A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude Part 2

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 acc.u.mulate, 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 inst.i.tutions of all Europe. I only wish that the middle cla.s.s 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 embarra.s.sed by other nations, since the days of Pitt and George III. are pa.s.sed 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 cla.s.ses, 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 inst.i.tutions 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 cla.s.s 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 _pa.s.sed_, 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 s.h.i.+ft 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 ma.s.s 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 pa.s.ses 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 a.s.surances 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. .h.i.therto, as the Pundits put him up to claim everything that the Bae's family had, not even omitting the Thalone princ.i.p.ality; 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 G.o.d 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 Lords.h.i.+p 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 Lords.h.i.+p 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 Lords.h.i.+p.