A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude Part 7

The whole family are most anxious that the King should resign the reins into abler hands, and would, I feel a.s.sured, 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 const.i.tuted, 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 a.s.sured 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 Lords.h.i.+p'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 a.s.sociates 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 pa.s.s through the different palaces. The profligacy that exists within the palace pa.s.ses 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 Lords.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sa.s.sins 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 Lords.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+nes." 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 Lords.h.i.+p's obedient, humble servant,

(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To the Most n.o.ble 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 a.s.sist 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 a.s.sistant, 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' Pet.i.tions 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.*