants +and parade to take up your time and distract your attention. If at +Cawnpore, I hope you will permit me to have my camp on the Oude side +of the river, with a tent in your camp for business during the day. +With your Lordship's commands to attend, it will be desirable to have +an order to make over my treasury to the First Assistant, to prevent +delay. Should you desire any memoranda to be sent, they shall be +forwarded as soon as ordered. If any further public report upon the +state of Oude affairs appears to be required, I must pray your +Lordship to let me know as soon as convenient. I shall not propose +any native gentlemen for the higher offices; but it will be necessary +to have a great many in the subordinate ones, to show that your +Lordship wishes to open employment in all branches of the new +administration to educated native gentlemen. + + I remain, + Your Lordship's obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, +Governor-General, + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 18th March, 1852. + +My Lord, + +I was favoured with your Lordship's letter of the 24th ultimo in due +course, and did not reply immediately as I had stated, or was about +to state, in a public form, all that seemed to be required about +Captain Bird and Dr. Bell. Dr. Bell had apologised for indiscretions +in conversation, but denied ever having authorised Mr. Brandon to +make use of his name; and pretended utter ignorance of the intrigues +which he was carrying on at the time that he was doing his utmost to +convey wrong impressions to the Durbar. I feel grateful for the +support your Lordship has given me. I cared nothing about the +intrigues of these very silly men while under the impression that it +was your intention to interpose effectually for the benefit of the +people of Oude, because the new arrangements would have rendered them +harmless; but when I found that you could not do so at present, it +became necessary, for my own dignity and that of the Government, to +do my best to put a stop to them. Most assuredly Captain Bird had +been trying hard to persuade the King and his minister that our +Government could not interfere, and that all the threats of the +Governor-General would continue to be what they had hitherto been, +and might be disregarded. + +I find that your Lordship has departed slightly from your original +plan in regard to Burmah, by sending a detachment to make a +demonstration upon Rangoon and Martaban. There is no calculating upon +the result of such a demonstration in dealing with a Government so +imbecile, and so ignorant of our resources. The places are too far +from the capital, and the war party may succeed in persuading the +King that in this demonstration we put forth all our strength. I can +appreciate your motive--the wish to avoid, if possible, a war of +annexation, which a war upon any scale must be. We should have to +make use of a vast number of suffering people, whom we could not +abandon to the mercy of the old Government. + +In the last war our great difficulties were the want of quick transit +for troops and stores by sea, the want of carriage cattle, and +sickness. These three impediments will not now beset us. Our own +districts on the coast will supply land-carriage, steam-vessels will +carry our troops and stores, and subsequent experience will enable us +to avoid sources of endemial diseases. I have no map of the country; +but some letters in the papers about the Busseya river interested me +much. Our strong point is steam; and the discovery of a river which +would enable us to use it in getting in strength to the rear or flank +would be of immense advantage. There must be healthy districts; +indeed Burmah generally must be a healthy country, or the population +would not be so strong and intelligent as they are known to be. In +religious feeling they are less opposed to us than any other people +not Buddhists. Indeed, from the people we should have nothing to +fear; and the army must be insignificant in numbers as well as +equipments. I am very glad to find that so able and well-trained a +statesman as Fox Maule has been put at the head of the Board of +Control; and trust that your Lordship will remain at our head till +the Burmah affair is thoroughly settled. + +The little affair of the Moplars, on the Malabar coast, may grow into +a very big one unless skilfully managed. A brother of the Conollys is +the magistrate, I believe. We can learn nothing of the cause of the +strong feeling of discontent that prevails among this fanatical +people. No such strong feeling can exist in India without some +"canker-worm" to embitter the lives and unite the sympathies of large +classes against their rulers or local governors, and make them think +that they cannot shake it off without rebelling and becoming martyrs. +I must pray your Lordship to excuse this long rambling letter, and + + Believe me, with great respect, + Your obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, +Governor-General, +Calcutta. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 4th April, 1852. + +My Dear Sir James, + +Your present of the cadetship for her son made the poor widow's heart +glad, and I doubt not that she has written to express her grateful +feelings. The young man will, I hope, prove himself deserving of the +favour you have conferred upon him so gracefully. The Court has +called for a copy of my Diary of the tour I made through Oude soon +after I took charge of my office; and I have sent off two copies, one +for Government and the other for the Court. I purchased a small press +and type for the purpose of printing it in my own house, that no one +but myself and the compositor might see it. I will send home two +copies for yourself and the chairman as soon as they can be bound in +Calcutta. The Diary contains a faithful picture of Oude, its +Government, and people, I believe. I have printed only a few copies, +and they will not be distributed till I learn that the Court consider +them unobjectionable. In spirit they will be found so. I intend, if I +can find time, to give the history of the reigning family in a third +volume. My general views on Oude affairs have been given in my +letters to Government, which will, I conclude, be before the Court. A +ruler so utterly regardless of his high duties and responsibilities, +and of the sufferings of the people under his rule, as the present +King, I have never seen; nor have I ever seen ministers so +incompetent and so unworthy as those whom he employs in the conduct +of his affairs. We have threatened so often to interpose for the +benefit of the poor people, without doing anything, that they have +lost all hope, and the profligate and unprincipled Government have +lost all fear. The untoward war with Burmah prevents our present +Governor-General from doing what he and I believe the Honourable +Court both wish. We certainly ought not any longer to incur the odium +of supporting such a Government in its iniquities, pledged as we are +by treaties to protect the people from them. I do not apprehend any +serious change in the constitution of the Court of Directors in the +new charter. No ministers would hazard such a change in the present +state of Europe. The Court is India's only safeguard. No foreign +possession was ever so governed for itself as India has been, and +this all foreigners with whom I have conversed, admit. The Governor- +General of the Netherlands India was with me lately on his way home. +He is a first-rate statesman, and he declared to me that he was +impressed and delighted to see a country so governed, and apparently +so sensible of the benefits conferred upon it by our paternal rule. +He will tell you the same thing if you ever meet him. His name is +Rochasson. The people appreciate the value of the Court of Directors, +and no act, as far as it is known to them, has tended more to +strengthen their confidence in it than that which has brought +retribution on the great sinner in Scinde, Allee Murad. No punishment +was ever more just or merited. Scinde, however, is too remote for the +people in general to feel much interest in its affairs or families. +Our weak points in the last Burmese war were:--1. The want of +transport for troops and stores; 2. The want of carriage by land, for +arms and stores; 3. Sickness. All these things have been remedied, +and the war, when begun in earnest, can last but a short time. We +know more of the country and shall avoid the sources of endemial +disease; our steam provides for the rapid transport of troops and +stores; and draft-cattle will be supplied from our own districts on +the coast. Where our Government has no representative as Resident or +Consul, all Europeans should be told that they remain entirely on +their own responsibility. Unless this is done, the Governments must +be eternally in collision. If war be carried on in earnest, it must +be one of annexation: we must make use of persons whom we cannot +abandon to the mercy of the Burmese Government. We have nothing to +fear from the people: they have no religious feeling against us, +being all Buddhists; and they have seen too much of the benefits +conferred by us on the territories taken during the last war to have +any dead of our dominion. Lord Dalhousie has, I believe, been most +anxious to avoid a war--it has been forced upon him. + + Believe me, + Yours very faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James W. Hogg, +Deputy Chairman, +India House. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 6th April, 1842. + +My Dear Mr. Halliday, + +We are all wrong here in the Martiniere institution, and you have now +an admirable opportunity of setting all right and doing an infinite +deal of good with little trouble. I know how little you have of time +and attention to devote to such things, and conclude that Mr. +Devereux cannot have much more, and you may feel assured that I shall +do all in my power to assist you. We are here attempting to give the +education of gentlemen to beggar-boys, who must always depend upon +their daily work for their daily bread. The senior boys are in +despair, for they find that they have learnt hardly anything to fit +them for the only employments open to them, and this tends to +discourage the younger ones. The Roorkee Civil Engineering School +seems to have been eminently successful, and a fine field is open to +all who are taught in it. We shall no doubt have a similar field open +in Oude when Government interposes in behalf of the suffering people, +and we might prepare for it by converting the Martiniere into a +similar school or college. The committee has just expressed to you a +hope that Mr. Crank, the officiating principal, may be able to pass +an examination in the native languages. This hope can never be +realised; and if he does I shall have to record my opinion that he is +otherwise unfitted. The power of nominating a principal rests +entirely with the trustees; and if you concur in my views you might +at once prepare for the change by getting a man from England or +elsewhere, such as Mr. Maclagan, the late superintendent of the +Roorkee school, fitted to teach civil engineering in all its +branches. You have the command of funds to provide him with +assistants of all kinds; and we have accommodations and funds to +raise more, and provide machinery, books, &c. The thing might be set +going at once, after you send a competent man to superintend it; and +the work will be honourable to our Government and ourselves, and of +vast benefit to the boys brought up at this Martiniere, and to their +parents and families. If you think favourably of the proposed change, +and will direct the committee to take it into consideration, I will +do my best to make it respond cordially to your call; or if you +direct the measure to be adopted at once, I will see that it is +worked out as it should be. Mr. Crank has a good knowledge of +mathematics and mechanics, and will make a good second under a good +first; but he would be quite unfit for a first. Mr. Maclagan intended +going home, via Bombay, as soon as relieved by Captain Oldfield, and +has embarked by this time. He might be written to, to send out a +competent person and the required machinery. Constantia is admirably +adapted for such an establishment; the river Goomtee flows close +under it; the grounds are ample, open, and level, and the climate +fine. It would interest the whole of the Oude aristocracy, and induce +them to send their sons there for instruction. It would be gratifying +to the Judges of the Supreme Court to know that the funds available +were devoted to a purpose so highly useful; and you would carry home +with you the agreeable recollection of having engrafted so useful a +branch upon the almost useless old trunk of the Martiniere. + + Yours very truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To F. J. Halliday, Esq. +Secretary to Government, +Calcutta. + +Mr. Maclagan is a Lieutenant of Engineers, and lives in Edinburgh. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow. 10th April, 1852. + +My Lord, + +In September 1848, I took the liberty to mention to your Lordship my +fears that the system of annexing and absorbing native States--so +popular with our Indian service, and so much advocated by a certain +class of writers in public journals--might some day render us too +visibly dependent upon our native army; that they might see it, and +that accidents might occur to unite them, or too great a portion of +them, in some desperate act. My only anxiety about Burmah arises from +the same fears. Our native army has been too much _petted_ of late; +and they are liable to get into their heads the notion that we want +them more than they want us. Had the 38th been at first ordered to +march to Aracan, they would, in all probability, have begged their +European officers to pray Government to permit them to go by water. + +We committed a great mistake in not long ago making all new levies +general service corps; and we have committed one not less grave in +restricting the admissions into our corps to high-caste men: and +encouraging the promotion of high-caste men to the prejudice of men +equally deserving but of lower caste. The Brahmins in regiments have +too much influence, and they are at the bottom of all the mischief +that occurs. The Rajpoots are too numerous, because they are under +the influence of the Brahmins, and feel too strong from their +numbers. + +We require stronger and braver men than the Madras Presidency can +afford, with all their readiness for general service. The time may +not be distant when England will have to call upon India for troops +to serve in Egypt; and the troops from Madras, or even from Bombay, +will not do against Europeans. Men from Northern or Western India +will be required, and, in order to be prepared, it would be well to +have all new corps--should new corps be required--composed of men +from the Punjaub or the Himmalayah chain, and ready for any service. +Into such corps none but Seiks, Juts, Goojurs, Gwalas, Mussulmans, +and Hillmen should be enlisted. Too much importance is attached to +height, merely that corps may look well on parade. Much more work can +be got out of moderate sized than tall men in India. The tall men in +regiments always fail first in actual service--they are fit only for +display at reviews and on parades: always supposing that the +moderate-sized men are taken from Western and Northern India, where +alone they have the strength and courage required. + +No recruit should henceforward be taken except on condition of +general service; and by-and-by the option may be given to all +sipahees, of a certain standing or period of service, to put their +names down for general service, or retire. This could not, of course, +be done at present. No commanding officer can say, at present, what +his regiment will do if called upon to aid the Government in any way +not _specified in their bond_. They have too commonly favourites, who +persuade them, for their own selfish purposes, that their regiments +will do anything to meet their wishes, at the very time that these +regiments are watching for an occasion to disgrace these favourites +by refusal. I have known many occasions of this. None but general +service corps or volunteers should be sent to Burmah from Bengal +during this campaign, or we shall hazard a disaster. There are, I +believe, several that your Lordship has not yet called upon. They +should be at hand as soon as possible, and their present places +supplied by others. In the mean time, corps of Punjaubies and Hillmen +should be raised for general service. Not only can no commanding +officer say what his corps will do under circumstances in which their +religion or prejudices may afford a pretext for disobedience, but no +officers can say how far their regiments sympathise with the +recusant: or discontented, corps, and are prepared to join them. + +In case it should ever be proposed to make all corps general service +corps, in the way I mention, a donation would, of course, be offered +to all who declined of a month's pay for every year of past service, +or of something of that kind. A maximum might be fixed of four, five, +or six months. It would not cost much, for but few would go. I must +pray your Lordship to excuse the liberty I take in obtruding my +notions on this subject, but it really is one of vital importance in +the present state of affairs in India, as well as in Europe. + + With great respect, I remain, &c., + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Moat Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T. +Governor-General of India, +Calcutta. + + + + + __________________________ + + +_Memorandum_. + +In the year 1832 or 1833 the want of bamboos of large size, for yokes +for artillery bullocks, was much felt at Saugor and the stations of +that division; and the commissariat officer was authorised to form a +bamboo grove, to be watered by the commissariat cattle, in order to +supply the deficiency for the future. Forty beegas, or about twenty +acres of land, were assigned for the purpose, and Government went to +the expense of forming twelve pucka-wells, as the bamboos were +planted upon the black cotton-soil of Central India, in which kutcha- +wells do not stand. The first outlay was, therefore, greater than +usual, being three thousand rupees. The establishment kept up +consisted of one gardener, at five rupees a month, and two assistants +at three rupees each. The bamboos were watered by the artillery +bullocks and commissariat servants. + +In a few years the bamboos became independent of irrigation, and no +outlay has since been incurred upon them. The bamboos are now between +forty and fifty feet high, and between four and five inches in +diameter. They are used by the commissariat and ordnance departments +at Saugor, but are not, I believe, required for yokes for the +artillery bullocks. + +There is a grove of sesum trees near the Lucknow cantonments formed +in the same way, but with little or no outlay in irrigation. The +trees were planted, and all the cost incurred has been in the people +employed to protect them from trespass. In a dryer climate they might +require irrigation for a few years. Groves of saul, _alias_ sukhoo +trees, might be formed in the same manner in the vicinity of all +stations where there are artillery bullocks; and the bullocks +themselves would benefit by being employed in the irrigation. The +establishments kept up for the bullocks would be able to do all the +work required. + +The complement of bullocks for a battery of 6 guns, 6 waggons, and 2 +store carts, is 106. The number yoked to each gun and waggon is 61, +[transcriber's note, should be 6], and to each cart 4, leaving a +surplus of 26 for accidents. There would, therefore, be always a +sufficient number of bullocks available for the irrigation of such +groves where such a battery is kept up. These bullocks are taken care +of by 4 sirdars and 59 drivers; and an European sergeant of artillery +is appointed as bullock-sergeant to each battery, to superintend the +feeding, cleaning, &c. &c. The officer on duty sees the bullocks +occasionally, and the commanding officer sometimes. Such groves might +be left to the care of the commandant of artillery at small stations, +and to the commissariat officer at large ones. + +At every large station there might be a grove of sesum, one of +sakhoo, and one of bamboos, each covering a hundred acres; and at all +stations with a battery, three groves of the same kind, covering each +twenty acres or more. For the convenience of carriage by water, such +groves might be formed chiefly in the vicinity of rivers, or in that +of the places where the timber is most likely to be required; but no +battery should be without such groves. The men and bullocks would +both benefit by the employment such groves would give them. The men, +to interest them, might each have a small garden within the grove +which he assists in watering. + +Such groves would tend to improve the salubrity of the stations where +they are formed, and become agreeable and healthful promenades for +officers and soldiers. In most stations, kutcha-wells, formed at a +cost of from 20 to 50 rupees, would suffice for watering such groves. +They might be lined, like those of the peasantry, by twisted cables +of straw and twigs; and the men who attend the bullocks might be +usefully employed in weaving them, as all should learn to make +fascines and gabions. Willows should be planted near all the wells, +to supply twigs for making the cables for lining the wells, and the +manure of the artillery draft-bullocks should be appropriated to the +groves. + +[Submitted to the Governor-General through the Private Secretary, in +March, 1852, with reference to a conversation which I had with his +Lordship in his camp.] + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 23rd August, 1852. + +My Lord, + +Permit me to offer my congratulations, not only on the success which +has hitherto attended your Lordship's arrangements in Burmah, but on +the very favourable impression which that success has made upon the +Sovereign and people of England. It has enabled you to show that the +war is not with the people of Burmah, but with a haughty, insolent, +and incompetent Government, with whom that people has no longer any +sympathy; and that, should circumstances render the annexation of any +portion of its territory necessary, the people of that portion would +consider the measure a blessing, and be well pleased to live in +harmony under the efficient protection of the new rule. + +They are not in any way opposed to us from either religions or +political feelings, for they seem to consider Christianity as a +branch only of their own great system of Buddhism, which includes +almost half of the human race; and they are evidently weary of the +political institutions under which they now live, and which have +ceased to afford them protection of any kind. In the annexation of +Pegu--should it be forced upon your Lordship--there would be nothing +revolting to the feelings of its people or to those of the people of +England; on the contrary, both would be satisfied, after the +disposition the people of Pegu have manifested towards us, that the +measure was alike necessary to their security and to the honour and +interest of our Government. + +Nor do I think that there would be any ground to apprehend that the +resources of the territory taken would not, after a time, be +sufficient to defray the costs of the establishments required to +retain and govern it. Among the people of Pegu we should find men +able and willing to serve us faithfully and efficiently in both our +civil and military establishments, and the drain for the maintenance +of foreigners would not be large. I have heard the mental and +physical powers of the men of Pegu spoken of in the highest terms by +persons who have spent the greater part of their lives among them; +and a country which produces such men cannot be generally +insalubrious. This early demonstration has enabled your Lordship to +ascertain and expose the determination of the Government of Ava not +to grant the redress justly demanded for wrongs suffered, so as to +enlist on our side the sympathy of all civilized nations, and at the +same time to discover the real weakness of the enemy and the +facilities offered to us, in their fine rivers, for the use of our +strong arm--the steam navy. Not a single "untoward event" has yet +occurred to dispirit our troops, or give confidence to the enemy, or +to prejudice the people of Burmah against us: and there certainly is +nothing in this war to make us apprehend "that our political +difficulties will begin when our military successes are complete." It +is not displeasing to perceive the strong tendency to an early onward +move, while your Lordship has so prudent a leader in General Godwin +to restrain it within due bounds. + + I remain, &c., + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T. +Governor-General of India. +Calcutta. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, September, 1852. + +My Lord, + +The longer the present King reigns, the more unfit he becomes to +reign, and the more the administration and the country deteriorate. +The State must have become bankrupt long ere this, but the King, and +the knaves by whom he is governed, have discontinued paying the +stipends of all the members of the royal family, save those of his +own father's family, for the last three years; and many of them are +reduced to extreme distress, and without the hope of ever getting +their stipends again unless our Government interferes. The females of +the palaces of former sovereigns ventured to clamour for their +subsistence, and they were, without shame or mercy, driven into the +streets to starve, beg, or earn their bread by their labour. This +deters all from complaining, and they are in a state of utter dismay. +No part of the people of Oude are more anxious for the interposition +of our Government than the members of the royal family; for there is +really no portion more helpless and oppressed: none of them can ever +approach the King, who is surrounded exclusively by eunuchs, +fiddlers, and poetasters worse than either; and the minister and his +creatures, who are worse than all. They appropriate at least one-half +of the revenues of the country to themselves, and employ nothing but +knaves of the very worst kind in all the branches of the +administration. The King is a crazy imbecile, who is led about by +these people like a child, and made to do whatever they wish him to +do, and to give whatever orders may best suit their private +interests. At present, the most powerful of the favourites are +Decanut od Doula and Husseen od Doula, two eunuchs; Anees od Doula +and Mosahib od Doula, two fiddlers; two poetasters, and the minister +and his creatures. The minister could not stand a moment without the +eunuchs, fiddlers, and poets, and he is obliged to acquiesce in all +the orders given by the King for their benefit. The fiddlers have +control over the administration of civil justice; the eunuchs over +that of criminal justice, public buildings, &c. The minister has the +land revenue; and all are making enormous fortunes. The present King +ought not certainly to reign: he has wilfully forfeited all right to +do so; but to set him aside in favour of his eldest, or indeed any +other son, would give no security whatever for any permanent good +government A well-selected regency would, no doubt, be a vast +improvement upon the present system; but no people would invest their +capital in useful works, manufactures, and trades, with the prospect +of being handed over a few years hence to a prince brought up +precisely in the same manner the present King was, and as all his +sons will be. What the people want, and most earnestly pray for is, +that our Government should take upon itself the responsibility of +governing them well and permanently. All classes, save the knaves, +who now surround and govern the King, earnestly pray for this--the +educated classes, because they would then have a chance of +respectable employment, which none of them now have; the middle +classes, because they find no protection or encouragement, and no +hope that their children will be permitted to inherit the property +they may leave, not invested in our Government securities; and the +humbler classes, because they are now abandoned to the merciless +rapacity of the starving troops, and other public establishments, and +of the landholders, driven or invited into rebellion by the present +state of misrule. There is not, I believe, another Government in +India so entirely opposed to the best interest's and most earnest +wishes of the people as that of Oude now is; at least I have never +seen or read of one. People of all classes have become utterly weary +of it. The people have the finest feelings towards our Government and +character. I know no part of India, save the valley of the Nurbuddah, +where the feeling towards us is better. All, from the highest to the +lowest, would, at this time, hail the advent of our administration +with joy; and the rest of India, to whom Oude misrule is well known, +would acquiesce in the conviction, that it had become imperative for +the protection of the people. With steamers to Fyzabad, and a +railroad from that place to Cawnpore, through Lucknow, the Nepaul +people would be for ever quieted, with half of the force we now keep +up to look after them; and the N. W. Provinces become more closely +united to Bengal, to the vast advantage of both. I mentioned that we +should require a considerable loan to begin with; but I think that an +issue of paper money, receivable in Oude in revenue, and payable to +public establishments in Oude, might safely be made to cover all the +outlay required to pay off odd establishments and commence the new +work. Little money goes out of Oude, and the increased circulating +medium, required for the new public works and new establishments, +would soon absorb all the paper issued. It might be issued at little +or no cost by the financial department of the new administration. +Though everybody knows that the King has become crazy and imbecile, +it would be difficult to get judicial proof that he is so, where the +life and property of every one are at his mercy and that of the +knaves who now govern him. His every-day doings sufficiently manifest +it. There is not the slightest ground for hope that he will ever be +any other than what he now is, or that his children will be better. +There are too many interested in depriving them of all capacity for a +part in public affairs that they may retain the reins in their own +hands when the children come of age to admit of their ever becoming +better than their father is. I have not lately made the reports which +Lord Hardinge directed the Resident to make periodically, but shall +be prepared to resume them whenever your Lordship may direct. I +suspended them on account of hostilities with Burmah. I have printed +eighteen copies of the establishments, as they are and were last +year, and as I proposed for the new system. I shall not let any one +have a copy till your Lordship permits it, and they are all at your +disposal if required. This, and the "Substantive Code," are the only +papers connected with Oude, except the Diary that I have had printed, +or shall have printed, unless ordered by you. + + I remain, with great respect, + Your Lordship's obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +P.S.--I believe that it is your Lordship's wish that the whole of the +revenues of Oude should be expended for the benefit of the royal +family and people of Oude, and that the British Government should +disclaim any wish to derive any pecuniary advantages from assuming to +itself the administration. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T. +Governor-General, + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 21st September, 1852. + +My Dear Sir, + +I will reply to the queries contained in your letter of the 16th +instant to the best of my recollection. I was in Calcutta in January, +1838, when the late Dyce Sombre was there, and about to embark for +England. I had seen a good deal of him at Sirdhanah, in March 1836, +soon after the Begum Sumroo's death, and he afterwards spent a short +time with me at Mussoorie, and consulted me a good deal on the +subject of a dispute with his father. + +Colonel James Skinner and Dr. Drener were, I believe, executors to +his will. Colonel Skinner was at Delhi, and Dr. Drener had either +gone home or was going, I forget which, and Dyce Sombre asked me to +consent to become one of his trustees, for the conduct of his affairs +in this country. I consented, and I think the circumstance was +inserted in a codicil or memorandum added to his will or deed; but my +recollection on this point is not distinct. + +I had, however, nothing to do with the conduct of his affairs in this +country until the death of Colonel James Skinner, which took place in +December, 1841, when Mr. Reghilini, the overseer or agent at +Sirdhanah, got my sanction to the outlay for establishments, &c. At +this time I corresponded with Dyce Sombre, and continued to do so +until his affairs were thrown into Chancery. I then sought a lawyer's +opinion as to my proper course, and refused to give Mr. Reghilini any +further orders. The opinion was, "that my only safe course was to do +nothing whatever in the conduct of his affairs;" and I never +afterwards did anything. I never heard of any Colonel Sheerman, and +his name may have been inserted by mistake for mine; but I was then +(1838) only a major, and was not promoted until 1843. I never heard +of any desire on the part of Dyce Sombre, or the Begum Sumroo, to +found a college other than as an appendage to the Sirdhanah church, +nor of his having given the residue of his property for the purpose; +at least, I have no recollection of having heard of such desire. I +always hoped, and expected, until I heard of his marriage, that he +would return and reside at Sirdhanah. + +Dyce Sombre always spoke to me of Mrs. Troup and Mrs. Soloroli as his +sisters: he regarded them alike as such, and so did the Begum Sumroo. +I always understood them to be the children of the same mother; but +the question was never mooted before me, and I have always heard that +Mrs. Troup was very like Dyce Sombre in appearance, and that Mrs. +Soloroli was not so. + +Mr. Reghilini, who is, I believe, still at Sirdhanah, may know +whether a Colonel Sheerman was appointed executor or not. Dr. Drener +must know. The notes which passed between me and Dyce Sombre, after +he left India, were on the ordinary topics of the day, and were +destroyed as soon as read. I have none of them to refer to, nor would +they furnish any confirmation on the matter in question if I had. + + Believe me, yours, very truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +Charles Prinsep, Esq., +Barrister-at-Law, +Calcutta. + + + __________________________ + + +_To Messrs. Molloy, Mackintosh, and Poe, Calcutta_. + +Dear Sirs, + +In reply to your letter of the 16th instant, I enclose the copy of a +letter addressed by me on the 21st ultimo to Mr. Charles Prinsep, in +reply to similar queries. To what I stated in that letter I can add +but little. + +Dyce Sombre always spoke to me of Mrs. Soloroli and Mrs. Troup as his +sisters, and of the former as the eldest of the two; and Mrs. Troup +spoke of Mrs. Soloroli as her eldest sister. They were always treated +by the Begum Sumroo as his sisters; and when Dyce Sombre went to +England I think he left the same provision for both in addition to +what they had received from the Begum. + +I was introduced to Mrs. Troup by her husband as an old friend on my +way back from Mussoorie in November, 1837, but I did not see Mrs. +Soloroli, though she and her husband were at the same place, +Sirdhanah, at that time. They both lived under the curtain, secluded +from the sight of men, after the Hindoostanee fashion, as long as +they remained in India, I think; and I was introduced to Mrs. Troup +as a friend of the family, whom all might require to consult. Her +husband only was present during the interview. Dyce Sombre had left +the place for Calcutta. I never heard a doubt expressed of their +being sisters by the same mother and father till the new will came +under discussion at the end of last year. + +I may refer you to pages 378 and 396 of the second volume of a work +by me, entitled "Rambles and Recollections," in which you will find +it mentioned that the grandmother of Dyce Sombre died insane at +Sirdhanah in 1838. She must have been insane for more than forty +years up to her death. Her son Zuffer Yab Khan was a man of weak +intellect, and he was the father of Dyce Sombre's mother, of whom I +know nothing whatever. + +Dyce Sombre, showed no symptoms of derangement of mind while I knew +him; but he inherited from his grandmother a predisposition to +insanity, which I apprehended might become developed by any very +strong feelings of excitement; and I urged him to return and settle +at Sirdhanah, when he had seen all he wished to see in Europe. + +He saw a good deal of English society in India, and understood well +the freedom which English wives enjoy in general society; but I +doubted whether he could ever thoroughly shake off his early +predilections for keeping them secluded. It would, I thought, be +always to him a source of deep humiliation to see his wife mix with +other men in the manner in which English married ladies are +accustomed to do. Since his affairs were put into Chancery I have +always felt persuaded that this must have been the principal +"exciting cause" acting upon the predisposition derived from his +grandmother, which led to it. I have never had the slightest doubt +that he suffered under an aberration of mind upon this point, though +he never mentioned the subject in any of his short letters to me from +England, nor did he in any of them show signs of such aberration. + + Believe me, yours, faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +26th October, 1852. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 28th October, 1852. + +My Dear Sir James, + +Your letter of the 6th ultimo reached me by the last mail, and I +trust we shall see your hopes of an early renewal of the Charter with +few alterations realised. I entirely concur with you in opinion that +the power of recall is indispensable to the due authority of the +Court; and was much surprised to find Maddock opposed to it. Many +thinking men at home have been of opinion that the Ministers would +secure for the Queen the nomination of a certain number to the +Direction, on the ground that many of the best men from India are +deterred from becoming candidates by the time and pledges required in +the canvass. The late elections, however, seem to have come in time +to increase the Jealousy of ministerial influence, and prevent such a +measure. + +Hostilities with Burmah have prevented my making public periodical +reports to Government about Oude affairs since I submitted my Diary. +I took the liberty to send, through my London agents copy to yourself +and the Deputy Chairman. Things have not improved since it was +written. The King is as regardless of his high duties and +responsibilities as ever: he is, indeed, an imbecile in the hands of +a few fiddlers, eunuchs, and poetasters, and the minister, who is no +better than they are, and obliged to provide for all these men out of +the revenues and patronage of the country, and sundry women about the +Court, also, to secure their influence in his favour. + +The King contrives to get the stipends of those immediately about +him, and of his mother, brothers, and sisters, paid out of the +revenues; but is indifferent about those of his more distant +relatives, and hardly any of them have had any stipends for the last +two and even three years. Those who happen not to have a little +Company's paper given to them by former Sovereigns, or pensions +guaranteed by our Government and paid out of our Treasury, are +starving, and pray for the day when our Government may interpose in +the administration. The expenditure is much above the income, and the +reserved treasury is exhausted; but the King has his jewels and some +personal property in Government notes, derived from his father and +grandmothers. He thinks himself the best of kings and the best of +poets, and nothing will induce him willingly to alter his course or +make room for a better ruler or better system. + +If our Government interpose, it must not be by negotiation and +treaty, but authoritatively on the ground of existing treaties and +obligations to the people of Oude. The treaty of 1837 gives our +Government ample authority to take the whole administration on +ourselves, in order to secure what we have often pledged ourselves to +secure to the people; but if we do this we must, in order to stand +well with the rest of India, honestly and distinctly disclaim all +interested motives, and appropriate the whole of the revenues for the +benefit of the people and royal family of Oude. If we do this, all +India will think us right, for the sufferings of the people of Oude, +under the present system, have been long notorious throughout India; +and so have our repeated pledges to relieve the people from these +sufferings, unless the system should be altered. Fifty years of sad +experience have shown to us and to all India, that this system is +incapable of improvement under the present dynasty; and that the only +alternative is for the paramount power to take the administration +upon itself. + +Under the treaty of 1801, we took one-half of the territory of Oude, +and that half yields to us above two crores of rupees; though, when +taken, it was estimated at one hundred and thirty-three lacs. The +half retained by the Oude Sovereign was estimated at the same; but it +now yields to the Sovereign only one crore. The rest is absorbed by +the knaves employed in the administration and their patrons at Court. +All that is now so absorbed would come to the Treasury under us, and +be employed in the maintenance of efficient establishments, and the +construction of useful public works; and we should have ample means +for providing for all the members of the royal family of Oude. + +We should derive substantial benefit from the measure, without in any +degree violating our declaration of disinterestedness. We now +maintain five regiments of Infantry, and a company of Artillery, at a +cost of from five to six lacs a-year. We maintain the Residency and +all its establishments at a cost of more than one lac of rupees a- +year. All these would become fairly chargeable to the Oude revenues +under the new administration; and we might dispense with half the +military forces now kept up at Cawnpore and Dinapore on the Ganges, +as the military force in Oude would relieve us from all apprehension +as to Nepaul. + +Oude would be covered with a network of fine macadamised roads, over +which the produce of Oude and our own districts would pass freely to +the benefit of the people of both; and we should soon have the river +Ghagra, from near Patna on the Ganges, to Fyzabad in Oude, navigable +for steamers: with a railroad from Fyzabad, through Lucknow to +Cawnpore, to the great benefit of the North-West Provinces and those +of Bengal. + +Were we to take advantage of the occasion to _annex_ or _confiscate_ +Oude, or any part of it, our good name in India would inevitably +suffer; and that good name is more valuable to us than a dozen of +Oudes. We are now looked up to throughout India as the only impartial +arbitrators that the people generally have ever had, or can ever hope +to have without us; and from the time we cease to be so looked up to, +we must begin to sink. We suffered from our conduct in Scinde; but +that was a country distant and little known, and linked to the rest +of India by few ties of sympathy. Our Conduct towards it was preceded +by wars and convulsions around, and in its annexation there was +nothing manifestly deliberate. It will be otherwise with Oude. Here +the giant's strength is manifest, and we cannot "use it like a giant" +without suffering in the estimation of all India. Annexation or +confiscation are not compatible with our relations with this little +dependent state. We must show ourselves to be high-minded, and above +taking advantage of its prostrate weakness, by appropriating its +revenues exclusively to the benefit of the people and royal family of +Oude. We should soon make it the finest garden in India, with the +people happy, prosperous, and attached to our rule and character. + +We have at least forty thousand men from Oude in the armies of the +three Residencies, all now, rightly or wrongly, cursing the +oppressive Government under which their families live at their homes. +These families would come under our rule and spread our good name as +widely as they now spread the bad one of their present ruler. +Soldiers with a higher sense of military honour, and duty to _their +salt_, do not exist, I believe, in any country. To have them bound to +us by closer ties than they are at present, would of itself be an +important benefit. + +I can add little to what I have said in the latter end of the fourth +chapter of my Diary (from p. 187*, vol. ii.), on the subject of our +relations with the Government of Oude; and of our rights and duties +arising out of those relations. The diaries political, which I send +every week or fortnight to the Government of India, are formed out of +the reports made every day to the Durbar, by their local or +departmental authorities. The Residency News-writer has the privilege +of hearing these reports read as they come in; and though the reports +of many important events are concealed from him, they may generally +be relied upon as far as they go. The picture they give of affairs is +bad enough, though not so bad as they deserve. + +[* Transcriber's note. From the text "By the treaty of 1801 we bound +ourselves......."--to the end of the chapter IV in vol. ii] + +There are so many worthless and profligate people about the Court, +interested in smothering any signs of common sense and good feeling +on the part of the heir apparent to the throne, in order to maintain +their ascendancy over him as he grows up, that he has not the +slightest chance of becoming fit to take any part in the conduct of +public affairs when he comes of age. The present King has three or +four sons, all very young, but it is utterly impossible for any one +of them to become a man of business; and it would be folly to expect +any one of them to make a better Sovereign than their father. He is +now only twenty-eight or twenty-nine years of age; but his +understanding has become quite emasculated by over-indulgencies of +all kinds. He may live long, but his habits have become too +inveterate to admit of his ever becoming better than he now is or fit +to be intrusted with the government of a country. + +I shall recommend that all establishments, military, civil, and +fiscal, be kept entirely separate from those of our own Government, +that there may be no mistake as to the disinterestedness of our +intentions towards Oude. The military establishments being like +Scindiah's contingent, in the Gwalior state, or the Hydrabad +contingent in the Nizam's. I estimate the present expenditure at, +civil and fiscal establishments, and stipendiaries, 38 lacs. Military +and police, 55. King's household, 30. Total, 123 lacs. Establishments +required for an efficient administration--civil and fiscal--at 22 +lacs. Military, 26 lacs. Families and dependents of former Sovereigns, +12 lacs. Household of the Sovereign, his sons, brothers, and sisters, +15 lacs. Total, 75 lacs. + +This would leave an abundant store for public works, military stores, +contingent charges, pension establishments for the civil and military +officers employed under us, &c. To pay off all the present heavy +arrears of stipends, salaries, to provide arms, ammunition, and +stores, and to commence upon all the public works, our Government +would have either to give or guarantee a loan; or to sanction the +issue of a certain amount of paper money, to circulate exclusively in +Oude, by making it receivable in the Oude Treasuries in taxes. + +The revenues would be at once greatly increased, by our taking for +the treasury all that is now intercepted and appropriated by public +officers and Court favourites for their own private purposes, by our +making the great landholders pay a due portion of their assets to the +state, and by our securing the safe transit of raw produce and +manufactured goods to their proper markets. + +By adopting a simple system of administration, to meet the wishes of +a simple people, we should secure the goodwill of all classes of +society in Oude; and no class would be more pleased with the change +than the members of the royal family themselves, who depend upon +their stipends for their subsistence, and despair of ever again +receiving them under the present Sovereign and system. + +I hope a happy termination of the present war with Burmah will soon +leave Lord Dalhousie free to devote his attention to Oude affairs. As +far as I am consulted, I shall advocate, as strongly as may be +compatible with my position, the measures above described, because I +think they will be found best calculated to benefit the people of +Oude, to meet the wishes of the home Government, and to sustain his +Lordship's own reputation, and that of the nation which he represents +throughout our Eastern empire. + +You are aware of some of the difficulties that I have had to contend +with, in carrying out important measures beneficial to the people, +and honourable to the Government of India; but in no situation in +life have I ever had to struggle with so many as here, in pursuing an +honest and steady course of policy, calculated to secure the respect +of all classes for the Government which I represent. Such a scene of +intrigue, corruption, depravity, neglect of duty, and abuse of +authority, I have never before been placed in, and hope never again +to undergo; and I have had to contend with bitter hostility where I +had the best right to expect support. I have never yet failed in the +performance of any duty that Government has intrusted to me, and, +under Providence, I hope that I shall ultimately succeed in the +performance of that which I have committed to me here. + +Lucknow is an overgrown city, surrounding an overgrown Court, which +has, for the last half century, exhausted all the resources of this +fine country; and so alienated the feelings of the great body of the +people that they, and the Sovereign, and his officers, look upon each +other as irreconcileable enemies. Between the city, the pampered +Court and its functionaries, and the people of the country beyond, +there is not the slightest feeling of sympathy; and if our troops +were withdrawn from the vicinity of Lucknow, the landholders and +sturdy peasantry of the country would, in a few days, rush in and +plunder and destroy it as a source of nothing but intolerable evil to +them. + +Though I have written a long letter, I may have omitted many things +which you wished me to notice. In that case I must rely upon your +letting me know; and in the mean time, I shall continue to write +whenever I have anything to communicate that is likely to interest +you. + + Believe me, dear Sir James, + Yours very faithfully, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart. + &c. &c. &c. + +P.S. By treaty, we are bound to keep up a certain force near the +capital for the protection of the Sovereign; and we should be +obliged, till things were quite settled under the new system, to +retain the brigade we now have of our regular troops in the +cantonments, which are three miles from the city. + + W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 20th November, 1852. + +My Dear Sir James, + +To be prepared for accidents, I deem it right to send a duplicate of +the letter which I sent to you by the last mail, addressed to the +care of my London agents, Messrs. Denny and Clark, Austin Friars. I +have nothing new or interesting to communicate from Oude. The Burmese +war seems likely to divert the Governor-General's attention from Oude +and Hydrabad affairs for some time to come; and the death of the Duke +of Wellington, and probable changes in the ministry at home, may +prevent him from venturing upon any important change in the Oude +administration when that war closes. + +The war is an "untoward event," arising from a very small cause; and +it should prevent our ever guaranteeing British subjects in countries +where we have no accredited agents to conduct our relations with the +Government. All such subjects, and all the subjects of our European +and American allies, should in future be made to understand that they +enter such countries entirely upon their own responsibility. Without +some such precaution we must always be liable to be involved in war +with bordering countries by adventurers of one land or another; and +as war is almost always followed by annexation or confiscation, our +Indian empire, like that of the Romans, must soon sink from its own +weight. The people will think that we are perpetually seeking +pretexts for war in order to get new territories, and the general or +universal impression will be dangerous. + +When the public press of England abuse those who have to conduct the +present war for delay, they do not sufficiently consider our +ignorance of the state of the rivers and of the military resources of +the country in which it was to be carried on when we entered upon it. +We did not know that the rivers were navigable, nor did we know how +they were defended; nor did we know what forces Burmah could muster, +nor how they were distributed. It was not intended to commence the +war till after the rains, when it would be safe to move troops over +the country; for it was not reasonable to suppose that the Government +of the country could be so haughty and insolent without military +force to support its pretensions, and we have often had sad +experience of the danger of underrating the power of an enemy. The +object of the earlier movement was merely to secure some points of +support, at which to concentrate our forces as they came up, and not +to advance at once on the capital or into the country at a season +when no troops could move by land. + +Our strong arm was, no doubt, the steam flotilla; but it would have +been madness in us, with our ignorance of the rivers and resources of +the country, to have calculated upon conquering Ava by steamers +alone. With what we now know, people may safely say that General +Godwin has failed to make all the use he might of the flotilla, as +Lord Gough failed to make all the use he might of his "strong arm," +the artillery, in the battles of the Punjaub; but Lord Gough was not +ignorant of the country in which he had to operate, nor of the +resources of the country he had to contend with. According to +previous calculations, the war ought not to have begun till this +month. The earlier movement has, however, been of great advantage--it +has taught us what the rivers and resources of the country are; and, +what is of still more importance, what the people and their feelings +towards their Government and ours are. It is manifest that they fully +appreciate the value of the protection which the people, under our +rule, enjoy; and that they have neither religious nor political +feelings of hostility towards us; and that the people of Pegu, at +least, would hail the establishment of our rule as a blessing. + +You were so kind as to express a wish to see my son. He is now with +his regiment, the 16th Lancers, in Ireland, and has lately obtained +his Lieutenancy. He will be twenty years of age in January. I will +make known to him your kind wish, and doubt not that he will pay his +respects when he visits London. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir James, + Yours very faithfully, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart, + &c. &c. &c. + +P.S.--In page 217, line 4, vol. i., of my Diary, the printer has put +"months" for weeks. Pray do me the favour to have this corrected.--W. +H. S. + + + __________________________ + + +My Lord, + +Your Lordship's wishes in regard to the papers on Oude affairs shall +be strictly attended to. They are locked up in my box, and no one +shall see them. I had no wish to print any but those I mentioned in +my last letter, and they are locked up with the others, which I have +not looked at since I left your Lordship's camp; the Diary, excepted. + +Things in Oude are just as they were; and the King's ambition seems +to be limited to the reputation of being the best drum-beater, +dancer, and poet of the day. He is utterly unfit to reign; but he is +himself persuaded that no man can be more fit than he is for +anything, and he will never willingly consent to make over the reins +of Government to any one. It would be impossible to _persuade_ him to +abdicate even in favour of his own son, much less to resign his +sovereignty in perpetuity. If our Government interpose, it must be by +the exercise of a right derived from the existing relations between +the two Governments, or from our position as the paramount power in +India. + +Of this your Lordship will have to consider and decide when your mind +is relieved from Burmese affairs, which appear to be drawing very +_quietly_ to a close. I shall not write publicly about Oude affairs +generally till I have your Lordship's commands to do so. The Diary +will continue to be transmitted regularly; but the Periodical General +Report will be suspended. + +Mr. Bushe remained a few days at Lucknow. He has since seen Agra, +Bhurtpoor, and other places, and is now on his way back to Calcutta, +well pleased with his tour. + + With great respect, + Your Lordship's obedient Servant, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., +Governor-General of India. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 2nd January, 1853. + +My Dear Sir James, + +I enclose two sets of Tables of Errata for the Diary, and must pray +you to do me the favour to have one set put into the two volumes of +the copy you have, and the other sent to the Deputy-Chairman for +insertion in his copy. I did not take the liberty to send a copy to +the President of the Board of Control, but if you think I should do +so, I will. + +The King of Oude is becoming more and more imbecile and crazy, and +his servants continue more and more to abuse their power and neglect +their duty. The King, every day manifests his utter unfitness to +reign, in some new shape. He, on several occasions during the +Mohurrum ceremonies which took place lately, went along the streets +beating a drum tied round his neck, to the great scandal of his +family and the amusement of his people. The members of his family +have not been paid their stipends for from two to three years, and +many of them have been reduced to the necessity of selling their +clothes to purchase food. All classes, save the knaves who surround +him, and profit by his folly, are become disgusted with and tired of +him. + +I do not interfere, except to protect our pledges and guarantees; and +to conduct the current duties of the Residency in such a manner as to +secure the respect of all classes for the Government which I +represent. While the present King reigns, or has anything whatever to +do with the Government, no interference could produce any substantial +and permanent reform. The minister is a weak man and a great knave; +but he has an influence over his master, obtained by being entirely +subservient to his vices and follies, to the sacrifice of his own +honour; and by praising all that he does, however degrading to him as +a man and a sovereign. + +Though the King pays no attention whatever to public affairs or to +business of any kind, and aims at nothing but the reputation of being +the best dancer, best versifier, and best drummer in his dominions, +it would be impossible to persuade him that any man was ever more fit +to reign than he is. Nothing would ever induce him willingly to +abdicate even in favour of his own son, much less to make him +willingly abdicate in perpetuity in favour of our Government, or make +over the conduct of the administration to our Government. If, +therefore, our Government does interfere, it must be in the exercise +of a right arising out of the existing relations 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 sufficient, in their estimation, for the purpose; +and no war, however cruel, that is not justifiable, if it has only +this object in view. If you know George Clerk or Mr. Robertson, both +formerly Governors of our North-West Provinces, they will describe to +you the school I mean. They, I believe, with me, strongly deprecate +the doctrines of this school as more injurious to India and to our +interest in it, than those of any other school that has ever existed +in India. Mr. George Campbell is one of the disciples of this +school.--See the 4th chapter of his "Modern India." The "Friend of +India" is another, and all those whom that paper lauds most are also +disciples of the same school. The Court of Directors will have to +watch these doctrines carefully; and I wish you would speak to George +Clerk and Mr. Robertson about them. They are both men of large views +and sound judgment. + + Believe me, My Dear Sir James, + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 12th January, 1853. + +My Dear Sir James, + +I wrote to you on the 23rd October, 20th November, and the 2nd of +this month; I mention this lest any of my letters miscarry; of the +first letter I sent a duplicate on the 2nd, but I shall not send +duplicates of the last two, or of this. I now write chiefly to call +your attention to a rabid article in the "Friend of India," of the +6th of this month, written by Mr. Marshman, when about to proceed to +England, to become, it is said, one of the writers in the London +"Times." Of coarse, he will be engaged to write the Indian articles; +and you will find him advocating the doctrines of the school +mentioned in my last letter of the 2nd of this month. I consider +their doctrines to be prejudicial to the stability of our rule in +India, and to the welfare of the people, which depends on it. The +Court of Directors is our only safeguard against these Machiavellian +doctrines; and it may be rendered too powerless to stem them by the +new arrangements for the Government of India. The objects which they +propose for attainment--religion, commerce, &c.--are plausible; and +the false logic by which they attempt to justify the means required +to attain them, however base, unjust, and cruel, is no less so. I was +asked by Dr. Duff, the editor of the "Calcutta Review," before he +went home to write some articles for that journal, to expose the +fallacies, and to counteract the influences of the doctrines of this +school; but I have for many years ceased to contribute to the +periodical papers, and have felt bound by my position not to write +for them. Few old officers of experience, with my feelings and +opinions on this subject, now remain in India; and the influence of +this school is too great over the rising generation, whose hopes and +aspirations they tend so much to encourage. Mr. Elphinstone, Mr. +Robertson, and George Clerk will be able to explain their danger to +you. India must look to the Court of Directors alone for safety +against them, and they will require the exertion of all its wisdom +and strength. + +Mr. Robertson will be able to tell you that, when I was sent to +Bundelcund, in 1842, the feelings of the people of that province were +so strongly against us, under the operation of the doctrines of this +school, that no European officer could venture, with safety, beyond +the boundary of a cantonment of British troops; and their servants +were obliged to disguise themselves in order to pass from one +cantonment to another. In a brief period, I created a feeling +entirely different, and made the character of British officers +respected and beloved. In the Gwalior territories the same result was +obtained by the same means. However impulsive on other occasions, +Lord Ellenborough behaved magnanimously after his victories over the +Gwalior troops; but in sparing the State, he acted, I believe, +against the feelings of his Council, amongst whom the doctrines of +the absorbing, annexing, and confiscating schools prevailed; and the +"Friend of India" condemned him, though the invasion was never +justified, except on the ground of expediency. Had I, on these +occasions, adopted the doctrines of the absorbing school, I might +have become one of the most popular and influential men in India; but +I should, at the same time, have rendered our rule and character +odious to the people of India, and so far have injured our permanent +interest in the country. I mention all this merely to show that my +opposition to the doctrines of this school is not new, nor in theory +only, but of long standing and practice, as far as my influence has +extended. I deem them to be dangerous to our rule in India, and +prejudicial to the best interests of the country. The people see that +these annexations and confiscations go on, and that rewards and +honorary distinctions are given for them, and for the victories which +lead to them, and for little else; and they are too apt to infer that +they are systematic, and encouraged, and prescribed from home. The +native States I consider to be breakwaters, and when they are all +swept away, we shall be left to the mercy of our native army, which +may not always be sufficiently under our control. Such a feeling as +that which pervaded Bundelcund and Gwalior in 1842 and 1843, must, +sooner or later, pervade all India, if these doctrines are carried +out to their full extent; and our rule could not, probably, exist +under it. With regard to Oude, I can only say that the King pursues +the same course, and every day shows that he is unfit to reign. He +has not the slightest regard for the duties or responsibilities of +his high position; and the people, and even the members of his own +family, feel humiliated at his misconduct, and grow weary of his +reign. The greater part of these members have not received their +stipends for from two to three years, and they despair of ever +receiving them as long as he reigns. He is neither tyrannical nor +cruel, but altogether incapable of devoting any of his time or +attention to business of any kind, but spends the whole of his time +with women, eunuchs, fiddlers, and other parasites. Should he be set +aside, as he deserves to be, three courses are open: 1. To appoint a +regency during the minority of the heir-apparent, who is now about +eleven years of age, to govern with the advice of the Resident; 2. To +manage the country by European agency during the regency, or in +perpetuity, leaving the surplus revenue to the royal family; 3. To +confiscate and annex the country, and pension the royal family. The +first plan was prescribed by Lord Hardinge, in case of accident to +the King; the second is what was done at Nagpore, with so much +advantage, by Sir Richard Jenkins in 1817; the third is what the +absorbing school would advocate, but I should most deprecate. It +would be most profitable for us, in a pecuniary point of view, but +most injurious, I think, in a political one. It would tend to +accelerate the crisis which the doctrines of that school must, sooner +or later, bring upon us. Which course the Governor-General may prefer +I know not. + + Believe me, + My Dear Sir James, + Yours very faithfully + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN + +To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart., + &c. &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 12th January, 1853. + +My Dear Sir, + +I shall send you by this mail a copy of my Diary under cover, +addressed, as you suggest, to Mr. Secretary Melvill. It is coarsely +bound, as I could find no good binder here. I printed eighteen +copies, and have sent one to Government, in Calcutta, for itself, and +one for the Court of Directors; one to the Governor-General, and one +each to the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman. I have also sent one to a +brother, and one to each of my five children. All to whom I have sent +it of my family have been enjoined to consider it as private and +confidential, and they will do so. Government may publish any portion +of it they please. A memorandum of errata has been added to the copy +to be sent to you. + +Over and above what you justly observe as to the cultivation and +population not being much diminished, and the State not having +incurred any public debt, I may mention the fact noticed, I believe, +somewhere in the Diary, that the landed aristocracy of the half of +Oude, reserved in 1801, has been better preserved than that of the +half made over to us. Had they not combined generally against the +Government, they would all have been crushed ere this, as ours have +been. This makes me mention a school of too much influence in India, +of whose doctrines I have a great abhorrence. They are best expounded +by the so-called "Friend of India," in the last number of which (6th +January, 1851) there is a rabid article on the subject worthy of your +perusal, and that of all men interested in the welfare of India and +the stability of our rule over it. It is in the true Machiavellian +spirit, which justifies, or would persuade the world to justify, +every means, however base, dishonest, and cruel, required to attain +any object which they have persuaded themselves to be desirable for +ourselves. This school is impatient at the existence of any native +principality in India, however related to or dependent upon us. Mr. +George Campbell is a disciple of this school, almost as rabid as the +"Friend of India," as you will see in the fourth chapter of his book +on "Modern India." If Mr. Marshman is to write the Indian articles +for the "Times," as reports give out, you will see these doctrines +advocated in that influential journal. The Court of Directors is the +only safeguard of India, and of our stability in it, against those +doctrine which, in my opinion, tend strongly to the injury of both; +and its power may be rendered too powerless to shun them. + + Believe me, + My Dear Sir, + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Colonel Sykes, +Director Hon. East India Company, +London. + +P.S.--I have felt much interested in the geology of Central and +Southern India; and if you have seen any satisfactory account of the +origin of the stratum which caps the basaltic plateau, shall feel +obliged if you will point it out to me. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th April, 1853. + +My Dear Sir, + +By the last mail I received from a friend in London two articles, +whose merits had been much canvassed at the clubs, one from the +London "Times," of the 9th February, and the other from the "Daily +News," a Manchester paper. The "Times" article must have been written +by Mr. J. Marshman, or one of the most rabid members of the school of +which he is the great organ, and whose chief characteristic is +impatience at the existence of any native territorial chief or great +landholder in India. The other article is a reply to it, and +generally supposed to have been written by Sir George Clerk. I feel +quite sure that it was written either by him or by Mr. T. C. +Robertson, who preceded him in the government of our North-West +Provinces. The article from the "Times" has been noticed in most of +the Indian papers--the "Friend of India," April 7th, 1853, and the +"Englishman," 15th April. But I have not seen that in the "Daily +News" noticed in any Indian papers, though admirably written. I +intended to send it to you, but have mislaid it. I think you can +advocate the cause it adopts more consistently, more powerfully, and +more wisely than any other editor now in India. I hope you will do +so; for I consider the doctrines of the "Times" disgraceful to our +morality, and dangerous to the stability of our rule. As I consider +the welfare of the people of India to depend upon the stability of +our rule, I am very anxious to see the fallacies of the atrocious +doctrines which endanger it ably exposed. In no publication are these +fallacies more obvious or more numerous than in Mr. George Campbell's +"Modern India," chapter fourth, with, perhaps, the exception of the +"Friend of India." With the "Friend," the theory of confiscation and +annexation has become a disease, and he cannot praise or even +tolerate any public officer or statesman who is not known to be a +convert to the doctrines of this school. + +I forget the date of the "Daily News" in which Sir George Clerk's +article appeared, but it was immediately after the article appeared +in the London "Times" of the 9th February. I hope you will give the +article a prominent place in your paper, for it really deserves to be +printed in letters of gold. Though I feel that the character of our +nation, and our safety in India, are compromised by the open avowal +of such atrocious doctrines in our leading journals, still the orders +against officers in political employ writing in the papers are so +strict, that I dare not attempt to expose the fallacies on which they +are based, or express the indignation which they excite in me, in any +public paper. To my superiors, and in the discharge of my public +duties, I shall never cease to express my abhorrence of such +doctrines, for I look upon them as worse than any that Machiavelli +ever wrote. + + Believe me, + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To G. Buist, Esq. + +P.S.--Of course, this note will be considered as confidential. + + (Signed) W. H. S. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th April, 1853. + +Dear Sir, + +An article in your paper of the 15th instant, on the subject of the +international law of India, has interested and pleased me much. It +has reference to an article in the London "Times" of the 9th February +last; and I write to invite your attention to an article which +appeared in the "Daily News," a Manchester paper, in reply to it, +written by Sir G. Clerk, lately Governor of Bombay. Both these +articles have been much discussed at the London clubs, and the +morality of the "Daily News" article has been very favourably +contrasted with that of the article in the "Times." The article in +the "Times" is supposed to have been penned by Mr. J. Marshman +himself, or by one of the most rabid members of the school whose +Machiavellian doctrine he advocates. + +These doctrines are considered by some of our wisest statesmen to be +as dangerous to the stability of our rule in India as they are +disgraceful to our morality; and as these statesmen consider the +well-being of the people of India to depend upon that stability, they +are always glad to see their fallacies exposed and their iniquities +indignantly denounced by the moat able and steady of our public +journalists. I hope you will be able to find the able article in the +"Daily News" to which I refer, and consent to give it a prominent +place in the "Englishman." It was sent to me by a friend in London, +but I have, unfortunately, mislaid it. This note will, of course, be +considered as confidential. + + Yours sincerely, + W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To W. C. Harry, Esq. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 5th June, 1853. + +My Lord, + +I have read with great interest in the English journals your +Lordship's able Minute on the Burmese war, and am glad that it has +been published, as it cannot fail to disabuse the public mind at +home, and bring about a reaction in the feeling of the people excited +by some very unfair articles in the London "Times." I attributed +these articles to the Napiers, who, however talented, are almost +always wrong-headed. + +I am persuaded that the new Sovereign will acquiesce in your +possession of Pegu, and that he would not have ceded it by treaty +under any circumstances. The old Sovereign might have done it, though +at great risk, but the new Sovereign could not dare to do it. + +Our own history affords us instances enough of powerful ministers +anxious, for the public good, to get rid of conquered, but expensive +and useless possessions, but deterred from proposing the measure by +the dread of popular odium, which ambitious and factious rivals are +always ready to excite. + +There is one argument against the advance which I do not think that +your Lordship has urged with the force of the rest. While the new +Sovereign remains undisturbed in the rest of his dominions he will +maintain his authority over them, and do his best to prevent our new +frontier from being disturbed, knowing that we can advance to his +capital and punish him if he does not. But, were he to be driven from +his capital, all the rest of his dominions would soon fall into a +state of anarchy, and our frontiers would soon be disturbed by +leaders of disorderly bands, anxious to carve out principalities for +themselves, and having no other means than plunder to maintain their +followers. For the acts of such men we could hold no one responsible, +after we had driven their Sovereign from his capital to the hills and +jungles; and half a century might elapse before order could be +restored. In the mean time, wealth would be growing up within our +border to invite their aggression, while they would become poorer and +poorer from disorders, and more and more anxious to seize upon it. + +With regard to an advance upon Amarapoora, it will not be difficult +after the rains, if circumstances render it necessary. The Madras +cattle are much better for hard work and all climates than those of +Bengal, and sufficient could be collected for the occasion by sea. +Your Lordship's reasons for not trusting to steamers alone are +unanswerable, and it seems impossible for a land and river force to +act jointly. In this, we almost realize the contest between the winds +and the moschettoes before the court of the genii in the Arabian +tale: when the winds appeared, the moschettoes could not, and when +they appeared, the winds could not. For the prestige of our own name +in the rest of India, to advance to the capital and then give the +rest of the country to the Sovereign might, perhaps, be the best; but +for the security of our new acquisition, and that of the people of +the rest of Burmah, it would certainly be better to stay where we +are. The benefits of our rule might, by degrees, be imparted to that +of the rest of Burmah. The Government would be obliged to treat their +people better than they have done in order to keep them. + +Here everything still is what I have described it to be so often; +that is, as bad as it can be. The King is the same, and the officers +and favourites whom he employs are the same. I shall not write public +reports on the state of affairs till I learn that your Lordship +wishes it, which will be, I conclude, when you have carried out your +arrangements in Burmah. + +The terrible war of races in China, to which I have been looking +forward for some years, seems to be coming slowly on. I wrote to Sir +H. M. Elliot about it some two or three years ago, and recommended +him to write a better life than we have of Jungez Khan, in order to +show what the Tartars now really are. When he led his swarms of them +over China, Central Asia, and a great part of Europe, they worshipped +the god of war; they now worship the god of peace: but there are +millions of Lamas in Tartary who would change their crosiers for the +sword at the call of a kindred genius, and are now impatient to do +so, and prophesying his advent, just at the time that the rebels +threaten the capital of China and the extinction of the Tartar +dynasty. That dynasty will throw itself upon Tartary, and a new one +will be raised by the successful leader. + + Your Lordship's faithful and obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., +Governor-General. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 24th June, 1853. + +Dear Sir, + +Your letter of the 20th instant perplexes me a good deal. I have no +place in my own office to offer you, and I never recommended any one +for employment to the King. You cannot, according to rules laid down +for our guidance, act as an advocate in any case before the Resident +or his assistants. All landholders in Oude, except the few whose +estates are included in what is called the Hozoor Tuhseel, transact +their business through the Amils, Chuckladars, and Nazims of +districts, and have nothing to do directly with the Durbar at +Lucknow. Having nothing to do with their affairs, I cannot have +anything to say with the employment by them of wakeels, or advocates. +They, the landholders, generally employ native wakeels, who are +willing to bear a good deal of ill-treatment on the part of Durbar +officials for the sake of very small salaries. Your situation as a +wakeel on their part would be ill remunerated and exceedingly +humiliating. + +If the son of Ghalib Jung has offered to introduce you to the +minister, and to assist in getting employment for you at Lucknow, he +must, I think, do so in the hope of being able to make use of you in +some intrigue; for those only who can aid in such intrigues are +fostered and paid at Lucknow. Honest men can get nothing, and find no +employment about the Court. If you secure employment about the Court, +I cannot hold any communication with you. I should compromise myself +by doing so. In your situation, I would rather be a section writer in +Calcutta, or at Agra, than hold any employment in the Oude Durbar +that you can get by honest means. One of the tasks imposed on you +would be, I conclude, to praise bad persons and things, and abuse +good, in the newspapers. This, of course, you would not do, and you +would be punished accordingly. I strongly advise you to have nothing +to do with Oude at present. + + Yours very truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To G. Norton, Esq., +Azimgurh. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 11th August, 1853. +My Dear Sir, + +Your brother, the late Lieut.-Colonel Ouseley, was a valued friend of +mine. Before his appointment as Governor-General's Agent of the +south-eastern frontier districts, he had for many years held the +civil charge of different districts in the Sangor and Nerbudda +territories. I had for many years the civil charge of districts +bordering on those under his charge, and abundant opportunity of +seeing how much he had made himself beloved, and the character of his +Government respected, by the manner in which he conducted the duties +confided to him. + +When I became Commissioner over those territories in 1844, I passed +through the districts which had so long been under his charge, and I +can honestly say that I have never known a man who had made himself +more beloved and revered by the people. Thousands of happy families +were proud to acknowledge that they owed all their happiness to the +careful and liberal revision of the settlement of the land-revenue +made by him, in which he had provided for the interests of the higher +and middle classes connected with the land, while he secured the +rights of the humblest. + +I visited at the same time the districts of those territories which +bordered upon his then charge of the south-east frontier, and +communed with many people from that quarter. They all spoke of him as +beloved and respected by all classes as much in his then charge as he +had been in his old one. In a country where it is the duty of every +Englishman to make the character of his Government and his nation +respected and beloved, one cannot but feel proud to hear a countryman +and fellow-labourer spoken of by tens of thousands of respectable, +contented, and happy people as your brother was and still is. I know +no part of India where the people of all classes and all grades are +so attached to our character and our Government as that of the Saugor +and Nerbudda territories, and I believe that no man did more to +establish that fine feeling than your brother. + +Your brother's temper was warm, and he was not always happy in +putting his thoughts and feelings to paper. Hence arose occasional +misunderstandings with his official superiors. But while those +superiors were men who could understand and appreciate his noble +nature, such occasional misunderstandings never led to serious +consequences. In the bitterness of his anguish, after his removal +from the south-east frontier, he wrote to me; and it was most painful +to me to feel that I was not in a position, or in circumstances, to +advocate his cause, and describe the value of such a man as the +representative of the Government and the national character among a +wild and half-civilized people like those over whom he had been +placed. I think it was on the representation of the late Mr. +Launcelot Wilkinson, one of the most able and estimable members of +the India Civil Service, that he was sent to the south-east frontier. +He had seen his value in the Saugor and Nerbudda districts while he +was political agent at Bhopaul, which bordered on the districts under +your brother's charge. + +It has been to me a source of much regret that I have not had it in +my power to aid his son in getting employment in India. + + Believe me, + Yours very truly, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Major Ouseley, + &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 14th September, 1853. + +Dear Sir, + +The King of Oude will certainly not assist you to get up a newspaper +at Lucknow; and you will certainly be disappointed if you come in +expectation of such assistance from him. If you can get into his +service in any other capacity, I am not aware of any objections to +it, but as I have already told you and many others, I cannot +recommend any one for employment under him. The humiliations to which +honest and respectable Christians have to submit in his service, from +the jealousies of influential persons about the Durbar, are such as +few can or ought to submit to; and I certainly would not advise any +one to enter such a service. Under whatever pledge or whatever +influence they might enter it, their tenure of office and their pay +would be altogether precarious, and the Resident would be unable to +assist them in retaining the one or recovering the other. + + Yours faithfully, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To G. Norton, Esq. + +P.S.--The King of Oude and his family are in no danger from the +British Government, on whose good faith they repose. I only wish that +his honest and industrious subjects were as safe from the officers +whom he employs in all branches of the administration, and from whom +they are nowhere safe I fear. + + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 27th September, 1853. + +My Dear James, + +Under the circumstances you mention, I see but one course open to +you; and that is, to recommend to the Government of Bombay to do as +Lord William Bentinck did in the Bengal Presidency under similar +circumstances, appoint a special Commissioner for the trial of +offenders under Acts XX.[_sic_] of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843; or for +the revision of trials under these Acts, conducted by Sessions' +Judges. + +The first would be the best if feasible; but the second would do, +since the Sessions' Judges seem now to be disposed to give their aid +to Government in putting down the evil, and the Sudder Judges do not. +Formerly, I believe, the Sudder Judges were so disposed, and the +Sessions Judges not. In my reply to the Government of Bombay, you +will see reference made to Lord William's appointment of Mr. +Stockwell as special Commissioner. He was at the time Commissioner of +the Allahabad division, and the work was imposed upon him in addition +to his other duties. + +If the Bombay Government does not think it has authority to appoint +such a special Commission, they may apply to the Legislative Council +to pass an Act authorising the Government of every Presidency to +appoint such a Commission when circumstances may render it necessary. + +This will be better and safer than to frame and enforce new rules of +evidence for the guidance of existing Judicial Courts. The one would +be for a special emergency, and temporary; and Government would not +be very averse to it; but the other they certainly would not venture +upon, particularly at this time. A great fuss would be made about it +here and at home; and lawyers are too influential in both places. + +You can show that there is no alternative--that this system of crime +must be left to prosper in the Bombay Presidency, where alone it now +prevails, or such a Commission must be appointed; and as the Acts and +the machinery for giving effect to them have succeeded in putting it +down in all the rest, it would be hard to leave the people of Bombay +exposed to all the evils arising from the want of such a special +Commission. Such Commissions have been adopted to relieve the people +from the hardships of the resumption laws, which affected but a small +portion of the community; and you hope it would not be considered +unreasonable in you to propose one for the relief of the whole +community; for the life and property of no family will be safe an +hour, if these classes of offenders by hereditary profession are +assured that they may carry on their trade with impunity, as they +must be if your agency be withdrawn, and all the prisoners be +released. + +If you make a forcible representation to the Bombay Government in +this strong case, they will adopt the measure if they have the power, +or ask the power from the supreme Government; and I think the supreme +Government will give it. I would say a special Commission for the +trial of commitments under XXX. of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843, or a +special Commission for the revision of trials under these Acts, as +may seem best to Government; but you can say that you think the first +would answer the purpose best in the Bombay Presidency. You may offer +to run down to Bombay and submit your views to the Government in +Council if required. They would not think it necessary, but would be +pleased with the offer. Where men are committed on the general +charge, it has always been thought necessary to show that the gang +committed a murder or a robbery, though it is not so to show what +part the prisoners took in them. If your assistant has not done this, +he has failed in a material point. He should be very cautious in +dealing with whole classes. The fault of our Bombay assistants has +always been a disposition to make offenders of whole classes, when +only some of the members are so. + +You must make your best of the present case--show the necessity of +the remedy clearly, and urge it respectfully without pretending to +find fault with the Judges; merely say that their interpretation of +the laws of evidence laid down for their guidance, however +conscientious, forms an insurmountable obstacle to the conviction of +offenders by hereditary profession, whose system has been founded +upon the experience of their ancestors in the most successful modes +of defeating these laws, and the technicalities of ordinary Judicial +Courts. This is, I think, all that I can say on the subject at +present. The Moncktons leave us this evening, and Amelie intends to +set out for the hills on the 6th proximo. + + Yours affectionately, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain J. Sleeman. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 28th September, 1853. +My Dear James, + +On further consideration, I think that you should say nothing about +the second proposal of a special Commissioner to revise the trials of +offenders tried by Sessions Judges. You should suggest the first +proposal of a special Commissioner to try all prisoners committed for +trial under Acts XXX. of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843, and perhaps also +XI. of 1841. See my Printed Report, page 357. + +You may mention that such Commissioner should be required to submit +his sentences for the consideration and final orders of Government, +as all political officers did till March, 1835; or merely for the +information of Government, as political officers did after that time. + +On the 23rd of March, 1835, the Secretary to the Government of India +forwarded to the Resident of Lucknow, for his guidance, the copy of a +letter addressed on that date to the Agent of the Governor-General in +the Saugor and Nerbudda territories, requesting that he would carry +into execution his sentences on Thugs, and not make any reference to +Government for confirmation, but merely submit to Government abstract +statements of sentences; but desiring that the sanction of the King +of Oude should be required before any capital sentence was carried +into effect. No capital sentence was from that time passed. As all +prisoners will be tried on the general charge, no capital sentence +will ever be passed by the special Commissioner, and the Bombay +Government may be disposed to give him the same orders. But the +Governor in Council at Bombay will be the best judge of that. + +Lord Falkland may possibly be deterred by apprehensions that late +events may have altered the tone of feeling at home towards him; but +I am persuaded that he would be glad to carry this measure into +effect. I will send you a copy of the Government letter to the +Resident here; and you may get from the agent's office a copy of that +sent on the same date to him, though you may not readily find that +office under the new arrangements. You will, I think, have a strong +case, and I wish you success in it. + + Yours affectionately, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Captain Jas. Sleeman. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 4th November, 1853. + +My Dear Malcolm, + +I should recommend for the Baee a money stipend for life of five +thousand rupees a-month, with the understanding that if she adopted a +child she would have to provide for him out of her savings from this +stipend, and out of her private property. All the Rajah's private +property, save what he may will away to others, will of course be +left to her, to be disposed of as she may think fit. But this stipend +should be independent of those to be continued to the stipendiaries +of the Rajah. There are several who have nothing else to depend on +but the stipends which they now receive from the Rajah; and it must +be borne in mind that they have no longer Bajee Rao, Benaek Rao, the +Jhansi and Saugor chief, to go to. This will be the last of the +Brahmin dynasties founded in that part of the world by the Peshwas. +Our Government should therefore be liberal in taking possession of +the estate as an escheat. + +The Mahratta language in accounts should at once be done away with; +but out of the revenues of the estate, Government should found a good +school for English and Hindoo, and Persian; and, above all, for a +very good hospital and dispensary, under well educated and tried +surgeons, native and European, capable of throwing out branches. + +All the public officers of the Rajah should have stipends or +employment, or both, in proportion to their period of service and +respectability. If they take employment the stipends should be +deducted from their salaries while in office, as in our own service. + +In the case of the Baee Regent at Saugor, we continued a small part +of her pension to her adopted son,--one thousand rupees a-month,--to +enable him to provide for her non-pensioned dependents. We took the +management long before her death, and left her only a private lady, +with a large pension of, I think, eight thousand rupees a-month; +besides pensions--too large--to the family of her manager, Benaek +Rao: this will be unnecessary at Jhansi. All the large hereditary +landholders of the Jhansi estate should have liberal settlements at +fixed rates. They are all from the landed aristocracy of Bundelcund, +and should be treated with consideration. The first settlement of the +land revenue should be very moderate. The lands will lose the most +valuable market for their produce in the breaking up of the Court and +establishment of the Rajah at the capital, and yield less money, &c., +than before. This must be borne in mind. + +You may freely use these my views as you think best on the Jhansi +question. + +As to the management, I should make as little changes possible, till +the final orders arrive from the Court of Directors, that you may +have nothing to undo of what you have done. I would leave the +management to Ellis, under your supervision, and interfere only on +references in special cases, except, of course, on emergency. I know +not what the system is to be, or what system the Governor-General has +recommended, except that there is to be one head, as in Rajpootana; +and that all correspondence with Government is to go through that +head, In this state of the matter I know not what to suggest or say. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Major Malcolm, + &c. &c. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 11th November, 1853. +My Lord, + +I feel grateful for your Lordship's letter of the 27th ult., but +cannot say that I have any hope of discovering the instruments +employed, or the employer, in the late affair. The whole power of the +Government is in the hands of men who are deeply interested in +concealing the truth, and making it appear that no attempt was really +made. The minister has, by his intrigues, put himself so much in the +power of the knave whom I suspect, that he dares not do anything to +offend him. The man could at once ruin him by his exposures if he +chose, and he would do so if he found it necessary for his own +security. The man is biding his time, as he has often done with +former ministers; and the time would have come ere this had not the +King, to save himself, married one of the minister's pretty +daughters. + +The King's chief consort; was the niece of the minister, and her son +is the heir-apparent; so that it was her interest, and that of her +uncle, the minister, to get rid of the King as soon as possible. She +is a profligate woman, and the King's mother is supposed to have +given him a hint of his danger. He took a liking to one of the +daughters, and married her, in order to make it the minister's +interest to keep him alive as long as possible. He now contrives to +make the King believe that neither his life nor reign can be in any +danger as long as he is in his present position. + +The night after this affair took place, a sipahee of the 35th Native +Infantry, standing sentry at one end of the house, fell asleep while +he was leaning with his right wrist on the muzzle of his musket. The +musket went off; the ball passed through his wrist, grazed a large +beam above him, struck against a stone in the roof of the portico, +and fell down flattened by the side of the sentry, as he lay +insensible and bleeding on the ground below. The wrist was +sahttered,[_sic_] and several of the arteries cut through. He bled +profusely, and when taken up he talked incoherently, declaring that +some man had fired at him from behind the railing, twenty paces off. +I have seen similar cases of incoherency, arising from a similar +cause. As soon as day appeared the ball was found, and its marks on +the beam and stone above showed the real state of the case. His right +knee was probably leaning on the lock of the musket when he fell +asleep. I have made no public or official report of this circumstance +to Government. + +I have now before me a curious instance of the difficulty of getting +at the truth when it is the interest of the minister and others about +this Court to prevent it. A wanton attack was made in April last by +about one hundred armed men, led by one of the King's collectors, on +a native British subject coming from Cawnpore to visit a brother in +Oude. The man himself received a wound, from which he some days +afterwards died at Cawnpore; two of his attendants were killed, and +twenty thousand rupees were taken from him. I have investigated the +case myself, with the aid of my assistant, Captain Hayes, and with +the attendance of an assessor on the part of the King. The case is a +very clear one, but they have produced about thirty witnesses to +swear that no man of the poor merchant's party was hurt; and that, +instead of being attacked, he invaded the Oude territory with more +than one hundred armed followers, and wantonly attacked the King's +party of only fifteen unoffending men, while engaged in the discharge +of their duty in collecting the revenue. I have translated the +depositions with the prospect of having ultimately to submit the case +to Government, unless the King consents to punish the offenders and +afford redress. The assessor, an old man, bewildered by the +conflicting testimony, and anxious to escape from all responsibility, +slept soundly through the greater part of the inquiry, which has been +a very tedious one. + + I remain, your Lordship's + Most obedient and humble servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +the Governor-General of India. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 28th December, 1853. + +My Dear Mr. Colvin, + +I was glad to see your handwriting again, and to find that time had +made so little alteration in it. Oude affairs are, as you suppose, +much as they used to be, save that the King is now persuaded by his +minister and favourite that, had his predecessors had men and women +about them so wise as they are, they never would have acted as if +they believed that the Government of India ever really intended to +carry into effect the penalty of misgovernment, so often threatened. +Our Government has cried "wolf" so often that no one now listens to +it. The King is an utter imbecile, from over-indulgences of all +kinds; and the knaves whom he employs in his administration contrive +to persuade him that the preservation of his life and throne depends +entirely upon their vigilance and his doing nothing. Had I come here +when the treasury was full, and Naseer-od Doon Hyder was anxious to +spend his money in the manner best calculated to do good and please +our Government, I might have covered Oude with useful public works, +and much do I regret that I came here to throw away some of the best +years of my life among such a set of knaves and fools as I have to +deal with. + +I think you will do much good in your present charge in the subject +to which you refer. In the matter of discourtesy to the native +gentry, I can only say that Robert Martin Bird insulted them whenever +he had the opportunity of doing so; and that Mr. Thomason was too apt +to imitate him in this as in other things. Of course their example +was followed by too many of their followers and admirers; but, like +you, I have been delighted to see a great many of the elder members +of the civil service, in spite of these bad examples, treat the +native gentry with all possible courtesy, and show them that they had +their sympathy as long as they deserved it by their conduct. + +It has always struck me that Mr. Thomason, in his system, did all he +could to discourage the growth of a middle and upper class upon the +land--the only kind of property on which a good upper and middle +class could be sustained in the present state of society in India. +His village republics and the Ryutwar system of Sir Thomas Munro had +precisely the same tendency to subdivide minutely property in land, +and reduce all landholders to the common level of impoverishment. The +only difference was that the impoverished tenants in the North- +Western Provinces were supposed to manage their own affairs, while +those at Madras had them managed by a very mischievous class of +native public officers. He (Mr. Thomason) would have forced his +village republics upon any new country or jungle that came under his +charge, and thereby rendered improvement impossible. I would have +introduced into all such new countries a system of paternal +government in imitation of our Government of India itself, which +would have rendered improvement certain, and the growth of a middle +and higher class no less so. He would have put the whole under our +judicial courts, and thereby have created a middle class of +pettifogging attorneys to swallow up all the surplus produce of the +land. I would have kept the whole of the land in the hands of our +fiscal courts, by making it all leasehold property, and maintaining +the law of primogeniture in all estates of villages. Mr. Thomason, I +am told, systematically set aside all the landed aristocracy of the +country as a set of middlemen, superfluous and mischievous. + +The only part of our India in which I have seen a middle and higher +class maintained upon the land is the moderately-settled districts of +the Saugor and Nerbudda territories; and there is no part of India +where our Government and character are so much beloved and respected. +You have sent Mr. Read to that part; and if he be bigoted to Mr. +Thomason's system, he will upset all this, and, in my opinion, lay +the foundation of much evil. We found a system of paternal government +in every village, and maintained and improved it. They were all +little principalities; and by the printed rules of the Sudder Board +of Revenue, which are very good, all the sub-tenants were effectually +secured in their rights. + +In making a tour through Oude in the end of 1849 and beginning of +1850 I had a good deal of talk with the people. Many of them had +sojourned in our territories in seasons of disturbance. The general +impression was that they would be glad to see the country taken under +British management, provided we could dispense with our tedious +procedure in civil cases. They all had a very unfavourable impression +of our civil courts, and of the cost and delay of the procedure. +Mills and Harrington, to whom the duty, which was to have devolved on +you, has been confided, may do much good, and I hope will, for there +really is nothing in our system which calls so much for remedy. I am +persuaded that, if it were to be put to the vote among the people of +Oude, ninety-nine in a hundred would rather remain as they are, +without any feeling of security in life or property, than have our +system introduced in its present complicated state; but that ninety- +nine in a hundred would rather have our Government than live as they +do, if a more simple system, which they could understand, were +promised at the same time. + +In 1801, when the Oude territory was divided, and half taken by us +and half left to Oude, the landed aristocracy of each were about +equal. Now hardly a family of this class remains in our half, while +in Oude it remains unimpaired. Everybody in Oude believes those +families to have been systematically crushed. If by-and-by we can get +the people to take an interest in our railroads, and outlays upon +other great public works, it will tend to create the middle class +upon which I set so much value, and to give that feeling of interest +in the stability of our rule which we so much require. We shall then +have objects of common interest to talk and think about, and become +more united with them in feeling. + +Maddock is in Ceylon, but intends to return by the steamer which is +to leave Calcutta on the 5th proximo. His speculations there have +been failures. Had he looked after his estates there instead of +joining the effete party of the Derbyites he might have done well. He +has made great mistakes, and he now suffers for them. His support of +Lord Torrington was his first. + + Believe me, + Yours very sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Mr. Colvin. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 5th March, 1854. +My Dear Low, + +I have to-day written to Government a letter, which you will of +course see, on the subject of a proposal made to me by Mr. B. +Government will, I have no doubt, consider the reason assigned by me +for refusing to permit him to send an European agent to Lucknow, +ostensibly to collect debts, sufficient; but whether it will consent +to adopt my suggestion, and empower the Resident to assure the King +that it will not again consent to permit Mr. B. to return and reside +at Lucknow, after he has been twice expelled for his misdeeds, I know +not. One thing is certain, that his residence at Cawnpore, under the +assurance from the minister that he shall come back and be made +wealthy if he can aid in getting rid of the Resident, is very +mischievous. + +B., Wasee Allee, and the Minister, succeeded in persuading the King +that Shurfod Dowla, and all the most respectable members of the +Lucknow aristocracy, had signed a memorial to the Government of +India, praying that it would set aside the present King as an +incompetent fool, and put Mostafa Alee on the throne in his place. +All this was reported by me to Government on the 2nd of March, 1853. + +The seals were all forged or filched here at Lucknow, but the papers +were written in Calcutta, under the agency, I believe, of Synd Jan, +Sir H. E.'s moonshee, from Bilgram, where his family have long +enjoyed an estate rent-free, for the aid he has given to the minister +in his intrigues. I have never been able to remove this delusion from +the mind of the imbecile King; and it is the "_raw_" on which these +knaves have been ever since acting; for it enables the minister to +persuade him that his vigilance-alone preserves his life and crown. + +The minister is aware that I know all this, and may some day be able +to show the King how he has been deluded and befooled by him; and he +would give all he is worth to get rid of me in any way. He would give +any sums to B. and his other agents to bribe editors to write against +me; but the only editors who have yielded have been those of the +"Mofussilite," before Mr. C. took the management. Mr. B. complains at +Cawnpore, that he gave Mr. L. a large sum to do his dirty work at +home; but that he did nothing for it. This is not unlikely. That the +minister and Wasee Alee got up the attempt at the Residency, either +to make away with me, or to alarm me into going away, I am persuaded; +but to get judicial proof of it I shall not attempt. It would be vain +here, where the minister has all the revenues of the State to work +with. + +All the native gentlemen whose seals were forged to this document, +look to me for protection; and they have been ever since in a state +of great alarm. It was to keep up this alarm that they tried to turn +Shurfod Dowla out of Oude. I had rarely seen him before that time; +and I have only seen him once since he went to the cantonments; and +then only for five minutes during my walk in the garden, to talk +about Mulki Jahan's affairs. They punish any one who ventures to +approach the King; and they would ruin any one who ventured to +approach the Resident if they could, lest he might open the eyes of +the King to the iniquities they commit. The troops are starved, and +almost all the old members of the royal family, who had no Government +paper or guarantees, have been already starved or driven out. Oude +has never before been afflicted by a Sovereign so utterly imbecile +and regardless of his duties and the sufferings of his people; nor +has there ever been a minister so utterly regardless of his own +reputation and that of his master. He bribes with money, power, and +patronage, every one who has access to the King, to sound his praise +in prose or verse; and the King is persuaded that his life and throne +depend upon his abstaining altogether, from interfering in the +conduct of affairs. + +When I was in the Governor-Generals camp at Futtehgur, M. H., the son +of S. A. K., came there armed, I knew, with four lacs of rupees. He +was an old acquaintance of E.'s, and he (E.) told me that he had +asked for an interview, and asked me whether he ought to consent to +see him. I told him that, if he did see him, he must make up his mind +to the man's persuading the King that he had given him the greater +part of the money, though the man himself kept all that he did not +give to his moonshee. He refused to see the man; but he has ever +since been with Mr. L. at Allahabad, intriguing with his people to +chouse men out of their ancient possessions; or with the Oude people, +to keep up the _raw_ they have established on the King's mind. The +King, by over-indulgence, has reduced his intellect below the +standard of that of a boy of five years of age. It is painful to talk +to a man with a mind so utterly emasculated. + +Our Government would be fully authorized at any time to enforce the +penalty prescribed in your treaty of 1837, and it incurs great odium +and obloquy for not enforcing it. But Lord D. has, no doubt, solid +reasons for not taking such responsibility upon himself at this time. +I do all I can to save the people, and the people are sensible of +what I do, and grateful for it; for the Resident is the only person +they can look up to with any hope. If Government can comply with my +wish to have the King assured that it will not permit Mr. B. to +return and reside at Lucknow again, it will be of great use to me and +to the people, for the hopes held out to him are like a premium +offered for my head, or for my ruin; and one never feels very +comfortable under such offers, at any time or in any country. The +reckless lies which this man gets adventurers at Cawnpore to write +for him, and careless or corrupt editors to publish, are apt to +stagger those who do not know the vile character of the individual, +or the true nature of the facts referred to. + +I am glad you saw W. He is a man of high character and first-rate +ability, and has abundance of sagacity and energy. I miss him very +much. He will be a credit to his regiment if engaged on active +service. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To Colonel Low, C.B. + +P.S.--I shall say nothing in this of your domestic bereavement, +though I have felt much for you. + + W. H. S. + +In my public letter, I have referred to that of the Marquess of W. to +L., when he was Resident. Do refer to it Page 388, Vol. 1., +"Despatches." + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 1st June, 1854. + +My Dear Low, + +In my letter of the 10th of November, 1853, I solicited permission to +retain Weston with me for reasons stated therein. In reply, I was +told, in Mr. Dalrymple's letter of the 2nd of December, "that the +Governor-General in Council had every wish to consult my views, but, +for the present at least, his Lordship in Council thinks that +Lieutenant Weston must in fairness be required to join his regiment, +like other officers." + +I am so very anxious to have his services again in the office he +filled, that I have to-day ventured, in a public letter to the +Foreign Secretary, to request that he will submit my wishes to the +Governor-General in Council, should they deem the state of affairs in +Burmah at present to be such as to admit of his being withdrawn from +his regiment I have said, in my public letter, that should any +exigency arise he could, of course, quickly join his regiment on +service again. + +If you can give me any assistance in obtaining his services, I shall +feel very much indebted to you, for I have that confidence in his +abilities and high-mindedness which I cannot feel in those of his +_locum tenens_; and I am very anxious to keep things in good train +here till the end of the cold weather, when I must go on leave to +recruit. I am really in a very difficult position here, not with +regard to the King, for he has, I believe, entire confidence in me; +but he has become so entangled with his minister, that he is afraid +of him; and the minister would give all he has (and he has all the +revenues of the country) to get me out of the way. + +I carried the Government orders regarding Shurfod Dowla into effect, +and he is now, with his family, quiet and safe. The King behaved very +well, and resisted all the attempts of the minister to persuade him +to remonstrate. I am to-day to submit Shurfod Dowla's letter of +grateful thanks to Government. I hope Government will not write to +him in reply, as this might mortify and vex the King, since he is not +written to by the Governor-General. + +I think I told you of the _raw_ the minister, Wasee Alee and Co., had +established on the King's mind--the belief that a party of the +members of the royal family and native gentlemen at Lucknow had been +trying to persuade Government to set him aside, and put his reputed +brother, Mostafa Alee, on the throne. Whenever they want to make the +King angry with any one, they tell him that he is a leader in this +cabal. But the King is, by degrees, growing out of this folly. There +never was on the throne, I believe, a man more inoffensive at heart +than he is; and he is quite sensible of my anxious desire to advise +him rightly, and see justice done in all cases. But I am a sad +stumbling-block to the minister and the other bad and incompetent +officers employed in the administration. + +If you wish it, I will be more circumstantial about Weston's _locum +tenens_, Lieut. B., of the 1st Cavalry. For his own repute, and that +of the Government, I think the less he has to do with the political +department the better. He would be better in a military staff +appointment than a political one. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Hon. Colonel Low, C.B. + + + __________________________ + + + Lucknow, 11th September, 1854. + +My Lord, + +The post which this morning brought me your Lordship's letter of the +6th instant brought me also one from Bombay, which I enclose for your +Lordship's perusal. Should you think it worth while, Colonel Outram +will be able to sift the matter to which it refers. I have long been +aware of the intrigue, and have taken care to let the King know that +I am so; but as I knew, at the same time, that the object was merely +to get money out of him, and to strengthen his confidence in his +minister, which had begun to give way, I did not think it necessary +to trouble your Lordship with any reference on the subject. I knew +that letters had been forged as from the King of Persia to the King +of Oude, proposing to divide Hindoostan between them, and I thought +it to be my duty to tell him so, in order to warn him; but, as he +denied ever having received such letters, I told him that I should +take the word of a King, and say no more about it. He is certainly +not of sound mind, and things must, ere long, come to a crisis. His +mind may have been of an average kind when he was young, but it has +long become emasculated by over-indulgence; and the minister and his +minions can make him believe or do what they please. They know that +it cannot last long, and they have agents in Bombay and Calcutta to +assist them in fleecing the King of money on all manner of false +pretences. + +The minister, a consummate knave, and one of the most incompetent men +of business that I have ever known, has all the revenues and +patronage of the country to distribute among those who have access to +the King exclusively--they are poets, fiddlers, eunuchs, and +profligate women; and every one of them holds, directly or +indirectly, some court or other, fiscal, criminal, or civil, through +which to fleece the people. Anything so detestable as the Government +I have nowhere witnessed, and a man less competent to govern them +than the King I have never known. + +Had your Lordship left the choice of a successor to me, I should have +pointed out Colonel Outram; and I feel very much rejoiced that he has +been selected for the office, and I hope he will come as soon as +possible. There are many honest men at Lucknow, and a finer peasantry +no country can boast. But no honest man can obtain or retain office +under Government with the present minister and heads of departments. + +But where the whole revenues of a fine country are available to +suborn witnesses to prove the King to be a _Solomon_, no Resident +would be able to find judicial proof of his being a fool; but that he +is so I have had abundance of, to me, satisfactory evidence ever +since I have been here. It must soon, however, become clear, without +the Resident's efforts to make it so. Where the Government of India +is so solemnly pledged to see justice done to the people of a +country, it cannot fairly permit them to be reigned over much longer +by so incompetent a Sovereign. Proofs enough of bad government and +neglected duties were given in my Diary; and a picture more true was, +I believe, never drawn of any country. The duty of remedying the +evils, and carrying out your Lordship's views in Oude, whatever they +may be, must now devolve on another. + +No one of my present assistants knows anything whatever about Oude, +its Government, or its people; and Colonel Outram will, therefore, +labour under great disadvantages. I hope, therefore, that your +Lordship will pardon the liberty I take in suggesting that he be +allowed the aid of Captain Weston. He went over the whole of Oude +with me, and knows almost all who have made themselves prominent for +good or for evil within the last five years. I know that, as soon as +I go, some of the most atrocious villains whom I have kept out of +office will try to purchase their way back; and there is no man too +bad for the minister, provided he pays for his restoration.--The +murderer of the banker, mentioned in my Diary, vol. i., p. 131, and +the murderer of thousands mentioned in the same volume. Captain +Weston is high minded, sagacious, energetic, hard-working, +conciliatory and, to Colonel Outram, his services in the new charge +would be invaluable. + + I have the honour to remain, + Your Lordship's faithful and obedient servant, + (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN. + +To the Most Noble +The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T. +Governor-General. + + + + + + + THE END. + + + + LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, +Volumes I & II, by William Sleeman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KINGDOM OF OUDE *** + +***** This file should be named 16997.txt or 16997.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/9/16997/ + +Produced by Philip Hitchcock + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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